ebookwise 1150 library disappeared on sm card insertion?

bart_simpson · 10-31-2026, 01:47 PM

Actually it is "filament ETI-2" but I think it is the same?

I got one of these and found its 8MB of internal storage full of books I might actually read. I put one unencrypted imp book on a 128MB smartmedia card just to test and now I only have the one book?! Since I've read it is bad for these things to do a lot of insertion/removal of smart cards, I'm wondering if there is no way to switch back to the internal library w/o removing the card?

AFAIK, this thing is on the latest fw 4.0.

Alas, it also appears I have no dictionary. Is the original rhd that came with it backed up somewhere in imp format? I can't find it on archive.

250 Coupe · 11-01-2026, 12:07 PM

The 1150 memory situation is an either/or kind of thing. It can access either the internal memory OR the SM card. It cannot use both at the same time. It's kind of annoying as the 1150 came with a dictionary in internal memory. I never did put much effort into moving the dictionary onto a card so I don't know if it will work.
The issue with inserting the card with power on has to do with the read/write cache technique. It's kind of slow on reads and writes, if you pull the card out or insert it at the wrong time, it will corrupt the card. I think you can reformat it for reuse but you will lose all content and progress on that card.
Also, it was implied that SmartMedia cards are not terribly robust. They are said to have a higher failure rate than other types of memory cards but I do wonder if this is due to the read write cache thing. I don't think I've ever had one fail but then it's been many years and I just keep reading the 45 or so books on the 1150.

Michael

bart_simpson · 11-01-2026, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 250 Coupe

The 1150 memory situation is an either/or kind of thing. It can access either the internal memory OR the SM card. It cannot use both at the same time.

Michael

I figured it was to keep people from copying books, as if DRM weren't enough....

Compared to the REB 1100 and the original Rocket eBook, the battery life is not very good. Maybe it is still indexing the huge Webster's 1913 dictionary I have on the card, but a brand new lipo pack I built myself for the REB1100 seems to run down in just a few days while it lasts so crazy long in the REB1100 that I wasn't even bothering to measure.

What is the final library manager solution? As I understand it GEB Librarian needs a registration code and you can't buy it anymore. Rocket Librarian probably won't work. I have a demo of "REB Librarian" (from the big Brazillian ebooks archive) but it later became free? impserve maybe? I mostly will connect with USB to a windows xp laptop.

I'm getting the impression that it is near impossible to update the firmware as it is available noplace and a defunct blog I read outlines some insanely complicated procedure but for the REB1200.... I'm on 4.0, and I can't even find a changelog for the final(?) 4.2

I also can't believe filament added all this fancy UI stuff but took away the ability to set a shortcut to turn the page: there's a shortcut for everthing BUT turn the page! So if the buttons fail, the device is useless. Maybe I'm wrong about this and it is just very well hidden?

I might not use this device much after I'm done reading all the lost eBooks it came with. REB1100 is better.

bart_simpson · 11-04-2026, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bart_simpson

I figured it was to keep people from copying books, as if DRM weren't enough....

Compared to the REB 1100 and the original Rocket eBook, the battery life is not very good. Maybe it is still indexing the huge Webster's 1913 dictionary I have on the card, but a brand new lipo pack I built myself for the REB1100 seems to run down in just a few days while it lasts so crazy long in the REB1100 that I wasn't even bothering to measure.

Update: it might not be the 1150's fault: I got fed up with seriously flakey battery behavior and took the battery pack apart, examining each battery with a volt meter and external (XTAR, supposedly a good brand) charger. One of the two batteries had lost a third of its capacity and would not hold a charge.

Anyway, I rewelded two brand new 18650s into the pack and the 1150 so far seems to be holding steady and the battery percent/time left is not jumping around crazily.

Finding a consistently good source of 18650s is an ongoing problem. I used to fix battery packs for Handheld PCs and old laptops, but it became too frustrating: like half the 18650s in my refurbished battery packs failed within 2 years. Right now, I don't fix anything that has more than 2 18650s in it and I'm getting ready to give up even with these.

250 Coupe · 11-04-2026, 07:14 PM

I hear you on batteries. These days, if it's a hard to get into device or it's going to someone less savvy, I get my cells from Digikey. My hope being they are fresher and not counterfeits. There was a guest on Ham Radio Workbench that was making a device to mildly torture test cells to help weed out weak ones. No idea if he finished the project, https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/po...ai6ms#comments

My 1150 reports it'll run for over 12 (maybe 19? it's been a while since I looked) hours on a charge. I tend to run the brightness a bit low, you can actually read with no light if the room is bright enough. To "calibrate" the battery run time figure, disable auto shut down in settings and let it fully charge while on.

