BeBook Review - really a great device... - Page 9

Dr. Drib · 11-21-2008, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlfonsVH

Here you go...

LIT certainly is useable, but the pageturns take more time than most other file formats.

Sorry for the crappy pics, but the screen of my camera broke, so I have to focus by trial and error

But well, you get the idea I guess.

AfonsoVH and tsGreer -- Thank you both very much for the photos and information.

It looks (for my subjective tastes) that the formatting is not quite there yet to satisfy me.

Again, thank you both for supplying this information.

Don

AlfonsVH · 11-21-2008, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

AfonsoVH and tsGreer -- Thank you both very much for the photos and information.

It looks (for my subjective tastes) that the formatting is not quite there yet to satisfy me.

Again, thank you both for supplying this information.

Don

You're welcome!

orwell2k · 11-21-2008, 08:32 AM

Yes, the best that can be said of the LIT renderer on BeBook is that you can load .LIT files! It is quite crappy, and very book-sensitive. Some books disply OK, and some look terrible.

The intial .LIT files I loaded into BeBook actually displayed quite well so I was impressed. It wasn't ideal, and other formats looked better and had more options, but it was workable. Since trying more LIT files it seems more problems appear - especially formatting (centre justify - why would that happen?) and text size (small or huge).

To be honest I don't read in LIT format if I can help it - partly because it's MS, partly because my old Acer n10 would crash often using the MS reader, partly because it's only a Windo$e app (although Stanza works for non-DRM on my Mac), partly because of the crazy MS activation scheme, and partly because it's so damn easy to convert LIT to other (better?) formats. Any .LIT you're trying to read on BeBook must be non-DRM, so there should be no problem converting it to say FB2, PRC (Mobi), or even just RTF or TXT. I would recommend that as the best option - convert your LIT files to something else.

But that doesn't address the basic problem, being that the LIT reader needs to be improved. The BeBook people have done some good improvements to MOBI, PRC, TXT and HTML, but they still all need some work. Same as LIT.

At the moment it seems the best formats to use on BeBook are FB2, RTF or customised PDF (to the 9x12 cm page size for the BeBook display) if you want really nice looking eBooks. Currently for DRM MOBI is the only option, and it's not bad now, and hopefully they will add another update soon to tweak it even more.

JoeD · 11-22-2008, 06:32 AM

FB2 is an ideal format, I think the reader for it is the most feature rich and usable of all the readers on the Hanlin.

I know BeBook resell the Hanlin from Jinke, but do they also make changes to the firmware beyond start-up screen? Just wondering if they have the ability to improve the .lit reader to make it as useful as the .fb2 reader. If they could get it up to a similar standard there'd be no need for conversion at all.

carandol · 11-22-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeD

FB2 is an ideal format, I think the reader for it is the most feature rich and usable of all the readers on the Hanlin.

I've just got a Bebook, and keep hearing things about how good the fb2 format is, but can't seem to find anything that will create fb2 format documents on a linux system. Or, at least, nothing with instructions in English -- there seem to be lots of Russian tools available. Can anyone help?

yargoflick · 11-22-2008, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carandol

I've just got a Bebook, and keep hearing things about how good the fb2 format is, but can't seem to find anything that will create fb2 format documents on a linux system. Or, at least, nothing with instructions in English -- there seem to be lots of Russian tools available. Can anyone help?

I've used html2fb from google code:
http://code.google.com/p/html2fb/

I installed it quite a while ago, but I don't think it was too hard. If ya need help feel free to contact me.

Cheers,
Lee

carandol · 11-22-2008, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yargoflick

I've used html2fb from google code:
http://code.google.com/p/html2fb/

I installed it quite a while ago, but I don't think it was too hard. If ya need help feel free to contact me.

Thanks, that looks like just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Unfortunately, the web page doesn't actually seem to have anything in the downloads section, unless I'm being an idiot and missing a link somewhere.

yargoflick · 11-22-2008, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carandol

Thanks, that looks like just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Unfortunately, the web page doesn't actually seem to have anything in the downloads section, unless I'm being an idiot and missing a link somewhere.

I pretty sure you just use the svn check out, install subversion and follow the instructions here:
http://code.google.com/p/html2fb/source/checkout

carandol · 11-23-2008, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yargoflick

I pretty sure you just use the svn check out, install subversion and follow the instructions here:
http://code.google.com/p/html2fb/source/checkout

Ah, OK. Never used subversion before, so it didn't make much sense to me. Now I've got it

orwell2k · 11-24-2008, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carandol

I've just got a Bebook, and keep hearing things about how good the fb2 format is, but can't seem to find anything that will create fb2 format documents on a linux system. Or, at least, nothing with instructions in English -- there seem to be lots of Russian tools available. Can anyone help?

I use a Mac so I'm not sure if html2fb will work, but I might give it a try.

At the moment I use BookDesigner, which is a very good windo$e program for converting from just about anything to just about anything, but I primarily use it to convert to FB2. There's some good info in these forums - try:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11786

It's great on a PC. On the Mac I run it under VMware Fusion and it's very good, but I would like to find a Mac solution. I think I tried v4.0 (pre-updates) under Linux using Wine and it went OK, so you could give that a try. You could also try VMware or one of the other virtual machine tools (I believe there's free ones around for Linux).

