yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
TypeLoad Exception - if not installed in \Program Files\Freda

Folks,

The 'TypeLoad Exception' problem will happen if Freda is installed in any location other than '\Program Files\Freda'. I think this may lead to problems in two cases:

1) Installation on Storage Card

2) Installation on non-English localised devices (where the folder is called, for instance, \Programas\Freda). I'm guessing you'd also have a problem with the name of the '\My Documents\Freda ebooks' folder too, but that can be fixed using the Settings/Folders screen.

In the short term, the solution to (1) is to install in main memory. The solution to (2) would be to create a \Program Files\Freda folder manually, copy the Freda files to it, and then adjust the start menu shortcut accordingly. Not ideal, and it would require messing about with a file explorer tool (I'd recommend Resco Explorer for the job).

In the long run, I will fix this for v1.0 [fixed in release 1.0]

Thanks for all your feedback.

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] chrisd1a1:
giving this a try and must say well done, it's a joy to use. now if only you can get it to run more formats (mobi would be good) you will have the best reader on windows mobile

Chris
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Straubi:
Hello Jim,

yes thats works. Move the files to "Program Files".
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] ermallimaj:
working good on xperia with wm 6.5.1 but it is taking too much time to paginate a book (war & peace). I have used zulu reader and it doesn't paginate the books. Freda is much better but what exactly pagination does ???
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Pagination is just the process of figuring out how many pages there are in the book - so that the program can display a page number on each page, and provide the 'go to page number' functionality.

I took a look at 'War & Peace' and (on my HTC Touch Pro 2 anyhow) it's actually too large to paginate, because the available program memory (about 18MB) is too small to hold the complete text of the book. So Freda will never completely paginate the book, and you will never get a page number display (it will always just say "Paginating (x% done)" in the footer.) That doesn't prevent you from reading the book, though, because Freda will always paginate the next chapter as/when you need to read it. If this isn't working for you, please let me have the details and I will take a look at it.

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Uracil:
Ah!

Count me among those who ran into this error. I humbly suggest that you put "NOTE: Freda must be installed to main memory!" in your installation instructions. I'll try again (using the WM6-specific version - I didn't realize it was smaller).

I'm looking forward to comparing Freda to HaaliReader. I like HR, but the controls are awfully fiddly and finger-hostile.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] TheRem:
when starting the program it always takes time to load a book.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Done. I will, as noted, be fixing this in release 1.0. [fixed in release 1.0]

Cheers,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
It's never going to be instantaneous, but I would expect it to be quite quick to load a book the second (and subsequent times) you open that book.

To quantify that, I'd expect that on first opening a book you'd expect to be:

* up to 1 minute seeing a "Loading" message and animation.

* up to 30 seconds seeing a "Paginating" message and animation

* thereafter, looking at book text, but with the footer still saying "Paginating" for another minue or more (and if the book is too large to fit into program memory, that message will never go away).

On subsequently opening that same book, I'd expect the "Loading" message to come up only very briefly, and the "Paginating" message to appear for up to 30 seconds before you see book text.

If you're not seeing that behaviour, something odd is going on - could you send me your \Program Files\Freda\logfile.txt file, and the ePub file you were reading, and I will look into it.

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] TheRem:
thanks... here it is...
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] McAndrew73:
any news? I've been using the reader for some days and it working really well. it's not a bolt in opening but after loaded no problems at all. it's already my favorite e reader.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Strange. It works OK on my various test devices. Please send me the logfile.txt file, and I will see if I can work out what is going on. And can anyone else who is having problems please report?

Which animations are you hoping to turn off? Actually, that setting doesn't have much effect any more (it is meant to disable the screen scroll animation - but nothing else).

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Thankyou for testing Freda, and taking the trouble to consider how the UI could be enhanced. To be honest, I don't expect to spend much time on changing the UI now - because my main focus will be on producing a good UI for the Windows Phone 7 version, and the WP7 UI is really a very different animal!

That said, the new version of the Freda code is structured in such a way as to make it very easy to reorganise the UI functions without having to delve into the workings of other parts of the program - so, it being an Open Source project, you may find other enthusiasts who are ready to invest a bit more time in developing new versions of the Windows Mobile 6 UI. Of course if there is an overwhelming balance of public opinion in favour of some UI change for WM6, I will certainly look at it. But the sheer variety of different WM6 devices (with different screen geometries and different numbers of buttons, D-Pads etc.) makes it unlikely that any one UI will be ideal for everyone ...

