FBreader & fbKindle

[jetfin]

Finally .epubs on my Kindle!!! (well to be fair, the Duokan OS supports .epub but it still needs improvement...)

For general info about FBreader, check out http://www.fbreader.org/

I have been playing around with the two versions of FBreader the great guys over at the-ebook.org forum have developed, and since nobody here has posted anything yet, I thought I'd share my experiences so far.

@andy wooden & Dhza:

Большое вам спасибо, ребята!

-it's a great start and I look forward to seeing it develop...

There is not one but two (!) slightly different versions made by two different people: Dzha & andy wooden

These are two branches of the same project and will eventually be merged!

The two versions:
FBreader (by Dzha)
fbKindle (by andy wooden)

These are both alpha/experimental, so the usual warnings apply...

Both versions have their strengths and weaknesses and i'll leave judgement up to others. At this point i think which version one prefers is just a matter of individual preferences...

There is one big difference at the moment though -with fbKindle you can switch back to the kindle framework instantly, keeping fbKindle open in the background. Also when you quit fbKindle it goes instantly back to the kindle. With FBreader when you quit it does a complete restart of the Kindle framework which takes a long time...

In any case it looks like they are now talking about merging the two...

The thread for this project is here and the first post deals with FBreader:
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15017


fbKindle by andy wooden is at this post:
http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...=515359#515359

Google translate is your friend!

Using the original installation instructions from google translate could be a bit confusing for some, so i'll describe how i installed each of them successfully:

A pre-requisite for either of these is installing the Jailbreak. If you don't have it yet, get it here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88004

Both versions require Launchpad, which you can get here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97636

-so make sure you have both Jailbreak and Launchpad installed and working before continuing!

Installing FBreader (Dhza)
Update 24.11: The FBreader alpha version is no longer available for download because alpha testing is finished and Dhza is working on the next version.

1. If you have any previous versions of FBreader installed, then uninstall by removing the \FBreader directory and the \qtKindle directory if present.
2. Download FBreader here:
3. Extract the contents of the archive (FBreader directory) to the Kindle root directory
4. Copy the launchpad.ini file from the FBreader directory to the launchpad directory, OR add the following line to your existing launchpad.ini file:

F B = !/mnt/us/FBReader/goqt.sh FBReader &

5. Create a new folder in the Kindle root directory called "Books" and put your books in there
6. Eject Kindle from your PC and disconnect USB cable.
7. Press Shift then F then B one after another fairly quickly, then nothing will happen, then screen will go blank and FBreader will start up. Press the menu button and start exploring!


Installing fbKindle (andy wooden)

1. Download here: http://www.crocodile.org/~andym/fbKindle-bin.tar.gz (again, i would suggest you check the Russian FBreader thread to see if there is a newer version!)
2. Download andy's custom launchpad.ini file here: http://www.crocodile.org/~andym/svc-launchpad.ini.zip
3. Copy fbKindle-bin.tar.gz to the kindle root directory
4. Rename svc-launchpad.ini to launchpad.ini and copy it into the launchpad folder in the root Kindle directory, OR, add the following lines to your existing launchpad.ini file:

;; run experimental FBReader for kindle
F R = !/mnt/us/fbKindle/goqt.sh FBReader &

;; unpack experimental fbreader's tar archive
U T = !cd /mnt/us; tar zxvf fbKindle-bin.tar.gz; rm fbKindle-bin.tar.gz;echo 101 >/proc/eink_fb/update_display

5. Now restart launchpad if you know how, otherwise simply do the normal menu/settings/restart
6. Press Shift then U then T one after another (quickly) to decompress the fbKindle archive. This will take a bit. If it decompressed porperly then you will see a grayscale test screen -then press Home.
7. Press Shift then F then R one after another (quickly) to start fbKindle

On first start it should go straight to the "About FBreader" text. Here's what that looked like for me.

K2i


K3g


To switch back to the Kindle press Alt then Shift and fbKindle will remain open in the background. Do the same to return to fbKindle.

To quit fbKindle, press Alt then Back

There have been some reports (I also experienced this on the K2i install) of just getting a blank screen when first starting fbKindle. Try to quit with Alt/Back, then restart again with Shift/F/B -that worked for me.

The menu button will open a pop-up menu.

