KOreader on Android

[medwatt]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The menus appear when you poke the top of the screen.

Thanks for the assistance. The apps seems to work except that:
1. It feels slow to navigate through the menu. Its definitely far less snappy than all the apps I currently use on my i86 (1GB RAM and 1GHz processor).
2. It seems to suffer from the problem that coolreader has, which is it takes a long time to load large epubs. For example, I tried to load a 17.2mb epub file and it took at least 30 seconds, whereas it took 10 seconds to load in AlReader and about 5 seconds in Moon+ Reader.
3. Changing fonts or other document formatting is really slow.
4. When I load the app in fullscreen mode, there's a small rectangular space on the bottom edge that is left unused (see attached image).
5. Dictionary is not displayed with any formatting (I don't know if that is intentional).

Thanks for your time.

[Ken Maltby]

The Onyx devices still present problems for KOReader, I guess, there should not be those performance issues. Things are quite snappy on my old ASUS TF-101 tablet.

KOReader uses the Coolreader 3 Engine, to read epub, if your device is having problems with Coolreader, the issues could be related.

You can tweak the top, bottom, and side margins, but you should keep in mind the line height might be just enough that another line wouldn't properly fit. Try using a slightly larger or smaller font size, and/or adjusting the line height.

You can have a number of dictionaries, for the most part they are formatted as shown in the wiki.

Luck;
Ken

[medwatt]

Thanks again for the reply.
One other thing that I've noticed again is that in some epubs KoReader seems to respect the epub's stylesheet while disregarding some in others. Mind you, these are quality epubs, so its not likely a question of bad css. I've also tested the same epub on my Sony PRS-T1 and it displayed properly. Please take a look at the attached images.

Is it possible to go full screen on the app because presently I can see the top notification bar (which is somehow distracting).

[Ken Maltby]

I don't see a "top notification bar" in either screenshot. In Koreader's epub reader you can have a "Full" progress bar, with some info at the top of each page as well as the mini-progress bar at the bottom. The default is with just the mini-progress bar at the bottom.

You can disable the embedded css using the bottom menu "Gear" icon menu selection. You can also use the top menu "Set render style"> "clear all external styles" and use one of the supplied .css to try for a better result.

I notice that the Koreader screenshot is using a different font and is using a hyphenation dictionary to use full justification, while the other is center and left justified. This could have caused the differences.

The image of Koreader rendering the same book in your post #61 looks correct.

Luck;
Ken

[medwatt]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The image of Koreader rendering the same book in your post #61 looks correct.

Actually, that's a different book. Its the same title but different epub altogether. Sorry for that.

I don't see a "top notification bar" in either screenshot.

Most 3rd apps cannot go full screen on the i86 (AlReader can). However, someone on the i86 thread shared an app that forces 3rd party apps to go fullscreen, and it works. The attached image in post #61 shows KoReader being forced into full screen by that app. As you can see, there's a black rectangular region on the bottom implying that the window did not properly scale. The attached image in this post shows KoReader as it natively runs on the device.

[Ken Maltby]

My tablet has a similar black bar with OS controls, except mine is on the bottom. I basically just tune it out, except to turn WiFi on or adjust the backlight. It seems part of the tablet itself.

I guess I had a different understanding of what "Full Screen" means.

Luck;
Ken

[medwatt]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

My tablet has a similar black bar with OS controls, except mine is on the bottom. I basically just tune it out, except to turn WiFi on or adjust the backlight. It seems part of the tablet itself.

I guess I had a different understanding of what "Full Screen" means.

Luck;
Ken

By "Full Screen", I meant entire screen of the device should be occupied by the app. Most built-in apps in the i86 can go "Full Screen", while only a handful of 3rd party apps. However, as I have already mentioned, a developer shared with me an app that forces any 3rd party app into going "Full Screen". But as you can see in my attached image in post #61, there seems to be some unused screen space at the bottom, which is not supposed to be there.
Once again, thanks for helping out .

[medwatt]

Just now, I was notified that I have a new update for my i86. It wasn't a major update . . . ironing out a few bugs. After the update, when I launch KoReader, I get a white screen; it then tells me, 'The app isn't responding, wait or close'. I've tried the stable release and the last nightly.

[zampanoo]

Hello - apologies if this isn't the right thread...

I have a Tegra Note 7 with Lollipop 5.1 (not rooted), and I try to install the koreader for Android. The most recent .apk file installs fine.

However, when I attempt to open the reader, I get a completely black, unresponsive screen where after two minutes or so a note pops up saying "KOreader isn't responding" giving me the option to wait or to quit. Quitting works, fortunately... :-)

Any ideas what I need to do or change in order to get it working?

Thanks, Stefan

(Edit: Just noticed the comment by medwatt - seems to be exactly the same problem - also tried nightly and stable).

