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

[kartu]

Originally Posted by Analogus

Hm, I'm a bit ashamed... the reason is my inquisitiveness and curiosity

Long story short:

Tried serveral times to upgrade/downgrade to/from newest Sony firmare as you know

Flashing with BORODAS packages worked still fine in both directions

What I do like ist to have my own fonts all over the reader, even in TXT and RTF files. Boroda doesn'n offer that

Ergo: Tried to manage it with my own hands. Read about cramfs. Extracted the original firmware offered by boroda --> modified the adobe programm with an hexeditor (found on the internet) & changed 1 font (I did it the right way including changing internal fontnames) --> compiled with cramfs --> flashed with borodas flasher.

Worked fine! Did it several times to optimize fonts and played around with changing font sizes. At the final flash something went wrong. I used a former working image (not 100% shure about that), but this time it leads into the mentioned boot loop.

A.

Edit: maybe I made a mistake and took the wrong image for extracting for the final task. For example one image (can't remember which one) has slightly other fontnames mentioned in one of the xml-files (something like XYwin95...ttf versus XY...ttf). Maybe I overlooked that.

So it's not related to PRS+ at all.
It's bad that you're posting it here, as many would think PRS+ bricks readers.

Anyway I've talked about "Sony Reader can't downgrade" and it's a known issue with x50. Something has changed in the updaters.

Regarding your problem, I don't know any way to unbrick it, ask boroda (porkupan) or root, they might know a way. The 650/950 have a way to load from MS card (not that it works for all kinds of bricks either).
This kind of problems is why PRS+ code on 600/x50 (300 and 505 are easy to recover) is mounted, not flashed.

The "XYwin95...ttf" thing, is only for RTFs (and only for courier fonts) and could not be the cause. Afaik even if you remove courier font altogether it will still boot at least.

[UpSpin]

kartu, I really like your work. Immediately after buying my 650 I installed your firmware. Your firmware, with folder and apps support, was one important reason for me to buy the Sony Reader

I don't use the latest version (because of the advice to wait), but one version earlier which has a few translation errors in the German language. I don't know if they are fixed in the latest release, but maybe I can assist in improving the German translation. Is there a public file to participate?

I also like the feature to assign custom actions to the buttons. Could you add more custom actions we can select from? Like "Entering Note editing mode" and "Zoom in"
And maybe a hotkey to temporarily disable the touchscreen?

[Analogus]

Sorry KARTU for posting here offtopic.

Again, I confirm:
Your new firmware has nothing to do with bricking my 350.

Thank you for your advices!

When there is a new (?) 350 available for me I give PRS+ of course a try. I also recognize, that your way to alter the system ist very safe for there is always a way back and a way to boot in the unaltered system.

A.

[MiK77]

Originally Posted by UpSpin

I don't use the latest version (because of the advice to wait), but one version earlier which has a few translation errors in the German language. I don't know if they are fixed in the latest release, but maybe I can assist in improving the German translation. Is there a public file to participate?

I've completed the German translation shortly after the alpha release and I translated all new strings since then. So German translation should be complete in the next beta release.

[Ivy]

Hi,

can anyone help? I'd like to install 2.0.11beta on my 650 but I don't know how. I downloaded the zip and unzipped it but there is no .exe file.

Am I missing something?

[MiK77]

The installer was retracted. Just wait a few more days till the new fixed version is available.

[Ivy]

Originally Posted by MiK77

The installer was retracted. Just wait a few more days till the new fixed version is available.

Oh, I didn't realize that. I figured we're advised to wait, but left with the possibility to upgrade if we so wished.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was starting to feel a little bit stupid.

[kartu]

UpSpin
Most of the features you've mentioned are already in FR list.
Except the zoom feature, which is rather hard to justify, one click and you see a nice list of all zoom levels, why add something to that? Yes, there is already a list of similar actions I know. Ok, maybe one day.

[Mark Nord]

kartu

After getting my new gadget (a silver PRS-650) this saturday, after more then four month of backorder, I decided finally to "update" my PR-505 from FW1.4 german + modified PRS+1.1x to FW 1.1.x and PRS+ 2.011beta (with modified apps).

Building the installer and flashing went smooth.

At the first reboot the interface showed up as expected.
BUT after changing the languge to German and reboot/connect-disconnet from USB it seam to boot in safemode!
Standard english UI with big menu-items shows up. No game&utillities or Browse-Folder-entry. Settings has only 7 entries - PRS+ Settings is missing!

