Wikireader - Hands On Review - Page 2

Nate the great · 10-15-2009, 10:59 PM

I ordered mine through Amazon.com because I have Prime. It arrives tomorrow.

ardeegee · 10-15-2009, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Excellent, and given the pixels what did you calculate the screen size to be?

No way to deduce that from the image without some reliable scale object in the picture. The closest thing I found in any of the images on the site was one sitting on a copy of the New York Times-- the whole unit is just slightly smaller than two columns of text in the NYT-- if someone had a copy and could measure that.

DaleDe · 10-16-2009, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardeegee

No way to deduce that from the image without some reliable scale object in the picture. The closest thing I found in any of the images on the site was one sitting on a copy of the New York Times-- the whole unit is just slightly smaller than two columns of text in the NYT-- if someone had a copy and could measure that.

I judged by the hand holding it that the whole unit was 4" or less. But it will be helpful when someone can actually give use some measurements.

Dale

poohbear_nc · 10-16-2009, 08:36 AM

I would guess from the shipping delays from Amazon that the initial production of chips all had the problem I encountered - and they are replacing/reflashing the chips before shipping out a second wave.
When you get your unit, test it immediately by opening an article and then start tapping on the embedded links to move to other articles. The problem I encountered was getting a screen with the error message "There was a problem loading this page. Please turn your unit off and on." It was intermittent but persistent.

To the best of my memory, the screen size was approx. 3.5 x 3.5 inches - I was in a hurry to get it boxed up to meet UPS pickup time and didn't do a detailed examination of it.

sporkinum · 10-16-2009, 12:31 PM

I found this information on an Apple-centric blog.

Quote:

The concept is simple - embed all of Wikipedia in an inexpensive handheld device. Designed by Thomas Meyerhoffer, a former Apple designer, the WikiReader measures 3.9 inches (9.9 cm) square and 0.8 inches (20 mm) thick, and weighs in at 4.5 ounces (127 g). That's about the size of a squared-off iPod touch, and although it's twice as thick, it's half as heavy.

Picture in relation to Blackberry.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....r-hands-06.jpg

Nate the great · 10-16-2009, 04:35 PM

I think I'm seeing the same bug. I click on a link and the article doesn't load.

Nate the great · 10-16-2009, 06:28 PM

I sent and email, and they told me how to fix the bug.

Here is some technical info:
mine came with a 8GB microSD card
screen:
3.5" diagonal
2.375" tall
2.75" wide

poohbear_nc · 10-17-2009, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I sent and email, and they told me how to fix the bug.

Here is some technical info:
mine came with a 8GB microSD card
screen:
3.5" diagonal
2.375" tall
2.75" wide

Can you post the email (or link to it ) so others can fix their units if they experience the same bug?

sporkinum · 10-20-2009, 07:48 AM

Got mine yesterday, and the touch screen doesn't work along the bottom 1/4 inch of the screen. That means I can't select the bottom row of letters which includes the space bar and numbers. It does a great job on random, though.

I did discover that if you hold down the buttons while powering up, you get various things. Holding down search gets you diagnostics, history gets a calculator, and random is some sort of serial communications screen for a port that is not easily available.

poohbear_nc · 10-20-2009, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sporkinum

Got mine yesterday, and the touch screen doesn't work along the bottom 1/4 inch of the screen. That means I can't select the bottom row of letters which includes the space bar and numbers. I does a great job on random, though.

I did discover that if you hold down the buttons while powering up, you get various things. Holding down search gets you diagnostics, history gets a calculator, and random is some sort of serial communications screen for a port that is not easily available.

This may be the information people want/need who intend to hack the device.

