Delstar OpenBook at Walgreens

[thcrw739]

Originally Posted by ColdSun

I have one of those. It is a very cool little device that runs WinCE 5.0. I actually think it is faster than my SmartQ7. The screen is smaller and the resolution isn't that high, but on a screen that small the resolution is just about right. When I was using it for reading I used AlReader2 and UBook. I would set the arrow keys on the little keyboard for changing pages. I also set the little rocker button along the bottom for changing pages when I had the device in the slide closed position.

Yes, i hunted for your review on it, never could find it?


hmmm, ce 5?

Suppose to be ce 6 by the ebay ad, Even says ce 6 on wirelessions site

Maybe you got the MID-01

I think these are Rebadged Eston MID-02's ? http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Eston-MID02/

Hopefully it is really CE 6, as that was what drew me to it.

Not many ce 6 devices around that are not those 7" netbooks for that kind of money.

Saw the Jetbook ad @ newegg, Was hoping they would actually go under the $99 mark.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by thcrw739

Saw the Jetbook ad @ newegg, Was hoping they would actually go under the $99 mark.

well, $112.99 for jetBook-Lite with free shipping and no tax (if you are not in CA, TN or NJ) is very good price too. X-mas price was $117..

[thcrw739]

Well the truth be told, Just something that bugs me about not having a back lit screen.

I had a diamond mako/psion revo plus one time, I loved the size and operation of the device, but the non back lit screen turned me off eventually.

Afraid that would happen again, thats why when i saw this 99 dollar deal at walgreens i was more apt to get it.

[bryanzs]

Following Scott_T's successful upgrade to the slightly newer (but still named the same) "W950A.img" firmware (dated 03/17/10), I decided to try the newer firmware myself.

For quite some time, I was unable to get the firmware update tool to recognize my Delstar; I tried uninstalling/reinstalling, rebooting/powering off the computer, and even installed the software on a different PC, all to no avail. I then remembered that I had removed the SD card from the Delstar - and that last time I'd run the upgrade, the SD card had still been in the device. That couldn't make any difference, though...could it?

Yes, yes it could. For some reason, the firmware update tool only seemed to see the Delstar if I had the SD card inserted into the device again.

Anyway, after finally getting it installed, I can report...little difference.

The two things that I noticed include:
- the audio folder now seems to properly find all the music on the device (if you run the MediaLib update), and puts the music into the various categories listed on the menu (All Music, Artist, Album, etc.);
- the PDF viewer seems a little bit better - it seemed that originally, once I'd 'zoomed' into the PDF document, even though there were left/right/up/down arrows on the screen, I couldn't actually navigate around. Now, I can use the arrows around the "scrolly circle" to move the document around, like a very small, very painful-to-use, viewport. (Unfortunately, the page up/page down buttons, and the rotate button, still do nothing with PDFs; you "page" through the document using the up/down arrows on the scrolly circle)

I looked around, and couldn't find anything else new - formatting (or the lack thereof), as Scott_T already reported, is unchanged (though he did report as well that the epubs that were blowing up on him are fixed again, so that's good news). DOC formats still don't open, html opens but all functionality & formatting is gone, etc, etc.

(Oh, and another BTW to Delstar if they're reading this - why, when using the image viewer, do you use the page up/page down buttons to rotate the images? Isn't that what the power button "quick press" is for? I know consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but come on...)

[jgmcbride]

Bryanz,

Got as far as trying to select the file RK28DM.iss from your instructions, but it comes up "can't open>


Helppppppppp!!!

Thank you ever so much, kind sir!!!!

[bryanzs]

Originally Posted by jgmcbride

Bryanz,

Got as far as trying to select the file RK28DM.iss from your instructions, but it comes up "can't open>


Helppppppppp!!!

Thank you ever so much, kind sir!!!!

