OpenInkpot

OpenInkpot 0.3-rc1

2010-01-20T09:34:00.004+06:00

We're proud to release OpenInkpot 0.3-rc1, free and open source firmware for eBook devices with ePaper screens.

This is the first release candidate for upcoming 0.3 release.

Changelog:

User interface improvements

Improved graphical main menu (#684, #701, #702)

System improvements

Newly added fonts should be immediately available for applications, removed fonts will not stay in font list as well (#312)
(N516) Worked around hardware bizzarity which resulted in "0% charge" often reported when device is fully charged (#739)

Puzzles

"Pegs" puzzle interface redrawn (#594)
"Bridges" puzzle interface improved (#599)
"Flip" puzzle interface improved (#606)

(N516) Music player

Fixed problem with playback randomly stopping (#717)
Fixed navigation issues when playlist has finished playing (#727)

Documentation:

Downloads:

All supported devices

OpenInkpot 0.2

2009-12-06T18:56:00.002+06:00

We're proud to release OpenInkpot 0.2, free and open source firmware for
eBook devices with ePaper screens.

During the release cycle nearly every piece of code was rewritten, so
it's not feasible to provide a complete changelog. Notable changes:

Device support

Hanvon N510 and N516 devices are now supported.

Functionality

PDF and Djvu viewers

Simple image viewer

Simple music player (available for Hanvon N510 and N516)

Interface is now translated to 14 languages

New look kindly provided by Azbooka

Screen rotation

Screen locker

Low battery indicator

Misc

Several puzzles have been added

Documentation

Installation Guide

User's Guide

Troubleshooting Guide

Downloads

-- Mikhail Gusarov, on behalf of OpenInkpot team.

0.2-rc6

2009-12-05T02:18:00.001+06:00

New RC with various bugfixes and added .djvu support for LocoPDF.

Changelog

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads

0.2-rc5

2009-11-19T08:17:00.000+06:00

New snapshot with numerous bugfixes, including quite noticeable speedup of V3 builds.

Changelog

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads

0.2-rc4

2009-11-06T05:41:00.001+06:00

New snapshot with various bugfixes and small new features.

Changelog

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads

0.2-rc3

2009-10-22T06:19:00.002+07:00

Whoops. Couple of brown-paper bag bugs were found in rc2, so rc3 was released immediately.

Changelog

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads

0.2-rc2

2009-10-22T05:16:00.001+07:00

New release candidate with lot of bugfixes.

Changelog is published here.

As usual:

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads

LWN article about OpenInkpot

2009-10-07T20:50:00.002+07:00

LWN has published a lenghty article about OpenInkpot, kindly provided by Hanno Zulla:

OpenInkpot: free software for e-book readers

0.2-rc1

2009-10-07T20:46:00.001+07:00

First release candidate for upcoming 0.2 release.

Only bugfixes and localization updates are expected to go into 0.2 since now.

User interface improvements:

ToC fonts adjusted in book reader (#516)

Subtitles are centered in book reader (#548)

PDF rotation is now supported (#467)

Current page, zoom level and preferences are remembered for PDF files (#255)

"Fifteen" puzzle UI redesigned

Date/time dialog is now displayed on boot if system time is not set up yet (#386)

System improvements:

(N516) SD card is no longer unavailable after using USB mass storage (#524)

Fixed date/time setup broken in previous build

Fixed bug with broken file handling in book reader which manifested itself as no reaction on opening book until reboot.

Various:

Bundled puzzles fixed and now can be started (#445)

(N516) Added mediaplayer (.mp3, .ogg) (#355)

Localization updates

Help updates

Known issues:

(N516) Only headphones work for playing audio

(N516) Under unclear circumstances device can start to consume a lot of power, discharging the battery.

(N516) USB charger is mis-dected as PC, so device prompts for USB connection mode when charger is connected.

Documentation:

Installation Guide

Users' Guide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.2/rc1/

Snapshot 20090326

2009-03-27T03:38:00.002+06:00

New snapshot is out. This one does not feature user-visible changes, but instead work was focused on updating the buildsystem and system packages.

