Questions for new Iliad owners!

[tribble]

Originally Posted by arivero

But does ids connect to the sshd? I can not see it. It seems that everything is done via https requests to the server.

Ids conntects only to https. At least for checking the version, as far as i can tell. I dont know, if the sshd gets used in the software update. But while you are updating, the iliad reacts to pings and you can connect to the sshd. But the network connection gets turned off after the update process. There is proabably a way to get the iliad to leave the network running, so you can do stuff via the ssh connection. But i dont know how.

And since the network gets turned off, i cant connect to links outside the iLiad, otherwise, that would probably work like a charm. But i guess i will have to take screens from the files. Anything you would like to see in particular?

runlevel 5 is standard

there it starts dropbear, pcmcia, syslog, mmc, cf, removes a nologin option and starts the iliad stuff.

they use xfbdev and Matchbox

[arivero]

Originally Posted by tribble

they use xfbdev

pretty! I tryed to compile it for the Sony Librie but I failed miserabily and I was forced to use the xvfb along with a process continously dumping it (via its xwd mechanism) into the e-ink screen.

[DHer]

ok, i succeeded with creating 3 .xeb files.

could you please have a look with an iliad if it works?

the first 2 work with apabi reader 1.85 on windows, the third one crashes it :\

content:
test1.xeb - a jpeg
test2.xeb - a text file
test3.xeb - a html file

thanks.

Erm. could you please add xeb to the valid file extensions?

[tribble]

Originally Posted by DHer

ok, i succeeded with creating 3 .xeb files.

could you please have a look with an iliad if it works?

the first 2 work with apabi reader 1.85 on windows, the third one crashes it :\

content:
test1.xeb - a jpeg
test2.xeb - a text file
test3.xeb - a html file

thanks.

Erm. could you please add xeb to the valid file extensions?

All work nicely, just as you made them. The html file actually looks quite nifty. nice font that has been used (mus be an apabi reader font)

I put a few notes on, maybe you will try and see i they can be seen in the reader.

[ali]

Originally Posted by DHer

ok, i succeeded with creating 3 .xeb files.

How?

Do you have the file format? From where?

[arivero]

Originally Posted by tribble

pobably work like a charm. But i guess i will have to take screens from the files. Anything you would like to see in particular?

Nothing concrete, and still a lot of things. The whole rc.d directories and similar things to look for some hotkey or some console launch trick. The configuration file of X11 to see what keyboards and mice do they recognise. And so on. I am sorry my status is still "not shipped".

Just put some impressive pictures One of the virtual keyboard. And one of the syslog or the dmesg lauching all the stuff.

runlevel 5 is standard
there it starts dropbear, pcmcia, syslog, mmc, cf, removes a nologin option and starts the iliad stuff.
they use xfbdev and Matchbox

At the start of the syslog there should be a line telling the name of the version of the operating system; usually the name of some company making linux distributions for embedded system. I am curious about what company do they subcontract, if any.

[DHer]

@ali

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7009

in this thread is a link to PPublisher from apabi.
It's chinese, but by trial an error you can figure out how to create a .xeb

@tribble

thank you.
it's bad that you can't preview the html xeb on your pc.
could you please make a photo how it looks?

i'll try the annotations right now.
Edit:
Ok, it doesn't show the annotations in the reader. What a pity. I'll have a look at the additional annotation files.
Edit2:
Could you please show a photo of the annotations you made in the 3rd file?
i'd like to know what these columns in the .ink file mean.
Edit3:
Did it look somehow like this?
THat's the content in the .ink file, plotted.

[ali]

WOOO i got mine

Some things from me:

• I love the box.
• I does not contain any documentation besides a ~10x10cm mini leaflet.
• I hate the cabling. Look at the attached picture. The travel thing is a mess. Reasons:
  1. the connection thing<->iliad is very very stiff, while the connector to the iliad is very very fragile.
  2. the case is 15cm wide, with a small box with the actual hardware underneath it, of size 6.5cm.
  3. cablings are sticking out to the left & right, so you can not have it dangling between your arms. this makes reading while recharging a mess. even if you read on a table with the travel thing placed on it, you first have to bend the connection cable, and then your arms are resting on the cables.
• the travel thing makes it necessary to buy a (so far nonexistent) usb-to-iliad-connector cable if you want to access the iliad everywhere. so far, the software doesn't allow file operations (e.g., copy usb stick <-> internal memory)
• wired ethernet is dhcp only, you cannot specify anything
• reading scientific papers is not too much fun: I tried this paper (attention self-plug)
  1. letter/a4 with 10pt is next to unreadable
  2. render times are too long - flipping to page 2 of the abovementioned pdf takes 23 seconds (no joke, no decimal point forgotten). I guess I'll return to my idea of pre-rendered books.

