iLiad Firmware 2.9 (and iLiad "Companion Software") Released!

[NatCh]

iRex has released the Version 2.9 Firmware as of today, March 5th.

The latest software release 2.9 for the iLiad is now available for download from the iDS. This software release will introduce several new features like: Sort files, Share files and a number of other improvements.

Full details available here (PDF warning).

The sleeper on this one is they've also released a "Companion Software":

Together with the release of software version 2.9, we also introduce the iLiad Companion Software. This free software package will enable you to:

...* Automatically create a backup of your iLiad
...* Exchange files between your iLiad and Computer
...* Merge annotations together with the original PDF into a new PDF
...* Merge scribbles, notes or a series of images into a PDF document
...* Print content from your Windows Clipboard in optimized iLiad format

Download the iLiad Companion Software here.

Thanks to Village Reader for pointing this out!

[ali]

Could some Windows user please describe how the Companion Software works and what it does?

About the new release:

* They turned off antialiasing of text in the PDF viewer. This makes Latex-generated PDFs much more readable.

* There is now some file-connectivity stuff. It is completely undocumented. Apparently somehow the Iliad and a Windows PCs can share files over WLAN.

* The Companion Software is Windows only. It does some things I don't understand. It also adds a tray icon. After installation, my Windows XP in a vmware virtual machine could no longer shut down.

* File connectivity looks to me as if the Iliad is the client, not the server. It seems as if you have to configure a SMB share on the desktop. Then you can press a button and the Iliad tries to connect to something and do something. No documentation though.

* Besides that you will need to open your desktop PC for incoming SMB connections (brilliant thing to do on the internet today...), non-windows users are locked out.

* The 2.9 release docs say nothing about battery life improvements.

[vvoi666]

you gotta be kidding me...

they turned off anti-aliasing in the pdf viewer and larger docs render faster?

this is it?

- still no proper txt/html support
- no (mentionable) improvements to content listing (well, you can sort now ... big deal)
- no mp3 player

what have they done all this time?

you can merge scribbles now (i don't need it but certainly useful for others, i'll give 'em that) and sync your iliad docs with your pc (i can do that by copying a folder back and forth)

where is the mobipocket support?

[ali]

Another thing: The release of this stuff today makes it evident that the announcements on friday were not only the usual iRex friday stunt, but also step 1 of taking out the trash.

Now both forums will be filling up with rejoicing windows users who look at each of the new features and describe in length how wonderful it is. *sigh*

I guess I'll let this week pass and try to re-engage in the open issues next week again.

[VillageReader]

The e-mail I got from iRex indicated there is documentation for the Companion software at the iRex site in the documents area.

[nekokami]

At least the sources are out. If we could just get an unbricking utility, we wouldn't be dependent on iRex anymore.

Click sound now on both channels (L/R).

Yeah, that's critical stuff.

The only thing I see in the Companion Software that we don't already have is a backup utility, right?

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by VillageReader

The e-mail I got from iRex indicated there is documentation for the Companion software at the iRex site in the documents area.

Ah, here we go, then: http://www.irextechnologies.com/file...e%20Manual.pdf (PDF warning, also)

[Adam B.]

You can use the file sharing option on Linux and Mac boxes as well. As long as you have samba setup, it'll work just fine.

[Adam B.]

Originally Posted by vvoi666

- no mp3 player

I thought that someone had said a while back that they would not be devloping an mp3 player....I can't remember though. There is one that's already ported to the iLiad, and with them fixing the 2 channel problem, it'll actually be useable.

[ali]

This, again, is a TrueIRexExperience [tm].

In SW 2.6, there was a ssh server on the Iliad, so you could just upload and download content over the network using just any operating system on the desktop, using strong encryption.

Now, with the big release of the Companion Übersoftware, you have to punch your desktop firewall (resp. explain to your network admin at work why you need that open share), and you have to select which files to transfer within the ContentLister on the Iliad (shudder).


Question for the Windows users: What does the Companion Software "backup" tool do? A backup of the files you copied onto the Iliad (i.e., newspapers, books, ...), or of the operating system? And, if it's the OS, is there a restore?

[Adam B.]

The backup, simply backs up all of the files on the internal (accessable) memory. This is the same as copying the files in your News, Books, Docs, Notes folders from the iLiad when it's connected to your computer onto your hard drive.

Do you have a file server at work? Why not simply enter in the settings for that in order to sync to? That's what I do.....but I am also the Network Administrator.

[vvoi666]

why doesn't wpa encryption work (i get an error like 'unknown encryption' or something ... wep works, but i don't want to use that)?

didn't they promise that a few releases back?

[CommanderROR]

Let me see...a rather weak-sounding companion software (no automatic book-creation or anything useable like that, a Software I'll never install I guess...), no Stylus Calibration (or did I miss something), no battery-life improvements...

Honestly...I'm not saying what they changed and improved is irrelevant, but there are so many things that have been promised for so long...and they still have not been included...I don't get it. I haven't even taken the tiome to update my device yet...

[vampyre]

And it doesn't work with vista.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by ali

* There is now some file-connectivity stuff. It is completely undocumented. Apparently somehow the Iliad and a Windows PCs can share files over WLAN.

Yes, but it's so simple that it probably doesn't need to be documented.

In the settings, you tell it the name of the computer you want to talk to. It needs to be running an SMB server (either Windows file sharing, or SaMBa on Linux). You need to provide the share name, the domain name and your credentials to get into the file share.

On the first sync (i.e. connect to Computer, not IDS) it will create 2 directories: inbox and outbox. The outbox will have several directories corresponding to the media on your iLiad: CF, Internal, MMC and USB. The Internal directory has subdirectories corresponding to the internal directories on the iLiad: books, documents, newspapers, notes.

Placing a file in the "outbox" will transfer it to the iLiad on the next sync.

If you tell your iLiad to "share" a document, it will transfer it to the "inbox" directory. Note that it will transfer the whole directory with the manifest.xml and all.

I played with it a bit and it seemed to work quite well. I did not exhaustively test all the file types, though.