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Old 01-06-2010, 08:48 PM   #1
rhaen
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Firmware backup/snapshot

I looked/searched all over the forums about a tool/way to save the firmware of the reader. I am using a German version of the reader which uses a 1.4.x version of the reader software.

I just don't want to downgrade the version to the UK/US level, I want to start working on the German version, however, I want to keep up a backup of the firmware.

Running the flasher with a customised run script which cats the device files into dumpfiles might be an option. Did someone already found a way how to snapshot the reader?

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Old 01-06-2010, 10:15 PM   #2
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Believe you can use the flashing software to make an image of current setup before you start but what's this "downgrading" stuff... the 1.1 to 1.4 part of F/W designation is simply a country/language designation, functionality is the same on the different reader versions that I've seen (US/UK?French)...
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Old 01-07-2010, 01:31 AM   #3
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I had a UK fw because DE was not available at the time I got my 505. I never had any regret with the US 1.1 and then upgrading to PRS+. Even if one wants to go back to another fw, US 1.1 isn't different in look and feel to the other fw. Unless one is really concerned about bricking the reader, there's no real reason. Original fw doesn't even display time and date, so there's no point in "the US date format is different". PRS+ may get localization, too. So it's probably just a matter of time.
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Old 01-07-2010, 02:45 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elcreative View Post
...before you start but what's this "downgrading" stuff... the 1.1 to 1.4 part of F/W designation is simply a country/language designation, functionality is the same on the different reader versions that I've seen (US/UK?French)...
The reason for this is quite simple. IF everything is identical it should be possible to include support for the country/language version, too. However noone did that so far and I just wanted to start with it. Wouldn't it be nice to have the flasher including support for the 1.4 country/language version, too?

The message: "The ...is not supported" is a result of a versioning check, nothing more.

Next thing might be the warranty issue. I doubt that Sony will support a reader with a changed firmware which had been forced to install. Some users might have concerns about that. And I think they are right.

The last thing about the firmware thing might be language support. I really would like to have my reader with German menus. Does the US firmware include multiple languages?


As I said - it it's just a simple country thing, we should have support for other versions, too.

Regards

Uli
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Old 01-07-2010, 03:21 AM   #5
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Ok, I can see your point. On the other side, I think people tinkering with fw on devices are probably a little more tech savvy and therefore either take warranty issiues not as serious or just ignore that part. Well, I prefer my menus in English anyways. So either the US nor UK firmware were ok for me.
I even didn't know for 3/4 of a year that I had the UK fw. lol

Anyway, good luck with your endeavor.
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Old 01-07-2010, 03:31 AM   #6
rhaen
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just decided to focus on reading more books and not hacking on hardware for too long every night - so I flashed to US.

Anyway - thanks for the help and sorry for the noise

Btw, there is _NO_ snapshot option when the device is in firmware mode - just for user searches. If your device is in firmware mode the Sony flasher is only able to flash the reader and is not able to detect the firmware version on the device. (However, this is nothing new )
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Old 01-07-2010, 04:07 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhaen View Post
The last thing about the firmware thing might be language support. I really would like to have my reader with German menus. Does the US firmware include multiple languages?

Regards

Uli
Not sure if this is the answer you are looking for, but I believe the US version of the PRS-XXX ships with English, French, German & Dutch menu languages. At least my 300 had that.
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Old 01-07-2010, 04:17 AM   #8
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rhaen
You could sort of "backup" /opt part of your firmware with the slightly modified Igorsk's flasher from PRS+ site. (button 5 would save it as new_opt3.img)
Localization is planned at some point in PRS+ project, but as you see, most votes went to other features: at the moment it's on the 4th place, after file manager, marking books as read and dictionary:
http://code.google.com/p/prs-plus/
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Old 01-07-2010, 06:40 AM   #9
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I started to work on the German manual. I should be able to upload to the wiki pages tonight.
Kartu, I'll also send you a copy of the doc. So once you get to implement the manual as wiki, you have English and German at once. I'll probably look into putting the installation manual within the usermanual. What do you think? Ok, the topic is drifting. I'll post on the other thread next time again.
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Old 01-07-2010, 07:38 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhaen View Post
As I said - it it's just a simple country thing, we should have support for other versions, too.
I think it's a combination of the fact that the bulk of the work was done when only the 1.1 (US) firmware was around, with the 1.2 (UK) firmware arriving 'just in time' to be added. If I recall correctly, there also turned out to be some problems showing up when a first attempt at adding 1.3/1.4 support was made, so that was rolled-back. It's also complicated by the way that if there is an issue, there's only the US 1.1 official reflasher, so it's quite involved to get back to a 1.3/1.4 system (and even then, is it a complete restore?)
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Old 01-07-2010, 07:42 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_73 View Post
Original fw doesn't even display time and date, so there's no point in "the US date format is different".
It doesn't display the current time, but if you view the books via the "Order by date" index pages (and the per-title info pages) it will display the date associated with the title.
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Old 01-07-2010, 06:01 PM   #12
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You're right. But well, I never used that feature. So I more or less ignored that fact. I thought it just has to do with the library software (maybe for some weird DRM stuff). I just put my files via drag and drop to memory cards. So the browse folders is really helpful for me as I don't have to go by metadata but can just go by file names. I guess this dates back to first mp3-player experience when metadata was not widely used. Maybe I'm just old school or so ;-)
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Old 02-02-2010, 04:37 PM   #13
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>the 1.1 to 1.4 part of F/W designation is simply a country/language >designation, functionality is the same on the different reader
>versions that I've seen

Are you really sure on this? So far I've read several complaints about
PDF reading, but with the german 1.4 I'm quite happy about this.
I also had the text of some russian PDF files displayed correctly
(except for the PDF title), so I assumed there was made some
progress here.

On the other hand it would be strange, that Sony didn't make it
available as upgrade in this case.

I'm really looking forward to PRS+, but I'm still hesitating without
a way to go back

Regards,
V
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Old 02-02-2010, 05:55 PM   #14
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And that really depends on the PDF file and how it's made... I've got dozens of PDFs that work superbly... equally I've got a load that are a real pain... and I have access to more than one version of 505 as well as other PRS readers... I'd just be happy that those you've used are, so far, fine but don't assume that all future ones will be :-)


Quote:
Originally Posted by Venoras View Post
>the 1.1 to 1.4 part of F/W designation is simply a country/language >designation, functionality is the same on the different reader
>versions that I've seen

Are you really sure on this? So far I've read several complaints about
PDF reading, but with the german 1.4 I'm quite happy about this.
I also had the text of some russian PDF files displayed correctly
(except for the PDF title), so I assumed there was made some
progress here.

On the other hand it would be strange, that Sony didn't make it
available as upgrade in this case.

I'm really looking forward to PRS+, but I'm still hesitating without
a way to go back

Regards,
V
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Old 02-03-2010, 04:23 AM   #15
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Would be interested in the backup feature as well.
Just in case my wife does not want her PRS-505 anymore and I need to put the original firmware back before selling.

Has not made any research yet, but I could imagine there's a usefull tool in the linux world to create an image of the firmware.

Last edited by eLiNK; 02-03-2010 at 05:20 AM.
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