Since now OpenInkpot is based on newly created generic-purpose embedded distribution IPlinux, which is kind of successor for Slind. Due to this change, all the packages in distrubution were rebuilt and most of them were upgraded to latest available versions.

Due to massive changes in the underlying software there may be regressions, so please test the snapshot and report any bugs encountered.

Documentation:

Users' Guide

Installation Guide

Downloads.

Article in Linux Magazin

2009-03-26T22:39:00.002+06:00

Mathias Huber just wrote an article about OpenInkpot in Linux Magazin (in German).

snapshot 20090222

2009-02-23T02:08:00.003+06:00

New snapshot!

Changes:

CoolReader3 updated. Lots of new features - see the user's guide.

FBreader updated too. Base version updated to 0.10.3, plus more
settings available from menu.

Documentation (please help to improve it):

User's Guide

Installation Guide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/snapshots/20090222/

snapshot 20090123

2009-01-24T00:43:00.002+06:00

Another snapshot!

New stuff:

New bookreader - CoolReader3. This one was available in stock firmware forV3, and is now ported to OpenInkpot by Buggins, the author. You can choose what reader to use by long-pressing the digit button in bookshelf.

Simple image viewer.

SD card is now mounted to /media/sd. Internal storage (separate partition) is mounted to /mnt/storage

It's possible to add fonts to the SD card: just put them to the fonts/ directory, and they will be picked up.

Problems:

USB on v3 is still flaky

Documentation (in progress, please help us fixing and improving it):

User's Guide

Installation Guide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/snapshots/20090123/

20090109 snapshot

2009-01-09T20:44:00.003+06:00

New snapshot is released today. PDF viewer was added - locoPDF.
Please test and report any bugs encountered.

Documentation (in progress, please help us fixing and improving it):

User's Guide

Installation Guide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/snapshots/20090109/

20090102 snapshot

2009-01-02T21:09:00.003+06:00

Here's snapshot of our current progress. There are no functional changes since last one (in particular, Sony and Cybook are not yet ready), only e-ink driver speed improvement. Please test and report any bugs encountered (especially display-related).

Documentation (in progress, please help us fixing and improving it):

User's Guide

Installation Guide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/snapshots/20090102/

OpenInkpot v0.1 released!

2008-10-17T02:52:00.019+07:00

Русский
Français
Deutsch

We are pleased to announce the first OpenInkpot version suitable for users.

Version 0.1 means it is still a long road to the ultimate OS for e-ink devices, but everything needed to read books is now in place.

Supported devices:

Hanlin V3 (64mb of internal memory)

Hanlin V3ext (512mb of internal memory)

Those devices are also branded as lBook V3, DigiBook V3, Walkbook, BEBOOK and Papyre.

Supported file formats (all formats lack support for tables):

HTML

Plucker

zTxt

OpenReader

Mobipocket (without DRM, but with support of huff/cdic-compression)

plain text

Reading books directly from tar, zip, gzip and bz2 archives is also supported.

Major firmware changes since 0.0:

"live" version added, so it is possible to test our firmware without flashing it.

Added V3ext device support (V3 with 512mb of internal memory)

Power management is racidally improved: 0.1 uses approximately same power as the original firmware

Book reader (FBreader) improved:
- Footnotes
- Hyperlinks
- Navigation between sections
- New text settings: selecting font, line spacing, margins and tab indent are all now possible.
- "Go to page" dialog
- Enabling/disabling status bar

E-ink driver speed is improved

New bookshelf design

Bookshelf can now parse book name and author for books in fb2 format

Fixed bug with mounting SD card on startup.

Full list of fixes is available in our ticket tracking system.

Known problems:

"live" version sometimes hangs

Changing language in bookshelf does not work

There is still no PDF or Djvu support

Power button is not assigned to any action (use menu->scripts to shutdown)

Book reader settings are not saved first time

Netronix EB-600 (Cybook Gen3, Explay TXT.Book, Orsio b721) port is not functional yet.

Sony PRS-505 port is not functional yet.

Full list of open tickets for the future versions.

Installation guide is here

User's guide is here

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/.

Thanks!

OpenInkpot team.

Мы рады сообщить о выходе первой версии OpenInkpot, пригодной для пользователей.