I just got a replacement for the first unit (with the page load bug) - this one has problems with the on/off switch. I'm getting the feeling this product was rushed into production, or that the folks that invented it did not get deeply involved in the actual manufacturing process.
You may need to go through several swap outs to finally get a model that functions well.

sporkinum · 10-23-2009, 11:50 AM

They are shipping me a replacement. In the meantime, they have posted code and specs at http://wiki.github.com/wikireader/wikireader

Here are some interesting items.
LCD Display Module

* Monochrome LCD module
* Resolution: 240 * 208 pixels
* Level converters on LCD module
* 4 bit interface to MCU LCD controller

Touch screen

* Capacitive Touch Panel
* Data sent via asynchronous serial protocol
* GPIO touch down indication

Debug connector

* 8 pads under a seal in the battery compartment
o The test jig connects to these using spring loaded test probes
* starting form the row nearest the batteries, left to right the signals are:
o 1st row: [BAT-] [PROG] [VSS] RXD]
o 2nd row [BAT+] [3.3V] [RESET] [TXD]
* PROG, RESET, RXD, TXD are all 3.3V signals referenced to VSS
* RESET → VSS for power on reset
* PROG → VSS and use flash07 to reprogram FLASH ROM
* BATT+/- for external 3 volt power supply
* 3.3V is the internal regulated power rail, it could power a 3.3V RS232 converter chip
* Do not inject power into the 3.3V PI, it is output only
* RXD/TXD are set to 19200 8N1 by mbr
* BAT- is not the same as VSS

Overlay 1 (fileloader.c)

This will load one of three files from the SD card depending on the code it receieve from the menu program A the time of writing these are:

* no buttons pressed loads KERNEL.ELF – This is the normal situation
* search pressed loads FORTH.ELF
* history pressed loads CALC.ELF

Overlays 2..7

These will contains various test programs used during production and hardware development.They consist of LCD, Function Key and Memory (SDRAM) tests. These can only be accessed from the console menu. The console port can be accessed without opening the case by removing a seal from inside the battery compartment; this port also can be used with the host-tools/flash07 a program written in "Python"http://www.python.org to reprogram the FLASH ROM.

John F · 10-28-2009, 12:27 PM

"Review: $99 WikiReader is a pocket encyclopedia "

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/200910...t_wikireader_1

poohbear_nc · 10-28-2009, 12:39 PM

I have been using mine very frequently to look up stuff as I read - instead of waiting for Wikipedia to load on my DX. Once you adjust to the screen size and font, it is handy - and fast! I've been re-reading Great Expectations - and it's been fun looking up old British slang, foods, locations, etc.

My major gripes are:
No back button to return to your main page after you click on a link - have to use list in History.
No "clear" button to erase entries, mistakes, etc.
Boy does the screen show fingerprints/smudges, etc!!

keeperofdakeys · 10-28-2009, 04:22 PM

For anyone who has one, have you looked at the file structure on the micro SDHC card yet?
And if no one has, could you?
does it look like it would be easy to add external content, like text files?

sporkinum · 10-30-2009, 06:36 PM

It's just a normal SD card, so you can copy anything you want to it. Hopefully, someone will add some sort of e-reader program to it in the near future.

I got my replacement reader the other day and it works as designed now. I agree on the smudges, but it really is not that bad to deal with. Lack of a back function is mildly annoying as history works pretty well for that. One nice thing about history, is it also saves your position in the article. So if you wander off in a link, it is easy to get back to. It really needs a word search for inside an article though.

The wiki is pretty up to date as well. I was reading an article and it mentioned something that happened 1 month ago.

I also have updated the kernel, which now adds kinetic scrolling. Makes it much faster to move through a big article.

10-20-2009, 07:48 AM	#24
sporkinum Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Wikireader	Got mine yesterday, and the touch screen doesn't work along the bottom 1/4 inch of the screen. That means I can't select the bottom row of letters which includes the space bar and numbers. It does a great job on random, though. I did discover that if you hold down the buttons while powering up, you get various things. Holding down search gets you diagnostics, history gets a calculator, and random is some sort of serial communications screen for a port that is not easily available. Last edited by sporkinum; 10-20-2009 at 10:43 AM.

10-30-2009, 06:36 PM	#30
sporkinum Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Wikireader	It's just a normal SD card, so you can copy anything you want to it. Hopefully, someone will add some sort of e-reader program to it in the near future. I got my replacement reader the other day and it works as designed now. I agree on the smudges, but it really is not that bad to deal with. Lack of a back function is mildly annoying as history works pretty well for that. One nice thing about history, is it also saves your position in the article. So if you wander off in a link, it is easy to get back to. It really needs a word search for inside an article though. The wiki is pretty up to date as well. I was reading an article and it mentioned something that happened 1 month ago. I also have updated the kernel, which now adds kinetic scrolling. Makes it much faster to move through a big article. Last edited by sporkinum; 10-30-2009 at 06:49 PM.

