Should I buy one? - Page 2

wallcraft · 11-24-2008, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Is FB Reader better than the bundled PDF viewer?

FBReader is for DRM-free reflowable ebook formats, so it does not support PDF (which isn't always reflowable). There has been talk of adding a reflow PDF option to FBReader, but currently you would have to reflow the PDF with some external program and then read the resulting ebook with FBReader. On the DR1000S, FBReader works exactly like it does on any Linux Desktop - so it isn't integrated into the DR's document viewing API (e.g. you can't use the MOBI dictionary in FBReader).

You can try FBReader on any desktop PC (Linux, Windows or Intel Mac), and it will work the same way on the DR1000S.

Shaggy · 11-25-2008, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Is FB Reader better than the bundled PDF viewer?

FB Reader compliments the PDF viewer, it doesn't replace it. It adds the ability to handle other document types. I think the bundled viewer is still used for PDF documents.

omro · 11-25-2008, 12:12 PM

I understand now and hope to understand things a bit better once mine arrives

Perhaps someone can recommend some ebooks I should read about the subject

Shaggy · 11-25-2008, 01:43 PM

There was a community developed version of the PDF viewer for the iLiad, that added support for some extra features. Maybe that's partly what you were thinking of. I think most of the extra things that the community viewer added are already built into the DR viewer though (fullscreen, etc). I don't know of a community version of the DR PDF viewer yet, but I could be wrong.

omro · 11-25-2008, 01:46 PM

I don't really know what I was thinking, I think I purely misunderstood what FB Reader was. I am pretty sure I was labouring under the impression it was a replacement viewer for everything on the DR.

omro · 11-29-2008, 05:13 PM

Having had a Bebook, albeit briefly, it seems to only use power when the page was turned.

Can you bring up a page of text and the DR will display that indefinitely with no real power drain or will it always use up some battery while it's on? Or is this a future firmware upgrade?

sarikan · 11-30-2008, 06:13 AM

At the moment the dr does not stop consuming power when a page is displayed on the screen. But the technology allows a page to be displayed continuously after it is drawn on the screen. For example when battery dies sometimes, the image on the screen stays there. A future update (1.5) to firmware is promised, which will use standby between page flips. I guess this can take total usage up to 12 hours or beyond. This is the situation for now. Check this forum, and you'll see that the issue has been discussed.

omro · 11-30-2008, 09:06 AM

I'm hopefully that that'll happen, otherwise it kinda defeats the point of an eBook lol

cjp · 11-30-2008, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Should I buy a Digital Reader 1000s at it's absurdly inflated price and take a risk or enjoy my BeBook and stick to reading my PDFs on my laptop?

I have a Sony PRS505 to read books for leisure. I bought (invested in) the iRex DR1000S to read PDF journals. Lots of journals.

IMO, each Reader addresses a different use. The PRS505 (or BeBook) is for the pleasure of reading books; the DR1000 is for academic, medical, etc...anything that really is to read and take notes on page size PDF's. The DR1000S has been a great investment and worth the money. For grad school, nothing has made my life easier.

omro · 11-30-2008, 04:56 PM

I have a lot of academic PDFs and I had the Bebook and it was useless even landscape with only 800 pixels across for them.

And having had a Bebook, and having sold it, I'll be using the DR for novels too!

Shaggy · 12-01-2008, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Having had a Bebook, albeit briefly, it seems to only use power when the page was turned.

Can you bring up a page of text and the DR will display that indefinitely with no real power drain or will it always use up some battery while it's on? Or is this a future firmware upgrade?

Just agreeing with what other's already mentioned. The current behavior of the DR is that it keeps running all the time. You're right, that's definitely not ideal with eInk technology, but they probably ran into a deadline with the development.

They originally released the DR without any power management functionality, which is what you're talking about (going into standby/sleep in between page turns). They're adding that in firmware 1.5, which supposedly will be released by the end of this year. That may slip a little bit (releases from iRex tend to run late), but I would expect it sometime in January at the latest.

omro · 12-01-2008, 05:15 PM

is there any additional functionality that is known to be planned beyond this?

Shaggy · 12-02-2008, 10:13 AM

There are lots of other bugs/glitches that they're fixing in the 1.5 release as well. I'm sure there will be other stuff in the future, but they haven't announced specifics about what their plans are much beyond the 1.5 release. That's pretty normal for them though. They don't usually give a long range roadmap for firmware, just announce things a release at a time.

