Likebook Alita

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

Is there a website or a forum anywhere, where I can download firmwares?
I tried to google - no success.
One would assume boyue.com/support or similar.

In another thread is told about pdf problems with this update.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

In another thread is told about pdf problems with this update.

PDF is very important to me. Because for other formats I don't use the native software anyway and I couldn't care less how bad it is. But for pdf I do.

Oh, the problems with taking/storing notes or something? Getting not better but worse?
This is still the same update?
I thought it was weeks ago.

[mbrisco]

Are the PDF problems why they pulled the update?

[parkher]

ottischwenk,
here is my horror movie so far:

1. I barely inserted 256 GB card into Alita - and it was detected, but after an attempt to eject it - it was no longer detected.
2. Somehow I was able to get it out.
3. I filed off some of its edge, so now it can be inserted and ejected pretty much normally.
4. However, it is not detected by Alita.
5. I assumed it was damaged, because a 32 GB card is detected by Alita, so Alita seems to be OK.
6. Turns out, the 256 GB card is OK, after all. It works elsewhere, but not in Alita.

7. Now I got 512 Evo Plus. I inserted it into Alita - it was detected, everything is OK.
8. Then I formatted it as internal storage - successfully. But then it disappeared.
Only 26 GB or so free storage is shown. Both with the Alita's file manager and with Explorer on PC.
9. It is not even shown in the notification windows. As if completely gone.
10. Because I had this bad history with 256 GB card, I thought perhaps it is no longer detected as well.
11. After rebooting - the same, no increased storage, no traces of the card in the notification window. Nothing.
12. Then I removed the card - I got notification "Samsung card is missing, please insert it" or similar. - So it means that it is still detectable by Alita, only "integrated" as internal and completely invisible?
So how am I supposed to use it?

Worse, I cannot reverse back to external. On Mimas, it was somehow possible to do so.
On Alita, no such option, simply nothing.
I guess, if I reformat it on PC and insert back, I will get some notification.
Anyway, at this point my dream is to make it work as external.
It is a total disaster so far with the internal mode.

[parkher]

Perhaps I need to install some smarter file manager?
But if I cannot see it from my PC via usb cable, then it is still not good enough.
I don't care if it is separate from the real internal storage, or integrated together, but the total size should be 26 + 476, not just 26 GB.

UPDATE:
With sd card ejected, I touched the missing card notification, and I got an option to forget that sd card. I confirmed - forget.
Then, after inserting the card, I got: unsupported format, convert to a supported format.
At this point I was again allowed to choose external or internal and I chose external.
Now I again have both the internal storage and the external card accessible both from Alita and from PC.
Really a horror movie, because I thought that this card was no longer detectable, the same as the 256 GB one.
But now I know how to get out of that mess, so I could try it again, if I had an idea how to access that "integrated" vanishing card.

So I have ordered Ares and it was shipped today. I also have a second Samsung 512 GB Evo Plus for Ares.
As to Mimas, it has a regular card slot and no such stupid problems with sim card trays.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

Perhaps I need to install some smarter file manager?

I can see from PC only the internal formatted SD-card - not the internal storage - the content you cannot see and i donot know a way to see its content
Use Android settings:
Storeage & USB: there you can see "Internal storage" and "SD-Karte von Samsung" (given name)
"Internal storage" is used for Apps and Cached data - you cannot access it except transfering Apps to and from it.
You have only access to "SD-Karte..."

Edit: I have read the other thread and "how to use the SD card as internal":
use "Android settings", "Storage & USB", and open the Samsung card.
When opened use the three points im the right top corner.
There you can Rename, Eject, Format as internal/portable.

Thats all. When formatted as internal you donot have any access to the internal Flash, and thats good.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

I can see from PC only the internal formatted SD-card - not the internal storage

So do you see from PC 476 GB or 26 GB or 502 (476+26) GB?
I see only 26 GB.
And the file manager in Alita also says: 26 GB
Clearly I need to see all 502 GB, otherwise what's the point.
I don't know, perhaps I can access 502 GB not even knowing it, because it is wrongly shown to me as 26 GB? But then how to know how much free space is really remaining.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

So do you see from PC 476 GB or 26 GB or 502 (476+26) GB?
I see only 26 GB.
And the file manager in Alita also says: 26 GB
Clearly I need to see all 502 GB, otherwise what's the point.
I don't know, perhaps I can access 502 GB not even knowing it, because it is wrongly shown to me as 26 GB? But then how to know how much free space is really remaining.

Look Android setting, Storage & USB, there you can see the used things.
Why do you want to see 26 + 4xx GB?
The 26 GB are used for internal things (Apps aso), the 4xx GB used for your Data.
I think, it is good not to get access to this 26 GB.

[mbrisco]

New firmware as of sometime yesterday! 2019-12-03, it says.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Look Android setting, Storage & USB, there you can see the used things.
Why do you want to see 26 + 4xx GB?
The 26 GB are used for internal things (Apps aso), the 4xx GB used for your Data.
I think, it is good not to get access to this 26 GB.