Хотя версия 0.1 означает, что ещё многое предстоит сделать, но прошивка уже предоставляет всё необходимое для чтения книг.

Поддерживаемые устройства:

Hanlin V3 (64 мегабайта внутренней памяти)

Hanlin V3ext (512 мегабайт внутренней памяти)

Эти устройства также выпускаются под другими названиями: lBook V3, DigiBook V3, Walkbook, BEBOOK, Papyre.

Поддерживаемые форматы файлов (во всех форматах не поддерживаются таблицы):

HTML

Plucker

zTxt

OpenReader

Mobipocket (без DRM, но с поддержкой huff/cdic-сжатия)

Обычный текст

Поддерживается чтение файлов из tar, zip, gzip и bz2-архивов.

С момента релиза 0.0 произошли крупные изменения:

Добавлена "live"-версия, позволяющая попробовать прошивку без установки на устройство.

Добавлена поддержка V3ext (V3 с 512 мегабайтами памяти)

Сильно улучшена поддержка управления питанием: время работы от батареи сравнимо с оригинальной прошивкой

Улучшена читалка книг (FBReader):
- Поддержка сносок
- Поддержка гиперссылок
- Навигация по главам
- Добавлены настройки вида текста: выбор шрифта, межстрочного интервала, полей, абзацного отступа
- Переход на заданную страницу
- Выключение статусной строки

Сильно ускорена работа драйвера e-ink

Новый дизайн книжной полки

Добавлено определение названия и автора книг в формате fb2 на книжной полке

Исправлена ошибка, из-за которой не монтировалась SD-карта при старте

Полный список исправлений хранится в нашей системе учёта ошибок.

Известные проблемы, которые будут решены в следующих версиях:

"live"-версия иногда зависает

Не работает смена языка в книжной полке

Нет поддержки PDF и Djvu

Нажатие на кнопку питания ни к чему не приводит

Не показываются серия и позиция книги в серии на книжной полке

При первом запуске не сохраняются настройки читалки книг (FBReader)

Портирование на Netronix EB-600 (Cybook, Explay TXT.Book, Orsio b721) ещё не завершено

Портирование на Sony PRS-505 ещё не завершено

Полный список всех известных задач, проблем и планируемых улучшений.

Инструкция по установке (на английском языке) тут.

Руководство пользователя (на английском языке) тут.

Дистрибутив: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/.

Спасибо!

Команда OpenInkpot.

-----

Nous sommes très heureux d'annoncer une première version d' OpenInkpot utilisable pour les non-développeurs.

Comme on est à la version 0.1, on est encore loin de l'ultime système d'exploitation pour lecteurs e-ink, mais tout est déjà en place pour pouvoir lire des livres.

Appareils compatibles:

Hanlin V3 (mémoire interne de 64mb)

Hanlin V3ext (mémoire interne de 512mb)

Ces appareils portent aussi les marques: lBook V3, DigiBook V3, Walkbook, BEBOOK and Papyre.

Formats acceptés (Pour tous les formats, les tableaux ne sont pas affichés):

HTML

Plucker

zTxt

OpenReader

Mobipocket (sans DRM, mais la compression huff/cdic fonctionne)

fichiers texte

Les livres sont aussi directement lisibles des archives tar, zip, gzip, bz2

Changements majeurs depuis la version 0.0:

Il y a maintenant une version "live" qui donne la possibilité d'essayer OI sans l'installer.

Les appareils V3ext sont maintenant utilisables avec OI (V3 avec 512mb de mémoire interne)

La gestion de batterie a été beaucoup améliorée: 0.1 utilise maintenant à-peu-près la même puissance que le système d'exploitation original

Lecteur ebook (FBreader) amélioré:
- Notes en bas de page
- Hyperliens
- Navigation de sections
- Options d'affichage: police, interlignage, marges, et renfoncement sont tous modifiables.
- Fonction "Aller à page".
- Barre d'état peut maintenant être caché.

