PRS+: Enhanced firmware for Sony Reader, Folders, Games & more

[jamesbeat]

I suppose this might be seen as a feature request...

Would it be possible to add a 'browse authors' feature to PRS+?

The 'browse by folder' option could be used for this if the books were arranged in folders by author, but it has the shortcoming that it can't be used directly on the SD card without having to transfer the book to the main memory.

If you think about how easy it is to navigate through tens of thousands of songs on an ipod, it seems bizarre that the same isn't possible on the PRS 505.
The ipod doesn't browse by folders, it uses a database. The only difference is that the software is written properly, so that the database is accessible in a logical manner.

I (and I suspect many other people) had the dream of carrying around my whole library on my PRS 505, only to discover that this is practically impossible.

If the 'sort books by author' feature could be modified to display a list of authors, rather than every book sorted by author, this would then be a practical thing to do.

I don't know enough about the way the firmware works to tell if this would be viable, or if the only way to do it would be to use the 'browse by folder' technique, but if it could be done I think we'd all have the device we originally wanted.

What I would love to see would be:

Books, Browse By Author ->
Authors:
A-C
D-F
G-I
J-L
M-O
P-R
S-U
V-Z
Selecting one would give a list of authors from, for example, A-C, ten to a page.
Selecting an author would bring up a list of that author's books in alphabetical order, ten to a page.

The only real difference from the original firmware would be the addition of a page to select authors from a list. Surely that wouldn't be difficult?

This tiny extra step would make a collection of thousands of books by hundreds of authors easily accessible, and seems so obvious to me that I really can't think why Sony didn't do this to begin with.

Is this a pipe dream of mine, or is it doable?

[m-land]

I have several questions regarding PRS+ developement. I'm able to find some information reading PRS+ sources, but....

XML file items. Is somewhere documentation of this file content? OK, I can simply 'modify' some working XML but most probably I'll never find a lot of stuff that could be done in XML.

script methods Is somewhere list/description of methods that are available? Once again I can go current .js files one by one but for sure there is much more methods available...

PRS+ itself... OK, I know how to run core/addon files from SD card. I know that when I modify dictionary XML/js file it is enough to start dictionary once again to test my changes. My question is: when I modify DictionaryCL.js - how make this change 'tested'? Do I have to reboot reader? What is easiest way to do so (pressing reset on back of reader is boring).

[elcreative]

jamesbeat, the whole point of the Browse by Folder is to allow rapid access to thousands of books because the Sony does use a database... and it's so inefficient that it effectively grinds to a halt on a few thousand books... I found that getting to 3k and above the rescan (to update the database) got to 4+ hours and meant that adding a few books required doing before going to bed so I had use of the reader back the next morning.

I do store my books by author folder on my SD card and now have nearly 25K on the card and scanning for an author and book takes a few seconds and a couple of seconds more to transfer to internal memory... way faster than Sony's method and even faster than finding a paper book on my shelves in the house... I've got a pocket library... and it works!!

[mike007dog]

Originally Posted by m-land

Reason is simple but solution - very dificult to do well.
Reason of this problem is that there is set limit of characters per line - and it is too much for chinese. It is set to 30 characters in 'old' version and to 40 characters for my 'small' version (see my previous post). See variable lineLength (if you run dictionary from SD it is easy to change)
BTW: I've personal plea. Do you perhaps have English/Chinese or Chinese/English dictionary in pinyin?

Thank you.I set the lineLength‘s value ，which is equal to 17，and the missing worlds can display now.BTW: I am sorry to say that I don't have any English/Chinese or Chinese/English dictionary in pinyin and I have searched all the internet and couldn't find any one. Sorry.

[Abisha]

Hi guys. I was wondering if someone could help me out. I don't want to dredge down this topic thread, but would it be possible if someone that has been successful setting up the dictionary, could please - please - please setup a tutorial? I've tried everything and scoured this 31 page long thread using all the methods I've seen thus far, i.e. setting the proper path in the user.config, making sure my dictionary file ends in the file extension ".dic". Alas no matter what I do I keep receiving the dreaded "Dictionary disabled". Please help.

Thanks much! ~Abi

P.S. I have build 1.1.2rc

[mike007dog]

Originally Posted by Abisha

Hi guys. I was wondering if someone could help me out. I don't want to dredge down this topic thread, but would it be possible if someone that has been successful setting up the dictionary, could please - please - please setup a tutorial? I've tried everything and scoured this 31 page long thread using all the methods I've seen thus far, i.e. setting the proper path in the user.config, making sure my dictionary file ends in the file extension ".dic". Alas no matter what I do I keep receiving the dreaded "Dictionary disabled". Please help.

Thanks much! ~Abi

P.S. I have build 1.1.2rc

You have to restart your 505.And in the prs+setting,You can find a setting named dictionary. Choose your dictionary, and then you can use your dictionary . Good Luck!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Abisha

I've seen thus far, i.e. setting the proper path in the user.config, making sure my dictionary file ends in the file extension ".dic". Alas no matter what I do I keep receiving the dreaded "Dictionary disabled".

