903 real annotations and note taking (903, 603)

review · 01-28-2011, 05:46 PM

There a good news:

It works! We can do annotations now!

I'm not quite finished with it yet, but you can see already a small video of my first prototype version
here (apologies for the bad quality).

There are still a few quirks and glitches, which have to be removed before I can upload it. But at the moment it looks very promising.

It is actually quite a bit of hard work to do the reverse engineering. With no official SDK and no documentation... (I guess I should add a donation button, shouldn't I? .. just kidding

)

Am I right to assume that there is a general interest in this unofficial upgrade to your readers?

bogdaniosif · 01-28-2011, 05:52 PM

WOW,

It seems reasonable to ask for some financial compensation. After all, annotations are a huge hole in the Pocketbook feature list.

How many chickens did you sacrifice and for whom?

Seriously, how did you make this work?

It looks very promising.

review · 01-28-2011, 06:02 PM

well, first, I managed a while ago to write a small program to access a remote shell on the device. Then LoneTech and sergeyvl12 worked on an unofficial SDK / toolchain. I use especially sergeyvl12 toolchain, since it's faster. Then after a lot of nights of hexdumps of the binaries on the device I got a few ideas, which I incooperated in my own programs.

As I said, I'm not quite finished with it yet but it looks very promising. More technical details will follow as soon as I finished the development.

bogdaniosif · 01-28-2011, 06:13 PM

I'm speechless. After so many Pocketbook failures (no annotations in the first place, no SDK after launch, no commitment to a timeline of fixing these issues, lots of ugly bugs, etc, etc) they don't deserve people like you investing so much effort to make their products better.

Congratulations to everyone involved and especially to you. Please try to polish this functionality to a usable state. I'll seriously reconsider waiting for the Boox M90 if annotations become available for the 903.

Dulin's Books · 01-28-2011, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bogdaniosif

I'll seriously reconsider waiting for the Boox M90 if annotations become available for the 903.

hey wait don't...... well actually as long as you buy from me its all good

ahhaah

really nice work. question of course is will it be easy for a non techie to implement. drag and drop a file into the bin folder or something else just as easy?

Dulin's Books · 01-28-2011, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bogdaniosif

After so many Pocketbook failures (no annotations in the first place, no SDK after launch, no commitment to a timeline of fixing these issues, lots of ugly bugs, etc, etc)

Not that they need me to defend them and to tell the truth Im upset that annotation was not available at the start of deliveries in Europe But

They only have been delivering for about 2-3 weeks? I can see that waiting for an SDK is irking some but is it really "late" if it hasn't even been a month yet? And they as a company are totally committed to these devices and providing the best experience they can to the user. It just takes time.

Bonex · 01-28-2011, 06:48 PM

Incredible! You did that alone, in your spare time, without SDK and with no firmware sources, and PB themselves couldn't do it after so many months?!!

review · 01-28-2011, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

will it be easy for a non techie to implement

Yes.

I will upload a program soon and you just copy it via USB cable to the memory card or the internal memory. That's it.

aah... forgot to say: you have to start it as well

Unfortunately since I don't have root access to the device one has to start my app every time again after the device was turned off. But that shouldn't really be a real problem. It's as easy as opening a book, so it shouldn't really be a problem.

review · 01-28-2011, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

And they as a company are totally committed to these devices and providing the best experience they can to the user. It just takes time.

Sure. I totally agree with you and if you start thinking about annotations it sounds initially very easy. But as soon as you think in detail about it you will run against one brick wall after another.

Let me give you an example: You've borrowed a fully DRM´ed ebook from your library. So even Xournal wouldn't be able to make annotations in that file, would it? Will you give the book back with annotations? Certainly not. Will you de-DRM the file before you make annotations? well that's illegal.

So I guess suddenly one is able to understand what a real challenge it is. And please don't expect that my approach will be the end of the story of annotations. It is intended to be the beginning of the story. Not more than that. (hopefully a very satisfying beginning, though)

prusaks · 01-28-2011, 09:07 PM

Will it be possible to get it working on 302?

language gamer · 01-28-2011, 11:32 PM

I have a 360, but I think it's amazing you put in so much work to make this happen!

review · 01-29-2011, 03:34 AM

I'm not entirely sure if it'll work on the 302. I think the binaries of the 60x and 90x series are not compatible with the older models. And without having one for testing it is very difficult.

paola · 01-29-2011, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by review

There a good news:

It works! We can do annotations now!

I'm not quite finished with it yet, but you can see already a small video of my first prototype version
here (apologies for the bad quality).

review, the tension was mounting, as I couldn't get the avi to work (well, obviously extremely excited), and seeing your movie: wow, my jaw dropped, this is absolutely F A N T A S T I C !

This is so amazing, thanks and karma to you, LoneTech and sergeyvl12, you guys are absolutely amazing!!!

Lowlandr · 01-29-2011, 07:10 AM

@review...
Amazing work, congrats!
Unbelievable that PB is still not open-sourcing their development.
When you think about it: development of their firmware and apps are costing them money. Many enthusiasts would love to create stuff on this device if they'd release a decent SDK.
Plain silly....
'nuf ranting : you guys are GREAT!

LoneTech · 01-29-2011, 07:53 AM

Looks really good. Is it a modified pdfviewer? The source for that is available at pocketbook-free. I'd be quite interested in more details.

