Palm Reader (eBook Reader) - Major Update

[Shadowcat]

Originally Posted by Holliefant

My E-Books are all made with calibre and in epub, so I am quite sure that the problem with no data connection and first opening a E-Book is also with epub

Yup, the first time you try to open your epub book, Palm Reader uses the data connection to send it off for conversion.

Originally Posted by vance6842

It's officially under review now (finally), so hopefully soon!

Yay! After all the work you've done on this, you definitely deserve to get paid. Maybe you should post a poll to get a feel for what people are willing to pay. Personally, based on the work involved, I think you should definitely charge more than a buck or two. Maybe upwards of $10-15? Not sure if that would make some people choose not to buy it - the old Palm crowd wouldn't have a problem shelling out that much for a good solid app, but it seems like the iPhone app store has made the majority of people expect to get awesome programs for $1. Freakin' cheapskates!

Originally Posted by vance6842

I'll think this one through. Assuming it's possible (and allowable by Palm standards) I'll try to do that. It's a neato idea.

That would be really awesome. I really like the space bar/period feature, but I prefer to read with my phone closed. The forward/back arrows work well, but I also prefer to read in full screen mode. So tapping in the gesture area would be ideal. (Gosh, we're a demanding bunch of SOBs, aren't we? )

Originally Posted by vance6842

Chapter support is currently minimal, and requires a well-formatted table of contents. I will put some work at some point into making that a more useable feature.

Could you give a little bit of information regarding exactly how to format the table of contents? As I've mentioned before, I edit all of my HTML books before I load them to Palm Reader, so it would be no big deal to properly format a table of contents. What HTML tags would you use specifically? I've tried using <a href> links, and it doesn't matter if I use "id" or "name" for the anchor, neither of them work. I'll send you a copy of the file I've been playing with. I deleted a large portion of the book just so it would load quicker, as I kept trying different methods of jump links.

As always, thanks so much for all your work!

[bluemoon219]

Originally Posted by vance6842

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluemoon219
Hi.

I am having a few problems with the newest version of the reader.

I have loaded new books but when book is loaded it is a previous book. I am also having issues with loading any new books.

I have cleared the database deleted the reader and reinstalled. And I am still having problems.

Please help!

I believe we have resolved this one, but it concerns me. I'll spend some time trying to prevent it happening to anyone else...

I appreciate all of your help! My workaround was to convert my .lit files to html. That works just great. As I mentioned before I really love this app! Thanks again!

[vance6842]

I have posted an update (0.2.8) that should do a few things:

1) Fixes a few more format issues, including better table of contents support on HTML books.

2) Provides MUCH better feedback during book conversion. I think a lot of the problems (not all, but a lot) that folks have been experiencing with books that "don't load" are actually patience issues, and the better feedback in this version should make it a lot easier to give the system time to finish the job.

3) Added "Add new book" to the library app menu in addition to the button based on user suggestion.

So people that have had books that don't load, please try them again with this new update. You shouldn't need to uninstall the app in order to use this update. If you use this version and still find books that don't load, please send them to sendbooks@popelli.com and I will continue my efforts to support all books everywhere

[rpr]

Where is the update? I only see 0.2.6 on Preware. I have completely removed all traces of the previous version in hopes of fixing my problem with bookmarks, I will re-install 0.2.6 and see what happens.

Oh, can you tell me where the bookmarks are stored on the Pre, I think I got everything removed, but if it still doesn't work, I'd like to make sure I remove everything.

edit: Looks like preware is having problems, I can't install via the app, and the direct download ipk for palm reader is not there either. The link is there, but it gives a 404 error.

Thanks
Tom

[vance6842]

Originally Posted by rpr

Where is the update? I only see 0.2.6 on Preware. I have completely removed all traces of the previous version in hopes of fixing my problem with bookmarks, I will re-install 0.2.6 and see what happens.

Oh, can you tell me where the bookmarks are stored on the Pre, I think I got everything removed, but if it still doesn't work, I'd like to make sure I remove everything.

edit: Looks like preware is having problems, I can't install via the app, and the direct download ipk for palm reader is not there either. The link is there, but it gives a 404 error.

Thanks
Tom

Hmmm... That's a shame. Hopefully they'll get things worked out soon enough and the update will be available to all.