[Techbar]

Originally Posted by zampanoo

I have a Tegra Note 7 with Lollipop 5.1 (not rooted), and I try to install the koreader for Android. The most recent .apk file installs fine.

However, when I attempt to open the reader, I get a completely black, unresponsive screen where after two minutes or so a note pops up saying "KOreader isn't responding" giving me the option to wit or to quit. Quitting works, fortunately... :-)

I'm getting exactly the same on my Inkbook Obsidian. Initially it worked fine for a few times then the black screen appeared. Have tried uninstalling and deleteing any left-over folders and files then installing other versions - instant black screen. It's a shame because I was starting to like KOreader and it worked with the page keys on the Obsidian too.

James

[Ken Maltby]

Wow, all at once! Am I reading this right as all these are with Android "Lollipop 5.1"?

If so, I could post an issue at Github KOReader Project. It would be better though if someone with an effected device were to post the new issue.

Luck;
Ken

[medwatt]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Wow, all at once! Am I reading this right as all these are with Android "Lollipop 5.1"?

If so, I could post an issue at Github KOReader Project. It would be better though if someone with an effected device were to post the new issue.

Luck;
Ken

Mine is with Android 4.0.4. However, by restoring to factory defaults, I was able to get KoReader to run again.

[Techbar]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Wow, all at once! Am I reading this right as all these are with Android "Lollipop 5.1"?

If so, I could post an issue at Github KOReader Project. It would be better though if someone with an effected device were to post the new issue.

Luck;
Ken

The InkBook Obsidian is Android 4.2.2
When I get a chance I'll try some older versions of KOreader to see if they work any better.
James

Edit: the 2014 version referenced in the first post (as working for the T62+) seems to be working. I'll run with it for a while and then start working forward from there.
J.

[zampanoo]

Hi Ken

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Am I reading this right as all these are with Android "Lollipop 5.1"?

If so, I could post an issue at Github KOReader Project.

Yep, please do. As I said, my tablet is a Tegra Note 7 with Lollipop 5.1.

I now also tried an outdated stable version (2014.11) but I get an error message due to parsing issues.

Happy new year to all!

Bye, Stefan

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

With the Android version, the menu icon on the bottom of the screen will also bring down the File Manager menu.

A few tips to get started:

Once you have navigated to the beginning of your library, you might want to "long press" on the link to that page (the "./" at the top of a page that you can select from the beginning page) and you should be given the option to "Set as HOME directory".

(That is an example of one of the conventions used; A long press on setting options will often let you set that option as default. This is used for many of the menu items.)

On my 10.1" tablet I set the Progress Bar to "Full" [bottom menu, gear icon] and long press that to make it default. Then I go to [top menu, gear icon] "Status bar" and uncheck "Current page", as it is in the header for the "Full" progress bar.

You will probably want to set the "Screen" [top menu, gear icon] options, unchecking "E-ink optimization". You might also want to set the "Screen DPI" to match your device. Long pressing the "Custom DPI: 160" brings up a window to set it as you want. (Your Nexus 7 appears to be 323ppi)

One of the most useful features is the "History" menu item. It provides a listing of your previously opened files, with your current read at the top of the list. Selecting an item brings you back to wherever you were in that book. [ One thing I do on occasion is to extract the maps from an .epub or sometimes, download a better map, and convert them for display on my device as PNG files. Once I've opened them, they will appear in the History, along with the book. I can then, leave the book and go to History and select a map. After looking at the map, I can got to History again and select the book, returning me to where I left off.]

Oh, I should add that, for PDFs, you can set the default to "Zoom to fit content" by long pressing on that selection, of the "Switch zoom mode" menu item.

For adding fonts, dictionaries, and hyphenation dictionaries, see this post

For many of the menu settings, a long-press should get you a message box with the option to set that selection as the default.

The "Advanced Settings" menu presents you with many options that you can set/change by poking the all uppercase name of the option. This should give you a message box and keyboard to make the setting(s).

After making changes, upon leaving Koreader (Pressing the Home Icon) you should get a message box with: "You have unsaved default settings. Save them now?" Press "OK" and hopefully you will see a new message box with: "Default settings were saved successfully!"

That should be a start.

Luck;
Ken

I tried KOReader in the past without any luck. I now can execute it on my Samsung Tab S 8.4 with Android 4.4.2. I am using the current stable version 2015-11-3.

But I can't figure out how to get the menus. It's pretty standard now to tap the middle of the screen in reading apps but that doesn’t work here. I can long press the recent apps button to get to the top menu, but how do I get to the bottom menu? I guess that's where a lot of settings are because the top menu doesn't have much. I do have Show advanced options checked, but that didn't seem to change much.