EZ Reader formats

[smithno]

I have spent almost 3 weeks with my EZ reader and have settled in to the book formats that work/don't work for me. I have books in Lit, Mobi, epub, HTML, PDF, eReader, and LRF.

What doesn't work:

• LRF are for my Sony 505 and work will on it, but nothing else.
• Since I decided to get an EZ Reader, I started collecting epub books when they were available. I can't seem to get an epub book without at least a few problems on the EZ Reader. A bunch of them come out with the text for the whole book centered.
• Lit books are a mixed blessing. They work well enough to be readable but the font is way to small and by the time I increase it to the largest size, the display goes into landscape mode.
• HTML without some cleanup. Again, font size is the main issue.

What works:

• Mobi books, both DRM and non-DRM. If I only had the EZ Reader, this is the only format I would get books in.
• PDF from Feedbooks. These are sized for book readers and work well.
• Cleaned up HTML from other book formats.
• PDF created from cleaned up HTML from other book formats.

I create PDF from other formats by:

1. Convert the original format to HTML.
2. Clean up the HTML. This is usually adding a <font size="6"> at the top of the file and sometimes changing <br> to <br><br> to get a blank line between paragraphs.
3. Open the HTML file in OpenOffice. Assuming the HTML marks chapters with the <h1> tag, OpenOffice can generate a Table of Contents for the book.
4. Save as PDF from OpenOffice. The resulting PDF works well in the EZ Reader.

At this point, most of the books I buy will be Mobi format because they work well on the EZ Reader and can be converted to LRF via Calibre.

[slayda]

I use the Mobipocket Creator to convert my HTML to PRC. This works well for me. I agree that Mobipocket format works best.

I sometimes have a auto reboot when I am trying to advance the page. Do you have this problem too.

They are working on a PRC output for Calibre. Once they have that, you will have a single SW to convert unDRMed books to either PRC or LRF.

[phenomshel]

I'm having a whole different problem. .pdf font displays are way too small, if I increase to the next font size I end up with two or three lines on the next page and then have to turn page again. If I increase to the largest size it goes into landscape mode.
Lit files were working great until last night, when suddenly the EZ Reader decided to read the first three pages and then freeze. On every .lit file I had. This is not good, considering that .lit is usually my choice of format for it, it displays well, and usually behaves. I don't have a clue why, but surely every .lit file I had has not suddenly become corrupt? Slayda, do you think changing to Open Inkpot firmware would help?

[DaleDe]

Have you upgraded your unit from the Hanlin or BeBook site? The EZ Reader software is pretty old.

Dale

[slayda]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I'm having a whole different problem. .pdf font displays are way too small, if I increase to the next font size I end up with two or three lines on the next page and then have to turn page again. If I increase to the largest size it goes into landscape mode.
Lit files were working great until last night, when suddenly the EZ Reader decided to read the first three pages and then freeze. On every .lit file I had. This is not good, considering that .lit is usually my choice of format for it, it displays well, and usually behaves. I don't have a clue why, but surely every .lit file I had has not suddenly become corrupt? Slayda, do you think changing to Open Inkpot firmware would help?

I have mostly stayed away from .lit since you have to use Internet Explorer to DL them and that just makes me crazy because I use Mozilla and always forget that I have to switch to IE. That said, I have just recently (with input from WallCraft) started using the OI firmware from the SD card instead of flashing it.

One problem with that is I've lost the EZ Reader firmware - no where to DL it. I do have the Jinke firmware loaded as the main firmware just to handle those formats (like epub) that OI doesn't handle.

Almost all of my ebooks (without DRM) are converted back to Mobipocket. I mostly like the way that OI handles them. I did have one ebook that had some occasional spurious text inserted (mostly at the end of paragraphs). The same file, loaded on my Palm TX was clean. I never found out why the EZ Reader with OI was like that. Bottom line is I started experimenting with the FB2 format and also updated my OI so that I now have CoolReader as well as the FBReader SW on it. I don't think either FBReader or CoolReader can read .lit files. So you may need to convert to PRC, HTML, FB2 or RTF. ti use OI. Look at their (OI's) method of running OI from an SD card (see below) so you can keep your EZ Reader firmware intact. Or check out their site at www.openinkpot.org. You can put OI on the same SD card your books are on - that's what I did. The instructions are not clear which file to DL. It is oi-hanlin-v3all-live-0.1.zip It unzips to a .exe.fb file. Just select it from the EZ Reader menu. To go back to the EZ Reader firmware, just reboot the reader & it will automatically boot up with the Astak firmware.

Hope this helps.

"OI-on-SD (live)"¶

This method boots OpenInkpot from the original firmware. All changes are saved in the file on SD card. This is recommended for the users who want to try OpenInkpot or still have to use original firmware for something. This method has one obvious limitation: you can't remove SD card while OpenInkpot is running from it.

1. Download the firmware file (single file for both 64mb and 512mb versions).
2. Unpack it to the root directory of SD card (keep the openinkpot directory).
3. Insert SD card and run openinkpot/boot-OI-v3.exe file.

All changes made during the session (history of files, current position in directory) will be saved in root.fs file in openinkpot directory. You can use the same image on different V3 devices.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Have you upgraded your unit from the Hanlin or BeBook site? The EZ Reader software is pretty old.

Dale

No, I haven't touched the firmware - do you think an upgrade would help?

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by slayda

I have mostly stayed away from .lit since you have to use Internet Explorer to DL them and that just makes me crazy because I use Mozilla and always forget that I have to switch to IE. That said, I have just recently (with input from WallCraft) started using the OI firmware from the SD card instead of flashing it.

One problem with that is I've lost the EZ Reader firmware - no where to DL it. I do have the Jinke firmware loaded as the main firmware just to handle those formats (like epub) that OI doesn't handle.

Almost all of my ebooks (without DRM) are converted back to Mobipocket. I mostly like the way that OI handles them. I did have one ebook that had some occasional spurious text inserted (mostly at the end of paragraphs). The same file, loaded on my Palm TX was clean. I never found out why the EZ Reader with OI was like that. Bottom line is I started experimenting with the FB2 format and also updated my OI so that I now have CoolReader as well as the FBReader SW on it. I don't think either FBReader or CoolReader can read .lit files. So you may need to convert to PRC, HTML, FB2 or RTF. ti use OI. Look at their (OI's) method of running OI from an SD card (see below) so you can keep your EZ Reader firmware intact. Or check out their site at www.openinkpot.org. You can put OI on the same SD card your books are on - that's what I did. The instructions are not clear which file to DL. It is oi-hanlin-v3all-live-0.1.zip It unzips to a .exe.fb file. Just select it from the EZ Reader menu. To go back to the EZ Reader firmware, just reboot the reader & it will automatically boot up with the Astak firmware.

Hope this helps.

"OI-on-SD (live)"¶

This method boots OpenInkpot from the original firmware. All changes are saved in the file on SD card. This is recommended for the users who want to try OpenInkpot or still have to use original firmware for something. This method has one obvious limitation: you can't remove SD card while OpenInkpot is running from it.

1. Download the firmware file (single file for both 64mb and 512mb versions).
2. Unpack it to the root directory of SD card (keep the openinkpot directory).
3. Insert SD card and run openinkpot/boot-OI-v3.exe file.

All changes made during the session (history of files, current position in directory) will be saved in root.fs file in openinkpot directory. You can use the same image on different V3 devices.

Thanks Slayda, I'll definitely look into it.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

No, I haven't touched the firmware - do you think an upgrade would help?

that is why I suggested it.

Dale