The page buttons seem durable, I've never felt a need to worry about them. I think the Neuvomedia (sp?) version and know that the ETI-1 had an area on the screen you could touch to page forward. The 1150 doesn't seem to. The page turn action is just inside the long edge on the right, on the ETI-1, it looked like pages spread out a bit.

250 Coupe · 11-04-2026, 07:31 PM

Just noticed this, "Actually it is "filament ETI-2" but I think it is the same?"

The manufacturer was eBook Technologies. The readers were rebranded by a few different vendors. I know RCA had a version as did ebookwise and I think there was at least one other.

If you haven't already tried it, holding down the page down button while powering it on will add more info to the info selection in the upper left icon. The reader I'm currently using is not registered. It shows Viewer:4.2f17 and PCB:00. My other is registered to me by name and has my phone number.

I'm pretty sure I've tried theater mode, I think it locks you into one book and/or disables menus. I've not tried refurbish but may have used erase external to try bringing an SM card back to life. Power cycling again without holding a button down will restore the info menu to it's usual brief format.

10-31-2026, 01:47 PM	#1
bart_simpson Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2022 Location: Peoples' Republic of Florida Device: Rocket eBook; eBookman ; old kobos, kindles &, nooks	ebookwise 1150 library disappeared on sm card insertion? Actually it is "filament ETI-2" but I think it is the same? I got one of these and found its 8MB of internal storage full of books I might actually read. I put one unencrypted imp book on a 128MB smartmedia card just to test and now I only have the one book?! Since I've read it is bad for these things to do a lot of insertion/removal of smart cards, I'm wondering if there is no way to switch back to the internal library w/o removing the card? AFAIK, this thing is on the latest fw 4.0. Alas, it also appears I have no dictionary. Is the original rhd that came with it backed up somewhere in imp format? I can't find it on archive. Last edited by bart_simpson; 10-31-2026 at 01:49 PM. Reason: clarification

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11-01-2026, 12:07 PM	#2
250 Coupe Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 10721 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: Many ebook readers at my house	The 1150 memory situation is an either/or kind of thing. It can access either the internal memory OR the SM card. It cannot use both at the same time. It's kind of annoying as the 1150 came with a dictionary in internal memory. I never did put much effort into moving the dictionary onto a card so I don't know if it will work. The issue with inserting the card with power on has to do with the read/write cache technique. It's kind of slow on reads and writes, if you pull the card out or insert it at the wrong time, it will corrupt the card. I think you can reformat it for reuse but you will lose all content and progress on that card. Also, it was implied that SmartMedia cards are not terribly robust. They are said to have a higher failure rate than other types of memory cards but I do wonder if this is due to the read write cache thing. I don't think I've ever had one fail but then it's been many years and I just keep reading the 45 or so books on the 1150. Michael

11-04-2026, 07:14 PM	#5
250 Coupe Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 10721 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: Many ebook readers at my house	I hear you on batteries. These days, if it's a hard to get into device or it's going to someone less savvy, I get my cells from Digikey. My hope being they are fresher and not counterfeits. There was a guest on Ham Radio Workbench that was making a device to mildly torture test cells to help weed out weak ones. No idea if he finished the project, https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/po...ai6ms#comments My 1150 reports it'll run for over 12 (maybe 19? it's been a while since I looked) hours on a charge. I tend to run the brightness a bit low, you can actually read with no light if the room is bright enough. To "calibrate" the battery run time figure, disable auto shut down in settings and let it fully charge while on. The page buttons seem durable, I've never felt a need to worry about them. I think the Neuvomedia (sp?) version and know that the ETI-1 had an area on the screen you could touch to page forward. The 1150 doesn't seem to. The page turn action is just inside the long edge on the right, on the ETI-1, it looked like pages spread out a bit.

11-04-2026, 07:31 PM	#6
250 Coupe Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 10721 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: Many ebook readers at my house	Just noticed this, "Actually it is "filament ETI-2" but I think it is the same?" The manufacturer was eBook Technologies. The readers were rebranded by a few different vendors. I know RCA had a version as did ebookwise and I think there was at least one other. If you haven't already tried it, holding down the page down button while powering it on will add more info to the info selection in the upper left icon. The reader I'm currently using is not registered. It shows Viewer:4.2f17 and PCB:00. My other is registered to me by name and has my phone number. I'm pretty sure I've tried theater mode, I think it locks you into one book and/or disables menus. I've not tried refurbish but may have used erase external to try bringing an SM card back to life. Power cycling again without holding a button down will restore the info menu to it's usual brief format.