ePub reader working on 302?

[kgn]

I am having a lot of trouble using Calibre with the 302. One big issue is that books in ePub format really do not seem to work. I am trying to work out if the problem is the 302 or Calibre.

First of all, epub books display cover images in Detail mode. Good stuff.

When I open the book, the first page is the cover image. So that bit works. But then it is a huge pain to do anything else. Very hard to move off the first page - it almost looks like the 302 is freezing. Eventually, you might be able to go to the next page, but I have not been able to go more than one or two pages. Swiping does not work to change pages. The buttons also rarely work. If they do (ie the screen flickers as it tries to change), it can take 3 or 4 presses to move one page. The popup menu almost never works. ie you can tap away as much as you like - it does not come up. I think I got it to come up once.

I had the feeling that the thing was working hard in the background - so it did not have the CPU power to process the user input commands. I don't know if that is true - it is just a feeling.

On the other hand, the FB2 reader seems fine. Swiping works, buttons seem better (still don't feel that good, but they work). The popup menu works most of the time. The problem with the FB2 mode is that the 302 does not seem to display the cover images in Detail mode. This is not a fatal flaw, but it would be nice.

Gave up on PDF books - unusable, but I expected that.

I am using firmware 15.1. I am trying to get the newer version, but no luck with that yet.

Does anyone else have this problem with ePubs?? Do you normally get cover art with FB2?

[kgn]

Just successfully updated to 15.2 (very easy process!). Still same issues.

[brainycat]

I only put epub files onto my PB302v15.2, and the handful that I didn't get as epub originally are converted from .prc or .html. Nothing on my PB302 has DRM. I don't pass any special CSS into the renders via calibre.

I've never had any excessive latency opening a file, with the exception of books from OReilly but that's a known issue with their TOC or something.

Have you tried a known good epub that didn't go through calibre? If you're using fbreader180, have you fiddled the settings into something irrational that requires massive rendering? Have you tried other formats besides PDF? Do you have trouble rendering the photos?

If you haven't already, do a hard reset to restore default settings and try it with a known good epub stored in device memory. If the problem persists, there well could be something going on with your hardware.

[kgn]

Good suggestions - will give them a go.

Do you get cover images with epub files?

[kgn]

Originally Posted by brainycat

Have you tried a known good epub that didn't go through calibre?

Yes. Same problem.

[Marcy]

Are these DRM'd books or DRM-free books?

I have the PB360 but have no problems at all with epubs. It is my format of choice. I use FBreader for all epubs except library books, which need ADE since I feel weird stripping DRM from them.

I also have no problems with PDFs. I just use the setting that crops the margins and they are totally readable. Not as nice as any other format, especially the page turns where the next line of text you are looking for is in the middle of the page, but definitely readable when I don't have any other format choice.

-Marcy

[kgn]

Originally Posted by Marcy

Are these DRM'd books or DRM-free books?

I have the PB360 but have no problems at all with epubs. It is my format of choice. I use FBreader for all epubs except library books, which need ADE since I feel weird stripping DRM from them.

these are non DRM.

How do you get FBReader to display ePub files??

[JimMcLaren]

Originally Posted by kgn

these are non DRM.

How do you get FBReader to display ePub files??

When you navigate to the book in the books menu, instead of tapping it, tap and hold. In a few seconds a context menu will appear and the top menu item will be "Open With". Tap that and a menu flies out with the available reading applications. Whichever you select will be used in the future (for that book) automatically until you change it by going through the same process.

I've installed fbreader180 and the hacked adobeviewer and configured the extensions.cfg to use these in addition to the default apps. Both of them are improvements over the original and you probably want to investigate them.

[kgn]

Originally Posted by JimMcLaren

I've installed fbreader180 and the hacked adobeviewer and configured the extensions.cfg to use these in addition to the default apps. Both of them are improvements over the original and you probably want to investigate them.

Thanks for that - did nto realise that. I will also checkout the fbreader180. I have downloaded it - just trying to workout how to install it.