Freda - ebook reader program for Windows Mobile - Page 24

Jim Chapman · 07-11-2010, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

I haven't had a lot of time to test, but it seems to be working quite well. Haven't had any glitches or bugs. I am a little uncertain what you've done with the function that assigns a preset to a particular book. Is that now just automatic--every book opens with whatever preset was last used with it?

When you have a book loaded, go into the Settings screen and select 'Save Preset'. You'll see a preset name at the bottom of the list '-Whenever this book is opened-'. Settings saved to that preset will automatically get loaded whenever, in the future, you open the book that you are now reading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

There were two things I wanted to mention that aren't so much test of this beta for bugs as longer-term wishes. One is, although I gather that a forced hyphenation function is pretty tricky to create, how hard would it be to have the text break following a hyphen or a dash?

I'll look into it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jim Chapman · 07-11-2010, 07:11 AM

All,

Freda v2 is now ready for general release. You can find the manual, download links etc. at http://www.turnipsoft.co.uk/freda .

Changes from v1.1:

There is no 'main menu' any more. You access all features via a 'shortcuts' screen. While no book is loaded, a short screen-tap will display shortcuts; while a book is loaded, you may need to use a long-tap.
The 'Library' is no longer a simple folder location. Instead, it is a searchable database of books. To add books to the library, tap the 'Library' shortcut, then use 'Actions->Add Books'. From there, you can select 'Add Folder' to get a similar function to what the old v1.1 library did - i.e. add to the library all the books in a particular folder (and optionally, its subfolders too).
You also have an option to 'Add OPDS Catalog' to the library. Specify the catalog URI (the Feedbooks one is used by default, but you could equally use a Calibre2opds/Dropbox location, or any other OPDS-compliant catalog). Whenever you add books to the library, Freda identifies the place that you got those books from as a 'source'. When you wish to tidy up the library, you can select 'Actions->Remove Books' on the library screen, and it will present a list of sources; you can use this to remove from the library all the books from a given source.
If the library specifies a book location on the internet, then when you open the book for the first time, Freda will download it. Recently downloaded files are held in a local cache, to save time (and indeed data charges).
The library screen offers a (rather minimalist!) search function. Use the drop-down box at the top left to say which fields you want to search, and type text into the text box at the top right.
The 'Settings' screen is now more finger-friendly. 'Text Appearance' settings are managed using a special control at the top of the settings screen; other settings are listed below that - just tap on a setting to display a dialog box to modify the setting.
There are enhancements to the management of 'presets'. When saving presets note: (1) if you have a book loaded, you will have a special saveable preset called 'whenever this book is loaded'; you can use this to define settings that will be applied whenever you're reading this book in the future; (2) when you save a preset, you need to specify which settings are included in it, by ticking the relevant tick-boxes.
When Freda is busy doing something, you will see a blue screen and/or a 'wait' cursor. If Freda is doing background processing (e.g pagination) you will see a small flickering square at the bottom right of the screen. If this square turns into a red-outlined box, it means Freda has run out of memory and is now working in 'low memory mode'. The main effect of this is that 'Find...' will not work reliably when searching in chapters other than the current one.
RSVP/Autoscroll is implemented. To enter RSVP mode select 'Autoscroll on' from the shortcuts screen. The +/- buttons will speed up/slow down the reading speed; to pause reading, tap the screen; from 'paused' mode, you can tap the screen to exit RSVP mode or tap the 'PAUSE' indicator to resume RSVP reading.
The 'Lock Backlight' option will force the backlight to stay on as long as you are reading (though after 10 minutes of inactivity, it will allow the backlight to switch off anyway).
'Rotate' will turn the display one 'stop' clockwise. You can define what 'stops' are available using the 'Permissible Orientations' setting. There is a 'Lock Orientation' setting which, if set, will cause Freda to resist other applications' attempts to change screen orientation.
Logographic (e.g. Chinese) and Right-to-left languages (e.g Hebrew) should work OK. Freda will activate these features based upon the 'language' metadata it finds in the book file, and the character sets used in the book. If Freda gets it wrong, the Settings screen lets you force it to use Logographic ('characters are words') and/or RTL features (and obviously you can use 'save preset' to tell Freda just to use these settings for the individual book concerned).
Languages with combining characters (Arabic, Persian, Thai, various Indian scripts) may or may not work. I'd be interested to get feedback on any problems.

