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New FBReader released—with XP and OpenReader support: A pleasure to use
March 18, 2007 | 12:04 am
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By David Rothman
FBReader 0.8.0 is out with support for the XP operating system and OpenReader now included.
“Integration with Linux desktop environments (KDE, Gnome) has been added,” developer Nikolay Pultsin also says. Here’s a link to his home page so you can try the software yourself. Download options for XP and various flavors of Linux are toward the bottom of the page.
Beta worked great
While this is just a beta version with a less fully polished interface, FBReader worked like a charm on my XP desktop when I was reading HTML and ASCII files. I’ll be even happier if FBReader can use a mouse scroll wheel to advance the page (update: see Alan Wallcraft’s tip). Pseudo page numbers or percentages, to indicate how far you’ve advanced in a book, would also help. At least the current XP version includes a progress bar with a chapter indicator option. The screenshot shows FBReader’s XP window set up for people who prefer narrow newspaper-style texts—hardly a “must.” Yes, I could have made the indentations smaller.
Serious e-bookers also like FBReader’s ability to specify the exact space between lines of text, precise margins, and so on. If you enjoy uBook, FBReader might appeal to you. Meanwhile perhaps Jon Noring, main founder of the OpenReader Consortium (I’m a cofounder), can give us a report on FBReader using OR format.
A little history here, eh? The new FBReader offers OpenReader’s first implementation, among other formats, even if it isn’t a full one. CSS and tables aren’t included. May they come in time! Still, the new format could be just the ticket for reading of novels, especially since Pultsin envisions FBReader running on Windows Mobile PDAs, not just desktops.
First out the gate
dotReader, alas, which was supposed to be OpenReader’s first implementer, cannot read the format. Let’s hope that comes in happen in time, per OSoft‘s past promises.
Next, perhaps through the multiformat BookX or otherwise, the open source community can come up with creation tools for OpenReader. Anyone care to help Jon out with BookX?
Would not just be for OpenReader alone
I’m all in favor of genuine OpenReader dev work not intended to favor any particular company. Significantly, BookX wouldn’t be for OpenReader creation alone—it would also work with the IDPF‘s similar format, for example. In the end I hope that the IDPF gravitates toward the OpenReader format, which is more robust technically than the organization’s current format.
Related: Earlier TeleBlog item on FBReader 0.8.0. Also see MobileRead’s report on the possibility of Mobipocket for the iLiad E Ink machine, allowing reading of DRMed books. FBReader support for the iLiad is also said to be on the way.
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Comments:
“I’ll be even happier if FBReader can use a mouse scroll wheel to advance the page.”
FBReader can do this: under settings select scrolling and then mouse scrolling – finally set it to no overlapping.
It isn’t obvious why this is in scrolling, rather than keys (a consequence of how GTK+ works).
Big thanks for the tip, Alan. It worked great. Yes, perhaps this particular scroll option should be more evident in the menus. – David
OSoft’s dotReader is also in beta release and is nearly ready to begin developing various content (format) plug-ins. Perhaps you can direct me to where I can find OR formatted books for testing. We would need at least a dozen. Any help?
Mark: I appreciate the above display of interest in the format, which I want IDPF to adopt. That means showing it works in the real world.
Jon: I would encourage you to be as helpful as possible to Mark and the FBReader folks as well. Please post OpenReader files for him and FBReader and anyone else. I’ll link to them. In addition, I hope you’ll help the FBReader folks with the CSS and tables issues. Also, maybe you can try out the XP version of FBReader. I think it has a lot of promise. Even now, you can use the mouse to move forward a page.
Big thanks,
David
FBReader beta: an eBook reader for the OpenReader format…
While the big debate over the high-definition DVD format war rages in the mainstream, a quieter, but no less important battle continues on the eBook front. OpenReader is an XML- and CSS-based electronic text format that could help reduce the number of …
Is the Openreader website hacked? The links in the footer that should point to licenses seem to point to search engine spam farms instead.
Past tense. They’ve been removed. Appreciated the heads-up, Branko. Of course it will help if people don’t advertise the OR site’s vulnerabilities, which I’ll call to Jon N’s attention. A private e-mail would be better. Thanks! D