Questions about The Cybook, 24 hours in.

[bbusybookworm]

I've had my Cybook Gen3 for a little over 24 hours, and wanted to ask some of the more experienced users about a few problems I've run into.I've also upgraded to the latest version of the firmware.

The Gen3 seems to crash every now and then after a about and hour of so of reading. A couple of times It was when reading a text file. The last few times, was when I was reading a comic strip (Gif's on a 256mb SD card formatted FAT32) and It just froze and switched off. Is this normal?This is after the firmware update.

It also seems to be corrupting a 2gb sd card I have inside it, in the middle of reading. while I have taken it out and reformatted it to FAT32 a couple of times.Haven't tried it after upgrading the firmware. Does the new firmware help in this regard in anyway. I've temporarily got another 256mb sd card in it right now.

When trying to read a couple of PDF's with a lot of images inside (25mb), it just shows a blank page half the time, and the other half, just crashes the device.

Is it possible to set the actual zoom level when viewing PDF's or Jpegs, as opposed to just fitting to screen, to width or to length.

When looking at Mobipocket books created with Mobipocket Creator, is it possible to zoom into images within the book. I've got some scanned religious books that are a collection of images as they can't be OCR'd (In Gujarati). Also if that is not possible, what wolde you suggest would be the best way to read such a book. It is currently in PDF format which is not being read by the Gen3.

Finally, is it possible to remember which Image I was last looking at (bookmark) or do I need to remember and scroll to the point I was last at.

[Vesper]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

I've had my Cybook Gen3 for a little over 24 hours, and wanted to ask some of the more experienced users about a few problems I've run into.I've also upgraded to the latest version of the firmware.

Congratulations! One of the problems with latest firmware is power drain (twice confirmed) so I would advise you too return to 538.

The Gen3 seems to crash every now and then after a about and hour of so of reading. A couple of times It was when reading a text file. The last few times, was when I was reading a comic strip (Gif's on a 256mb SD card formatted FAT32) and It just froze and switched off. Is this normal?This is after the firmware update.

Hmm... have you checked for corrupted internal memory? I had couple of crashes, but only while/after reading PDF's.

It also seems to be corrupting a 2gb sd card I have inside it, in the middle of reading. while I have taken it out and reformatted it to FAT32 a couple of times.Haven't tried it after upgrading the firmware. Does the new firmware help in this regard in anyway. I've temporarily got another 256mb sd card in it right now.

Try the other card. It's a known problem - some cards are problematic (or perhaps Cybook is picky).

When trying to read a couple of PDF's with a lot of images inside (25mb), it just shows a blank page half the time, and the other half, just crashes the device.

I heard it's connected with the new firmware - have no experience myself.
[UPDATE] Just tried to open text only pdf and it crashed CyB thee times before I managed to open it - and that's with 538 (old) firmware[/UPDATE]

Is it possible to set the actual zoom level when viewing PDFs or Jpegs, as opposed to just fitting to screen, to width or to length.

No, not atm.

When looking at Mobipocket books created with Mobipocket Creator, is it possible to zoom into images within the book. I've got some scanned religious books that are a collection of images as they can't be OCR'd (In Gujarati). Also if that is not possible, what wolde you suggest would be the best way to read such a book. It is currently in PDF format which is not being read by the Gen3.

Uhh... see my first comment. And someone with similar reading habits should advise you about your options.

Finally, is it possible to remember which Image I was last looking at (bookmark) or do I need to remember and scroll to the point I was last at.

Remember, apparently. There's no bookmark in PDF.

DrS

[bbusybookworm]

@Vesper

Unfortunately, As I got the Device with I think, V.1.0 641(not sure), dont have experience with 538. Will keep it in mind If I run intoo many problems.

How do I check for the corrupted internal memory? I did run Windows error checking on internal memory when I reformatted the SD card. Is there anything else I can do. That was one of the reasons I installed the update, to hopefully fix some of the problems.

However, over the last few hours, It hasn't crashed when opening images, so the firmware update might have helped there

As for PDF's, Can't seem to open any of the PDF's I've loaded on to it, even ones that were working previously. One step forward, two steps back.

[HarryT]

I would suggest avoiding PDFs if at all possible. The Gen3 seems completely stable with MobiPocket books, but very flaky indeed with PDFs.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

The Gen3 seems to crash every now and then after a about and hour of so of reading. A couple of times It was when reading a text file. The last few times, was when I was reading a comic strip (Gif's on a 256mb SD card formatted FAT32) and It just froze and switched off. Is this normal?This is after the firmware update.

I've also suffered this with the new firmware. It seems to be more likely if you browse a lot around the library, open books, change settings... If you just stick with one book and read it, I think it does not happen so often.

It also seems to be corrupting a 2gb sd card I have inside it, in the middle of reading. while I have taken it out and reformatted it to FAT32 a couple of times.Haven't tried it after upgrading the firmware. Does the new firmware help in this regard in anyway. I've temporarily got another 256mb sd card in it right now.

Just after upgrading the firmware, in one of the crashes, my card was corrupted, a whole directory disappeared and was replaced with the contents of another directory...

When trying to read a couple of PDF's with a lot of images inside (25mb), it just shows a blank page half the time, and the other half, just crashes the device.

Yes, that seems normal. When a page is "too complicated", the Cybook shows it blank. I guess the crashes are also more frequent with big and complex PDFs. However, with mainly text (and some illustrations) PDFs, it seems to work fine. For instance, I've read the PDFs I've uploaded here without any problem.

I have the impression (but no proof) that the blank pages are more frequent with the new firmware, though.

Is it possible to set the actual zoom level when viewing PDF's or Jpegs, as opposed to just fitting to screen, to width or to length.

Not at the moment. But you can switch to landscape mode too.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I would suggest avoiding PDFs if at all possible. The Gen3 seems completely stable with MobiPocket books, but very flaky indeed with PDFs.

Harry T, I usually do try to avoid using PDF's, and most of what I read is just text files and html.

However as I mentioned earlier, some of the scanned books I have are in Gujarati and other Indian languages, and as such are just pure image files. Currently PDF is the easiest way I've found to manage them and to actually get to a specific page inside.

I tried to convert one of them to Mobi using Mobipocket creator, but kept getting a lot of errors. am still working on getting it right.

Also a lot of newsletter I get tend to be in PDF, and again because of the language issue, can't just convert to Mobi or Html.

And untill the Gen3 lets me jump to a specific image, I cant use the simple expedient of just keeping them as jpeg on a separate SD card.


On another issue, is it possible to force the reader to automaticly generate the thumbnail view for all pictures, as opposed to generating each page load as you go by?

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I've also suffered this with the new firmware. It seems to be more likely if you browse a lot around the library, open books, change settings... If you just stick with one book and read it, I think it does not happen so often.

Guilty as Charged. I was jumping around and playing around with the settings quiet a bit

Yes, that seems normal. When a page is "too complicated", the Cybook shows it blank. I guess the crashes are also more frequent with big and complex PDFs. However, with mainly text (and some illustrations) PDFs, it seems to work fine. For instance, I've read the PDFs I've uploaded here without any problem.

I have the impression (but no proof) that the blank pages are more frequent with the new firmware, though.

Probably. The PDF I tried to read was basicly just 700 pages of scanned images, not OCR's. As such, the Gen3 Probably Barfed on them.

Not at the moment. But you can switch to landscape mode too.

True, but even then, in sometimes to see the fine detail, you really want to zoom in. Especially in case of diagrams.