Ok, I found that Storage & USB.
A very useful thing. It allows to eject the card without actually having to eject it with that problematic sim card tray.
Still, I could not bring myself to test the card again as internal storage.
It is clearly a bug, perhaps in android. Perhaps it will be fixed in android 8.1.
Both the file manager and PC should show the correct size, not 26 GB.
This new firmware, is it 8.1?
It is already December, after all.
Perhaps you will be able to tell what is shown with 8.1.
I do not have wi-fi and so I cannot test this new firmware. I understand that there are no downloadable versions of any of Boyue firmwares.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by parkher

Ok, I found that Storage & USB.
A very useful thing. It allows to eject the card without actually having to eject it with that problematic sim card tray.
Still, I could not bring myself to test the card again as internal storage.
It is clearly a bug, perhaps in android. Perhaps it will be fixed in android 8.1.
Both the file manager and PC should show the correct size, not 26 GB.
This new firmware, is it 8.1?
It is already December, after all.
Perhaps you will be able to tell what is shown with 8.1.
I do not have wi-fi and so I cannot test this new firmware. I understand that there are no downloadable versions of any of Boyue firmwares.

No, the new firmware handled the pdf bug. It remains on 6.0.1.
I think, the shown 26 are, because you didnt "eject" the card, but the tray will not been thrown out - you have to remove the tray

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

No, the new firmware handled the pdf bug. It remains on 6.0.1.
I think, the shown 26 are, because you didnt "eject" the card, but the tray will not been thrown out - you have to remove the tray

I kept getting 26 GB before ever trying that software eject thing.
I did not try the internal storage option after software eject. But I do not expect any change.
The software eject is very useful for reverting back from internal storage.
Without it, I had to remove the card with the tray, then I got a notification that the card is missing, and only then I was able to "forget" the card. So that when the card is inserted again, it is a new card and I again can use it as portable or as internal.
With the software eject, the card is shown as ejected, and after rebooting, it is shown as a new card and I can choose to use it as portable or as internal - without ever having to remove it with the tray. Because ejecting that tray and then inserting the tray with a card - it is a rather dangerous proposition, considering my experience with that 256 GB card.

I am really pretty happy with exFAT.
Not sure what the cluster size is, because Alita did not allow to choose it.
But I guess, I could format the card on PC and make any size I want.
The ext4 advantage perhaps is that the file system is less likely to get corrupted.
But who cares - everything that I keep on the card - dictionaries and books - it is only a copy of a subset of what I have on a hard drive of my PC. With backups on other hard drives.
As I said, I don't even have wi-fi.
When I buy a book, for example from Amazon, I do it on PC. Then I remove the DRM and put the book to an appropriate folder. Then I upload it to the card.
Oh, sometimes I remove unnecessary stuff from the book first. Why the book needs to be 15 MB when it can be 300 KB? So I remove unnecessary fonts (I use only one font anyway: Amasis) and covers of other books. Then I might run it through a converter to improve its formatting. I usually use an option in CR3 to ignore the internal formatting. But I have "toggle internal/external styles" on a button or on a tap zone. So I check what looks better.
I don't like using Calibre for managing and uploading libraries. Calibre is very slow (Python is great as a calculator, though) and chokes with big numbers of books.
I like to maintain my own hierarchical folder structure and to replicate that structure on the card in an e-reader.
So I will probably stick with the portable option. I don't need the inconvenience of the internal storage.

[ottischwenk]

Why will you use it as movable, when you will hardly remove it?
Internal it is GPT and Ext4 - it is a secure and fast system.
Movable is formatted as Fat32 - a stupid file system on 512 GB SD card.
Because of the 26 GB to which you dont have access?

OK - it is your decision, but I dont understand it.

[parkher]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Why will you use it as movable, when you will hardly remove it?
Internal it is GPT and Ext4 - it is a secure and fast system.
Movable is formatted as Fat32 - a stupid file system on 512 GB SD card.
Because of the 26 GB to which you dont have access?

Actually, 26 GB is what I have access to, I don't have access to the 512 GB card. Or if I do, it is misleading because of a bug in android.

And why FAT32? Also exFAT.
Yes, if you allow Alita to format the card as portable - it makes it FAT32.
But if I insert an exFAT formatted card into it - it accepts it. No re-formatting is required for the portable storage option.

Samsung 512 GB Evo Plus is sold as exFAT, cluster size: 256K.
Way too huge for small books. But it works in Alita and in Mimas as portable storage without reformatting.
After formatting it as portable in Mimas I got: FAT32, cluster size: 32K.
Not so bad. On average, a loss of 16K per book - wasted on the last cluster of the book. Perhaps acceptable:
About 15 GB wasted on a 512 GB card, for a million books of average size of 500 KB.
Or even less wasted, if an average book size is more, and so less than a million books would fit on the card.

In windows, it is possible to format as exFAT or FAT32 with cluster sizes beginning from 512 bytes, and then 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K, 32K, etc.
So, I could format the card as exFAT (or as FAT32) with the cluster size of my own choosing and then insert it into Alita.
I am tempted to use smaller clusters than 32 K (the default cluster size for ntfs is 4K, and for general purpose at that, not for tiny books), but perhaps there are pros and cons.

[parkher]

ottischwenk,
I just made another go at the internal storage.
So I uploaded several gigabytes of books to the only device I saw from Windows: the 26 G one.
And android settings - storage & usb shows that all the books went to the 26 GB internal memory, and nothing - to the card. The cards stays empty.
So the card is simply not accessible in the internal mode.
I doubt if I would be able to open books stored on it, but to try it, I first need to store some books on it - and it is not possible.

The MTP protocol and the portable devices API should isolate a windows pc from ext4.
Not being able to handle ext4 is probably not the reason why I can't access the card from my pc.