KPV: a PDF reader for Kindle, based on muPDF, GPLv3

[dave2008]

Originally Posted by hawhill

The next release will be more stable in that regard, but I managed to bring it to show similar symptoms you describe.

Can you always reproduce this with latest code?

[hawhill]

I had to switch rotation in the original framework, so that kpdfview already started rotated. Then I rotated within kpdfview by 90 degrees. Then I put it into screensaver, out of screensaver, back into screensaver, out of screensaver and then finally I had the screen cluttered :-) Soooooo..... it's not so easy with latest code.

I'll update the OP and add a fair warning that screen might get cluttered under some circumstances. Maybe we should add a launchpad key configuration (P-R? for "reset"?) for an easy framework restart to our launchpad config file.

[dave2008]

Originally Posted by hawhill

I had to switch rotation in the original framework, so that kpdfview already started rotated. Then I rotated within kpdfview by 90 degrees. Then I put it into screensaver, out of screensaver, back into screensaver, out of screensaver and then finally I had the screen cluttered :-) Soooooo..... it's not so easy with latest code.

Aha, thanks for the instructions. I haven't tried starting KPV on rotated screen. Though I still cannot reproduce the cluttered screen, I do encounter blank screen on screensaver. Seems that starting from portrait mode is not entirely the same as starting from landscape mode.

In the worst case, we can still fall back to stop framework approach :P But let's see if we can handle this more elegantly.

Originally Posted by hawhill

I'll update the OP and add a fair warning that screen might get cluttered under some circumstances. Maybe we should add a launchpad key configuration (P-R? for "reset"?) for an easy framework restart to our launchpad config file.

+1 for the launchpad shortcut. And we can also add a fix feature inside KPV in the future: just rotates the screen and exits without rotating the screen back. Once the screen is back to the right rotation mode, the native system can update the screen properly, even without restarting the framework.

[citron]

Can you please help me with the installation? I have probably problem with Launchpad on Kindle DXG 2.5.8

1) I installed jailbreak and restarted
2) installed launchpad and restarted
3) copied kindlepdfviewer and launchpad folders from the installation archive to the root of Kindle filesystem

trying to press

Press Shift-Shift-I sequence on the Kindle for installing
Press Shift-Shift-Space sequence on the Kindle to reload launchpad

but nothing happens - file launchpad.log is empty.

always when I press Shift + any letter - the search window pop up...
Is there any need to press Enter keyboard after the command sequence like (Shift-Shift-I-Enter) or is it case sensitive?

Thanks a lot

[dave2008]

Originally Posted by citron

Can you please help me with the installation? I have probably problem with Launchpad on Kindle DXG 2.5.8

1) I installed jailbreak and restarted
2) installed launchpad and restarted
3) copied kindlepdfviewer and launchpad folders from the installation archive to the root of Kindle filesystem

trying to press

Press Shift-Shift-I sequence on the Kindle for installing
Press Shift-Shift-Space sequence on the Kindle to reload launchpad

but nothing happens - file launchpad.log is empty.

always when I press Shift + any letter - the search window pop up...
Is there any need to press Enter keyboard after the command sequence like (Shift-Shift-I-Enter) or is it case sensitive?

Thanks a lot

Are you holding the Shift key while pressing letter keys? Combos should be pressed in sequence, one by one.

If the command is executed successfully, you should see notification on the bottom of the screen (in portrait mode).

[dpavlin]

Originally Posted by citron

3) copied kindlepdfviewer and launchpad folders from the installation archive to the root of Kindle filesystem

You need to copy installation .zip to customupdates folder (which you have to create if it doesn't exist this is launchpad way of installing additional software) and then press Shift+Shift+I to install it. Shift+Shift+Space will reload launchpad configuration and register reader on Shift+P+D.

Alternatively, you can unzip distribution zip to root of your device (which will create kindlepdfviewer folder and drop two files into launchpad dir) and press Shift+Shift+Space.

[citron]

Thanks dpavlin

I did the procedure what you advised me: Created folder in the ROOT named customupdates and copied the installation file...

bellow is code from log file after restart. Im trying to press:
Shift+Shift+I to install it.
Shift+Shift+Space
and Shift+P+D to run the reader
but nothing happend

is there any specific delay between press of keys? Im starting command from home menu...

For example when I press Shift Shift I sequence (not simultaneously) then search box appears with small letter i and nothing happens

--- Launchpad version 0.0.1c built on Feb  2 2011 03:19:26

Attempting to read key definitions from /mnt/us/launchpad/keydefs.ini
.. processing /mnt/us/launchpad/servicecmds.ini
.. processing /mnt/us/launchpad/fbreader.ini
.. processing /mnt/us/launchpad/rce.ini
.. processing /mnt/us/launchpad/launchpad.ini
*** action summary:
1: Shift Space = kill -HUP `pidof launchpad` &
2: Shift I = /mnt/us/launchpad/customupdate.sh
3: Shift S = powerd_test -p
4: Shift A = /etc/init.d/framework restart &
5: Shift C = kill -CONT `pidof cvm` &
6: Shift R = shutdown -r now &
7: Shift H = shutdown -h now &
8: F B = /mnt/us/FBReader/goqt.sh FBReader &
9: F R = /mnt/us/fbKindle/goqt.sh FBReader &

thanks a lot for your time

[hawhill]

Hm, that looks like a normal start of launchpad. When you say nothing happens at all, when you press these keys, I guess they were not correctly registered.

