compiling fbreader for pocketbook

Almiel · 08-07-2010, 12:15 PM

What does it take to get the latest fbreader source (http://www.fbreader.org/downloads.php) compiled onto Pocketbook? Anyone know? Has anyone done it for themselves and would like to share it? I'd like to check it out.

I've installed fbreader180 but it inherited a lack in the implementation of html/css, so I'm wondering if the latest "original" is any better in this regard. For example, I've got an epub that designates through css some italic text. It doesn't appear italic. When I changed it to the html italic tag, it does work. It also doesn't recognize the br tag (break tag to create a carriage return). Etc. As a web designer/desktop publisher this drives me crazy!

TIA

fjtorres · 08-07-2010, 12:21 PM

You'll need, at a minimum, the SDK:
http://pocketbook-free.sourceforge.net/en/sdk.shtml

They'll probably release a new one once they get to version 15.3 or whatever of the firmware.

franklekens · 08-07-2010, 02:16 PM

Its ignoring the br tag is especially maddening. All blank lines in books disappear, unless you put a blank line after *every* paragraph, which looks stupid. (I've never understood why this seems to have become a kind of informal internet standard, to have blank lines after every paragraph. Especially in dialogues it really looks weird.)

jackie_w · 08-07-2010, 03:41 PM

If you want a formatted html/css book to display properly on the PB360 isn't it just easier to use Calibre to convert to EPUB then view the EPUB with AdobeViewer rather than FBReader?

The v15.2 AdobeViewer plus member tselling's hack, does a good job. Not as easily customisable as FBReader but displays EPUBs as they were coded to look.

capidamonte · 08-07-2010, 04:30 PM

FBReader does not properly use CSS. It's built on an FB2 rendering engine, and every other format is forced into it's display properties. All CSS formatting is discarded. This personally drives me crazy because every single other reader program for Linux either displays only text or is built on some gigantic HTML engine, and so cannot be ported to a small device properly.

Micro-culturally, the FBReader guys are married to FBReaderJ and to adding formats. FBReader is now rarely updated, and they seem happy to have extracted bare text from HTML and call it "ePub supported". Meh.

If anyone here can program, a stand-alone ePub reader based on the dillo rendering engine would be small, fast and awesome. It doesn't support full CSS yet, but it's on its (slow) way.

Logseman · 08-07-2010, 04:54 PM

A member of the German subforum (his name slips from my memory right now) attempted to compile a recent version of FBReader (0.12.something) but the machine didn't have enough processing power to run that program. I wonder, in a theoretical field as I'm no programmer

, if it wouldn't be better to try and compile from an older version like 0.10.7.

Almiel · 08-09-2010, 12:56 AM

Thanks, all, interesting information. That's sad about fbreader. I thought maybe, because it was designed around fb2, that epub wasn't being fully implemented.

Frank, yea, ignoring the br tag is ridiculous! I was reading Three Men in a boat and I know there are thought breaks but they were being ignored. It made reading a little jarring at times, due to the change in topic. (The breaks on web pages are due to the early days when there was no way to indent paragraphs. There was no css yet to tweak the look and feel of a page. Also, with screen reading, I think it makes it easier to read too, but that's opinion.)

jackie_w, it actually is an epub I was reading (I forgot to mention that), but the core of an epub is xhtml/css. By adobeviewer do you mean Digital Editions?

jackie_w · 08-09-2010, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almiel

jackie_w, it actually is an epub I was reading (I forgot to mention that), but the core of an epub is xhtml/css. By adobeviewer do you mean Digital Editions?

I mean the AdobeViewer application already loaded on your PB360.

- Highlight your epub in the Book List (not the Recently Read List).

- Press and hold the centre OK button to get the mini-menu and select the top "Open with" option.

- Then choose AdobeViewer (rather than fbreader) which will obey the CSS rules in the epub.

If you decide you don't like the default font used (quite likely) then have at look at this thread Hacked AdobeViewer

Feel free to come back with any more questions.

Almiel · 08-09-2010, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I mean the AdobeViewer application already loaded on your PB360.

- Highlight your epub in the Book List (not the Recently Read List).

- Press and hold the centre OK button to get the mini-menu and select the top "Open with" option.

- Then choose AdobeViewer (rather than fbreader) which will obey the CSS rules in the epub.

If you decide you don't like the default font used (quite likely) then have at look at this thread Hacked AdobeViewer

Feel free to come back with any more questions.

