Delstar OpenBook at Walgreens

[pendragginp]

Well, mine was here when I got home last night, and it's been charging. But I don't know how to upgrade firmware; after I do all the downloading that was thoughtfully listed by Katelyn and bryanzs, what do I do with it? Do I move it directly into the reader? Do I put it on a card? I haven't been able to get to the video from any link at all.

Thanks in advance =}

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by digid

I think I have made up my mind after looking around, and seeing all the problems this device has. I am going to stick with my iPhone, and order and iPad. Here is my reasoning.

No compromises:
I can check out books from the library.
I can order books from B&N,Amazon and apple.
I can read PDFs.
I have full color and a back lit display.
I can read it in full sunlight.
I can surf the web, watch videos and listen to MP3s
Integrates with my Mac and PC's.
Displays are clean and Fast.
WIFI access.
Both devices will allow me to do lots of other things.
Apple support is 2nd to none.


Disadvantages
Small screen on the iPhone, but would only use it when I did not want to take the iPad.
Price of the iPad, but you get what you pay for.
Shorter battery life than some, but I charge everything while I sleep, and I do not see that as a problem.


Some times I try to save money and put up with the limitations, and I am almost always disappointed. So I figure I will put down my $$ and be happy and not have to worry about the hardware and compromising, so will have more free time to enjoy myself.

Dale

Dale, I didn't think you could check books out of libraries with an Apple device - at least not libraries that use Overdrive. Some audio books, yes, but I didn't think ebooks - ?

[digid]

I can check them out on my Mac, and from there get them to my iPhone, Its a 3 step process, Check them out to my mac, convert them, Copy to the iphone.

Dale

[WillAdams]

digid --- where / how were you able to determine that the iPad would be viewable in full sunlight? --- what do you consider this to be / how would you define it?

I've been looking for a statement by Apple on that, but haven't been able to find one.

William

[pendragginp]

Another question; does the Delstar have a piece of plastic over the screen when you receive it? Mine does, with bubbles in it, but I don't want to pry it off if it's the actual screen! =}

Also mine won't start up unless I plug it in, and I can't turn it off with the button either.

[Scott_T]

Tried to read some with mine last night after the update and finally gave up. I put 3 different epubs on it and all 3 had various levels of crashability. One would crash turning the first page, one crashed on opening the menu or turning the page backwards and the final one I was able to read normally finally crashed when I got to a certain page.
Digging around the firmware with a hex editor last night it seemed this is just an edited version of software from their media players, I wouldnt be surprised if it could play videos... why yes it does, just loaded an AVI on it and it played fine.

[Katelyn]

Originally Posted by pendragginp

Another question; does the Delstar have a piece of plastic over the screen when you receive it? Mine does, with bubbles in it, but I don't want to pry it off if it's the actual screen! =}

Also mine won't start up unless I plug it in, and I can't turn it off with the button either.

Yes, you should remove the plastic screen protector.

It may need to be charged and that's why it shuts off when not charging. When you try to turn it off, are you holding the power button for a few seconds? It may not shut off with a quick tap.

[Katelyn]

Originally Posted by pendragginp

Well, mine was here when I got home last night, and it's been charging. But I don't know how to upgrade firmware; after I do all the downloading that was thoughtfully listed by Katelyn and bryanzs, what do I do with it? Do I move it directly into the reader? Do I put it on a card? I haven't been able to get to the video from any link at all.

Thanks in advance =}

This is the walkthough bryanzs wrote - you can follow it if you can't watch the video -

Originally Posted by bryanzs

OK, so I don't even have the device yet, and the instructional video is impossible to make out, and it's hard to download - but I'm a software engineer, and this is what I do, so I figured I'd install it anyway.

I've actually got it installed, and perhaps Freddy's updated video will make these instructions unnecessary, but for anyone else who wants to get the update ready NOW, here are some hints:

- as stated in my earlier post, be sure to rename the downloaded files to their original names;

- unzip the tool.zip to some location (I chose c:\delstar, and it created c:\delstar\tool for me);

- after unzipping, use Windows Explorer to open up the folder that was just created (c:\delstar\tool in my example), and double-click on the isetup-5.2.1.exe to install their scripting tool. During the installation process, when asked where to put the installed files, I again said c:\delstar, so I ended up with a c:\delstar\Inno Setup 5 folder;

- When the Inno Setup is installed, allow it to start up, and then choose to open an existing script file - don't select the "Example scripts" choice, chose the "Other" choice, and browse to the folder where you unzipped the tool in the first place (again, in my case, C:\DELSTAR\TOOL). You can then select the file RK28DM.ISS. Then choose "Run" from the menu;

- You'll now be building the actual installation tool. When asked, I again specified c:\delstar as the location, and it created c:\delstar\RK28DM, inside of which is the installation tool. Even though I specified English as the language, when I ran the rk28dm.exe (by double-clicking on it), it came up in Chinese. If you double-click on the file named "setting.ini" in that same folder (c:\delstar\rk28dm), about 3/4 of the way down you'll see a line that says "Language=Chinese". If you change that to say instead "Language=English" and then save that file, when you next double-click on rk28dm.exe, it should come up in English.


