New Firmware - Good, Bad or Ugly?

bob_ninja · 05-14-2008, 11:13 AM

Those of you who installed the new firmware, now that you had several days to use it, what is your judgment?

In particular, I read about some problems, like frozen cybooks. How common are these? What causes them?

Improvements seem to be small. Are they worth the trouble and the risk?

In particular, not much rendering improvements were made. So I presume the same old big/complex PDFs and PRCs still crash, right?

HarryT · 05-14-2008, 11:21 AM

Problems: None

Improvements: Event buffering makes moving the highlight cursor in "dictionary lookup" mode significantly faster.

Verdict: A minor, but useful, improvement.

Jellby · 05-14-2008, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Problems: None

I'd say

Problems: same as before (some random-ish crashes when opening big PDFs, some button presses not registered...). I still haven't suffered the "not able to bookmark" problem with this firmware, though.

Krystian Galaj · 05-14-2008, 12:54 PM

Pages still not turning despite green diode flashing, no improvement.
Looking up a word in dictionary seems to be a bit faster.
I never had any other problems, so nothing to report on this.

In summary, if you have bookmarking bug, of file systems corrupting bug, maybe it'll be useful to install.

On the other hand, if you don't have those problems, there's at least one user here for whom the update bricked the Cybook, so watch out.

GeoffC · 05-14-2008, 12:57 PM

Generally Neutral , though edging slightly towards negative .

tompe · 05-14-2008, 01:00 PM

There was also some report about pfd files not working with new firmware that worked with the old.

HarryT · 05-14-2008, 01:16 PM

Didn't you say that it had fixed your "words in a dictionary not being found" bug, Tommy?

Sunlite · 05-14-2008, 02:39 PM

I had no problem applying the update. The "next" button still misses some clicks, the choosing of a word for look-up is faster and skipping pages is easier. I experienced the loss of last read page rarely and randomly with the old firmware. It has so far not happened with the new one. All in all I'd say neutral to good.

tompe · 05-14-2008, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Didn't you say that it had fixed your "words in a dictionary not being found" bug, Tommy?

Yes, my test case does no longer trigger a problem. Hard to know if the actual bug is fixed since they did not list this as fixed in the release note.

The image size problem is listed a fixed.

bob_ninja · 05-14-2008, 03:49 PM

thanks for info

Well if the number of installation problems is so small then I guess I'll give it a try.
Sometimes I need to page-down several times to skip TOC or something like that, so better event processing would be useful.

thanks

delphidb96 · 05-14-2008, 05:37 PM

On the Build 685 firmware my take is this.

Actual bugs "fixed" - Positive. Yes, there were bugs that needed fixing. Yes, *some* of these bugs appear to be "fixed". That's a "good thing".

Look-and-feel (navigation control "fixes") - Negative. I'm finding that the navigation control does weird things now. Not often, not clearly repeatable, but the problem now occurs that didn't occur before.

PDF - Neutral. I don't like PDF; it never formats or displays the way *I* want it to on the Cybook - unless I damn well extract all the text and images and then re-create as a "properly" (to my taste anyway) formatted PDF. And if I'm going to do that, I'd rather just create a Mobi ebook out of it. But I understand that this release "fixes" some bugs, so I can't really say that this firmware update is a "bad thing" for PDF.

Features they knew we've been clamoring for - Negative. Sorry, but for many english and european-speaking readers, fixing an asian-language bug is, to say the least, misdirected effort. And so many of their initial customers were non-Asian. Sorry, Bookeen, but you could have spent more time getting the folder/sub-folder feature set up in the Library, or FIXED the hyperlinks issue with multiple-HTML-file ebooks.

All in all, I'm rather disappointed with this firmware update.

Derek

Loopy65 · 05-14-2008, 06:29 PM

Not very impressed at all with the 'update' ..

Negative: beforehand I didn't have the 'page not turning when attempted' bug at all but now it's about 3 out of 5 turns!!

Postive: beforehand I did have the 'bookmarking not working' some of the time but so far, since the update, it's not happened.

As I've mentioned elsewhere I feel as tho this 'upgrade' has been pretty much a non-event .. we were all waiting for it and what's been presented is a little pathetic (imo)

All told tho I still love my Cybook! .. and even if I was looking now and taking everything into account the Cybook would be my reader of choice!

Loopy

lmarie · 05-14-2008, 07:30 PM

No problems. Zippier page turning.

ProfJulie · 05-14-2008, 07:38 PM

I think the page turns are faster, but other than that nothing to write home about.

bwaldron · 05-14-2008, 07:58 PM

Not bad or ugly for me -- pretty much a wash. On the plus side, I haven't seen the bookmark bug reappear nor am I having any hangs on dictionary lookup which I did see occasionally. On the minus side, I am now having some page navigation problems, especially when moving backwards -- occasionally, the unit will page back and forth repeatedly a few times when I hit the left or up buttons.

On balance, pretty much a "meh" for me. If I used the dictionary more often, I'd vote "good."