Options:
(Menu -> "Show Preferences Dialog")

Left & Right will navigate between tabs
Next Page/Previous Page buttons will navigate through the options elements.
Up or Down will change through list elements.
Space will select/deselect a check box element
alt/o or enter - Ok
alt/c - Cancel
alt/a - Apply

Now for one of my favourite features of fbKindle:
To change font size press + or - on the volume control


List of key shortcuts:

L = show Library
O = Preferences Dialog (Options)
Previous Page = Undo (previous element in dialog)
Next Page = Redo (next element in dialog)
C = TOC
F = Text Search
P = Find previous
N = Find next
Shift+Home = Go to Home (note: this doesn't work for me)
Home = Go to beginning/cover
D = toggle Indicator
A = Add Book
I = Book info
R = Rotate screen
Right = next TOC Section
Left = previous TOC Section
Alt/Back = Quit fbKindle
Alt/Shift = Switch to Kindle Home/Switch back to fbKindle
G = Go To Page
Menu = open Pop up menu
Enter = open Hyperlink
Down = next Hyperlink
Up = prev Hyperlink
Space = refresh Screen (select/deselect check box in dialog)

You can also manually edit the configuration files:
(some things can't be changed in the options dialog)

To change the font, font size and line spacing edit the style group in \fbKindle\.FBreader\ui.xml

Here is what mine looks like using DejaVu San Serif, 10 point and 190% line spacing:

  <group name="Style">
    <option name="Base:fontFamily" value="DejaVu Sans"/>
    <option name="Base:fontSize" value="10"/>
    <option name="Base:lineSpacingPercent" value="190"/>
  </group>

Available fonts are located in \fbKindle\qtKindle\lib\fonts

You can change margins in the same file. Here's mine:

<group name="Options">
    <option name="BottomMargin" value="30"/>
    <option name="LeftMargin" value="30"/>
    <option name="RightMargin" value="30"/>
    <option name="TopMargin" value="30"/>
  </group>

The location(s) of the books is defined in the "BookPath" value in \fbKindle\share\FBReader\default\config.xml

<option name="BookPath" value="/mnt/us/FBReader/books:/mnt/us/Books"/>

As you can see above it is possible to have multiple book locations separated by ":"

You can also enable page numbers, control the appearance/position of the indicator bar change the time/page number font size and see TOC marks in the indicator bar. You need to add an "Indicator" group to \fbKindle\share\FBReader\default\config.xml

  <group name="Indicator">
    <option name="FontSize" value="8"/>
    <option name="Height" value="8"/>
    <option name="Offset" value="6"/>
    <option name="PositionText" value="true"/>
    <option name="Time" value="true"/>
    <option name="ShowTOCMarks" value="true"/>
  </group>

To add key shortcuts like you are used to on the Kindle (next TOC, previous TOC, rotate screen, etc...) add a "Keys" group to the config.xml file:

  <group name="Keys">
    <option name="Action0" value="openHyperlink"/>
    <option name="Action1" value="undo"/>
    <option name="Action10" value="openPopup"/>
    <option name="Action11" value="redo"/>
    <option name="Action2" value="prevHyperlink"/>
    <option name="Action3" value="openPopup"/>
    <option name="Action4" value="pageForward"/>
    <option name="Action5" value="toggleFullscreen"/>
    <option name="Action6" value="rotate"/>
    <option name="Action7" value="nextTOCSection"/>
    <option name="Action8" value="previousTOCSection"/>
    <option name="Action9" value="pageBackward"/>
    <option name="Key0" value="&lt;Enter&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key1" value="&lt;Esc&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key10" value="[16777301]"/>
    <option name="Key11" value="[16781694]"/>
    <option name="Key2" value="&lt;K&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key3" value="&lt;M&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key4" value="&lt;Q&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key5" value="&lt;S&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key6" value="&lt;R&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key7" value="&lt;RightArrow&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key8" value="&lt;LeftArrow&gt;"/>
    <option name="Key9" value="&lt;Z&gt;"/>
    <option name="Number" value="12"/>
  </group>

Well, that's it for now -i'll try to update this thread as find out more and/or try out newer versions...

[tlrowley]

Very cool - I've got fbKindle working (or at least mostly working)

Thanks for the easy-to-follow instructions.

[charliefx]

Nice! I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the instructions.

[alexp2010]

... and it's great!

[Tvangeste]

It works great here as well. Both versions But fbKindle is the king by now. It works in parallel with the Kindle framework thus making the switching between fbKindle and the official shell very quick.

P.S. @jtfin, you probably should add (READS EPUBS!!!) to this thread subject

[h1uke]

Originally Posted by jetfin

Finally .epubs on my Kindle!!!

besides I still think that it is not the right time to announce current results,
I'd like to thank you for letting people know about this development.