Pilote e-ink plus rapide

Bookshelf redessiné

Bookshelf reconnaît maintenant titre et auteur pour les fichiers de format fb2

Carte SD est maintenant reconnu au démarrage

Une liste complète des failles résolus est disponible ici: http://tinyurl.com/oi01bugs

Problèmes connus:

version "live" fige parfois

Changer la langue du système ne fonctionne pas

Les formats PDF et Djvu ne sont pas encore acceptés

Le bouton interrupteur ne fait toujous rien (utiliser menu->scripts pour éteindre l'appareil)

Les options pour FBReader ne sont pas sauvegardés la première fois

La version pour les appareils Netronix EB-600 (Cybook Gen3, Explay TXT.Book, Orsio b721) ne fonctionne pas encore.

La version pour Sony PRS-505 ne fonctionne pas encore.

Liste complète des billets pour versions futures: http://tinyurl.com/oipost01bugs

Guide d'installation: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/InstallationGuide

Guide d'utilisateur: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/UsersGuide

Téléchargements: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/

Merci!

Équipe OpenInkpot.

-----

Wir sind stolz darauf, Ihnen die erste benutzerfreundliche Version von OpenInkpot darzustellen.

Versionnummer 0.1 bedeuted aber auch, dass es noch Vieles zu erledigen gibt. Diese Version bietet jedoch Alles, um Buecher lesen zu können.

Unterstützte Geräte:

Hanlin V3 (64Mb Flash Speicher)
Hanlin V3ext (512Mb Flash Speicher)

Diese Geräte werden auch unter vielen anderen Namen vermarktet, darunter sind: lBook V3, DigiBook V3, Walkbook, BEBOOK, Papyre.

Unterstützte Bücherformate:

HTML

Plucker

zTxt

OpenReader

Mobipocket (ohne DRM, aber mit huff/cdic-Kompression)

fichiers texte

Folgende Komprimierungsformate werden unterstützt: tar, zip, gzip und bz2.

Seit der Version 0.0 gab es folgende wichtige Änderungen:

live-Version, die einen Testlauf ermöglicht, ohne vorhandene Firmware zu überschreiben

V3ext Unterstützung (V3 mit 512Mb Speicher)

drastische Verbesserung des Energiekonsums

mehrere Verbesserungen des Leseprogramms (FBReader):

Fußnoten Hyperlinks

Kapitelnavigation

Einstellungen: Schriftart, Schriftgröße, Zeilenabstand, Ränder, Einrücktiefe der ersten Absatzzeile

Sprung zur ausgewählten Seite

Ein-/Ausschalten der Statuszeile

E-Ink Treiber arbeitet schneller

neuer MadShelf Design

Anzeige von Author und Titel in Bookshelf(nur für FB2 Dateien)

SD Card wird beim Booten automatisch montiert

Vollständige Liste aller Verbesserungen kann man in unserem Bugtracker einsehen.

Bekannte Probleme, die in weiteren Versionen gelöst werden:

live Version ist nicht stabil und stürzt gelegentlich ab
Sprache kann nicht geändert werden
PDF und DjVu werden (noch nicht) unterstützt
Power Knopf hat keine Funktion
Seriennummer und aktuelle Position im Buch werden nicht in Bookshelf angezeigt
nach dem Installieren werden die Einstellungen im Leseprogramm (FBReader) beim ersten Bedienen nicht gespeichert. Die Lösung: ein Buch öffnen und sofort rausgehen. Danach sollte es keine Probleme geben.
Portierung auf Netronix EB-600(Cybook, Explay TXT.Book, Orsio b721) ist noch nicht abgeschlossen
Portierung auf Sony PRS-505 ist noch nicht abgeschlossen

Vollständige Liste von geplannten Verbesserungen, aktuellen Problemen und bekannten Bugs.

Installationsanleitung (in englischer Sprache).

Bedienungsanleitung (in englischer Sprache).

Download: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/.

Vielen Dank!

Ihr OpenInkpot Team.

0.1-beta2

2008-10-08T02:51:00.002+07:00

Right after beta1, 0.1-beta2 is released with numerous fixes for bugs found during the testing (many thanks to the-ebook.org users!).