[rpr]

Well, I managed to get it, through a roundabout method. I grabbed the 'Packages.gz' file from preware.org, found the direct link to the reader file, but it was still pointing to 0.2.6, and was giving a 404 as well, so I tried substituting 0.2.8 in the path, and it worked, so I downloaded it locally and used WOSQI instead. Seems to work well, and the bookmarks seem to be working now. There must have been some cruft leftover from a previous install that was causing issues.

One suggestion though. On the picker to 'Go to -> Specified' location, move the percent label above the slider so you can actually see it, and also add either a text field of number picker so you can choose a specific % to go to. Until I got the bookmarks working, it was a real PITA to use that dialog...

Thanks!
Tom

[GMSchiller]

FYI. I'd pay for it (if I could get it to load my PDF books) this is the best Febook reader for the pre so far! Keep up the good work. I do have a few .lit books I have loaded and it works great.

[tamvegas]

Vance, thankgiving for this latest update!!!
I noticed that the one book that still gave me trouble now loaded (in epub format).
So I copied a couple more epub from Baen Books over. In perfectly!!
Then to experiment I deleted the library and deleted all my ebooks, then replaced them with all the original epub files.
Everything is loading without issue.

One thing that would be great to have in PalmReader is being able to swipe erase library entries individually. So we don't have to delete the entire library database when there are two copies of a file and prefer one.

Again, this program is the best reader for the Pre. period. As soon as this is available in the catalog, it is going to be one of (if not the) best selling apps.
I'd say the $5 to $9 range would be very, very good!
But whatever the price, I will purchase it.

Thanks Again & Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

[jordy.e]

K I have been using this reader for a little while now, and have been finding it to be quite good, what was happening to me this evening when I was trying to load a new book (it is in .lit format which was working before I updated) It goes through the loading process, and then after the loading screen is gone, something is not working. in the top left by the arrow key there is a D/L and when I touch that, it says "portions of this book are still downloading in the background, so Go To is not yet available. Try again soon." Is this a case of me needing to wait longer? or is there some sort of bug when loading .lit files now

[galavanter]

I have another little suggestion to accommodate my preferences. Could there be a preference setting to open to either normal or full screen on launch? Just as good would be to remember the setting when the app was closed.

Then I could just open app in landscape (already a setting) and read, in full screen. That would be a delight. Thanks.

[Holliefant]

FYI. I'd pay for it (if I could get it to load my PDF books) this is the best Febook reader for the pre so far! Keep up the good work. I do have a few .lit books I have loaded and it works great.

once again I would like to hint that calibre is a quite cool peace of software

calibre - E-book management

[Sweety81]

German special letters are missing after conversation.

With the last Update i can open now my ebooks but all letters like ö, ä, ü, ß are missing. It looks like it was converted from original utf8 to some old asccii standard.

Between all paragraphs i have an spare line to seperate, after conversation i have 2 spare lines, wich can be really bad to read in some situations.

My friend send you an example ebook in original utf8 format per mail for testing.

Thank you for all your efforts and i hope you get it as a paid app soon. But please dont forget to offer it in other languages too like german or spain, because we cant access the english webcatalog

[autochef]

Originally Posted by vance6842

I have posted an update (0.2.8) that should do a few things:

1) Fixes a few more format issues, including better table of contents support on HTML books.

2) Provides MUCH better feedback during book conversion. I think a lot of the problems (not all, but a lot) that folks have been experiencing with books that "don't load" are actually patience issues, and the better feedback in this version should make it a lot easier to give the system time to finish the job.

3) Added "Add new book" to the library app menu in addition to the button based on user suggestion.

So people that have had books that don't load, please try them again with this new update. You shouldn't need to uninstall the app in order to use this update. If you use this version and still find books that don't load, please send them to sendbooks@popelli.com and I will continue my efforts to support all books everywhere

This is odd. I normally have white text on black background for reading. It's not working (the same book) with the update, but only part of the book. That is, in an early part of the book (file 3-4 at the top) it works fine, but in my current position there is a black background filled with white boxes that have black text in them. Thinking about reinstalling. Might that help?

[vance6842]

Originally Posted by rpr

One suggestion though. On the picker to 'Go to -> Specified' location, move the percent label above the slider so you can actually see it, and also add either a text field of number picker so you can choose a specific % to go to. Until I got the bookmarks working, it was a real PITA to use that dialog...

I'll revamp that dialog at some point, yes.

Originally Posted by tamvegas

One thing that would be great to have in PalmReader is being able to swipe erase library entries individually. So we don't have to delete the entire library database when there are two copies of a file and prefer one.

