Kindle Firmware 5.12.5

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not about adding extra features. It's about getting rid of Mobi and repalcing it with KF8 so it will be easier to create Kindle eBooks as Mobi would never had to be dealt with again.

When Sony added ePub to the PRS-500, they added no other features.

A more complicated fancier file format is a feature. It is inherently more complicated to render KF8 vs MOBI. Both timewise and memorywise.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

A more complicated fancier file format is a feature. It is inherently more complicated to render KF8 vs MOBI. Both timewise and memorywise.

But if it can be done on a PRS-500, it should be able t be done on older Kindles. Besides, before Sony was able to add ePub to the PRS-500, they did abandon LRF/LRX for ePub. They knew they had to move forward. Amazon doesn't get it.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

So that you could then criticize them for dropping support for those models?
They can't win, can they?

My thoughts exactly

[JSWolf]

Well @bookboy and @murraypaul, you can both stop thinking because you cannot be more wrong.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well @bookboy and @murraypaul, you can both stop thinking because you cannot be more wrong.

What's the old saying?
Actions speak louder than words?

lol

Just prodding you a bit - all in good fun.
My apologies. I'm done and moving on.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But if it can be done on a PRS-500, it should be able t be done on older Kindles. Besides, before Sony was able to add ePub to the PRS-500, they did abandon LRF/LRX for ePub. They knew they had to move forward. Amazon doesn't get it.

And your point is what? How well is epub support working for Sony today? Having cutting edge technology does not guarantee survival. Again and again history shows that latest cutting edge technology is counter intuitive to survival.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

And your point is what? How well is epub support working for Sony today? Having cutting edge technology does not guarantee survival. Again and again history shows that latest cutting edge technology is counter intuitive to survival.

My point is that Sony was able to add ePub to the PES-500 which is most likely akin to the K1 or K2 and that if Sony can fit in ePub, why can't Amazon fit in KF8?

My other point is that Kobo is not supporting the first two Kobo Readers with new firmware, but all other models are able to run the current firmware.

Amazon is dropping models left and right from getting the new firmware. Everything from the PW3 on down cannot get the new firmware. Given that Amazon has been making changed to KFX, I think this could cause an issue. Imagine you have a PW3 that cannot run 5.12.5 and it turns out that there i some change the KFX in 5.12.5 so these new KFX might not work properly on your PW3.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given that Amazon has been making changed to KFX, I think this could cause an issue. Imagine you have a PW3 that cannot run 5.12.5 and it turns out that there i some change the KFX in 5.12.5 so these new KFX might not work properly on your PW3.

Amazon designed a solution to that into KFX. Each KFX-format book has a list of KFX "features" that it makes use of. Since KFX is always delivered directly to devices and cannot be downloaded manually, Amazon's servers are able to verify that the firmware running on the device supports all of the features that the book uses. If it doesn't then a fallback format is delivered instead, either KF8 or MOBI7.

There is a potential issue for those books that are only available in KFX format, such as Arabic language books. In the end, books that are only available on some devices and not others has been a thing at Amazon for a while now.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon designed a solution to that into KFX. Each KFX-format book has a list of KFX "features" that it makes use of. Since KFX is always delivered directly to devices and cannot be downloaded manually, Amazon's servers are able to verify that the firmware running on the device supports all of the features that the book uses. If it doesn't then a fallback format is delivered instead, either KF8 or MOBI7.

I didn't know that. Is there a potential issue if someone used the KFX plugin to create KFX and loads a KFX that's not fully compatible with the firmware on the Kindle?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is there a potential issue if someone used the KFX plugin to create KFX and loads a KFX that's not fully compatible with the firmware on the Kindle?

Yes there is. I mention that issue in the documentation for the KFX Output plugin and recommend that the latest firmware always be used to reduce the chance of that sort of problem.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Yes there is. I mention that issue in the documentation for the KFX Output plugin and recommend that the latest firmware always be used to reduce the chance of that sort of problem.

Is there a list of what Kindle Previewer is bets for what firmware version(s)?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is there a list of what Kindle Previewer is bets for what firmware version(s)?

I recommend using the latest versions of both for the best chance of having things work properly.

Amazon certainly has a list of which features are supported by each firmware version, but they do not publish it and I have only been able to infer part of it by observing which books are delivered to my devices in which formats.

New KFX features are added infrequently, but each new Kindle firmware release usually contains bug fixes in the KFX renderer.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Thing is, it's time for Mobi go away.

So... you think Amazon should screw over everyone who wants to read periodicals, and everyone who has existing stocks of mobi books which are not available in other formats? As far as I can tell from your previous responses, you think exactly that, but you condemn people who use older Kindles -- which still work and can still buy stuff, even newly-published stuff -- for using "EOL" hardware, even though Amazon's reasoning for stopping publishing firmware for older devices -- the maintenance burden -- is *exactly the same* as your stated reasoning for dropping entire file formats in which a huge stock of existing works are published. The difference is, if an older Kindle no longer gets firmware updated, it's still useful and you can still read everything you could read before and buy new stuff too. If a new Kindle firmware release loses support for an entire file format, huge chunks of stuff you already have on there suddenly become useless, and you can't read them any more. This would wreck Kindles' reputation, and rightly so.

(I do have to wonder what you think Kindles are for, if it's not reading.)

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not about adding extra features. It's about getting rid of Mobi and repalcing it with KF8 so it will be easier to create Kindle eBooks as Mobi would never had to be dealt with again.

This is the only point you have made so far in this argument that I am in agreement with to some degree. Currently the burden falls on the publisher to produce books that render well (or at least readably) in the various Kindle delivery formats that Amazon produces from the publisher's source file. With three major delivery formats currently in use (MOBI7, KF8, and KFX) there is a lot to test.

The tool they provide to help with this, the Kindle Previewer, does only part of the job. It focuses on how the book will render on the newest apps and devices and leaves it up to the publisher to create and sideload MOBI files to check rendering on older devices.

It would be nice if Amazon's software could do a better job of automatically producing a MOBI fallback that renders well from source files that use modern HTML formatting. That would reduce the burden on publishers and provide more consistency in book formatting for uses of older devices.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

This is the only point you have made so far in this argument that I am in agreement with to some degree. Currently the burden falls on the publisher to produce books that render well (or at least readably) in the various Kindle delivery formats that Amazon produces from the publisher's source file. With three major delivery formats currently in use (MOBI7, KF8, and KFX) there is a lot to test.

The tool they provide to help with this, the Kindle Previewer, does only part of the job. It focuses on how the book will render on the newest apps and devices and leaves it up to the publisher to create and sideload MOBI files to check rendering on older devices.

It would be nice if Amazon's software could do a better job of automatically producing a MOBI fallback that renders well from source files that use modern HTML formatting. That would reduce the burden on publishers and provide more consistency in book formatting for uses of older devices.

There is another option Amazon could have. They could allow the publisher to specify no Mobi for eBooks that just won't work will in Mobi. Most eBooks will be OK in Mobi. But some won't be OK and that's where the problem is.