Support questions, feature suggestions and other comments to freda@turnipsoft.co.uk please (or the existing home@jim-chapman.net address will still work).

EDIT: Note for anyone who has been beta-testing earlier versions of Freda v2.0: Temporary files and settings left over from earlier beta versions may cause problems. In this case, before installing the latest build please uninstall Freda then delete the Freda program folder and all its contents (\program files\freda , or elsewhere if you installed to storage card or non-English locale).

Jim

starrigger · 07-11-2010, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

When you have a book loaded, go into the Settings screen and select 'Save Preset'. You'll see a preset name at the bottom of the list '-Whenever this book is opened-'. Settings saved to that preset will automatically get loaded whenever, in the future, you open the book that you are now reading.

Ah--see, I knew that before. Then I hadn't done it in a while, and I couldn't find it again. That may argue for putting the option somewhere more visible, such as under the Action button.

Something to think about, anyway.

starrigger · 07-11-2010, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

EDIT: Note for anyone who has been beta-testing earlier versions of Freda v2.0: Temporary files and settings left over from earlier beta versions may cause problems. In this case, before installing the latest build please uninstall Freda then delete the Freda program folder and all its contents (\program files\freda , or elsewhere if you installed to storage card or non-English locale).

Jim

Urk. Does that mean, even if we're currently in beta 3, we can't keep our bookshelves, presets, and memory of where we are in books? I might just stick with the beta, in that case. Are there significant differences between the last beta and the release version?

Jim Chapman · 07-11-2010, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

Urk. Does that mean, even if we're currently in beta 3, we can't keep our bookshelves, presets, and memory of where we are in books? I might just stick with the beta, in that case. Are there significant differences between the last beta and the release version?

Well in the release version I have fixed a problem with downloading books from SmashWords. Otherwise, it's just stability fixes of various minor kinds.
To be honest though, transitioning from beta 3 shouldn't be a problem. You could always try the install and see ... (and if you make a copy of your \program files\freda\settings2 folder, you can go back if necessary).

mooxoo · 07-12-2010, 04:00 AM

I installed version 2.0 over the beta (WM 6.1). All my books and settings remained the same, even though the installer said the previous version will be removed first.

Easypain1 · 07-12-2010, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

[UPDATE: See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=1003453 in this thread for an updated version of the program]
I've written a program for reading eBooks on Windows Mobile devices. It can read txt, html and (DRM-free) ePub files. Screenshots attached.

The program is called 'Freda' - short for 'free reader', since it is free software (both in the sense of 'free beer', as I am not charging for it, and in the sense of 'free speech', as I am licensing my code under the GPL).

It's in on general release now, so please download it and let me have any feeback.

The program uses three third-party libraries, DotNetZipLib, OpenNetCF and the Majestic-12 HTMLParser library; all are licensed on terms permitting their redistribution for commercial and non-commercial purposes. More information is here

Happy reading!

Going to try it, thanks.

___________
Buy Phentermine Online
Buy Ambien

Jim Chapman · 07-12-2010, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mooxoo

I installed version 2.0 over the beta (WM 6.1). All my books and settings remained the same, even though the installer said the previous version will be removed first.

I hesitate to make hard-and-fast predictions about the behaviour of the WindowsMobile installer, because it has a mind of its own. But I think this is what I would expect: normally when removing (uninstalling) a previous version of a program, it will preserve program settings. And when Freda is installed, Freda will create new (default) settings and (empty) library and bookshelf, only if it doesn't find any already there.
If you want to get rid of your settings, bookshelf and library, you should delete the contents of the 'settings2' folder under the Freda program folder.

mooxoo · 07-12-2010, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

I hesitate to make hard-and-fast predictions about the behaviour of the WindowsMobile installer, because it has a mind of its own. But I think this is what I would expect: normally when removing (uninstalling) a previous version of a program, it will preserve program settings. And when Freda is installed, Freda will create new (default) settings and (empty) library and bookshelf, only if it doesn't find any already there.
If you want to get rid of your settings, bookshelf and library, you should delete the contents of the 'settings2' folder under the Freda program folder.