P.S. I have build 1.1.2rc

I only did 3 things

1. Create a folder /database/system/PRSPlus/dictionary/ to use, put your dictionary file(s) into it.

2. You can download the wb.rar file from this post. Or grab the dictionary attached which is the same dictionary only modified by m-lands tool. The origin of the attached dictionary includes data gathered from The Online Plain Text English Dictionary (OPTED), Project Gutenburg and the 1913 edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.

3. Once the uncompressed dictionary file is placed in the dictionary folder go into PRS+ settings and select the dictionary.

That's it, no editing of any files required.

[kartu]

m-land

Reason is simple but solution - very dificult to do well.
Reason of this problem is that there is set limit of characters per line - and it is too much for chinese. It is set to 30 characters in 'old' version and to 40 characters for my 'small' version (see my previous post). See variable lineLength (if you run dictionary from SD it is easy to change)

Try:

var win = kbook.model.container.getWindow();
win.setTextSize(20); // whatever font size is used
win.getTextBounds("bla");

I also wonder, whether switching to multiline edit box (check Installers' log window) would help. It would wrap lines automatically on the one hand, but I didn't check how scrolling works.

Wouldn't it make more sense to set size via addon settings mechanism?

Sure it would. It would be fine to set characters per line there as well (because of mike007dog problem) I'm not sure I'm able to do it... I'll give it try

It's easy, have a look:
http://code.google.com/p/prs-plus/so...ictionaryCL.js

jamesbeat

If you think about how easy it is to navigate through tens of thousands of songs on an ipod, it seems bizarre that the same isn't possible on the PRS 505.
The ipod doesn't browse by folders, it uses a database. The only difference is that the software is written properly, so that the database is accessible in a logical manner.

I don't think that's the only difference, iPod's battery doesn't last for weeks, for example, neither does it support folders or copying files using anything but iTunes...

The only real difference from the original firmware would be the addition of a page to select authors from a list. Surely that wouldn't be difficult?

This tiny extra step would make a collection of thousands of books by hundreds of authors easily accessible, and seems so obvious to me that I really can't think why Sony didn't do this to begin with.

Is this a pipe dream of mine, or is it doable?

It won't work like you've described, unfortunately. There might be some significant progress in this regard in the future (using other means) but nothing certain that I could promise at the moment.

m-land

XML file items. Is somewhere documentation of this file content? OK, I can simply 'modify' some working XML but most probably I'll never find a lot of stuff that could be done in XML.

No, there is no documentation. You have to chech how it is done in sony's/prs+ files.

script methods Is somewhere list/description of methods that are available? Once again I can go current .js files one by one but for sure there is much more methods available...

No, but you can decompile most xsb and so files into javascript, using igorks's defsk.

PRS+ itself... OK, I know how to run core/addon files from SD card. I know that when I modify dictionary XML/js file it is enough to start dictionary once again to test my changes. My question is: when I modify DictionaryCL.js - how make this change 'tested'? Do I have to reboot reader? What is easiest way to do so (pressing reset on back of reader is boring).

PRS+ is restarted every time you return from "USB connected" mode.

[kartu]

1.1.3 is out. Changes from 1.1.2rc - very minor bug fix (in some cases after deleting book user was redirected to root menu).

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this release!

[Abisha]

Thank you mike007dog and dwanthny! I did what you both suggested and now have a functioning dictionary! Velan Dank Alle!

[Ankh]

1.1.3 just failed to upgrade. The log looks something like this:

Copying flash image to /tmp... OK
Flashing Fsk (/opt) ...
Verifying checksum... OK
Checking image size... OK
Erasing partition Fsk...
!!!ERROR!!! Error in doExec: Failed to execute
/usr/local/sony/bin/nbisdm delete Fsk
3

Force-falshing rootfs or force-flashing PRS+ firmware does not help.

[klawong]

Originally Posted by Ankh

1.1.3 just failed to upgrade. The log looks something like this:

Just repeat the update-procedure. I had to do it more than twice...and then everything went fine!

[kartu]

Ankh
What version of firmware do you have?

Force-falshing rootfs or force-flashing PRS+ firmware does not help.

You don't have to change rootfs unless you have non US firmware.

PS

Copying flash image to /tmp... OK
Flashing Fsk (/opt) ...
Verifying checksum... OK
Checking image size... OK
Erasing partition Fsk...
!!!ERROR!!! Error in doExec: Failed to execute
/usr/local/sony/bin/nbisdm delete Fsk

Are you sure that it tries to flash Fsk twice? ^^

klawong

Just repeat the update-procedure. I had to do it more than twice...and then everything went fine!

OMG. I wonder if it is caused by SD card errors.

[Ankh]

Well... bad things happened. After the restart, reader is locked at "Starting up..." screen. Where, oh where is that firmware upgrade when one needs it?

[kartu]

Ankh
No worries, you'll unbrick it. Reset it 10 times in a row and it will fall into firmware upgrade mode.

Then use this:
\http://projects.mobileread.com/reade...%20Special.exe