I should add swipe-delete, agreed. Not exactly sure how right now, but I'll get that in there at some point.

Originally Posted by tamvegas

I'd say the $5 to $9 range would be very, very good!

$4.99 is the price I submitted.

Originally Posted by jordy.e

K I have been using this reader for a little while now, and have been finding it to be quite good, what was happening to me this evening when I was trying to load a new book (it is in .lit format which was working before I updated) It goes through the loading process, and then after the loading screen is gone, something is not working. in the top left by the arrow key there is a D/L and when I touch that, it says "portions of this book are still downloading in the background, so Go To is not yet available. Try again soon." Is this a case of me needing to wait longer? or is there some sort of bug when loading .lit files now

The app downloads the first converted file and displays it for reading while the rest of the files are downloaded in the background. Yes, if you're looking to advance past the first few files, just wait until the DL changes to a %.

Originally Posted by galavanter

I have another little suggestion to accommodate my preferences. Could there be a preference setting to open to either normal or full screen on launch? Just as good would be to remember the setting when the app was closed.

Sure, I'll add that to my list.

Originally Posted by Sweety81

German special letters are missing after conversation.

Non-ASCII characters (unless HTML encoded) are not currently support. I'll try to add them in at some point.

Originally Posted by autochef

This is odd. I normally have white text on black background for reading. It's not working (the same book) with the update, but only part of the book. That is, in an early part of the book (file 3-4 at the top) it works fine, but in my current position there is a black background filled with white boxes that have black text in them. Thinking about reinstalling. Might that help?

That is strange. Try changing your background to another color, then back to black and see if it reformats correctly. Let me know, too.

[lilmexx323]

I am still having issues with the bookmarks. It won't do them.. Keeps telling me there is none found.. Any ideas to check? It was working, but just not the last 2 versions.. I think.. Great app.. Was the one must have app for my pre.. I just need it to bookmark again.

[jordy.e]

I think I may have a better grasp as to what PalmReader is doing than I did on my first post. There are 2 issues that I am experiencing. The first issue is when I load the book, depending, it appears, on how taxed my pre is at that moment, it may or may not finish loading by the time the screen shuts off (I've had it at 1 minute). When I unlock the screen, I notice that the download bar has hung, and after leaving it for a good 15 minutes, it still hasn't moved.

If I manage to keep the screen from locking, I switched the time on screen shutdown to 3 minutes to test this, the download bar completes, but then the book appears to be continuing to be loading afterwards, but I am not seeing any change in status at all. I can see FILE 1 and D/L in the top, and on the bottom besides the bookmark etc. commands, I see 1/1 in the bottom where the page numbers are. After leaving it for a few hours, there was no change in either my ability to go to a different file, or the number of pages in the file. The amount of time needed to load this appears to be a little excessive. Is it possible that when the screen is shutting down that something is interfering with the transfer? If it helps, I was trying out the SmartReflex patch, and thought that may be interfering with the CPU when my pre went idle, and after removal, it didnt change things

[Sweety81]

Non-ASCII characters (unless HTML encoded) are not currently support. I'll try to add them in at some point.

mhh ok i have to wait. Is the paid app utf8 compatible? Will be the app aviable at other AppCatalogs outside the USA?

Why always ascii, its since decades the same problem...

[rpr]

Originally Posted by lilmexx323

I am still having issues with the bookmarks. It won't do them.. Keeps telling me there is none found.. Any ideas to check? It was working, but just not the last 2 versions.. I think.. Great app.. Was the one must have app for my pre.. I just need it to bookmark again.

I had the same problem. To fix it, I uninstalled the app in preware and then using WOSQI I opened up a command line and manually searched and removed any files left over. Then I re-installed the app, and bookmarks work again.

Tom

[autochef]

Originally Posted by autochef

This is odd. I normally have white text on black background for reading. It's not working (the same book) with the update, but only part of the book. That is, in an early part of the book (file 3-4 at the top) it works fine, but in my current position there is a black background filled with white boxes that have black text in them. Thinking about reinstalling. Might that help?

I reinstalled the program, and this bug has not repeated itself.

Seriously, this is a wonderful thing. The lack of a reader was my biggest annoyance when I got the Pre.

[remmysmom]

Is there any update on the ability for this program to open DRM books from EReader? All my books are protected and without this ability, I can't use it....Ereader doesn't seem to be in any hurry to give us a program, so if a 3rd party could do that I would definitely pay for it!