05-14-2008, 11:13 AM	#1
bob_ninja Addict Posts: 208 Karma: 582 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: Zire71	New Firmware - Good, Bad or Ugly? Those of you who installed the new firmware, now that you had several days to use it, what is your judgment? In particular, I read about some problems, like frozen cybooks. How common are these? What causes them? Improvements seem to be small. Are they worth the trouble and the risk? In particular, not much rendering improvements were made. So I presume the same old big/complex PDFs and PRCs still crash, right?

05-14-2008, 05:37 PM	#11
delphidb96 Wizard Posts: 2,999 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Citrus Heights, California Device: TWO Kindle 2s, one each Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS-500, Axim X51V	My take. On the Build 685 firmware my take is this. Actual bugs "fixed" - Positive. Yes, there were bugs that needed fixing. Yes, some of these bugs appear to be "fixed". That's a "good thing". Look-and-feel (navigation control "fixes") - Negative. I'm finding that the navigation control does weird things now. Not often, not clearly repeatable, but the problem now occurs that didn't occur before. PDF - Neutral. I don't like PDF; it never formats or displays the way I want it to on the Cybook - unless I damn well extract all the text and images and then re-create as a "properly" (to my taste anyway) formatted PDF. And if I'm going to do that, I'd rather just create a Mobi ebook out of it. But I understand that this release "fixes" some bugs, so I can't really say that this firmware update is a "bad thing" for PDF. Features they knew we've been clamoring for - Negative. Sorry, but for many english and european-speaking readers, fixing an asian-language bug is, to say the least, misdirected effort. And so many of their initial customers were non-Asian. Sorry, Bookeen, but you could have spent more time getting the folder/sub-folder feature set up in the Library, or FIXED the hyperlinks issue with multiple-HTML-file ebooks. All in all, I'm rather disappointed with this firmware update. Derek

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05-14-2008, 11:21 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Problems: None Improvements: Event buffering makes moving the highlight cursor in "dictionary lookup" mode significantly faster. Verdict: A minor, but useful, improvement.

05-14-2008, 12:54 PM	#4
Krystian Galaj Guru Posts: 820 Karma: 11012 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Warsaw, Poland Device: Bookeen Cybook	Pages still not turning despite green diode flashing, no improvement. Looking up a word in dictionary seems to be a bit faster. I never had any other problems, so nothing to report on this. In summary, if you have bookmarking bug, of file systems corrupting bug, maybe it'll be useful to install. On the other hand, if you don't have those problems, there's at least one user here for whom the update bricked the Cybook, so watch out.

05-14-2008, 12:57 PM	#5
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Generally Neutral , though edging slightly towards negative .

05-14-2008, 01:00 PM	#6
tompe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,452 Karma: 7185064 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Linköpng, Sweden Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW	There was also some report about pfd files not working with new firmware that worked with the old.

05-14-2008, 01:16 PM	#7
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Didn't you say that it had fixed your "words in a dictionary not being found" bug, Tommy?

05-14-2008, 02:39 PM	#8
Sunlite Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 547516 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: KObo Clara, Kobo Aura, PRS-T1, PB602, CyBook Gen3	I had no problem applying the update. The "next" button still misses some clicks, the choosing of a word for look-up is faster and skipping pages is easier. I experienced the loss of last read page rarely and randomly with the old firmware. It has so far not happened with the new one. All in all I'd say neutral to good.

05-14-2008, 03:49 PM	#10
bob_ninja Addict Posts: 208 Karma: 582 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: Zire71	thanks for info Well if the number of installation problems is so small then I guess I'll give it a try. Sometimes I need to page-down several times to skip TOC or something like that, so better event processing would be useful. thanks

05-14-2008, 06:29 PM	#12
Loopy65 Groupie Posts: 172 Karma: 360 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Wales, UK Device: Kindle 3; iPad & iPhone 4	Not very impressed at all with the 'update' .. Negative: beforehand I didn't have the 'page not turning when attempted' bug at all but now it's about 3 out of 5 turns!! Postive: beforehand I did have the 'bookmarking not working' some of the time but so far, since the update, it's not happened. As I've mentioned elsewhere I feel as tho this 'upgrade' has been pretty much a non-event .. we were all waiting for it and what's been presented is a little pathetic (imo) All told tho I still love my Cybook! .. and even if I was looking now and taking everything into account the Cybook would be my reader of choice! Loopy

05-14-2008, 07:30 PM	#13
lmarie Dilettante Posts: 148 Karma: 132 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Philadelphia area Device: EB1150, Cybook Gen3, Kobo Touch	No problems. Zippier page turning.

05-14-2008, 07:38 PM	#14
ProfJulie Evangelist Posts: 423 Karma: 890 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: USA Device: whatever	I think the page turns are faster, but other than that nothing to write home about.

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05-14-2008, 07:58 PM	#15
bwaldron Wizard Posts: 1,229 Karma: 543210 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gatlinburg, Tennessee Device: Kindles: Paperwhite Signature Ed., Oasis 2, Voyage	Not bad or ugly for me -- pretty much a wash. On the plus side, I haven't seen the bookmark bug reappear nor am I having any hangs on dictionary lookup which I did see occasionally. On the minus side, I am now having some page navigation problems, especially when moving backwards -- occasionally, the unit will page back and forth repeatedly a few times when I hit the left or up buttons. On balance, pretty much a "meh" for me. If I used the dictionary more often, I'd vote "good."