Hope the quick description of navigation keys below could help.
How it used in fbKindle flavor of the Program:

">" and "<" buttons located on the left and right edges are equivalent.
These buttons are used for page scrolling in text modes.
While in dialogs these buttons act as "Tab" and "BackTab" and
support navigation between dialog elements

"Enter" and "fiveway Push" buttons are equivalent. Used to select active
hyperlink in text modes, or current menu element in popup menu.
Pressing one of these buttons means OK while in dialog

"Menu" button activates the popup menu while in text modes

"Back" button works as "Escape" in menu and as Cancel
action while in dialogs

"Alt/Back" exits the Program

"Alt/Shift" switches between the Program and the native kindle framework

Up/Down arrows navigate to the next/previous hyperlink(if any) in
Text View mode and/or Library View mode, or to the next/previous entry in
TOC View mode.

Left/Right arrows are used to navigate between dialog tabs in Options dialog

Note: Dialogs/Menus and active element navigation currently do not work in rotated modes.

....
- while in dialog, Alt/A activates the Apply action, if any
- first symbol, typed in a combobox automatically seeks corresponding entry in its listbox part
....

HTH,

andy aka h1uke

P.S. I'd also like to let everyone know that FBReader and fbKindle are actually two branches
of the same project and will be merged into a single main tree as soon as time allows.

[jetfin]

Thanks Andy for these clear descriptions!

I'll edit my original post later on to make it clearer that these are two branches of the same project...

Feel free to let me know if you think I should change anything else!

[jetfin]

Originally Posted by Tvangeste

It works great here as well. Both versions But fbKindle is the king by now. It works in parallel with the Kindle framework thus making the switching between fbKindle and the official shell very quick.

P.S. @jtfin, you probably should add (READS EPUBS!!!) to this thread subject

Unfortunately it's not possible to change the actual thread title...

[WS64]

Thanks everyone, that looks great so far!

One question, how do I change in the Preferences Menu for Regular Paragraph the value of "First Line In"? The default value of 40 looks a bit too much for me, but I seem not to be able to navigate to this field (not really to the others either, but somehow I was able to go there by repeatetly going to the menu/regular paragraph)

Update: Found the entry, in ui.xml, group style, add line
<option name="Regular Paragraph:firstLineIndentDelta" value="30"/>
But still am not able to edit this one directly in FBKindle...

[jetfin]

I'm also unable to navigate to those kind of fields.

Pressing Next Page or Previous Page just changes the value of the field instead of going to the next element/field...

[mrzerga]

well, according to latest news they will not be merged - its like spanish drama - yeap, its that serious, between the two developers.

to provide some context:
FBreader (Dhza) - use of some certain code and tools that was shared by andy wooden, a distinctive vision for the project but some doubtfull decisions on the code and need of Kindle restart before use, the developer suggested that he intends to continue on and work on the project.
fbKindle (andy wooden) - some original code and tools, some nice improvements compating to FBreader(no kindle restart needed for the code to operate), prefered by the majority, the developer has suggested that support and new features for this implementation might be irregular.

a merge was inteded between the two, but then the FBreader developer said that he does not feel like merging cause it would probably kill a better part of his previous work. therefore as of now there are two more or less alpha/beta versions each with its course.

[jetfin]

Didn't Dhza himself say that andy wooden did the original/first port? Or did google translate skew things so much?

Here is what I got:

Dzha wrote:

In fact, these are not two separate projects and the same port was originally done andy_wooden.

Anyhow, I think they both did a great job and hope they find some way to branch back into one tree...

[joblack]

It's great that after months of the original information leak it's finally reality.

I'm wondering how the ebooks are looking on a Kindle DX Graphite.

Btw. which FBReader version was the base for it?

[h1uke]

Originally Posted by joblack

Btw. which FBReader version was the base for it?

this one

[WS64]

After reading a few books I have to say FBKindle is really really great.
I especially like to be able to add space before/after a paragraph.

But I still have two questions open.

First, is it possible to force FBKindle to ignore any CSS coming with a book?
I would prefer to always use the FBKindle settings...

Second, when you shut down the Kindle while it is in FBKindle mode it shows a (pretty empty) Amazon Screensaver, is there a way to change this? And since the Kindle reacts different here, is there any other difference between the Kindle sleepmode and the FBKindle sleepmode? (For example, is there a way to change the time interval? Is the Kindle really sleeping and using any battery? With FBKindle to me it seems that the battery drains fast, but that just might be my imagination)