Netronix/PVI 9.7" & 6" e-readers

[DaleDe]

Great information to add to the wiki.

Dale

[moz]

Originally Posted by NatCh

That's supposed to be mm isn't it?

Better hope so... a 9.7" display with half a metre of border around it would get old pretty fast.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by moz

Better hope so... a 9.7" display with half a metre of border around it would get old pretty fast.

After a hang-up with FedEx and customs the EB-100 is in my hot, grubby hands. Pictures to be posted later today. It's a dead ringer for the Cybook. In fact, the USB port and WinXP recognized it as a Cybook-just not my real one. Of course, this one is a matte white finish...

There's no label or logo anywhere on it and the sample ebooks appear to be STAReBOOK In fact, the ebook extensions are all .stk. I'm going to download the STK-101 ebook creator and see if I can port some of mine over to .stk and see if the EB-100 reads them. Clearly, if I'm going to test this out, I'm going to have to get more information on Linux, so I'll have to see if I can get PuppyLinux or DSL installed on a partition so I can scope out the EB-100 under Linux instead of Windows.

Derek

[delphidb96]

Okay,

Here are the first photos of the Bookeen Cybook Gen3 and the Netronix EB-100 side-by-side. In the landscape image (horizontal) you're seeing the Cybook's Library and the EB-100's Menu screen. The portrait (vertical) image has a page from Griffin's "One Wrong Step" (Cybook) and Camus' "The Stranger" (EB-100). The EB-100 is set to the smallest font size and the Cybook to the font size I typically use - the EB-100 has four larger font size increases, call the largest about 36pt or 1/2-inch-tall characters.

I know it doesn't really "show" in the photos, but the EB-10 appears a tad bit more 'contrasty' to my eye - maybe 10% or so.

Derek

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

I know it doesn't really "show" in the photos, but the EB-10 appears a tad bit more 'contrasty' to my eye - maybe 10% or so.

Interesting. I think I see what you mean ... does it seem like it could be an effect of the white case versus the black one, perhaps?

[JSWolf]

Well, if Vizplex is anything like the original e-ink screen, then the contrast of your Gen3 has gone down a tad since it was new and the Eb-100 being new has yet to lose any contrast.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well, if Vizplex is anything like the original e-ink screen, then the contrast of your Gen3 has gone down a tad since it was new and the Eb-100 being new has yet to lose any contrast.

You know, it could be. Or it could be that my eye is just being fooled by the white case.

My biggest frustration is that I have no STK ebook maker software and, therefore, I cannot convert any of my other ebooks into .stk format. And it doesn't recognize PDF, HTML, DOC or TXT files. I've tried them all. And eRead7.0 from the ISOHU site doesn't work at converting to .stk even though it says it does. I think I need the standalone STK Maker software that is, unfortunately, no longer available from the STAReBOOK website.

Anyone have a copy of that as well as the 1.1.2 (or whatever is the latest) firmware? Or know how to scrape what's currently on the EB-100 to an installable firmware file - the SD1.zip? Why? Because I'd dearly love to have a backup of it available in order that I can see if the build 538 firmware from Bookeen will install on it. and I want something so I can retreat to what came on the EB-100 after I test. If I can't find something to let me re-install...

Derek

[JWLaRue]

Perhaps make a pair of medium gray 'frames' that completely cover the plastic cases, only allowing the screens to show would help answer the contract question. That would eliminate the effect (potential or real) of the two different case colors.

-Jeff

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JWLaRue

Perhaps make a pair of medium gray 'frames' that completely cover the plastic cases, only allowing the screens to show would help answer the contract question. That would eliminate the effect (potential or real) of the two different case colors.

-Jeff

Perhaps. But I'd rather get the latest "update firmware" for the EB-100/STK-101 and then go traipsing through the 'which firmware will work' exploration. Oh well... Right now I'm trying to figure out how to actually *USE* the STK Maker 6.x software I found on my machine. It creates an STK ebook okay, but the formatting leaves much to be desired.

Derek

[soilwork]

Originally Posted by JWLaRue

Perhaps make a pair of medium gray 'frames' that completely cover the plastic cases, only allowing the screens to show would help answer the contract question. That would eliminate the effect (potential or real) of the two different case colors.
-Jeff

Instead of doing it physically, we can use the uploaded photo instead. I removed everything other than the screen. EB-100/STK-101 seems to have a slightly darker letters than Cybook but it may be due to different fonts.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by soilwork

Instead of doing it physically, we can use the uploaded photo instead. I removed everything other than the screen. EB-100/STK-101 seems to have a slightly darker letters than Cybook but it may be due to different fonts.

Good example. Wish I'd thought of doing that.

Derek

[delphidb96]

I've now burned it to disc (twice 'cause I don't want to have to go searching for it again - and it's a 610MB mother to download) and am working to reconfigure one of my partitions to support Linux 2.6 - I'm thinking of going either NimbusX or DSL or plain Gentoo, if anyone has a suggestion, let me know if I'm way off base.

While it won't be the official Netronix SDK, it will at least get me started towards understanding the process as I wait for full pricing on the EB100SDK3 kit.

Derek

[davidw89]

EB-300 looks very nice indeed..!!

[delphidb96]

So I decided to take out the rubber "plugs" from the back of my EB-100. Counting the two screws in the battery compartment (note that the battery's number is clearly visible), there are five screws holding the back panel on. I'm going looking for the serial port connections so I can do a direct PUTTY of some firmware from my PC. Gotta build a TTL-to-USB cable first.

Derek

[delphidb96]

Took it apart so we could see what it had. I'm posting several images...

The first is of the EB100 with the front panel removed and set to the side.
The second is of the inside of the back panel.
The third is of the display side of the CPU board.
The fourth is of the chip side of same.
The fifth is of the CPU board from a Cybook Gen3.

Note that except for the 1.1 revision on the display connector from the Cybook Gen3 and the 1.3 on the display connector cable from the EB-100 (which was purchased much later - just two weeks ago) they are the same.

Derek