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Old 12-31-2011, 01:54 AM   #1
537h
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Your Rooted PRS-T1 (Screen shots and observations)

I thought it'd be nice to have a thread to chronicle the sorts of things that different folks are doing with their rooted T1's. So here goes.


My set-up is intended to be rather minimalist. I'll daresay it is visually, though it could surely use some optimization on back-end memory and storage. This is my first foray into rooting and modding an Android device (one reason I got the Reader is that I wanted to learn but was hesitant to do so on my Samsung Infuse, since it's my only phone and all).


Usage wise, my primary reason's for getting the getting the T1 were as follows:

-You know, for reading ebooks. Particularly important was easy access to library eloans and public domain books as well as the ability to avoid syncing with a computer.

-As a web reading device. A lot of the reading I do involves blogs, online articles, and other web content. I wanted a way to improve my reading experience as well as offload text-based tasks from my smartphone, which I often have to charge in the late afternoon.

-Design and additional features (multi-touch, audio support, handwritten annotation) made it more appealing to me over the Nook STR (I originally leaned toward the Nook because there were more people using and hacking it, e.g. on XDA, but then I found you all on mobileread and decided to go Sony).


Homescreen (see attached screenshot): ADW Launcher with Minimalist Black theme [Edit: I've deleted the theme as I realized I wasn't using any of it anymore]. All but the home screen have been deleted and bounce has been disabled. I've also hidden the status bar (It's still accessible by down-swiping) and removed the dock. I hand drew and digitized a custom icon set, maximized the icon size, and customized row/column layout. Homescreen icons are, from the upper left:

CoolReader,
Sony Reader Stock Home,
Kindle App,
Google News (web bookmark),
Google Reader App,
InstaFetch App (InstaPaper client),
ReLaunch Home Screen,
Terminal Emulator App,
Root Explorer App,
Gmail Web App (bookmark) [Edit: Changed to Gmail app],
App Drawer, and
Stock Web Browser.

Other installed apps:

Android Market
Android Calendar (haven't used it but it started working after Market install fix)
Screenshot It
Superuser
Gallery (the Froyo 3D one that came with the minimal root; rather a pain with all the animations and background--let me know if there is a better alternative you know of) [edit: I've now switched to Qickpic]

Lockscreen/screensaver (see attached screenshot): A single image by one of my favorite artists, William Schaff.

Current bugs I'm experiencing:

-There is somewhat frequent ghosting going on with my reader (I mostly notice it on my home screen, but it crops up other places). It's not a deal-breaker for me, but I wouldn't mind sorting it out.

-As I mentioned before, the 3d gallery really does work very well on eink. I had an especially hard time with designating my home screen icon since they were black and transparent PNG and therefore entirely invisible against the gallery background.

-Whenever I connect my T1 to my computer over USB, the Sony Reader UI is broken until the next restart (when I try to use it, It's stuck on the "connecting USB" screen even after it has been successfully connected and disconnected).

-Certain apps I would like to try (e.g. Google Currents, Feedly) are not compatible in the current environment. More broadly I'm having trouble finding apps that work well or at all on the reader and are also good at caching web content for offline reading.

-My home screen icons seem a bit fuzzier than they should be since they are each 200px wide.


Well, that ended up being rather longer than anticipated but I look forward to hearing/seeing what everybody else is putting the T1's to use with, as well as any thoughts on what I've shared.
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Last edited by 537h; 01-01-2012 at 03:42 AM. Reason: Updated changes to my machine.
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Old 12-31-2011, 09:01 AM   #2
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Mine is still a work in progress.
I just want a "universal" ebook reader (not a tablet) and went with the minimal Zeam root package. Nicely integrated Coolreader3! Yay!

Added Kindle reader, Audible, and Aldiko (for OPDS access to Webscriptions and the BAEN Free Library). Given a bit more space I might add Nook but since I don't buy DRM'ed epubs... (shrug) I'll probably use the extra space for LastFM and/or Pandora.

Given how simple and useful BAR SHORTCUTS is, I'm thinking of making the Sony Home the default but I'm waiting for the alternate Homescreen to mature and settle down before deciding.

Mostly I use it to read and check email.
So far, so good.
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Old 12-31-2011, 12:38 PM   #3
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fjtorres, how did you add Aldiko? The install from the market app failed for me. It downloaded fine, but the install failed. Did you install it from an .apk via sideload or dropbox? If there is a specific one that works, can you PM me that version?
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Old 12-31-2011, 02:10 PM   #4
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Freeware lovers has a whole string of 1.x apk files of different sizes.
Live666 tweaked up a version of 2.x that installs:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=229

I'm used to Marketplace-less devices so I just sideload everything from the Amazon market or elsewhere. Google and Bing are very helpful in tracking down apk files from companies not smart enough to host them on their own web sites. (Check Overdrive for an example of a *smart* operation, apk distribution-wise. There are others.)
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Old 12-31-2011, 05:10 PM   #5
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New changes:

-Replaced 3D Gallery with QuickPic. Much easier to use and lighter. My black png icon still don't preview correctly, but they are visable after switching to light background. A vast improvement.