Reading on the Mac is no problem with Stanza, and Calibre is ported to the Mac if you have a Sony. But some of the other tools seem to be Windows only.

carandol · 11-24-2008, 08:03 AM

I've tried html2fb.py and it's just giving me error messages, which I don't have time to try to understand at the moment. I tried installing BookDesigner in wine, and it runs fine, but when I try to load an rtf file, it says it can't find my MS Word installation, which presumably means I'd need to get hold of a copy of that and install it too. Calibre has a linux version, but that doesn't export as FB2. Ho hum.

redbaron101 · 11-28-2008, 05:55 AM

yup, I also found the lit parser to be a little buggy on the bebook, on some books it messes the bottom of the page intermittently which goes away flipping forwards and backwards. Its a pity as I loved the smallest size on the lit. Since then I converted a few to rtf and have had no problems so far. I also tried converting a couple to fb2 using book designer (free m$ proggie) and I loved the way the books appear on the bookshelf on the reader and that the index actually works, I think I will most likely convert my remaining lits to fb2.

khilto01 · 12-30-2008, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Bottom Line (even though it's at the top)...

mybebook@hotmail.com

After 10 "referrals" the e-mail owner is supposed to get a free BeBook, so I'm interested to see if this offer is honored, and naturally I'd like to benefit.

Did anyone get a free bebook after 10 referrals?

Sweetpea · 12-30-2008, 06:58 AM

To the OP:

You mentioned (re)placing the battery wasn't difficult, so you must have seen the battery

. I read somewhere that the Hanlin uses a Nokia mobile phone battery, is this the same for the BeBook?

HarryT · 12-30-2008, 07:03 AM

The Hanlin, BeBook, EZ Reader, etc, are all the same machine.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
BeBook dedicated device forum	orwell2k	Feedback	22	02-02-2010 11:59 AM
BeBook review	spaze	BeBook	17	08-26-2009 11:36 AM
send to device (bebook)	hannah	Calibre	4	06-12-2009 03:12 AM
BeBook device? Just a Hanlin v3?	mizo9999	Which one should I buy?	5	11-13-2008 02:44 AM
Another new E Ink device: BEBOOK	AnemicOak	News	66	08-27-2008 04:47 AM

11-21-2008, 08:32 AM	#123
orwell2k Addict Posts: 357 Karma: 1112 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Euroland Device: PocketBook 360°, BeBook (Hanlin V3), iRex DR1000S, iPad	Yes, the best that can be said of the LIT renderer on BeBook is that you can load .LIT files! It is quite crappy, and very book-sensitive. Some books disply OK, and some look terrible. The intial .LIT files I loaded into BeBook actually displayed quite well so I was impressed. It wasn't ideal, and other formats looked better and had more options, but it was workable. Since trying more LIT files it seems more problems appear - especially formatting (centre justify - why would that happen?) and text size (small or huge). To be honest I don't read in LIT format if I can help it - partly because it's MS, partly because my old Acer n10 would crash often using the MS reader, partly because it's only a Windo$e app (although Stanza works for non-DRM on my Mac), partly because of the crazy MS activation scheme, and partly because it's so damn easy to convert LIT to other (better?) formats. Any .LIT you're trying to read on BeBook must be non-DRM, so there should be no problem converting it to say FB2, PRC (Mobi), or even just RTF or TXT. I would recommend that as the best option - convert your LIT files to something else. But that doesn't address the basic problem, being that the LIT reader needs to be improved. The BeBook people have done some good improvements to MOBI, PRC, TXT and HTML, but they still all need some work. Same as LIT. At the moment it seems the best formats to use on BeBook are FB2, RTF or customised PDF (to the 9x12 cm page size for the BeBook display) if you want really nice looking eBooks. Currently for DRM MOBI is the only option, and it's not bad now, and hopefully they will add another update soon to tweak it even more.

11-22-2008, 06:32 AM	#124
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	FB2 is an ideal format, I think the reader for it is the most feature rich and usable of all the readers on the Hanlin. I know BeBook resell the Hanlin from Jinke, but do they also make changes to the firmware beyond start-up screen? Just wondering if they have the ability to improve the .lit reader to make it as useful as the .fb2 reader. If they could get it up to a similar standard there'd be no need for conversion at all.

11-24-2008, 08:03 AM	#131
carandol Evangelist Posts: 423 Karma: 2153430 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: BeBook	I've tried html2fb.py and it's just giving me error messages, which I don't have time to try to understand at the moment. I tried installing BookDesigner in wine, and it runs fine, but when I try to load an rtf file, it says it can't find my MS Word installation, which presumably means I'd need to get hold of a copy of that and install it too. Calibre has a linux version, but that doesn't export as FB2. Ho hum.

11-28-2008, 05:55 AM	#132
redbaron101 Zealot Posts: 121 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: uk Device: palm t3, iphone, bebook (hanlin v3 clone)	yup, I also found the lit parser to be a little buggy on the bebook, on some books it messes the bottom of the page intermittently which goes away flipping forwards and backwards. Its a pity as I loved the smallest size on the lit. Since then I converted a few to rtf and have had no problems so far. I also tried converting a couple to fb2 using book designer (free m$ proggie) and I loved the way the books appear on the bookshelf on the reader and that the index actually works, I think I will most likely convert my remaining lits to fb2.

12-30-2008, 06:58 AM	#134
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	To the OP: You mentioned (re)placing the battery wasn't difficult, so you must have seen the battery . I read somewhere that the Hanlin uses a Nokia mobile phone battery, is this the same for the BeBook?

12-30-2008, 07:03 AM	#135
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The Hanlin, BeBook, EZ Reader, etc, are all the same machine.