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

[kartu]

Dictionary is the next big change to PRS+.

VICTORSJG

Kartu, are you going to update the scripts of the games and applications modified on apps repository to incluide into default?

If I find time to. It normally only works on some models and requires further fixes and in addition there are stability problems with 950/300.

[dpierron]

Originally Posted by kartu

Dictionary is the next big change to PRS+.

Well, that's a great news !
I don't know if I can help, but if anything crosses your mind, please ask...

[mimosavj]

Originally Posted by kartu

denverh
Yes you can. I'd wait a little though, since new version will come soonish, probably this week.

Hi kartu,

I have just received my PRS 650 today. I would like to install PRS+ but it doesn't fully support 10408 currently. Should I wait until you release the new version and when? or should I just go ahead and install it anyway?

Thanks

[denverh]

Originally Posted by kartu

denverh
Yes you can. I'd wait a little though, since new version will come soonish, probably this week.

Thanks Kartu, I'll keep an eye out for it.

Denver

[Donatus]

Hi,

I have a PRS-950 bought from the USA but being used in Australia. I am running the PRS+ 2.0.10alpha firmware.

The timezone setting only allow USA timezone, and also GMT-2 through to GMT+7, however I am in GMT+10 (Brisbane)

Would it be possible to add more GMT timezones to PRS+ please?

--D

[kartu]

Donatus

Would it be possible to add more GMT timezones to PRS+ please?

Sure.

mimosavj
It's not tha it "doesn't fully support" it simply doesn't install on 14...

[dontriston]

Hello again.
Sometimes, when I am reading and I want to hihlight some phrases, I wish get a shorcut to do it directly, and not have to do all the long process across the consecutive screens.
Perhaps is it possible to add this feature pressing a buttom in future next versions?
Thanks.

[mimosavj]

Originally Posted by kartu

mimosavj
It's not tha it "doesn't fully support" it simply doesn't install on 14...

Hi Kartu,

There is always work-around method. When I had my 350 3 weeks ago, I down install the earlier firmware and then install PRS+. It worked. I just wonder when you will release the installable version for the new firmware so that I won't have to go through all these manual installations.

Thanks
Mimosa

[bbriand]

I spent many hours trying a lot of different things to get the scale factor feature working on my PRS650. I hadn't thought that it might only work on BBeB / LRF books

Anyhow it is all working now on my PRS+ / boroda'd PRS650. I grabbed trick-scaling-factor-650.zip file so graciously provided by ZeroChaos and unzipped that to my devices internal drive.

In my various root folder recursive dumps and debugging output I tried various linux commands and was pleasantly surprised that they worked.

This got me to thinking could the scaling XML lines be added to the devices kconfig.xml dynamically when the device boots up.

The script assumes that the kconfig.xml files environment section always starts on the 3rd line down

I created a file in /Data/test-startup/opt called kconfig_addon.xml and this is its contents:

Spoiler:

<variable name="bbebTextScale-1" value="80"/>

<variable name="bbebTextScale0" value="87"/>

<variable name="bbebTextScale1" value="94"/>

<variable name="bbebTextScale2" value="101"/>

<variable name="bbebTextScale3" value="108"/>

<variable name="bbebTextScale4" value="115"/>

So while it is nothing fancy and I may try to make it more dynamic the following is my modified /Data/test-startup/startup.sh file. If this has been done before I apologize in advance but in my many searches I never ran across this idea

Spoiler:

#!/bin/sh
# uncomment the following line to get the devices firmware copy of kconfig.xml
# cp /opt/sony/ebook/application/kconfig.xml /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig_test.xml

# Trick to change the scaling factor
# the tmp directory does not exist on my device so I create it
mkdir /tmp

# pipe the first 3 lines of the devices firmware kconfig.xml into a new kconfig.xml
head -n3 /opt/sony/ebook/application/kconfig.xml > /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig.xml

# pipe the additional XML lines we will use for scaling into the new kconfig.xml
cat /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig_addon.xml >> /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig.xml

# pipe a new line into the new kconfig.xml
echo >> /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig.xml

# pipe everything after the first 3 lines of the devices firmwares kconfig.xml into the new kconfig.xml
tail -n+4 /opt/sony/ebook/application/kconfig.xml >> /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig.xml