What I actually was trying to say was that installing the new version over the beta version is not likely to reset people's settings and that it should be safe to do so if you want to keep your original settings. Although your explanation is much more detailed and adds credibility to my conclusion

.

Hexadrone · 07-15-2010, 02:07 PM

I installed v2 and I can't figure out how to pass a word to my dictionary. I used the path to the Merriam-webster.exe, but I can't find any information on how to pass the word to the executable. I tried the example in the manual "|lookup=" with various substitutions for "{0}", but it just ran the dictionary without passing the word. If anyone has this dictionary and got it to work, please let me know. Thanks.

Jim Chapman · 07-15-2010, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hexadrone

how to pass a word to my dictionary. I used the path to the Merriam-webster.exe, but I can't find any information on how to pass the word to the executable. I tried the example in the manual "|lookup=" with various substitutions for "{0}", but it just ran the dictionary without passing the word. If anyone has this dictionary and got it
to work, please let me know. Thanks.

That {0} text will be replaced by the word that Freda is trying to look up.
Freda also puts that word into the clipboard before launching the dictionary program. As for how to pass search text to the Miriam-Webster dictionary, I am afraid I'm not familiar with that program, and I can't offer any very useful information.
You might want to post your question on the XDA-Developers Freda thread, since someone there may know. (see: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581247)

Hexadrone · 07-16-2010, 01:34 PM

Thanks for the information about using the clipboard with my dictionary.

The book I was reading with the old version is not encoding properly in v2 no matter what I choose. It was UTF-8 with the old version. Picking an encoding does not seem to make any difference with any book. Other changes I've made in Settings do take effect. Thanks.

Jim Chapman · 07-16-2010, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hexadrone

The book I was reading with the old version is not encoding properly in v2 no matter what I choose. It was UTF-8 with the old version. Picking an encoding does not seem to make any difference with any book.

Could you email me the book (to freda@turnipsoft.co.uk), and I will check. I will, in any case, take a look at the 'encoding' logic.
And could you make one check for me too: can you try, after changing the encoding, also doing 'forget book', to force Freda to delete and recreate its temporary files for the book.
Thanks,
Jim

Hexadrone · 07-16-2010, 01:50 PM

The book is Gulliver's Travels from Project Gutenberg. I will email it to you, but this is happening with any book. I tried your suggestion, but it didn't work. Also, I forgot to mention, I tried checking the "Override encoding" option and that did not help. Thanks.

starrigger · 07-21-2010, 02:23 AM

Just a quick note to say that I've been using the release version of 2.0 and it seems to be working very well. I had a few glitches right after installing, but they haven't repeated.

Oh--I remember one thing--for some reason there were book entries in the library for a couple of titles, but no actual book files. Freda didn't like that, and crashed. Took a few times before I figured out the problem.