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10-15-2009, 10:59 PM	#16
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	I ordered mine through Amazon.com because I have Prime. It arrives tomorrow.

10-16-2009, 08:36 AM	#19
poohbear_nc Bah! Humbug! Posts: 63,487 Karma: 135239851 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	I would guess from the shipping delays from Amazon that the initial production of chips all had the problem I encountered - and they are replacing/reflashing the chips before shipping out a second wave. When you get your unit, test it immediately by opening an article and then start tapping on the embedded links to move to other articles. The problem I encountered was getting a screen with the error message "There was a problem loading this page. Please turn your unit off and on." It was intermittent but persistent. To the best of my memory, the screen size was approx. 3.5 x 3.5 inches - I was in a hurry to get it boxed up to meet UPS pickup time and didn't do a detailed examination of it.

10-16-2009, 04:35 PM	#21
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	I think I'm seeing the same bug. I click on a link and the article doesn't load.

10-16-2009, 06:28 PM	#22
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	I sent and email, and they told me how to fix the bug. Here is some technical info: mine came with a 8GB microSD card screen: 3.5" diagonal 2.375" tall 2.75" wide

10-23-2009, 11:50 AM	#26
sporkinum Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Wikireader	They are shipping me a replacement. In the meantime, they have posted code and specs at http://wiki.github.com/wikireader/wikireader Here are some interesting items. LCD Display Module * Monochrome LCD module * Resolution: 240 * 208 pixels * Level converters on LCD module * 4 bit interface to MCU LCD controller Touch screen * Capacitive Touch Panel * Data sent via asynchronous serial protocol * GPIO touch down indication Debug connector * 8 pads under a seal in the battery compartment o The test jig connects to these using spring loaded test probes * starting form the row nearest the batteries, left to right the signals are: o 1st row: [BAT-] [PROG] [VSS] RXD] o 2nd row [BAT+] [3.3V] [RESET] [TXD] * PROG, RESET, RXD, TXD are all 3.3V signals referenced to VSS * RESET → VSS for power on reset * PROG → VSS and use flash07 to reprogram FLASH ROM * BATT+/- for external 3 volt power supply * 3.3V is the internal regulated power rail, it could power a 3.3V RS232 converter chip * Do not inject power into the 3.3V PI, it is output only * RXD/TXD are set to 19200 8N1 by mbr * BAT- is not the same as VSS Overlay 1 (fileloader.c) This will load one of three files from the SD card depending on the code it receieve from the menu program A the time of writing these are: * no buttons pressed loads KERNEL.ELF – This is the normal situation * search pressed loads FORTH.ELF * history pressed loads CALC.ELF Overlays 2..7 These will contains various test programs used during production and hardware development.They consist of LCD, Function Key and Memory (SDRAM) tests. These can only be accessed from the console menu. The console port can be accessed without opening the case by removing a seal from inside the battery compartment; this port also can be used with the host-tools/flash07 a program written in "Python"http://www.python.org to reprogram the FLASH ROM.

10-28-2009, 12:27 PM	#27
John F Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,951 Karma: 70880793 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo Clara 2E	"Review: $99 WikiReader is a pocket encyclopedia " http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/200910...t_wikireader_1

10-28-2009, 12:39 PM	#28
poohbear_nc Bah! Humbug! Posts: 63,487 Karma: 135239851 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	I have been using mine very frequently to look up stuff as I read - instead of waiting for Wikipedia to load on my DX. Once you adjust to the screen size and font, it is handy - and fast! I've been re-reading Great Expectations - and it's been fun looking up old British slang, foods, locations, etc. My major gripes are: No back button to return to your main page after you click on a link - have to use list in History. No "clear" button to erase entries, mistakes, etc. Boy does the screen show fingerprints/smudges, etc!!

10-28-2009, 04:22 PM	#29
keeperofdakeys Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Adelaide Hills, Australia Device: none	For anyone who has one, have you looked at the file structure on the micro SDHC card yet? And if no one has, could you? does it look like it would be easy to add external content, like text files?

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