Changes since 0.1-beta1:
* zipped firmware files are added to tar.bz2-ed
* directories are sorted before files
* fb2 files with several authors are handled correctly
* live version now uses .exe.fb2 startup file instead of .exe.txt (compatibility with firmware versions which do not use CoolReafer for .txt files)
* margins and tab indent settings are added to FBReader
* No more mouse cursor
* Fixed FBReader crash on .fb2 files with quetionable formatting of footnotes
* Removed useless "unknown author" and "folder" text labels

Known problems (to be fixed in 0.1):
* SD card eject sometimes results in device lookup
Known problems (to be fixed in 0.2):
* live version sometimes hangs
* Changing language in bookshelf does not work
* Clock can't be set up
* Series name and number in series of .fb2 file are not displayed in bookshelf

User's guide: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/InstallationGuide
Installation guide: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/UsersGuide
Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/beta2/

0.1-beta1 - please test

2008-10-05T05:01:00.009+07:00

We've just released OpenInkpot 0.1-beta1. Whew. Please test and report any bugs slipped into release (preferably through the Trac or IRC).

Main changes since 0.0:

* V3ext (V3 with 512Mb of internal memory) is supported
* Improved FBReader (see the Users' Guide for the keybindings)
* "live" OpenInkpot, can be run without reflashing device
* Greatly improved power management
* e-ink driver speedup, page changing is much faster now

Known problems, to be solved in 0.1:
* Mouse cursor sometimes pops up

Known problems, to be solved in 0.2:
* Changing the language in madshelf does not work.
* Weird clock behavior.

Supported formats: FBReader ones (see at http://fbreader.org)

Installation guide: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/InstallationGuide
Users' guide: http://openinkpot.org/wiki/UsersGuide

Downloads: http://openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.1/beta/

OpenInkpot v0.0 released!

2008-07-20T22:38:00.016+07:00

русский
中文
After long months of inactivity and darkness, we're pleased to announce that we are ready to release OpenInkpot v0.0!

Since this is a developer preview, please don't expect too much from the 0.0 version just yet. But we are pleased to say that it can boot on V3 hardware, and currently includes a bookshelf (Madshelf), bookreader (FBReader), and SSH server (dropbear - USB network connection even works occasionally!). However, we would advise that only developers try this release out, as it is not quite ready for end-users to try just yet.

Warning! Do not try to install this firmware to V3ext (512mb) version! This may damage internal flash. We will soon release another firmware correcting the errors if you already tried to do it.

Downloads are at: http://www.openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.0/oi-hanlin-v3-0.0.tar.bz2

Instructions on how you can update the firmware can be found on the V3 firmware page.

In order to access your V3 via USB, please look at the How to access the V3 over USB page.

Please try it out, enjoy it and report any bugs in our Trac database: http://openinkpot.org/. You will need to register in order to file a ticket.

As with any 0.0 releases, there are still a few known issues:

System:
- the USB connection can be fiddly. Keep rebooting!
- device will only go to sleep when FBReader is active. Proper sleep will be implemented for 0.1
- device drains some power even whilst asleep.
- SD card does not always mount

Bookshelf:
- language changing does not work
- back/forward buttons will not change the current page, use the numerical buttons (9 and 0) to change pages
----

После длительного молчания мы рады собщить вам о появлении OpenInkpot v0.0!

Этот релиз создан для разработчиков, поэтому не ожидайте слишком многого! Но мы рады сообщить, что версия 0.0 загружается на Hanlin V3 и клонах и на данный момент содержит книжную полку(Madshelf), читалку(FBReader), а также SSH сервер(dropbear - посоединение через USB даже иногда работает!). Хотим ещё раз подчеркнуть, что эта прошивка пока не предназначена для конечных пользователей (за исключением самых любопытных и бетатестеров!).

Предупреждение! Не пытайтесь ставить эту прошивку на V3ext (512mb версию), это может повредить (не фатально) внутреннюю память устройства. Если вы уже попробовали эту прошивку - не беспокойтесь, мы выпустим другую, исправляющую ошибки.

Скачать прошивку можно по этому адресу: http://www.openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.0/oi-hanlin-v3-0.0.tar.bz2

Инструкция по прошивке: V3 firmware page.

Инструкция по доступу к V3 через USB: How to access the V3 over USB page.