-Customized the Adw app drawer, creating a default catalog that does not include homescreen apps or unused Sony apps (e.g. Demo, media scanner). I also disabled page indicator and page bounce so my one-page drawer is as minimal as my homescreen.
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Old 01-01-2012, 02:10 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 537h View Post
Replaced 3D Gallery with QuickPic
Have you tryed the old 2D Galery ported to Froyo? I'll search for it to put a link here...

In the old phones (as my magic) it makes a big difference in performance.
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Old 01-01-2012, 03:44 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by j0534ng31 View Post
Have you tryed the old 2D Galery ported to Froyo? I'll search for it to put a link here...

In the old phones (as my magic) it makes a big difference in performance.
That'd be awesome.Thanks. I'm always down to simplify.
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Old 01-06-2012, 10:53 AM   #8
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I like the look and feel of the stock home screen, but wanted it to list recently read books instead of recently added. So I just applied the database hack and changed the "Recently Added" string to "Recenty Read" in EbookHome.apk.

I might try to change the "Reader Store" and "Periodicals" buttons into something else too, since I never use them.
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Old 01-06-2012, 11:44 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morkl View Post
I like the look and feel of the stock home screen, but wanted it to list recently read books instead of recently added. So I just applied the database hack and changed the "Recently Added" string to "Recenty Read" in EbookHome.apk.
Would you have a link handy pointing to that "database hack"?
Your use of it sounds interesting.
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Old 01-06-2012, 11:48 AM   #10
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Would you have a link handy pointing to that "database hack"?
Your use of it sounds interesting.
It's in the wiki: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRST...2last_added.22
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Old 01-06-2012, 05:27 PM   #11
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Thanks!
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Old 01-06-2012, 08:29 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morkl View Post
I like the look and feel of the stock home screen, but wanted it to list recently read books instead of recently added. So I just applied the database hack and changed the "Recently Added" string to "Recenty Read" in EbookHome.apk.
Very interesting...
I found EbookHome.apk, unpacked it. In which xml can I find the "Recently Added" string?
Which program do you use to edit (GPL/OS preferred). I tried serna free, but it gives lots of error messages.
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Old 01-06-2012, 10:01 PM   #13
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Very interesting...
I found EbookHome.apk, unpacked it. In which xml can I find the "Recently Added" string?
Which program do you use to edit (GPL/OS preferred). I tried serna free, but it gives lots of error messages.
It is in res/values[-locale]/strings.xml:
Code:
<string name="STR_HOME_RECENTLY_ADDED_BOOK">Recently Added</string>
There are a bunch of extra steps that need to be done to the APK in order to modify it and get it to work on the reader afterwards:

Tools needed: apktool, smali and dexopt-wrapper.

Procedure:
1: Disassemble EbookHome.odex using baksmali (baksmali -d frameworkdir -a 8 -x EbookHome.odex)
2: Reassemble into classes.dex using smali (smali -a 8 out -o classes.dex)
3: Put classes.dex into EbookHome.apk
4: Unpack EbookHome.apk with apktool (apktool d EbookHome.apk)
5: Make any changes in the newly created EbookHome directory
6: Repack with apktool, new apk ends up in EbookHome/dist directory (apktool d EbookHome)
7: Put the new apk on the sd card of the device
8: Run dexopt-wrapper on the device to get a new EbookHome.odex (in a shell on the device: dexopt-wrapper EbookHome.apk EbookHome.odex)
9: Remove classes.dex from the apk
10: Sign the apk with a suitable certificate
11: Run zipalign on the apk
12: Install on the reader

Or, if you just want the string "Recently Added" replaced with "Recently Read", you can use my modified files: http://morkl.se/reader/recentlyread.zip
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Old 01-06-2012, 10:58 PM   #14
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Just keep in mind that it's actually recently read and added items that will show up there after the hack. Maybe Recent Books or something more generic would make more sense.

Very nice hack though.
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Old 01-07-2012, 08:31 AM   #15
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Just keep in mind that it's actually recently read and added items that will show up there after the hack. Maybe Recent Books or something more generic would make more sense.

Very nice hack though.
Right you are! Therefore, I have updated my EbookHome.apk again; changing the SQL query that fetches the recent books to order by reading_time instead of added_date

In the disassembled EbookHome.apk: HomePageActivity.smali, line 2557:
Code:
const-string v5, "added_date DESC LIMIT 3"
is changed into
Code:
const-string v5, "reading_time DESC LIMIT 1,3"
So now I don't have to rely on the database being modified; e.g. if I get a memory card or decide to wipe the internal storage or whatnot.

The updated version is available at http://morkl.se/reader/recentlyread_v2.zip if anyone wants to check it out.
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