So I decided to set up a BETA pack on SD-Card and PRS+ is starting again!
But if I try to change the language to German (which greates localization.config in b:\BETA\settings) again only the standard UI is shown.

prsp_script.log

error calling initLang505: invalid type
2011-05-22 20:20:27.260 E initLang505	Error calling /opt/sony/ebook/application/resources/prsp_lang/de.js: ECMAScript error(s)!
2011-05-22 20:20:27.280 E initLang505	Failed to load strings: Error calling /opt/sony/ebook/application/resources/prsp_lang/de.js: ECMAScript error(s)!
2011-05-22 20:20:27.370 E initLang505	in lang505.init: invalid type

Remark: languagefile de.js is copied unaltered form the ant/build/tmp folder

Deleting the localization.config file reenables PRS+ (while starting from SD-Card)

I assume I have to remove the settings form /opt0/psrp/ via startup-script to enable PRS+ from firmware.
[EDIT]
Yes, clearing settings brings back PRS+ from fw-partition
[/EDIT]

[kartu]

Mark Nord
Sounds like there are errors in German locale. I could reproduce it.

[DrMoze]

I have a few quick questions regarding PRS+ (300/350). Tried looking thru this thread but it's too long(!) and I might not get the latest info myself. (Wiki and project site didn't help either.) I understand the installers are down now with new ones coming soon.

* Will PRS+ allow direct loading of fb2 files onto the Reader, which can be read?
* Are there files which allow direct reading of fb2 files in the Reader Library?
* Can the (relative) font sizes be changed easily--i.e. beyond/between the currently available size settings? (If so, can you point me to a post/thread describing how?)
* Russification is an option inPRS+? (Just checking!)
* Can you create/populate folders on the Reader itself or only through the Library sw?

Thx! I know some of these Qs are basic, but I haven't explored PRS+ yet (been just reading books) and some of this basic/current info appears to be buried. If there is a location where the PRS+ basics are discussed, feel free to point me there...

[kartu]

Wiki and project site didn't help either

Project site actually has features matrix.

* Will PRS+ allow direct loading of fb2 files onto the Reader, which can be read?

Sort of. It has built in fb2 to epub converter.

* Are there files which allow direct reading of fb2 files in the Reader Library?

I don't think so.

* Can the (relative) font sizes be changed easily--i.e. beyond/between the currently available size settings? (If so, can you point me to a post/thread describing how?)

No. There is an experimental option that affects only LRF, but I wouldn't call it "easily". First it's not compatible with Reader Library (unless you modify some files in it as well). Changing it breaks current formatting/notes (for rather obvious reasons).

* Russification is an option inPRS+? (Just checking!)

Russian is merely one out of about a dozen languages supported by PRS+.

* Can you create/populate folders on the Reader itself or only through the Library sw?

You can't create/populate folders on the reader (at the moment and in the nearest future). But you don't need ANY particular software to create them, when connected to your computer. They are usual folders. You create them the way you would with usual hard drive / usb stick.

[dpierron]

Kartu, I get back to you regarding my weird battery discharge problem.

I think that PRS+ is not involved in this problem, because I did overwrite it last week by flashing with a 1.05n russified firmware, and I started getting the problem again a few days ago...

Today, I tried actually removing the last remnants of PRS+ from my reader, by using the "install but remove the PRSP folder of the installer first"; I wanted to get a pristine PRS-650 to try and reproduce the problem with nothing on it other than the original Sony firmware.

However, I still cannot get the Sony updater to work !

It starts alright, showing that I have an old firmware (I just reflashed with an old russified, just to have an old firmware) :



Then, it uploads the firmware :



And then the error message appears :




Any idea on what I should do ? I tried resetting, checked for SD cards (no card inserted), and now I'm out of ideas...

Regarding the battery problem, I think I have a new angle : yesterday evening, I actually turned the reader off by using the shutdown command, and this morning, it was on ! So, I think that there is something wrong with either the physical power button, or the code that's attached to it...
The battery drain itself could be explained by this : when the bug appears and the reader is on, the message "sure you want to shutdown ?" appears, and then the screen is on and waiting for a confirmation, thus the battery drain !

Problem is, I want to check first if the bug is still there with the original Sony firmware, and if it is I'll bring it back to the store so it has to be original... no PRS+ or they'll not repair it...

Also, I tried getting it into test mode, but I couldn't ; could someone please point me in the right direction ?

[kartu]

dpierron
The original updaters for x50 models do not work with "version trick" anymore (it appears it's a common problem with all CFWs). So essentially they are not usable to downgrade anymore.

But no worries, I'll put alternative updater (PRS+ installer based) that flashes with standard firmware this evening. (it's actually ready and tested on 650/950, just forgot to upload it yesterday)

PS
Oh, just checked the numbers on the screenshot. Is 1.0.00.08100 the real version? (version string comes from some XML file, technically you could upgrade to 14xxx, then flash with any 081xxx CFW, it would change version number even though technically reader was updated).

[dpierron]

kartu,
Not sure I understand your message, but I'll try to clarify : I actually downgraded by installing PRS650.Flash.Package.orig.zip (a Porkupan russified package that comes with 08100), after erasing PRS+ with the installer trick.
So yes, 08100 is the actual, real version of my firmware, and not the result of my tinkering with XML files... if this was your question, anyway