Color Jetbook Color & Windows CE

[dpayment]

Please, please, please tell me that someone out there is working on a replacement OS for the Jetbook Color. I've had my JBC for about a month now, and so far as I'm concerned, it's a terrific device with excellent hardware, but it's missing so much potential because of a total crap operating system. I'm on my 15th or so ereader now, I've been using them since they first came out, and this is the poorest execution of ereader software I've experienced. Almost no preference options, single font with limited sizes, and I have to make three counterclockwise "rotate Page" selections to read in two page mode with the next page button under my right thumb instead of a single clockwise rotation? In addition, while I have no real ability to measure it, I'm pretty sure that like all Windows variants, WinCE is a resource hog!

I want the option of being able to reopen directly to the page I was reading when I shut the device down. I want the option to be able to configure what details (title, author, series nr. etc.,) are visible in the library view. I want to be able to configure what I see on the home page.

For the first color large format ereader, the JBC had the potential to set the level for others to aspire to, they gapped it bigtime!!!

[Ken Maltby]

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/...?code=IMX50_SW

Might give you a start.

A cheap start:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...k2Rc1qm7iB4%3d

Luck;
Ken

[joblack]

At first you do need a firmware exploit. That's not easy because the firmware seems to be encrypted and packed (or the other way around).

The 'easiest way' would be to read to get access to the device and read out the 'unencrypted firmware' (if available).

Let's say you get access to the device. Then you need an adjusted Linux. The kernel will be not a problem but custom hardware will be.

At least on the shortrun there is nothing you can do.

[ProDigit]

I don't know if ectaco is still working on OS upgrades.
The device is limited, but not much more than many other e-book readers out there.
In fact, it has a lot more options than many readers!

Many ebook readers have the Windows CE os.

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I don't know if ectaco is still working on OS upgrades.
The device is limited, but not much more than many other e-book readers out there.
In fact, it has a lot more options than many readers!

Many ebook readers have the Windows CE os.

On the jetbook forum on 1st October Jerry mentioned a new firmware update "in the next few days".

http://www.ectaco.com/posts/list/85450.page#87634

Andrew

[joblack]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I don't know if ectaco is still working on OS upgrades.
.

Yes they do.

http://www.ectaco.com/posts/list/85450.page#87634

[dpayment]

One other point, having paid nearly $500 for this device as an eReader, one should reasonably expect a little more polish and forethought in the OS and applications available. If I hadn't wanted a color eReader, I could have bought a very good midrange laptop for the same price!

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/...?code=IMX50_SW
Might give you a start.
A cheap start:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...k2Rc1qm7iB4%3d
Luck;
Ken

First, thanks for the info Ken. Unfortunately, I'm not a programmer or engineer, so I wouldn't have the first idea how to start a project like this. I'd love to be able to, after more than a dozen years and at least that many eReaders, I've a pretty good idea of how the GUI should look and work. So many makers have come moderately close, but none of them have gotten it right yet.

Thanks again,
Dan

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I don't know if ectaco is still working on OS upgrades.
The device is limited, but not much more than many other e-book readers out there.
In fact, it has a lot more options than many readers!

Many ebook readers have the Windows CE os.

Hi ProDigit, and to you as well, thanks for the reply.

As I mentioned above I've had eReaders for a dozen years and at least a dozen eReaders during that period, and I know what I like as a reader. Of all those I've owned, this is my first encounter with WinCE, and as I stated, for the JBC, it's pretty poor.

1. Almost no user options;
2. limited font choice;
3. no choices in how to display menus/libraries;
4. no user configurable startup/shutdown logos; and
5. changing the defaults is impossible.

And this is just a quick off-the-cuff list of it's failings. Not good. Sure, the other eReaders out there are limited, but not as badly as the JBC. You would think that by now, with Amazon, B&N, Kobo and all the other eReader competitors out there that one of them would ask us, the users, what we want to see! The things I'd like to see are all out there in one form or another, someone just has to amalgamate them into a single device!
Dan

[dpayment]

Originally Posted by dpayment

Hi ProDigit, and to you as well, thanks for the reply.

As I mentioned above I've had eReaders for a dozen years and at least a dozen eReaders during that period, and I know what I like as a reader. Of all those I've owned, this is my first encounter with WinCE, and as I stated, for the JBC, it's pretty poor.

1. Almost no user options;
2. limited font choice;
3. no choices in how to display menus/libraries;
4. no user configurable startup/shutdown logos; and
5. changing the defaults is impossible.

etc...

Well, the latest update at least resolved one of my complaints, I can now select "landscape right" or "landscape left" eliminating the two extra rotates to get where I want, but the other complaints are still valid. Having an option on my JBC to automatically re-open my last book where I left off is still highly desirable, and being able to configure the menu options for all screens, and the default display font size (for menu screens) is crucial. Being limited to a maximum of eight books per page on the "my library" pages sucks, particularly when I have nearly 1,500 books on my device already. I'd also like the option of displaying thumbnails or not, AS I CHOOSE.

Ectaco might get there eventually, but I have my doubts. In the meantime, I'm really hoping that someone who knows how readers use eReaders is working on an alternative OS for this device!

[dpayment]

Originally Posted by dpayment

Well, the latest update at least resolved one of my complaints, I can now select "landscape right" or "landscape left" eliminating the two

Discovered last night, fixed one problem, added another. The "Recent Readings" category no longer seems to register any books I've been reading. I've read a couple of books since doing the update, then deliberately tried several others when I first discovered the problem. It just doesn't work!

And given the size of the main menu page, how about adding a couple of other options there, for one, "Open last read" or something like that, so I can go directly to the book I was last reading, rather than having to dive deeper into the structure of the device memory.

Just a suggestion, but I think it's a good one,