You may not need to do that anymore. Did you download the zip file from the delstar site? Here're revised instructions using the zip that's up there now:

- Make sure your Delstar is turned on, and plugged in to the USB port (the front of the Delstar should show "swirly data cables", and your PC should hopefully recognize the Delstar (and any inserted SD card) as an attached drive (or drives, plural, if you have the SD card inserted) (I don't know if you really need to have the Delstar on and attached at this point, but it's been reported that that helps, so might as well...)
- Unzip the tool.zip file to some folder (again, I called mine c:\delstar, giving me c:\delstar\tool subfolders);
- Navigate into the tool folder, and you'll find a 'setup' folder;
- In the setup folder, you'll find a file RK28DM_setup.exe - double click on this to run it;
- You can _try_ to select English, but it doesn't make a difference
- Select the location for the installation (again, I chose c:\delstar\RK28DM);
- After the setup has completed, _don't_ run the RK28DM right away - instead, navigate to the (newly created) folder where you told the installer to put your files (in my case, c:\delstar\RK28DM), and edit the file "setting.ini" (using Notepad);
- About 3/4 of the way down, look for the line that says "LANGUAGE=Chinese", and change it to "LANGUAGE=English", and then save the modified file;
- Finally, you can go to your Start/Programs and choose the RK28 Device Manager (or whatever you called it, if you changed the name), and hopefully it should (a) start up and (b) recognize that your device is attached.

Please give _this_ set of instructions a go, and see if they work better for you.

[jgmcbride]

Bryanzs,

OK, I got the Rockchip page up, it sees my device.

When I hit up it says I have to choose a girmware update first.

I know where the browser button is, but what am I looking for?

Thank you!!!

[jgmcbride]

when i hit browse, I can choose
driver
language
log

[jgmcbride]

all three appear empty

[bryanzs]

Originally Posted by jgmcbride

when i hit browse, I can choose
driver
language
log

You should have also downloaded, separately, a zip file containing a "firmware image" (you can get it from here http://delstar.net/videos/W950A-SFW-...0100308(2).zip). Once you've downloaded the zip file, unzip it (I unzipped mine to c:\delstar\3172010 fm Delstar).

Then, using the firmware update tool, navigate (by pressing that 'browse' button...) to wherever you just unzipped these files to, and inside there you should find the W950A.img file - that's what the update tool is looking for. Select that file, and you should be good to go.

[Marlonsarmiento]

Tried the memory card in the device, didn't work. But I was glad to see my Divx files played, actually the video quality was excellent .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn4gUGofmck

Originally Posted by ColdSun

Jack,

I mean no disrespect when I say this, and I think it is very important that everyone post their opinion, but I'm wondering why anyone working at a small company would continue to post here after reading these comments? I highly respect your honest opinion, and in fact I read almost all of your posts on other forums here at MR, but you might be just a tad less brutal about it.

And if not, well then, that is ok too. I shall remain your friend even if you don't like what I have to say, because for some reason I still like your honesty and frank opinions.

True, I can be a bit brutal. My apologies. But I think in this case at least, as time has proven, the Delstar people needed more than just a polite nudge. As of March 20 they (or their supplier) still have not fixed most of the bugs and issues, and I doubt they ever will. But I'll try to be less brutal in the future. I guess i'm too accustomed to working with people that have to be more than politely nudged along to get their work done.

[Scott_T]

Originally Posted by Marlonsarmiento

Tried the memory card in the device, didn't work. But I was glad to see my Divx files played, actually the video quality was excellent .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn4gUGofmck

Did you just wait? It takes it a few minutes to do the update and I never paid any attention to what the readers screen was doing while I updated mine.

[jgmcbride]

Software for both the new firmware and the player reads1.0.01. Loader reads 3.18 on both allso.

Does that mean its loaded already? I don't see how, oh well.

Under "system iformation" on the reader it says "major version id" 1.01. Does that mean anything?

[thcrw739]

Originally Posted by Marlonsarmiento

Tried the memory card in the device, didn't work. But I was glad to see my Divx files played, actually the video quality was excellent .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn4gUGofmck

It's a possibility your flash chip in the book is fried, it happens.

That would make the most sense to me atm from watching the video.
I was also thinking is it a propriety cable or a normal usb cable?

It might be either the pins on the openbook or the pins on the cable that are used to flash the rom.