Kindle Scribe

[Enterio]

I have a question concerning the (maybe not so recent) changes to the Kindle Scribe Firmware.

I'm considering buying it only for reading. My questions concern the MTP file transfer protocol, in comparison to the pre-MTP Kindle Paperwhite firmware (which I keep on my Kindle):

• has the transfer of files from Calibre become exceedingly difficult, such as having to install multiple software/drivers to achieve it?

• can custom fonts still be loaded and used?

• is the KFX file format supported, with book covers still recognized and displayed?

• are third-party dictionaries still loadable and recognized?

Thank you!

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Enterio

I have a question concerning the (maybe not so recent) changes to the Kindle Scribe Firmware.

I'm considering buying it only for reading. My questions concern the MTP file transfer protocol, in comparison to the pre-MTP Kindle Paperwhite firmware (which I keep on my Kindle):

• has the transfer of files from Calibre become exceedingly difficult, such as having to install multiple software/drivers to achieve it?

• can custom fonts still be loaded and used?

• is the KFX file format supported, with book covers still recognized and displayed?

• are third-party dictionaries still loadable and recognized?

Thank you!

All of these things work as with any Kindle.

Calibre has long has support for MTP devices (e.g. Android) and only needed a tweak for Scribe. The only limitation is it will not copy cover thumbnails. There is no technical barrier to doing so, it is just a matter of modifying calibre's MTP driver to do this task for Scribe.

For side loading fonts and third party dictionaries you will need an MTP utility if you are running on macOS. I use OpenMTP.

For a command line interface you can use PowerShell commands on Windows to automate Explorer. I've installed libMTP on macOS. In either case if you want to do some task on a regular basis, it would probably entail some scripting of the command line to do it and save typing.

[Strether]

If you have a Mac, and have a large Calibre library, it takes a while for Calibre to recognize the books on the Scribe and allow you to transfer books. I have 2,000+ books and there are sometimes problems. Kovid told me that that was too many books to have on the device, so I've been deleting books that I know it's unlikely that I'll read again.

It's a great e-reader otherwise, though, with fantastic battery life.

Jim

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Strether

If you have a Mac, and have a large Calibre library, it takes a while for Calibre to recognize the books on the Scribe and allow you to transfer books. I have 2,000+ books and there are sometimes problems. Kovid told me that that was too many books to have on the device, so I've been deleting books that I know it's unlikely that I'll read again.

It's a great e-reader otherwise, though, with fantastic battery life.

Jim

I think it is more an issue with number of books you keep on the Scribe, not the size of calibre library. I typically keep no more than a couple of dozen on Scribe, while my calibre library has nearly 5,000 books in it. It connects and syncs very quickly for me, a least when I only have a handful of items side-loaded.

But for the most part I do not side-load at all with Kindles, so I have no idea how performance degrades if you are putting hundreds of books there with calibre. It's just not something I have any desire to do with Kindles; I use Send To Kindle to add them to my Kindle library, and confine downloads to the handful of books I'm currently reading on that particular device (or Kindle app).

I have recently been doing experiments with MTP on my Scribe trying to figure out what it takes to add thumbnails to content (both side loaded and downloaded personal documents) that lack them.

When connecting, the MTP client downloads a directory which maps an integer value to each item (file or folder). You cannot do anything without having this directory, and these values change between connection sessions. And the more items there are, the longer it takes to get this directory.

Calibre caches and updates the directory as changes are made, so adding or removing operations after initial sync are fast. It's possible the initial sync could be optimized more than it is, and scale up better when hundreds of books are side-loaded (or downloaded), but I would need to study to see what calibre is actually doing.

I would also note (from my thumbnails investigation) that system/thumbnails caches a file for every thumbnail downloaded, whether it be from downloaded content, downloaded as you browse Kindle library, or for the items Amazon chooses to show you on Home view. It does not take much storage, but for MTP it will bloat the size of the directory that MTP client has to download before it can do any file transfers.

So it should help to periodically delete the contents of the folder and let it have clean slate (sync should restore thumbnails for downloaded content). I think my Scribe probably has 2 or 3 thousand files in there, easily the largest share of any folder in terms of number of items.

[jackm8]

Originally Posted by Enterio

[LIST]can custom fonts still be loaded and used?

There's Font's folder, and you can put your own fonts into it. Both otf and ttf are supported, as are italics, as long as fonts are properly named. Custom fonts will work on reflowable KFX files, but not on .azw3 files.

[Frogm4n]

Custom user added fonts work on AZW3, too. They don't on MOBI, though.