Пробуйте и сообщайте обо всех ошибках в наш багтрекер(Trac): http://openinkpot.org/. Для добавления сообщений об ошибках необходимо предварительно зарегистрироваться.

В версии 0.0 есть несколько известных ошибок:
Система:
- USB может иногда не работать. Перезагружайтесь!
- книжка засыпает только при запущенном FBReader. Нормальное засыпание будет реализовано в v0.1
- даже в режиме сна батарейка довольно быстро разряжается
- SD карта не всегда монтируется автоматически (вытащите карточку и вставьте её снова через 2-3 секунды)

Книжная полка:
- смена языка не работает
- боковые кнопки не работают, используйте 9/0 для листания страниц
-----

首先，感谢openinkpot的成员们！在经过数月的辛苦与努力，终于发布了openinkpot v0.0.

目前此版本只是一个测试版，所以不要期待太多。但它可以正常运行在V3上，包括一个bookshelf (Madshelf)，bookreader (FBReader)和SSH server (dropbear - 可以通过建立USB网络登陆，但有时会出现一些问题!)。因此，我们建议最好是有经验的hacker来自由地测试此版本，现在还不是很适合终端用户来使用的。

警告！不要将固件安装到V3ext的(512mb)版本中，否则将会破坏它内部的Flash。我们将会发布另外一个修复此BUG的版本

下载地址 http://www.openinkpot.org/pub/releases/0.0/oi-hanlin-v3-0.0.tar.bz2

介绍如何升级固件 http://www.openinkpot.org/wiki/V3FirmwareUpgrade

介绍如何通过USB登陆V3 http://openinkpot.org/wiki/HowtoUseSSH

如果有什么疑问或报告BUG可登陆 http://openinkpot.org （需要注册成用户

关于openinkpot V0.0的一些问题

系统
-- USB连接可能会出现一些烦琐的BUG. 试着重新启动V3
-- 只有当FBReader激活时设备才会进入休眠需要适时的休眠
在V0.1将会解决的一些问题
-- 设备睡眠时还会耗电
-- SD卡有时不会被识别

Bookshelf:
-- 语言更换还不能正常工作
-- 前进/后退按钮不能更换当前页，可以通过9/0数字键来实现此功能

GSoC Update

2008-07-13T16:40:00.001+07:00

Hello folks!

Lot of news to report since last time. Our GSoC students have made incredible progress on their chosen projects, and are starting to make progress that we can show you!

First off -
张文杰 (Wenjie Zhang).
The last we heard from him, he was awaiting his Sony Reader, which was unfortunately delayed by the Sichuan earthquake. However, since finally getting his Sony Reader, his progress has been impressive, barring a few obstacles such as a bricked device! Thankfully, Roxfan and dottedmag came to his rescue and managed to obtain technical documents which helped resurrect his Sony Reader from certain death! Moving on, Wenjie is now attempting to get a basic kernel to boot on the Sony Reader.

Ondřej Herman

Ondřej (Ondra) has been making rapid progress on getting OI to run on the Cybook hardware, with nearly all function of the Cybook working. So far, the Cybook buttons, sound and SD storage works. However, the sound drivers, and detecting battery capacity needs to be worked on. At this rate, Ondra may be on his way to being the first GSoC graduate in the history of OpenInkpot! But fear not - Ondra has no intention of resting once he's done, and looks set to become a very valued contributor to the OpenInkpot project!

Finally but not least, Alex Kerner.

Alex (LunohoD) has been making very visible progress with the user interface that will eventually be the face of OpenInkpot. If you have been following the progress of OpenInkpot, you will remember that LunohoD works on EFL as the graphical library for OpenInkpot - On the left, you can see the EFL theming preference pane. LunohoD has been making rapid progress with EFL, and the port is rapidly nearing completion. With this nearly out of the way, LunohoD is preparing to move on to porting FBReader to OpenInkpot.

Moving onwards - a recent OI contributor, Marc Lajoie (quickhand) chipped in with some extremely impressive contributions to OpenInkpot - a bookshelf front-end!

Without further ado, I introduce to you - Madshelf!

Madshelf was written in a matter of days by quickhand, with help from LunohoD and other seasoned OI programmers.However, Madshelf is lacking a book reader application - which LunohoD is working hard to rectify.