If you're interested in what else is in 1.5, you can go to their forum and read the user feedback section. There are lots of things discussed in there that their developer has said they are planning on fixing in 1.5, in addition to the power management.

omro · 12-03-2008, 04:24 AM

link please

Shaggy · 12-03-2008, 10:30 AM

Their forum's main page is http://forum.irexnet.com/

You want to look at the "User Feedback and bug reporting" forum in the "iRex Digital Reader 1000 series" section. Here...
http://forum.irexnet.com/viewforum.php?f=44

There isn't a single post with a list of the 1.5 bug fixes, but some of the topics in that forum have posts from Matthijs (one of iRex's developers) saying that he's fixed the problem and it will be included in the 1.5 update.

11-30-2008, 04:56 PM	#25
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	I have a lot of academic PDFs and I had the Bebook and it was useless even landscape with only 800 pixels across for them. And having had a Bebook, and having sold it, I'll be using the DR for novels too! Last edited by omro; 11-30-2008 at 05:16 PM.

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11-25-2008, 12:12 PM	#18
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	I understand now and hope to understand things a bit better once mine arrives Perhaps someone can recommend some ebooks I should read about the subject

11-25-2008, 01:43 PM	#19
Shaggy Wizard Posts: 4,293 Karma: 529619 Join Date: May 2007 Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG	There was a community developed version of the PDF viewer for the iLiad, that added support for some extra features. Maybe that's partly what you were thinking of. I think most of the extra things that the community viewer added are already built into the DR viewer though (fullscreen, etc). I don't know of a community version of the DR PDF viewer yet, but I could be wrong.

11-25-2008, 01:46 PM	#20
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	I don't really know what I was thinking, I think I purely misunderstood what FB Reader was. I am pretty sure I was labouring under the impression it was a replacement viewer for everything on the DR.

11-29-2008, 05:13 PM	#21
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	Having had a Bebook, albeit briefly, it seems to only use power when the page was turned. Can you bring up a page of text and the DR will display that indefinitely with no real power drain or will it always use up some battery while it's on? Or is this a future firmware upgrade?

11-30-2008, 06:13 AM	#22
sarikan Zealot Posts: 131 Karma: 34 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: none	At the moment the dr does not stop consuming power when a page is displayed on the screen. But the technology allows a page to be displayed continuously after it is drawn on the screen. For example when battery dies sometimes, the image on the screen stays there. A future update (1.5) to firmware is promised, which will use standby between page flips. I guess this can take total usage up to 12 hours or beyond. This is the situation for now. Check this forum, and you'll see that the issue has been discussed.

11-30-2008, 09:06 AM	#23
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	I'm hopefully that that'll happen, otherwise it kinda defeats the point of an eBook lol

12-01-2008, 05:15 PM	#27
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	is there any additional functionality that is known to be planned beyond this?

12-02-2008, 10:13 AM	#28
Shaggy Wizard Posts: 4,293 Karma: 529619 Join Date: May 2007 Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG	There are lots of other bugs/glitches that they're fixing in the 1.5 release as well. I'm sure there will be other stuff in the future, but they haven't announced specifics about what their plans are much beyond the 1.5 release. That's pretty normal for them though. They don't usually give a long range roadmap for firmware, just announce things a release at a time. If you're interested in what else is in 1.5, you can go to their forum and read the user feedback section. There are lots of things discussed in there that their developer has said they are planning on fixing in 1.5, in addition to the power management.

12-03-2008, 04:24 AM	#29
omro Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 452000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hamilton, On Device: Kobo Aura HD	link please

12-03-2008, 10:30 AM	#30
Shaggy Wizard Posts: 4,293 Karma: 529619 Join Date: May 2007 Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG	Their forum's main page is http://forum.irexnet.com/ You want to look at the "User Feedback and bug reporting" forum in the "iRex Digital Reader 1000 series" section. Here... http://forum.irexnet.com/viewforum.php?f=44 There isn't a single post with a list of the 1.5 bug fixes, but some of the topics in that forum have posts from Matthijs (one of iRex's developers) saying that he's fixed the problem and it will be included in the 1.5 update.

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