PRS-350 Lousy software

mimosavj · 04-20-2011, 01:30 PM

For a beautiful piece of hardware, Sony has extremely lousy software. I am so frustrated with the font size and margin settings that I am thinking of putting my new pink PRS350 on ebay.

After spending the whole day yesterday playing with various ways to setup the correct font size for epub via Calibre, I still cannot find the best font size. I tried using calibre with base font 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13 and none gave the desirable font size with Charis font. Who designed the font settings for the PRS 350 anyway? What a piece of joke it is with 5 settings and none would work. Small is too small and Medium is huge. Who could use Large or X-Small? Can anyone suggest a better solution to the font size?

Next problem: margin. Using calibre to convert epub to epub with all the margins set to 0.0 pt,the margins shown on the reader are still too wide for my taste. For a 5" screen with struggling font problems, a wide margin means less words per screen. Again, who designed such thing?

Unfortunately my PRS350 came with the latest firmware 1.0.00.14080 and PRS+ won't work with it. Is there a work-around solution for this yet?

Asawi · 04-20-2011, 02:14 PM

At least you have the option of using the "margin cut" page setup from witin the reader, contrary to some other popular devices.

I agree that the step between small and medium font size is too big.

edbro · 04-20-2011, 02:19 PM

You could use PRS+, which is a great firmware addon. Then you can change fonts at will. Using style sheets you can also scale your fonts using a percentage.

Code:

p {font-size:105%}
div {font-size:105%}

PRS+

mimosavj · 04-20-2011, 02:45 PM

Hi

I tried to install PRS+ but they kept giving me the error Unsupported firmware 1.0.00.14080. According to what I read, PRS+ does not support the new firmware 1.0.00.14080 yet. Is there any workaround solution for installing PRS+ over this new firmware?

Thanks

Poppaea · 04-20-2011, 02:47 PM

There is a workaround, give me a minute to find it. Kartu has posted it somewhere.

If not, just convert your files to lrf. The font size steps are not as big as with epub. It is astonishing.

Poppaea · 04-20-2011, 02:50 PM

Here you are

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=129565

Coops · 04-20-2011, 04:49 PM

I've used the Boroda hack, and set Fontin as my default Epub font. Now, my 'default' 'S' size is just right... but the others are still useless.

It is ridiculous how poor the standard font and it's font sizing is.

Chris

Rizla · 04-20-2011, 06:29 PM

Yeah, the font size spacing sucks. Re: new firmware, Kartu has said he's releasing a new release of Prs+ in the next two weeks, so you might want to wait until it's out rather than messing about with work arounds. However, I'm not sure that Prs+ offers any advantage over just using Calibre to change the font and font size. Personally I'm okay with the middle setting.

jackie_w · 04-21-2011, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mimosavj

Next problem: margin. Using calibre to convert epub to epub with all the margins set to 0.0 pt,the margins shown on the reader are still too wide for my taste.

I have a PRS650 rather than 350 but I don't have any problems at all getting small left/right margins from Calibre conversions. A couple of things to check:

The Left and Right margin settings in Convert - PageSetup. These are in addition to any margins set in Look&Feel - ExtraCSS.
In commercial ePubs there is often a page-template.xpgt file which can have large left, right margins. Even so, the recent versions of Calibre get rid of these during an epub-epub conversion.

I know "acceptable" font-size is very personal, but I also use Charis as my preferred font. I've always done Calibre epub conversions with base font size set to 11pt and I read them on the medium setting on the PRS650.

chrisanthropic · 04-21-2011, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppaea

If not, just convert your files to lrf. The font size steps are not as big as with epub. It is astonishing.

I had not idea, thanks for that!

Poppaea · 04-21-2011, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisanthropic

I had not idea, thanks for that!

You are welcome! It is a neat trick. I was never able to work out which font size to use as the steps were always too far apart. With lrf this is pretty neat.

mimosavj · 04-21-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisanthropic

I had not idea, thanks for that!

Thank you so much for all the suggestions.

1- Converting to LRF: Sigh! 2 years ago I had my collection in LRF, then I converted all of them to EPUB and deleted the LRFs. Now, just the idea of converting them back to LRFs is scary.

2- After installing PRS+, it seems a bit easier. But it doesn't work with all books

3- Converting EPUB-->EPUB via Calibre: if I have to,

edbro · 04-21-2011, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mimosavj

2- After installing PRS+, it seems a bit easier. But it doesn't work with all books :

Explain please. Do you mean that custom fonts are displaying for some books but not others? That shouldn't happen.

mimosavj · 04-22-2011, 10:18 AM

Well, if the EPUB files have font-family and font-size declared in their CSS files, my CSS won't work unless I have to manually tweak the EPUB files or do an EPUB->EPUB conversion from Calibre.

