New DR1000S firmware announced

[Mackx]

See the i to i blog website from iRex for details.

[Shaggy]

They're targeting the same timeframe as the DR800 release, which is what we had suspected. They also state that this synchronizes the two firmwares, which is really good news.

[HarryT]

Shame about the loss of some features, but overall, this is very good. My DR1000S has been sitting around unused for several months; I can start using it as a large-screen ePub reader with this new firmware.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Shame about the loss of some features, but overall, this is very good. My DR1000S has been sitting around unused for several months; I can start using it as a large-screen ePub reader with this new firmware.

Looks like they have plans to add most of them back in. I think it was just a matter of not wanting to hold up the entire update until they had all of the minor features working. This way it'll get the Adobe viewers and performance/power improvements out and let people start benefiting from that, while they add back in a couple of the things that have to be re-designed (dictionary, etc).

[olis]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

They're targeting the same timeframe as the DR800 release, which is what we had suspected. They also state that this synchronizes the two firmwares, which is really good news.

Good news? Are you joking, right?

They have removed scribble merging, dictionary support and the greatly useful "hide margins" zoom function.
Really disappointing!

[HarryT]

It depends what you use it for. I guess you use it primarily for viewing and annotating PDFs? In that case, your disappointment is understandable. I use mine as a bookreader, though, and since I switched from reading Mobipocket to ePub books, my DR1000 has been a "paperweight". This new firmware will give it, for me personally, a new lease of life.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by olis

Good news? Are you joking, right?

It's good news because both devices being based on the same firmware will make maintenance a lot easier. It also means that moving forward they are planning on supporting both devices together. Some people were questioning whether they were going to drop support for the DR1000 at some point, like they did with the iLiad. This announcement confirms that DR1000 support will continue in parallel with DR800 support, and both will be developed together in the future.

Being based on the same firmware does not mean that the DR1000 will be limited to only the same features as the DR800. There have already been discussions about enabling/disabling some features on one device or the other (specifically the DR1000 may have some additional features that the DR800 doesn't).

Regarding the features you talked about, see comments above. They said they have plans to add those back in again, but didn't want to hold up the release while they waited on them.

If those features are significant to you, you always have the option of not upgrading until they re-implement them in the new firmware.

[olis]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It depends what you use it for. I guess you use it primarily for viewing and annotating PDFs? In that case, your disappointment is understandable. I use mine as a bookreader, though, and since I switched from reading Mobipocket to ePub books, my DR1000 has been a "paperweight". This new firmware will give it, for me personally, a new lease of life.

I use my DR mainly for reading textbooks and scientific papers. I find the "hide margins" zoom function and the capability to merge my annotations indispensable, so it seems I will be stuck with version 1.71.
HarryT, I thought you were very fond of dictionary look-up, are you not disappointed at all that they have removed it?

[HarryT]

I am very fond of dictionary lookup, but given that pretty much every other ePub device on the market does support dictionaries, I'm sure that the lack of them is only temporary.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I am very fond of dictionary lookup, but given that pretty much every other ePub device on the market does support dictionaries, I'm sure that the lack of them is only temporary.

They did originally plan on supporting dictionaries on the DR800SG but it fell through due to technical/business issues. I would also assume they're working on a replacement, but the original design just wasn't feasible (hence the delay).

[olis]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

It's good news because both devices being based on the same firmware will make maintenance a lot easier. It also means that moving forward they are planning on supporting both devices together. Some people were questioning whether they were going to drop support for the DR1000 at some point, like they did with the iLiad. This announcement confirms that DR1000 support will continue in parallel with DR800 support, and both will be developed together in the future.

Yes, I can now see what you were saying, maybe I overreacted a bit.
Having the same firmware also means that third-party applications can be installed on both readers, and that is a big advantage for a device with a small consumer base like the dr1000.

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Regarding the features you talked about, see comments above. They said they have plans to add those back in again, but didn't want to hold up the release while they waited on them.

If those features are significant to you, you always have the option of not upgrading until they re-implement them in the new firmware.

I really hope they will re-implement those features soon, but since then I will have to remain with the current firmware.

[pthwaite]

I use the DR almost exclusively for business and so the pdf Xournal port is a godsend. I suppose the new firmware means that Xournal will stop working? Mackx? as I expect it uses a fair bit of the existing software.
Being able to markup/correct pdf drawings and documents is the main use of my DR1000 at present, but I'd like the epub facilities. Oh well...

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by pthwaite

I use the DR almost exclusively for business and so the pdf Xournal port is a godsend. I suppose the new firmware means that Xournal will stop working? Mackx? as I expect it uses a fair bit of the existing software.
Being able to markup/correct pdf drawings and documents is the main use of my DR1000 at present, but I'd like the epub facilities. Oh well...

I believe the poppler code that is used for the current PDF viewer on the DR1000 is still in the new firmware source. They left it in there specifically so that 3rd party apps could use it, and as a reference for how to build a viewer plugin. I assume that's what Xournal needs?

[Shaggy]

I also think there was a recent thread on getting Xournal to work on the DR800. That should apply to the new DR1000 firmware as well.

[Mackx]

Originally Posted by pthwaite

I use the DR almost exclusively for business and so the pdf Xournal port is a godsend. I suppose the new firmware means that Xournal will stop working? Mackx? as I expect it uses a fair bit of the existing software.
Being able to markup/correct pdf drawings and documents is the main use of my DR1000 at present, but I'd like the epub facilities. Oh well...

The code for poppler is open source, so its libraries can also be used in the new firmware. After the new firmware is released I will have to see how quickly xournal can be ported (and which parts of the added functionality). I experimented a little with xournal on the DR800 emulator. It seems to work there. Although I only looked briefly.