Now, of course, once that's all done, you'll want to stop the RK28DM program, and attach your eReader to your computer, and then restart RK28DM. You may then browse to where you unzipped the 03172010 fm Delstar.zip file (I unzipped mine to c:\delstar, creating a c:\delstar\03172010 fm delstar folder), and select the W950A.img file.

Wow, I really hope someone does all this and tells me if it works! I can't do it myself until my eReader arrives in a couple of days, but maybe this will help one of you lucky folks who already have it in hand...

[Katelyn]

I tested some PDF documents and this is not the reader for you if you plan to use PDF files. You will open the file and see a very tiny document. You have maybe 6? levels of zoom and it took me until level 3 or 4 to get the text large enough to read. then you have to pan up, down left or right to read everything. It's just a large image that you move around the screen.

The device was released before it was ready but I will give Delstar credit for jumping in within a day to get an update out. Since the update is in Chinese, I imagine they are the are just passing along what they got from the Chinese manufacturer of the reader. I don't have any problems with crashes or charging (when fully charged, I also get the lighting bolt in the battery icon even when not charging). I just want the files to be formatted correctly and don't want a plain text reader so I am returning it.

Now, if someone from Delstar would just return my email to tell me if there is a way to reset to factory default. So far, it looks like I have to return it missing the default text documents and music files I deleted. Yes, I've already tried to restore it several times.

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Bob, the JBL does secure eReader, not ADE ePub.

The Aluratek Libre (same hardware as JBL) does ADE ePub and costs less han $150.

Originally Posted by Katelyn

I tested some PDF documents and this is not the reader for you if you plan to use PDF files. You will open the file and see a very tiny document. You have maybe 6? levels of zoom and it took me until level 3 or 4 to get the text large enough to read. then you have to pan up, down left or right to read everything. It's just a large image that you move around the screen.

The device was released before it was ready but I will give Delstar credit for jumping in within a day to get an update out. Since the update is in Chinese, I imagine they are the are just passing along what they got from the Chinese manufacturer of the reader. I don't have any problems with crashes or charging (when fully charged, I also get the lighting bolt in the battery icon even when not charging). I just want the files to be formatted correctly and don't want a plain text reader so I am returning it.

Now, if someone from Delstar would just return my email to tell me if there is a way to reset to factory default. So far, it looks like I have to return it missing the default text documents and music files I deleted. Yes, I've already tried to restore it several times.

Here are the original Delstar OpenBook files:

...

[bryanzs]

Originally Posted by Katelyn

I tested some PDF documents and this is not the reader for you if you plan to use PDF files. You will open the file and see a very tiny document. You have maybe 6? levels of zoom and it took me until level 3 or 4 to get the text large enough to read. then you have to pan up, down left or right to read everything. It's just a large image that you move around the screen.

Oh, that's a shame. That really was my main interest in getting the reader, and it sounds like it's not going to do it for me

The device was released before it was ready but I will give Delstar credit for jumping in within a day to get an update out. Since the update is in Chinese, I imagine they are the are just passing along what they got from the Chinese manufacturer of the reader. I don't have any problems with crashes or charging (when fully charged, I also get the lighting bolt in the battery icon even when not charging). I just want the files to be formatted correctly and don't want a plain text reader so I am returning it.

I've been doing some digging around on the internet looking at alternative devices as I was waiting for my Delstar to appear, and it turns out that there are a lot of these devices that use the "Rockchip 2808" processor; most of them are "personal media players" so I'm not really surprised that this plays AVIs, etc. It looks like the ebook functionality is an afterthought on most of them - and I guess that includes this one as well.

For those of you who wish to remain hopeful, I should note that at least several of the other devices based on this chipset are running/are planned to run Android, which - if it could be brought to the Delstar - would make this a very attractive device. But whether or not Delstar (or its suppliers) can do this, or can do this in a reasonable time, is something I don't know.

Sounds like mine will go back as soon as it arrives today, based on what everyone else is saying

[Katelyn]

Here are the original Delstar OpenBook files:

Thanks Jack!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Bob, the JBL does secure eReader, not ADE ePub.

Sorry.. I totally missed that he said "Adobe DRM".

BOb

[Logrus9]

It took two tries, but I finally got mine updated. It will open PDF's now, but the page buttons don't work. I left it with a file open and it doesn't seem to load the book (0%) after 10 minutes. The main navigation button will move between pages, but it is very slow.

I appreciate that Delstar has a rep monitoring this site for issues. I will hang on to mine for at least a couple of weeks and see if they can work out the kinks.