Which one should I trust?

[manifestor]

I read from the bebook website that a 1GB SD card should be used for firmware update so I got myself one of these obsolete memory cards simply for this purpose (very hard to find one nowadays). But then I suddenly read from the Astak site that any card below 4GB can be used for firmware update. Well, which one should I trust? If 4GB cards can be used, I don't need to worry if I lose my 1GB card and can't find one anymore. Any idea?

[cvkemp]

I just tried it wih my 2gig SD and was able to install the firmware on my EZreader

[Stormchild]

Oh, have you ever opened a can of worms. Officially the Hanlins, including all clones, require a 1GB(or less) card for updates. It has something to do with the bootloader only recognising the first 1GB of any card. This of course means that is you use a larger card that is empty and formatted then it should work. There is only one way to find out. Good luck.

[cvkemp]

I used the SD card that I use everyday for my ebooks and other docs. I have about 400megs in use. I was able to download the offical EZreader firmware from the end of Jan. and it replaced the lbook firmware that was on my EZreader with out any issues.

Update
I Just managed to install the Feb Bebook firmware. The SD card is the one that came with my EZreader and I got it in March and it has never been reformated. And it has over 400 megs of books and folders.

[wallcraft]

From OpenInkpot 0.2 Installation Guide:

Use plain SD formatted with FAT16 - SDHC and MMC cards won't work, FAT32 too. Bootloader also isn't capable to address beyond 1Gb, so either use card <= 1Gb, or make sure whole file is in first 1Gb of card (e.g. by formatting it).

So, larger cards will probably work when new but might not work once they have been used enough to get over 1 GB.

[manifestor]

Thank you so much for your information, you guys are great!

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by manifestor

I read from the bebook website that a 1GB SD card should be used for firmware update so I got myself one of these obsolete memory cards simply for this purpose (very hard to find one nowadays). But then I suddenly read from the Astak site that any card below 4GB can be used for firmware update. Well, which one should I trust? If 4GB cards can be used, I don't need to worry if I lose my 1GB card and can't find one anymore. Any idea?

You should never have a problem with a 1GB SD card, since all cards in that size supposedly meet the SD standard specification. There are cards in the 2 to 8GB range that fit the SD standards much more loosely in regards to their block size setup, and may not work. Some cards larger than 1GB *may* work as long as the entire V3UPDATE.BIN fits in the first 1GB, to stay inside the bootloaders addressing range. I usually use a freshly sdformatter formatted 2GB SD card to do firmware installations.

[manifestor]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

You should never have a problem with a 1GB SD card, since all cards in that size supposedly meet the SD standard specification. There are cards in the 2 to 8GB range that fit the SD standards much more loosely in regards to their block size setup, and may not work. Some cards larger than 1GB *may* work as long as the entire V3UPDATE.BIN fits in the first 1GB, to stay inside the bootloaders addressing range. I usually use a freshly sdformatter formatted 2GB SD card to do firmware installations.

Thank you so much.

[manifestor]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I just tried it wih my 2gig SD and was able to install the firmware on my EZreader

You're brave! I wouldn't dare do the same thing when I'm not certain, cuz any failure during firmware update could lead to big troubles.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by manifestor

You're brave! I wouldn't dare do the same thing when I'm not certain, cuz any failure during firmware update could lead to big troubles.

It is certainly true that any failure during the firmware load will leave you with an unusable system, but it is also not really a disaster. The bootloader itself is never modified during a firmware upgrade, so it will still be there. You would need to find a useable SD and redo the install, but since the bootloader remains untouched it will still be available. Also, the bootloader itself will do an initial check to verify that it can read the entire V3UPDATE.BIN before it even will begin the firmware update. If the bootloader finds that the V3UPDATE.BIN file to be unusable the update stops before it even begins.