# copy the new kconfig.xml to the tmp directory
cp /Data/test-startup/opt/kconfig.xml /tmp/kconfig.xml

# mount the hybrid kconfig.xml so the device uses it instead
mount --bind /tmp/kconfig.xml /opt/sony/ebook/application/kconfig.xml

# uncomment the following 2 lines to get some debug info in the test-startup directory
# ls -alR /tmp > /Data/test-startup/filestructure.out # to ensure tmp directory was created
# mount > /Data/test-startup/mount.out # a mount to kconfig.xml should exist in this file

# Run installer script, if present
if [ -f /Data/PRSPInstaller/installer.sh ]
then
. /Data/PRSPInstaller/installer.sh
fi
# Run prsp.sh, if present
if [ -f /opt1/dict/prsp/prsp.sh ]
then
. /opt1/dict/prsp/prsp.sh
fi

I hope its a worthy idea. kudos to the Boroda / PRS+ fellows for making my reader even that much more awesome.

Bill

[kartu]

bbriand
It is possible and might actually make it into the next release. (not as a shell script though)
There is a hidden limit on number of items you can "mount --bind", but so far PRS+ is below that limit.

[dpierron]

Originally Posted by bbriand

I spent many hours trying a lot of different things to get the scale factor feature working on my PRS650. I hadn't thought that it might only work on BBeB / LRF books

Anyhow it is all working now on my PRS+ / boroda'd PRS650. I grabbed trick-scaling-factor-650.zip file so graciously provided by ZeroChaos and unzipped that to my devices internal drive.

Hi Bill,

I didn't completely understand : did the mod you introduced change the scaling factor for the ePub books, or is it still limited to LRF ?

[dpierron]

Something else entirely : I've got a strange problem (which I assume is coming from PRS-+ ).
I'll first describe the symptoms (what I noticed) and then continue with my hypothesis; I'd love to work with Kartu to try and correct this problem !

I first noticed that my battery got drained way faster than it used to be: I read a few pages several times a day (let's say 4 to 6 pages, 3 to 4 times a day) and often have a longer reading session right before bed (let's say 30-60 pages). With this kind of usage, the battery used to drop to half charge in about 15 days. Suddenly (I didn't do anything unusual) it started dropping to half charge in about 2 to 3 days !

Then, I noticed that when I took my book out of my bag (where it's stored most of the day), it would sometimes be on, often with a "are you sure you want to shutdown" message.

And I also noticed that sometimes, pressing the next page button did put the reader in sleep mode (as if I slid the slider) instead of going to the next page. When it had done this once, it would continue doing it for a few presses (i.e. I would slide the slider to turn the reader back on, press the next page button and booom : sleep mode) and then it would start working normally again.

This made me think : what if the next page button was, for some unknown reason, sometimes acting as the sleep mode button ? This would of course explain the last symptom, but also if it happened while the reader is stored in my bag, it's likely that the button would get pressed, maybe even hold, while I carried the bag : in this case, it would explain the battery drain, and even the "are you sure you want to shutdown" message...

What do you think ?

Let me add that I updated to the latest Sony firmware, and used the book for two days like this (without PRS-+) and didn't noticed the problem.
Then I installed the latest russification thingie (2 dot something) and it seemd to work for a whole day without hitch.
And then, yesterday morning, I reinstalled PRS-+ and it started doing it yesterday evening and this morning...

[kartu]

dpierron
Check if shutting down and starting again resolves the problem, please.
Sometimes (normally after installations) hardware is left in a wrong state, which leads to strange errors.
2.0.10a for 650 was installed about 1500 times, I think if there were software problem it would have been noticed by many. There might be unusual configuration that's causing it.
High battery drain could be caused by games, but that's rather expected and cannot be improved much.

[dpierron]

Hi Kartu,

I did shut down and back on, it's been my first reflex...
It's a weird problem in the sense that it's completely random ; for example, this morning my reader was on instead of sleeping, although I did put it to sleep yesterday before sleeping myself, and it was stored flat on a table... Now, I checked a few times since I came at my office, it's still sound asleep...
I didn't say that it was a PRS+ bug, only that I have noticed it with PRS+ installed.
If (when) it starts behaving weirdly again, I'll reflash and russify, but not install PRS+, and keep it that way a few days, to check if it happens again...

[kartu]

dpierron
It might be PRS+ bug, and it's most likely that it's PRS+ bug unless the problem is resolved by restarting. The bad part is, to solve it I'll need to reproduce it, which might be tricky.