To conclude for this month, here is a video that LunohoD created to demonstrate Madshelf... Enjoy!

2008-07-13T13:11:00.002+07:00

A little bit of fun: geography of OpenInkpot contributors.

View Larger Map

The ball is rolling!

2008-06-04T03:25:00.009+07:00

*Taps microphone* Is this thing on?
Hello? Hello? Hello? Ah yeah...

Anyway, coming to you from #openinkpot, here are the latest news!

Progress on OpenInkpot by the core members (dottedmag, and jekhor) has been quiet lately owing to their busy schedule.

But all is not quiet. The OpenInkpot/GSoc students have been hard at work investigating their chosen projects.

Zhang Wenjie - Sony PRS-5xx port.

Unfortunately, due to the recent Sichuan earthquake, Wenjie has not gotten his Sony Reader yet. However, he is hard at work investigating support for various components that make up the hardware in the Linux system - which is essential to getting OpenInkpot to run on the Sony Reader.
Ondrej Herman - Bookeen Cybook port.
Ondrej has been able to find the serial port on the Cybook, and has managed to dump the original firmware for further analysis. However, he is in danger of being overtaken by a rival on the horizon - roxfan! (See below).
Alex Kerner - FBReader and EFL port.
Finally, but not least, LunohoD has managed to get FBReader ported to OpenInkpot already! However, it is lacking a GUI at the moment whilst he moves on to working on the EFL libraries. For those unfamiliar with EFL, it is basically a GUI manager - similar to Gnome, KDE, and Windows!

However, OpenInkpoter regular - roxfan, (a.k.a. igorsk on mobileread) has been hard at work on tweaking the Bookeen Cybook firmware to allow it to run on the Netronix EB-100 and the STAReBook, as well as other book readers that use the same hardware internally. This has provoked a fast and furious debate on the legalities of installing the Cybook firmware on other ebook reader, as well as the viral nature of the GPL.

Whilst this does not have any direct influence on OpenInkpot, this is a very welcome development, as it proves that once OpenInkpot is ready for the Bookeen Cybook platform, it can easily be ported to other ebook readers based on the same hardware.

If you have any questions or information you want to see on this blog, just come on in - the water's warm!

Till next time...

Slind: armel toolchain & mktpkg(1)

2008-04-30T01:44:00.006+07:00

I just finished patching mktpkg and dpkg-cross Slind tools to make it possible to bootstrap GNU EABI (armel) toolchain for OpenInkpot from source.

Just get dpkg, dpkg-cross and toolchain-package from our Git repository, build them and install to the Slind chroot.

Then get *-source-*.deb from packages and install to the Slind chroot too (not sure why pkg-config-source is marked as i386).

Now simple 'mktpkg armel' should bootstrap toolchain from source.

GSoC2008: accepted applications

2008-04-22T03:56:00.005+07:00

GSoC 2008 is very promising for OpenInkpot: we've got three slots for a students, and three very interesting applications.

I'm happy to introduce our students and scope of ther GSoC work:

Alexander Egorov (aka LunohoD), porting FBReader to OI

Ondřej Herman, Cybook Gen3 support

Wenjie Zhang, Sony PRS-505 support

I also posted announcement in our mailing list: link.

Welcome Slind.

2008-04-21T20:59:00.004+07:00

I blogged about the problems with OI buildsystem. Some time ago we discussed it in IRC chat and xl0 suggested to take a second look at Slind.

After looking at sources and chatting with Slind developers we decided that it really worth to try it: Slind provides very controlled build environment by leveraging Debian build tools and extending them to the cross-build.

I bootstraped ARM EABI toolchain for Slind (not yet available - I had to add crude hack to dpkg to do it :), and soon will be publishing both patches back to the Slind and source/binary packages for the OpenInkpot.

Slind has it's own problems - it is very young and has much less userbase than OpenEmbedded, so we will have to package many pieces of software. Fortunately, it is as easy as taking Debian package, stripping all the unnecessary stuff and making it cross-compile (yeah, might not be as easy as it sounds :).

P.S.: GSoC information in next post.