20090102 snapshot

[dottedmag]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Is it usual for internal storage to be empty? I can see the SD card with no problem, but not the internal filesystem.

It's different "internal storage" - actually the contents of /home directory of the rootfs, not the separate partition which is "internal storage" of Hanlin firmware. Nobody had the time and incentive to fix it yet, though it should be easy.

[sianon]

In addition to the problem with not seeing internal memory, I am unable to get my BeBook to connect to my PC. From what I have seen so far, I very much like the OI system. But it is a problem that I can't get my books from internal memory to SD card. For now will reflash to the BeBook firmware, then reinstall OI.

Karen

[bigmoney]

Just installed OI for the first time, but I had to move back to the jan snapshot because I could not see the files in internal storage. Apart from that, I like it very much, especially the flexibility it provides with font sizes, margins etc. So much better than the BeBook firmware. Since I can't program for these type of devices I decided to show my support by doing a small donation to the project.

A few things I miss from the original bebook fw though:
- fast boot
- ability to lock screen by clicking the off button
- ability to shut down by holdinf the off button

Are there any workarounds for those issues?

[dottedmag]

The workarounds are called "go ahead and fix/implement it"

[socalpimp]

a little grumpy?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by socalpimp

a little grumpy?

Hey, an open source project is a group effort, so it is perfectly reasonable to ask someone who wants something special to implement it themselves and submit it to the project. Submitting bug reports to the ticket system is helpful for everybody concerned, but asking for a free ride deserves the reply that dottedmag gave, IMHO.

[bigmoney]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

Hey, an open source project is a group effort, so it is perfectly reasonable to ask someone who wants something special to implement it themselves and submit it to the project. Submitting bug reports to the ticket system is helpful for everybody concerned, but asking for a free ride deserves the reply that dottedmag gave, IMHO.

First, I didn't find dottedmag's answer that grumpy, just a bit sarcastic, but I am fine with that, I can take it (I've been using OSS for many years now, enough to develop a thick skin for that).

Regarding Dave's answer, not so sure what he meant by free ride. I was not asking "something special", and I at least tried to be polite and contribute the way I can (since I can't code for the project, I thought the team would appreciate to see some money showing up in their paypal account). I didn't demand a fix, saying the software is crap without those features or anything of that sort. I just politely asked for a workaround. Who knows, maybe someone could say "hey, you can get a much faster boot by doing this and that" or "you can lock the screen by pressing this and that button as well". I was just wondering. There's no such info in the user guide but who knows, documentation in OSS projects may be out of date (and I can help with that, sure). I am new to OI and was just trying to get some info.

This mentality of "this is open source, implement it yourself or shut up" is too old, that is not what open source is about, and supporters of OSS should actually work hard to clear that image from public perception, because that is the kind of FUD that companies like Microsoft use against OSS.

Anyway, I will skip this forum and use the bug tracker instead, so people don't call it a free ride anymore.

[dottedmag]

We can try to keep documentation up-to-date. So: no workarounds/hacks exist yet for the functionality you asked for. There is going under-the-hood reconstrution, we'll return to user-visible changes as soon as it finishes.

[bigmoney]

Originally Posted by dottedmag

We can try to keep documentation up-to-date. So: no workarounds/hacks exist yet for the functionality you asked for. There is going under-the-hood reconstrution, we'll return to user-visible changes as soon as it finishes.

Cool, thanks.

[dottedmag]

Oops: "we can try" should be read as "we try"

[bigmoney]

Regarding the boot time, one workaround would be to leave the device always on, I know that the reader does not spend energy when it's not turning pages. Is that really OK to leave the device always on? Does the screen "burn", or the hardware lasts less if we do so?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by bigmoney

I was not asking "something special", and I at least tried to be polite and contribute the way I can (since I can't code for the project, I thought the team would appreciate to see some money showing up in their paypal account). I didn't say I was demanding a fix, saying the software is crap without those features or anything (that would deserve the kind of answer I got),

As you may have guessed by now, that seems to be a matter of opinion.

Originally Posted by bigmoney

I just politely asked for a workaround.

"Workaround" is a term used for bugs, and not for missing desired features.

Originally Posted by bigmoney

Who knows, maybe someone could say "hey, you can get a much faster boot by doing this and that" or "you can lock the screen by pressing this and that button as well". I was just wondering. There's no such info in the user guide but who knows, documentation in OSS projects may be out of date (and I can help with that, sure). I am new to OI and was just trying to get some info.

I am very sorry if you took my comment as being too harsh. I was just trying to see things from the developers point of view. I think that most developers are working on the OpenInkPot project in their "free" time, and it seems some people disregard that when asking for features that may not be desired by the user community as a whole. If you read the developers section on the OpenInkPot web site, you can see some of your questions were already under consideration there, and are being prioritized for future releases.
http://openinkpot.org/report

As for slow boot time, just do not shut down, and then you do not have to wait for the boot time. As an added plus, your battery will also last longer. I think that I recall that your other "issues" are already in the ticket system and development schedule.

Originally Posted by bigmoney

Might be because English is not my first language, but what do you mean with "asking for a free ride" exactly?

Again, I am sorry that may have sounded too harsh. It simply means asking for something without offering anything in return. I am sure that all of us who care about OpenInkPot have made financial contributions, but the stated purpose of financial contributions is to support new new hardware, so IMHO financial contributions do not entitle us to ask the developers for new features outside the bug reporting system.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by bigmoney

Regarding the boot time, one workaround would be to leave the device always on, I know that the reader does not spend energy when it's not turning pages. Is that really OK to leave the device always on? Does the screen "burn", or the hardware lasts less if we do so?

Yes, it really is OK to leave the reader always on. The boot process probably expends more energy than reading several hundred pages. Another thing that will save energy is to transfer your current reading projects into the internal memory, as reading from the SD card is also quite energy intensive.

"Screen burn in" applies more to CRT and plasma displays than any other display technology. eInk does not have any similar physical mechanism to cause permanent and unrepairable image retention like CRT and plasma displays have. The eInk display does sometimes leave some after image ghost after a high contrast image has been displayed, but that is just some of the ink particles not being fully rotated. That after image is not permanent, and will disappear with further screen refreshes.

[bigmoney]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

"Workaround" is a term used for bugs, and not for missing desired features.

In the software projects I work on we use the term for both cases, but who knows, may be different from community to community.

So for instance an user might ask me "how do I get this report exported to Excel" and I might tell him "we do not support Excel export but you could export it to CSV and then import in Excel". So it is a workaround, even though the lack of Excel export is not a bug in our system.

A workaround in my view is an alternative way to avoid an issue. An issue may be a bug, a missing feature, or anything in between (the line between a bug and a missing feature is not always very clear, anyway).

[dottedmag]

Originally Posted by bigmoney

Is that really OK to leave the device always on?

Yes. I personally only turn device off to reflash it.

[/QUOTE]Does the screen "burn", or the hardware lasts less if we do so?[/QUOTE]

No.