Sad tale that ends happily!

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I'm going to make sure my name/contact is in and on my 505!

Enjoy it while you can. The latest 600 firmware is encrypted. If and when Sony comes up with firmware upgrade for 505, the days of PRScustomizer glory might come up to an (abrupt) end.

Encryption of the firmware was, apparently, very high on Sony's priority list.

[kennyc]

Well after looking at what that thing does, I'm not going to install it anyway. I don't want all that stuff, but the owner name/contact is a very good idea. I'll just attach a business card to the back.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Well after looking at what that thing does, I'm not going to install it anyway. I don't want all that stuff, but the owner name/contact is a very good idea. I'll just attach a business card to the back.

The only thing that PRS-Customizer *does* is install a clock. Everything else is optional.

Having contact info actually on the device could be very helpful in case it's lost or stolen. You can absolutely prove it's your device if your name is on the about screen.

Business cards can be lost or thrown away.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by khalleron

The only thing that PRS-Customizer *does* is install a clock. Everything else is optional.

Having contact info actually on the device could be very helpful in case it's lost or stolen. You can absolutely prove it's your device if your name is on the about screen.

Business cards can be lost or thrown away.

Ah, okay, from the initial skim, it looked like it was going to more or less replace the operating system.

I'll check it out closer.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Ah, okay, from the initial skim, it looked like it was going to more or less replace the operating system.

I'll check it out closer.

It just tweaks the UI a little - the functionality's the same. The "Uniform fonts" tweak is a popular one, along with a different icon set.

I've put my details on the front page, but that's more involved...

[notsure]

Originally Posted by Ankh

Enjoy it while you can. The latest 600 firmware is encrypted. If and when Sony comes up with firmware upgrade for 505, the days of PRScustomizer glory might come up to an (abrupt) end.

Encryption of the firmware was, apparently, very high on Sony's priority list.

I wonder why they have done this. I thought I read somewhere about them bragging that customers were able to modify their readers.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by notsure

I wonder why they have done this. I thought I read somewhere about them bragging that customers were able to modify their readers.

Well in a market like this that is essentially an open market they likely don't want anyone stealing their proprietary intellectual property -- i.e. any algorithms and techniques they put in the code to give it unique advantages.

If it wasn't encrypted then it would be a relative simple matter to disassemble and recreate the source code.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

It just tweaks the UI a little - the functionality's the same. The "Uniform fonts" tweak is a popular one, along with a different icon set.

I've put my details on the front page, but that's more involved...

yeah, nothing against it/you, but I've heard that before. See maybe I'm jaded, but I've been in this software business almost 30 years now and more often than not a "replacement" is often just not as stable as production software -- particularly when the production software is working fine as far as I can tell.


The addition of an Owner properties would be great, but if I have to replace everything to get it then I'll just attach my business card (which I've done at this point)

As I said, I will check it out though. Does it provide a means of getting back to the original firmware?

[dordale]

I used the PRS Customizer a month or two after I got my 505. I added the universal font size, customized icon set and of course the clock. All I can say is it was a painless procedure and I love the changes. I really don't understand why Sony's default was to use variable font sizes in their menu--just makes it look messy in my opinion.

And I'm pretty sure you can fairly easily revert to the original firmware fairly easily, although I've never tried.

dordale

[kennyc]

Thanks Dordale!

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by kennyc

As I said, I will check it out though. Does it provide a means of getting back to the original firmware?

Not trivially, although you may be able to use it to back it up first (I don't recall offhand - not the author & not run it for ages), the normal recovery method is to use the official firmware flasher, although that's only a US v1.1 version (and not the very latest, but no-one knows what the differences in the 1.1 branch are).

One caveat is that to use the customiser may require you doing that first if you're running a later version of the firmware!

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55204 , from https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...183#post482183 onward and https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45003 for more info.

[kennyc]

Thanks for the info gwynevans.