Thanks, I'm actually reading that thread now. It's sad it has to be hacked to make it more usable. I guess that's what I like about fbreader, especially fbreader180. Now if we could get that one fixed to better support css!

capidamonte · 08-09-2010, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almiel

Now if we could get that one fixed to better support css!

To dream...
The impossible dream...

08-07-2010, 12:15 PM	#1
Almiel regrets buying PocketBook Posts: 44 Karma: 2144500 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Texas Device: CoolReader (Android), Pocketbook 360 Ivory	compiling fbreader for pocketbook What does it take to get the latest fbreader source (http://www.fbreader.org/downloads.php) compiled onto Pocketbook? Anyone know? Has anyone done it for themselves and would like to share it? I'd like to check it out. I've installed fbreader180 but it inherited a lack in the implementation of html/css, so I'm wondering if the latest "original" is any better in this regard. For example, I've got an epub that designates through css some italic text. It doesn't appear italic. When I changed it to the html italic tag, it does work. It also doesn't recognize the br tag (break tag to create a carriage return). Etc. As a web designer/desktop publisher this drives me crazy! TIA

08-07-2010, 04:30 PM	#5
capidamonte Not who you think I am... Posts: 374 Karma: 30283 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Honolulu Device: PocketBook 360 -- Ivory	FBReader does not properly use CSS. It's built on an FB2 rendering engine, and every other format is forced into it's display properties. All CSS formatting is discarded. This personally drives me crazy because every single other reader program for Linux either displays only text or is built on some gigantic HTML engine, and so cannot be ported to a small device properly. Micro-culturally, the FBReader guys are married to FBReaderJ and to adding formats. FBReader is now rarely updated, and they seem happy to have extracted bare text from HTML and call it "ePub supported". Meh. If anyone here can program, a stand-alone ePub reader based on the dillo rendering engine would be small, fast and awesome. It doesn't support full CSS yet, but it's on its (slow) way. Last edited by capidamonte; 08-07-2010 at 04:42 PM.

08-09-2010, 12:56 AM	#7
Almiel regrets buying PocketBook Posts: 44 Karma: 2144500 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Texas Device: CoolReader (Android), Pocketbook 360 Ivory	Thanks, all, interesting information. That's sad about fbreader. I thought maybe, because it was designed around fb2, that epub wasn't being fully implemented. Frank, yea, ignoring the br tag is ridiculous! I was reading Three Men in a boat and I know there are thought breaks but they were being ignored. It made reading a little jarring at times, due to the change in topic. (The breaks on web pages are due to the early days when there was no way to indent paragraphs. There was no css yet to tweak the look and feel of a page. Also, with screen reading, I think it makes it easier to read too, but that's opinion.) jackie_w, it actually is an epub I was reading (I forgot to mention that), but the core of an epub is xhtml/css. By adobeviewer do you mean Digital Editions? Last edited by Almiel; 08-09-2010 at 11:41 AM. Reason: additional off-topic comment

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08-07-2010, 12:21 PM	#2
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	You'll need, at a minimum, the SDK: http://pocketbook-free.sourceforge.net/en/sdk.shtml They'll probably release a new one once they get to version 15.3 or whatever of the firmware.

08-07-2010, 02:16 PM	#3
franklekens Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 3421956 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Kobo Forma, Sage, Elipsa, Onyx Note2, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Keyboard	Its ignoring the br tag is especially maddening. All blank lines in books disappear, unless you put a blank line after every paragraph, which looks stupid. (I've never understood why this seems to have become a kind of informal internet standard, to have blank lines after every paragraph. Especially in dialogues it really looks weird.)

08-07-2010, 03:41 PM	#4
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,212 Karma: 16534894 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: Kobo: KA1, ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E. PocketBook: TouchHD3	If you want a formatted html/css book to display properly on the PB360 isn't it just easier to use Calibre to convert to EPUB then view the EPUB with AdobeViewer rather than FBReader? The v15.2 AdobeViewer plus member tselling's hack, does a good job. Not as easily customisable as FBReader but displays EPUBs as they were coded to look.

08-07-2010, 04:54 PM	#6
Logseman Orisa Posts: 1,999 Karma: 1035571 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Ireland Device: Onyx Poke 5	A member of the German subforum (his name slips from my memory right now) attempted to compile a recent version of FBReader (0.12.something) but the machine didn't have enough processing power to run that program. I wonder, in a theoretical field as I'm no programmer , if it wouldn't be better to try and compile from an older version like 0.10.7.

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