07-11-2010, 07:11 AM	#347
Jim Chapman Addict Posts: 310 Karma: 2025434 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Lumia 950 Phone	Freda 2.0 All, Freda v2 is now ready for general release. You can find the manual, download links etc. at http://www.turnipsoft.co.uk/freda . Changes from v1.1: There is no 'main menu' any more. You access all features via a 'shortcuts' screen. While no book is loaded, a short screen-tap will display shortcuts; while a book is loaded, you may need to use a long-tap. The 'Library' is no longer a simple folder location. Instead, it is a searchable database of books. To add books to the library, tap the 'Library' shortcut, then use 'Actions->Add Books'. From there, you can select 'Add Folder' to get a similar function to what the old v1.1 library did - i.e. add to the library all the books in a particular folder (and optionally, its subfolders too). You also have an option to 'Add OPDS Catalog' to the library. Specify the catalog URI (the Feedbooks one is used by default, but you could equally use a Calibre2opds/Dropbox location, or any other OPDS-compliant catalog). Whenever you add books to the library, Freda identifies the place that you got those books from as a 'source'. When you wish to tidy up the library, you can select 'Actions->Remove Books' on the library screen, and it will present a list of sources; you can use this to remove from the library all the books from a given source. If the library specifies a book location on the internet, then when you open the book for the first time, Freda will download it. Recently downloaded files are held in a local cache, to save time (and indeed data charges). The library screen offers a (rather minimalist!) search function. Use the drop-down box at the top left to say which fields you want to search, and type text into the text box at the top right. The 'Settings' screen is now more finger-friendly. 'Text Appearance' settings are managed using a special control at the top of the settings screen; other settings are listed below that - just tap on a setting to display a dialog box to modify the setting. There are enhancements to the management of 'presets'. When saving presets note: (1) if you have a book loaded, you will have a special saveable preset called 'whenever this book is loaded'; you can use this to define settings that will be applied whenever you're reading this book in the future; (2) when you save a preset, you need to specify which settings are included in it, by ticking the relevant tick-boxes. When Freda is busy doing something, you will see a blue screen and/or a 'wait' cursor. If Freda is doing background processing (e.g pagination) you will see a small flickering square at the bottom right of the screen. If this square turns into a red-outlined box, it means Freda has run out of memory and is now working in 'low memory mode'. The main effect of this is that 'Find...' will not work reliably when searching in chapters other than the current one. RSVP/Autoscroll is implemented. To enter RSVP mode select 'Autoscroll on' from the shortcuts screen. The +/- buttons will speed up/slow down the reading speed; to pause reading, tap the screen; from 'paused' mode, you can tap the screen to exit RSVP mode or tap the 'PAUSE' indicator to resume RSVP reading. The 'Lock Backlight' option will force the backlight to stay on as long as you are reading (though after 10 minutes of inactivity, it will allow the backlight to switch off anyway). 'Rotate' will turn the display one 'stop' clockwise. You can define what 'stops' are available using the 'Permissible Orientations' setting. There is a 'Lock Orientation' setting which, if set, will cause Freda to resist other applications' attempts to change screen orientation. Logographic (e.g. Chinese) and Right-to-left languages (e.g Hebrew) should work OK. Freda will activate these features based upon the 'language' metadata it finds in the book file, and the character sets used in the book. If Freda gets it wrong, the Settings screen lets you force it to use Logographic ('characters are words') and/or RTL features (and obviously you can use 'save preset' to tell Freda just to use these settings for the individual book concerned). Languages with combining characters (Arabic, Persian, Thai, various Indian scripts) may or may not work. I'd be interested to get feedback on any problems. Support questions, feature suggestions and other comments to freda@turnipsoft.co.uk please (or the existing home@jim-chapman.net address will still work). EDIT: Note for anyone who has been beta-testing earlier versions of Freda v2.0: Temporary files and settings left over from earlier beta versions may cause problems. In this case, before installing the latest build please uninstall Freda then delete the Freda program folder and all its contents (\program files\freda , or elsewhere if you installed to storage card or non-English locale). Jim Last edited by Jim Chapman; 07-11-2010 at 09:24 AM. Reason: Note for beta-testers

07-15-2010, 02:07 PM	#355
Hexadrone Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: HTC Touch Pro 2	Dictionary I installed v2 and I can't figure out how to pass a word to my dictionary. I used the path to the Merriam-webster.exe, but I can't find any information on how to pass the word to the executable. I tried the example in the manual "\|lookup=" with various substitutions for "{0}", but it just ran the dictionary without passing the word. If anyone has this dictionary and got it to work, please let me know. Thanks.

07-16-2010, 01:34 PM	#357
Hexadrone Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: HTC Touch Pro 2	Encoding problem Thanks for the information about using the clipboard with my dictionary. The book I was reading with the old version is not encoding properly in v2 no matter what I choose. It was UTF-8 with the old version. Picking an encoding does not seem to make any difference with any book. Other changes I've made in Settings do take effect. Thanks.

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07-12-2010, 04:00 AM	#351
mooxoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Windows Mobile phone	I installed version 2.0 over the beta (WM 6.1). All my books and settings remained the same, even though the installer said the previous version will be removed first.

07-16-2010, 01:50 PM	#359
Hexadrone Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: HTC Touch Pro 2	The book is Gulliver's Travels from Project Gutenberg. I will email it to you, but this is happening with any book. I tried your suggestion, but it didn't work. Also, I forgot to mention, I tried checking the "Override encoding" option and that did not help. Thanks.

07-21-2010, 02:23 AM	#360
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Just a quick note to say that I've been using the release version of 2.0 and it seems to be working very well. I had a few glitches right after installing, but they haven't repeated. Oh--I remember one thing--for some reason there were book entries in the library for a couple of titles, but no actual book files. Freda didn't like that, and crashed. Took a few times before I figured out the problem.