I wonder if it's possible to map the built in font size to a set of user-defined font size...

mimosavj · 04-28-2011, 01:40 PM

After much struggle to configure the PRS 350, I gave up and sold mine on ebay. Now I am looking for a 6" reader with nice screen contrast. Is there any out there that is easy to configure the fonts, margins & book arrangement?

04-20-2011, 01:30 PM	#1
mimosavj Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 352572 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: Sony PRS 650, Nook HD+, Aura HD, Aura H2O v1, Libra 2	Lousy software For a beautiful piece of hardware, Sony has extremely lousy software. I am so frustrated with the font size and margin settings that I am thinking of putting my new pink PRS350 on ebay. After spending the whole day yesterday playing with various ways to setup the correct font size for epub via Calibre, I still cannot find the best font size. I tried using calibre with base font 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13 and none gave the desirable font size with Charis font. Who designed the font settings for the PRS 350 anyway? What a piece of joke it is with 5 settings and none would work. Small is too small and Medium is huge. Who could use Large or X-Small? Can anyone suggest a better solution to the font size? Next problem: margin. Using calibre to convert epub to epub with all the margins set to 0.0 pt,the margins shown on the reader are still too wide for my taste. For a 5" screen with struggling font problems, a wide margin means less words per screen. Again, who designed such thing? Unfortunately my PRS350 came with the latest firmware 1.0.00.14080 and PRS+ won't work with it. Is there a work-around solution for this yet?

04-20-2011, 02:19 PM	#3
edbro Banned Posts: 640 Karma: 4911 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Grapevine, TX Device: iPad4	You could use PRS+, which is a great firmware addon. Then you can change fonts at will. Using style sheets you can also scale your fonts using a percentage. Code: p {font-size:105%} div {font-size:105%} PRS+

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04-20-2011, 02:14 PM	#2
Asawi Gadgetoholic Posts: 1,467 Karma: 3865860 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sweden Device: Kobo Libra2, Tolino Vision 6	At least you have the option of using the "margin cut" page setup from witin the reader, contrary to some other popular devices. I agree that the step between small and medium font size is too big.

04-20-2011, 02:45 PM	#4
mimosavj Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 352572 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: Sony PRS 650, Nook HD+, Aura HD, Aura H2O v1, Libra 2	Hi I tried to install PRS+ but they kept giving me the error Unsupported firmware 1.0.00.14080. According to what I read, PRS+ does not support the new firmware 1.0.00.14080 yet. Is there any workaround solution for installing PRS+ over this new firmware? Thanks

04-20-2011, 02:47 PM	#5
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	There is a workaround, give me a minute to find it. Kartu has posted it somewhere. If not, just convert your files to lrf. The font size steps are not as big as with epub. It is astonishing.

04-20-2011, 02:50 PM	#6
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	Here you are https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=129565

04-20-2011, 04:49 PM	#7
Coops Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 77756 Join Date: May 2009 Device: Kindle Oasis, Sony T3 backup	I've used the Boroda hack, and set Fontin as my default Epub font. Now, my 'default' 'S' size is just right... but the others are still useless. It is ridiculous how poor the standard font and it's font sizing is. Chris

04-20-2011, 06:29 PM	#8
Rizla Member Retired Posts: 3,183 Karma: 11721895 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook STR (rooted) & Sony T2	Yeah, the font size spacing sucks. Re: new firmware, Kartu has said he's releasing a new release of Prs+ in the next two weeks, so you might want to wait until it's out rather than messing about with work arounds. However, I'm not sure that Prs+ offers any advantage over just using Calibre to change the font and font size. Personally I'm okay with the middle setting.

04-22-2011, 10:18 AM	#14
mimosavj Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 352572 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: Sony PRS 650, Nook HD+, Aura HD, Aura H2O v1, Libra 2	Well, if the EPUB files have font-family and font-size declared in their CSS files, my CSS won't work unless I have to manually tweak the EPUB files or do an EPUB->EPUB conversion from Calibre. I wonder if it's possible to map the built in font size to a set of user-defined font size...

04-28-2011, 01:40 PM	#15
mimosavj Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 352572 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: USA Device: Sony PRS 650, Nook HD+, Aura HD, Aura H2O v1, Libra 2	After much struggle to configure the PRS 350, I gave up and sold mine on ebay. Now I am looking for a 6" reader with nice screen contrast. Is there any out there that is easy to configure the fonts, margins & book arrangement?

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