Report on new firmware?

[Abelturd]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I hope it means whatever problem there was with my Cybook is now miraculously fixed

One week is the official ripening period.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

One week is the official ripening period.

Oh, OK, that explains it then

[Godzil]

From what I heard from the RendezVous, the Cybook is put in a state in "sleep mode" where the only way it could drain less battery is completly off.

On "standard" computer sleep and standby is normaly the same mode, ie CPU at lowest consumption, HD/DVD and other peripherals at the lowest consumption, and RAM in a special mode that will retain informations without need of an external device (Self Refresh mode)

The only mode that can go further than standby is "herbernation", unlike the standby mode, the RAM content is stored on a fixed drive (like a HD or anything else) and then the computer is turn off, and the next boot is a special one, where it read the special file on the HD and restore the RAM content.

By seeing the time the PRS505 and 700 turn back "on" from the "standby mode" it doesn't look like they use such a thing.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Godzil

From what I heard from the RendezVous, the Cybook is put in a state in "sleep mode" where the only way it could drain less battery is completly off.

The interesting question is probably how it wakes up. I suspect it is by polling since otherwise it would be very hard to miss button presses and we know that happens.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

The interesting question is probably how it wakes up. I suspect it is by polling since otherwise it would be very hard to miss button presses and we know that happens.

Agreed, whereas perhaps the Sony uses interrupts, in which case the hardware could be put into a much "deeper sleep".

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Agreed, whereas perhaps the Sony uses interrupts, in which case the hardware could be put into a much "deeper sleep".

With an ARM processor it is the same kind of sleep but with an interrupt driven wake up it can sleep longer.

[zelda_pinwheel]

now you can see a video of the fast advance (on the Opus, but it's the same idea on the cybook, just without the accelerometre) :
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...er-screen_tech

[Godzil]

I doubt they use pooling or else a standby mode is not possible. Key should be driven by interrupts not by pooling their values.

[HarryT]

Don't you think that the fact that the Gen3 occasionally "misses" key presses is a strong indication that the o/s is polling the keys? Interrupt-driven key presses should never be missed.

[Godzil]

Mine cybook had never "miss" any key. Maybe this was due to hardware bug? Or maybe a software bug, since when you get an interrupt, until you finish the treatement of it, you will not get any new interruption. This will mainly depend on the used CPU, but interruptions are generaly masked when you treat one. So it's possible if there is a bug here to miss some interruptions.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Don't you think that the fact that the Gen3 occasionally "misses" key presses is a strong indication that the o/s is polling the keys? Interrupt-driven key presses should never be missed.

And when they tried to fix that problem the battery time went from 6-7 days to 2-3 days. Then they did something so we got 4 days battery time.

[Godzil]

And after they set this back to 6-7 day. The bug that led to lose 4 day could be due to something else

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Godzil

And after they set this back to 6-7 day. The bug that led to lose 4 day could be due to something else

No, it is 4 days now. Nobody here has said that they did proper measurments and got 6-7 days for a later firmware.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

Regarding the general talking about Bookeen:
As I understood Micheal, Bookeen staff did not spend their time doing nothing, but tried to satisfy their customers with both format support, which they where unable to do, due to circumstances they have no influence on.

Nobody said they were doing nothing but the results (or rather lack of) are what inspired some criticism here. If you haven't been waiting for the next firmware release for close to a year soon then you probably don't understand the sentiments of some of the people here but if you read closely you find that most people are annoyed by the waiting and lack of communication rather than the fw itself.

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

One surley has to appreciate the fact, they do want to bring us the new format in the first place. Any other supplier would perhaps leave you with shipping software, and sell you a new device for a new format. Bookeen could have easily done that, since the are launching the Opus next. What would be if you heard them saying, "Gen3 will stay Mobi, Opus will be ePub. Exclusively".

That is pretty much what they have done. As most long-time customers have already bought DRM-ed mobi books they can't switch to the epub firmware and the people who bought from Weltbild the ePub version will most probably not switch to the mobi version because those readers are sold in the german speaking world and there most DRM-ed books will be ePub as it turns out.
So, effectively, they made a new firmware for them to make a deal with Weltbild and now release it also for existing customers. It's not that I don't appreciate the fact and welcome it but it's not as selfless as you put it, either.

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

To me, it is great that they are still improving a 2 year old device. They are not obligated to do so. Hence, I find it just wrong to talk ill about them now.

The first Cybooks have been sold 2 years ago but they are still selling them and so they don't support old hardware without gain but they improve existing goods to sell more. They are not obligated to do so, of course, but if they wouldn't improve on the 2 year old device they wouldn't stand up to the competition which has arisen during the last 2 years.
[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

What´s for ePub vs. Mobi, good arguments have fallen, but you all missed the most important issue:
Dictionary embedding with Mobi is great. But what is that good for when you don´t get books in that format? Have you looked at the german section of the MobiPocket site lately? You just don´t get good books there anymore, and they where scarce from the start. Any other ebook-store in german/austrian lands does sell in ePub, sometimes PDF but no Mobi (or not anymore).
Having this in mind, some of you (Mobi-users formost) might see the format switch issue from a different perspective. It is not about fonts, margins or crap - at least not for the user. It is about content.

Not for the anglo-american market and that's a little bigger than the german-speaking market. The fact that you don't find many german books on Mobipocket is because the german publishers decided on going for ePub and has nothing to do with the stores.
Bookeen struck the huge deal with one of the largest publishing groups in the german speaking market and therefore had to put out a fw with ePub support. The fw was for them to be able to get a deal with Weltbild and has nothing to do with their evaluation of how many german language books there are for sale in any given store.

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

One last thing about the mentioned upcoming update:
You all discussed about the Delete-button, and not getting ePub support.
To me, it is the enhanced display driver I am most exciting about. Faster screen switch time - cool. Again, the device is two years old. It´s like having a update for a 2 year old Windows OS, that´s doubling your CPU power. When´s that going to happen?

As I have not yet seen the new fw in action and reports by the few who have it did not sound like it's rocket fuel I can't share your excitement. I have read plenty of advertisements for programs making your windows 2x faster but in test they invariably failed to deliver.
I am happy that they improved the display driver and am looking forward to a more responsive Cybook but I very much doubt it's anthing close to doubling the speed.

Sorry, if I can't share your enthusiasm but I would rather first see the fw delivered and working as intended before I throw roses at Bookeen's feet. I have already experienced 3 fw updates: The first halfed my battery time and then it took two more updates to bring it back to what it was in the first place. This time I wait with applause until I can see for myself what I get...

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by T_Frain_K

I know. The Cybook is empty within 4 days when left on (don´t know when exactly, nor if my battery was full), but if you just put it aside or drop it when falling asleep, you won´t drain the battery (completly).
Besides, does it really need a start time like that? Obviously, one usually spends more time on a book, so them few seconds really should not matter.

It is the second law of free market economy - the cost-benefit equation.

It's useful when you use public transport on your way to work. When you only have a few minutes to read it's nice if it turns on instantly.
I have developed my own strategy, though. I press the button when I get close to the train/bus/subway station and once I am there it's finished booting. During the ride I don't switch it off even when I change transport (have set auto turn-off to one hour). That works pretty well for me so I don't mind the boot time.