There is a _maximum_ delay between the key presses. I think the overall delay is by default at max. 700 msecs, the between-single-key interval is at 300 msecs maximum. Soooo... be fast :-) Or just edit launchpad.ini - the intervals are defined in there.

[citron]

thanks Hawhill
I was slow during key input... You can update info about the time and delay to the first page tutorial...

Thanks for your great job!!!

[SP777]

How about my previously requested features?

- It would be great to have scrollbars in a zoomed view to see the current position on a page (like in a native viewer).
- In a zoom-to-content (and 2-column) view, some margins at the screen edges should be kept (say 5 or 10 pixels, better adjustable) for more comfortable reading.
- When panning (screen-by-screen) in a zoomed view, some overlap (say 10% of adjustable) with the previous position may also be helpful.
- And that would be a great feature for kindlepdfviewer to make text annotations and highlighting and save them directly into pdf so that they can be viewed on a pc.

[hawhill]

Hi SP777,

not forgotten! but we will probably need to clean up the reader interface so we can tackle the overlaps and the scrollbars. I'm sorry, but this will probably be done after next release (which we're currently preparing).

As for writing annotations/highlighting into the PDF: I know the general procedure for that. However, I'm not really aware of a feasible solution that would run on the Kindle itself. Basically, that is because I only know of iText as a reliable library to do such things. Unfortunately, iText is Java based. However, I think it would be easy to create a _Desktop_ application that could do that task. I'll see if maybe the cvm on the Kindle is up for the task, but I doubt that old Java version will cope with iText. Also, I might have to look into libpodofo, it might have evolved and maybe it can do it, too. However, this will take a bit of time, too.

[SP777]

Originally Posted by hawhill

not forgotten!

Thanks, hawhill!
Will be waiting for future releases....

[dpavlin]

Originally Posted by SP777

How about my previously requested features?

- It would be great to have scrollbars in a zoomed view to see the current position on a page (like in a native viewer).

I'm not a huge fan of scrollbars, and I like clean presentation of kindlepdfviewer. It would make sense to show them after move, but then hide it after timeout instead of having them on screen all time like Amazon framework does.

Originally Posted by SP777

- In a zoom-to-content (and 2-column) view, some margins at the screen edges should be kept (say 5 or 10 pixels, better adjustable) for more comfortable reading.

There are two modes, F without shift does have 20 px margin (which should be user configurable as soon as we add settings menu :-) and the one with Shift+F doesn't have any margins. I rewrote part of it for next release, so hopefully margins will behave better in next version.

Originally Posted by SP777

- When panning (screen-by-screen) in a zoomed view, some overlap (say 10% of adjustable) with the previous position may also be helpful.

In next release we have (again not configurable through options, but available in lua configuration file) setting of pan_overlap_vertical which is 30 px and shows as grayed out part of page which was visible on previous screen.

[SP777]

Originally Posted by dpavlin

I'm not a huge fan of scrollbars, and I like clean presentation of kindlepdfviewer. It would make sense to show them after move, but then hide it after timeout instead of having them on screen all time like Amazon framework does.

I'm reading a lot of scientific articles in a zoomed or a two-column mode. To have scrollbars always visible is much better for me. Again, making this feature adjustable (always visible / autohide / never visible) would be the best option.

Scrollbars may occupy the same space as margins. Scrollbars hide - margins are left.

The reason for margins is that plastic screen borders are raised over the screen and drop shadows depending on lighting. When the text starts just at the border, the shadow drops on the text and hinders reading.

[dave2008]

Originally Posted by SP777

I'm reading a lot of scientific articles in a zoomed or a two-column mode. To have scrollbars always visible is much better for me. Again, making this feature adjustable (always visible / autohide / never visible) would be the best option.

Scrollbars may occupy the same space as margins. Scrollbars hide - margins are left.

The reason for margins is that plastic screen borders are raised over the screen and drop shadows depending on lighting. When the text starts just at the border, the shadow drops on the text and hinders reading.

I have added your request to the issue tracker. Next time you have a new idea for a cool feature and want to track on its development, the issue tracker might be the better place for you to fire the request

As for writing annotation directly to PDFs, I think it will be better to leave that task to DESKTOP application. This can give you more options on how those highlights and annotations should be written into the file. For instance, what color and shape should be used for the highlight.