As for being late with the SDK, YES, it is that bad - because they're distributing code they have no right to (with this behaviour)! The web browser and its supporting libraries are under LGPL, which requires them not only to publish source, but allow us to change the linked modules. As it is, it looks like they've gone out of their way to make the latter hard, and simply ignored the former.

Also do note that this SDK is not something they need to develop separately. They need to have it to produce the firmware in the first place. We're not asking for extra work, though their procedures may have made it so.

As for the 302, my guess is that will move to EABI (firmware 2.0.x series) with the next update. It just makes no sense to fragment the firmware maintenance more.

01-28-2011, 05:46 PM	#1
review Addict Posts: 315 Karma: 6448 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: 903	real annotations and note taking (903, 603) There a good news: It works! We can do annotations now! I'm not quite finished with it yet, but you can see already a small video of my first prototype version here (apologies for the bad quality). There are still a few quirks and glitches, which have to be removed before I can upload it. But at the moment it looks very promising. It is actually quite a bit of hard work to do the reverse engineering. With no official SDK and no documentation... (I guess I should add a donation button, shouldn't I? .. just kidding ) Am I right to assume that there is a general interest in this unofficial upgrade to your readers? Last edited by review; 01-28-2011 at 05:49 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
EEE note EA-800 and Sony PRS-600 [Note-Taking]	sunwillsetforyou	Which one should I buy?	5	05-04-2011 01:14 AM
PocketBook Pro 603 and 903 are available	edwin1001	PocketBook	31	01-08-2011 04:32 AM
Statusbericht über 603 und 903	Forkosigan	PocketBook	140	12-31-2010 04:40 AM
Question concerning Pocketbook 903 PDF & note-taking functionality	domee	PocketBook	6	12-23-2010 02:42 PM
PB 903/603 question	onesome	PocketBook	4	12-08-2010 07:51 AM

01-28-2011, 05:52 PM	#2
bogdaniosif Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: PocketBook 90x OR iPad	WOW, It seems reasonable to ask for some financial compensation. After all, annotations are a huge hole in the Pocketbook feature list. How many chickens did you sacrifice and for whom? Seriously, how did you make this work? It looks very promising.

01-28-2011, 06:02 PM	#3
review Addict Posts: 315 Karma: 6448 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: 903	well, first, I managed a while ago to write a small program to access a remote shell on the device. Then LoneTech and sergeyvl12 worked on an unofficial SDK / toolchain. I use especially sergeyvl12 toolchain, since it's faster. Then after a lot of nights of hexdumps of the binaries on the device I got a few ideas, which I incooperated in my own programs. As I said, I'm not quite finished with it yet but it looks very promising. More technical details will follow as soon as I finished the development.

01-28-2011, 06:13 PM	#4
bogdaniosif Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: PocketBook 90x OR iPad	I'm speechless. After so many Pocketbook failures (no annotations in the first place, no SDK after launch, no commitment to a timeline of fixing these issues, lots of ugly bugs, etc, etc) they don't deserve people like you investing so much effort to make their products better. Congratulations to everyone involved and especially to you. Please try to polish this functionality to a usable state. I'll seriously reconsider waiting for the Boox M90 if annotations become available for the 903.

01-28-2011, 06:48 PM	#7
Bonex Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: KDXG, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura HD	Incredible! You did that alone, in your spare time, without SDK and with no firmware sources, and PB themselves couldn't do it after so many months?!!

01-28-2011, 09:07 PM	#10
prusaks Member Posts: 18 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Pocketbook 302	Will it be possible to get it working on 302?

01-28-2011, 11:32 PM	#11
language gamer Member Posts: 22 Karma: 245 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: California Device: Nook Touch, Pocketbook 360, ebookwise 1150 (retired)	I have a 360, but I think it's amazing you put in so much work to make this happen!

01-29-2011, 03:34 AM	#12
review Addict Posts: 315 Karma: 6448 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: 903	I'm not entirely sure if it'll work on the 302. I think the binaries of the 60x and 90x series are not compatible with the older models. And without having one for testing it is very difficult.

01-29-2011, 07:10 AM	#14
Lowlandr e-freak Posts: 15 Karma: 30 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Pro 903	@review... Amazing work, congrats! Unbelievable that PB is still not open-sourcing their development. When you think about it: development of their firmware and apps are costing them money. Many enthusiasts would love to create stuff on this device if they'd release a decent SDK. Plain silly.... 'nuf ranting : you guys are GREAT!

01-29-2011, 07:53 AM	#15
LoneTech Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 7767 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: PocketBook Pro 903	Looks really good. Is it a modified pdfviewer? The source for that is available at pocketbook-free. I'd be quite interested in more details. As for being late with the SDK, YES, it is that bad - because they're distributing code they have no right to (with this behaviour)! The web browser and its supporting libraries are under LGPL, which requires them not only to publish source, but allow us to change the linked modules. As it is, it looks like they've gone out of their way to make the latter hard, and simply ignored the former. Also do note that this SDK is not something they need to develop separately. They need to have it to produce the firmware in the first place. We're not asking for extra work, though their procedures may have made it so. As for the 302, my guess is that will move to EABI (firmware 2.0.x series) with the next update. It just makes no sense to fragment the firmware maintenance more.

Advert

Advert