[ali]

That shouldn't sound so negative: I also agree with previous posters that the device is just great.

[DHer]

sweet.

what's the switching time with .xeb files?
Better, worse, comparable?

Don't forget to change your handheld information.

And when you are online atm:
Could you please draw a little bit in the test3.xeb and give me the resulting .ink file plus a photo of the screen? I believe it contains vector data about the stuff you have drawn.

One last: Are there hyperlinks in the third xeb file?

[tribble]

Originally Posted by ali

• I does not contain any documentation besides a ~10x10cm mini leaflet.

Well, they should put in a note, where you can turn it on. And on the first power on, it should start the quickref automatically. But hey, maybe it will be done in the final version.

Originally Posted by ali

• I hate the cabling. Look at the attached picture. The travel thing is a mess. Reasons:
  1. the connection thing<->iliad is very very stiff, while the connector to the iliad is very very fragile.

Yes, the connector gives me a few worries, especially since the cable is very stiff. The connector could be a bit more stable. They should take that into consideration with the next verison of hardware.

Originally Posted by ali

• wired ethernet is dhcp only, you cannot specify anything

I already sent an email to irex regarding the network setup without dhcp. Ill post the answer, when i get it.

Originally Posted by ali

• reading scientific papers is not too much fun: I tried this paper

I posted an image of a cropped version of a paper. I found it to be readable, but not very easily. Although uncropped it is still readable, your eyes will probably pop out after a few sentences. I hope they put in a crop mechanism (standard zoom for all pages). The PDF Viewer is xpdf btw.

[ali]

Originally Posted by DHer

what's the switching time with .xeb files?
Better, worse, comparable?

better, about 1.5-2.0 seconds

Originally Posted by DHer

And when you are online atm:
Could you please draw a little bit in the test3.xeb and give me the resulting .ink file plus a photo of the screen? I believe it contains vector data about the stuff you have drawn.

Nope, I did something for myself. -- see attachment

the .ink really is just a sequence of stroke anchor points. I converted to ps via

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

print<<EOF;
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 595 841
%%PageMedia: a4
.2 .2 scale
EOF

$nstrokes=<STDIN>;
for(my $i=0; $i<$nstrokes; ++$i )
  {
	 $npoints=<STDIN>;
	 for( my $j=0; $j<$npoints; ++$j )
		{
		  ($x,$y)=split(/\s+/,<STDIN>);
		  if( $j==0 ) { print("$x $y moveto ") }
		  else { print("$x $y lineto "); };
		}
	 print("stroke\n");
  }
print("showpage\n");

The original picture was screen-filling, the extremely long protruding spikes must be some sampling error at the screen boundary.

[arivero]

Originally Posted by tribble

Anything you would like to see in particular?

Hmm I forget: Are we root, or just user?

If root, then please file:///etc/sudoers and file:///etc/shadow. If shadow does not exist, passwrd. I am curious if the passwords are crypt or MD5 (crypt passwords are shorter, about a dozen characters, and while we expect iRex to tell us our machine password we could entertain the week with a routine dictionary attack. MD5 are not so vulnerable, I think (I am not an expert )).

[DHer]

that's really, really cool.

i wanna have my iliad

especially the resolution seems to be shiny. what's the maximal value in each direction?

And how does writing feel? Do you think it could replace pen and paper if you are sitting in a lecture (writing continously for 1.5h)?

Finally creating a ToDo-list and a calendar as .xeb shouldn't be really hard.

[arivero]

Originally Posted by tribble

The PDF Viewer is xpdf btw.

:surprised so at the end no the one from the chinese guys. Amazing.