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Raudi1:
It seems to be a problem with the book. I tried with another book (War and Peace) and it loads without problems. I don't know which book I tested, because it was a random one, but I will look for it.

With animation I mean the animation each time you go to the next/previous page.

edit: I found the book(or at least one that crashes). In the catalog go to Original Books > New & Popular. The book "Conversion" crashes Freda. I don't have time to look into it further at the moment, but I hope this is enough info for you.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Yep, it's a problem with the Table of Contents structure. Fixed in build 102 (which I will distribute shortly).

Thanks for the bug report.

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] reijkelhof:
Thank you so much Jim for all your work.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] bluenote73:
Hey Jim

Great job as always. I really like how Freda is developing.

Just a couple small nitpicks -

Freda doesn't seem to read my epub metadata. If I open a file in caliber's ebook reader, (not from the library, just a standalone file that caliber doesnt "know" about) the Title, Author, and series is there. None of that info seems to show up in Freda.

As well, the main display seems to be file name when I go into the library (perhaps because title/series/etc is unknown?), my filenames are in the format "Discworld 14 - Lords and Ladies.epub"

Freda renders this with underscores, instead of spaces, apostrophes, dashes. To considerable detriment of readability IMO.

I love the finger-scrolling interface for settings (although I dont love the old fashioned scroll bar), and I do idly wonder if the "main menu" could be reduced to only a screen full of options rather than 1.5 ? or so on my 640x480 display. Perhaps thats a function of your HD resolution in which case, never mind. :)

Not really like you can make a separate distinction for each resolution. I would question whether each of those items on the main screen is strictly necessary though.

That's all for now :) As always, love and appreciate your work. And the future looks really bright for freda. thanks again

Cory

EDIT: This is with freda 2_0_102 build.

EDIT2: Lol at a screenshot of ubook being used as a 'good example' of *anything* :) No offense to the poster though!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Freda only reads epub metadata for a book file when you open the book. Until the first time you open it, the book will appear as just a file name in the 'Library' display. Once you've opened the book, Freda's library display should show title, author etc. properly.

I did it that way because reading the metadata from an epub file does take some time (a second or so, maybe), and if I did that every time I added a file to the library, it'd slow things down too much.

Maybe this could be a user-configurable setting...?

Sadly, it is hard to get rid of the scroll bar (for programming-related reasons that are too tedious to explain).

As for the range of items on the main menu - I agree it's a bit of a challenge to get that right. All of the things on that screen are functions that someone did, at one time or another, ask to have accessible with 'one tap'. Clearly the ideal thing would be to make it configurable, so you decide which icons you want on that screen. Implementing that would be a bit of a programming job. It's on the list, but might not happen soon (particularly since it would not be something I can re-use for the Windows Phone 7 build).

Cheers,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] dapope:
Been crashing my HD2 with epub files and also a pdf i converted to text

When I close freda,it wont reload properly, and the home tab is not available, i have to force a soft reset
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Please email me a couple of the book files that are causing problems, and I will test (home@jim-chapman.net).

Can you give a bit more detail please:

Are you running Freda 2.0 beta build 102?

How are you closing Freda? I recommend the 'Exit' button from the shortcuts screen. The [x] button at the top right of the shortcuts screen should put Freda into the background, and the 'Close' button should leave Freda running, but close the current book and leave you looking at the 'Freda' initial screen.

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] dapope:
no running the ver1.1 I think, the one off your website anyway,

tipped it to landscape, and increased font to 12

was closing via the proper exit, not the x thingo

anyway, sent you log, let me know if you need anything else

looks really swish otherwise, could see myself carrying a lot of books electronically with your software :)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jjollyroger:
Hi Jim , here my report on beta 2.0 build 102.

I had some problems:

- seems a step backward about .epub files reading , loading epub is slower and many books can not be loaded (epubs about 1-1,2 Mb size) , appears the message "trying to recover memory" but nothing happens.. sometimes instead of an image there is the word "error".

I tried with different settings ("unzip epub archives" and "use csharpziplib" ) but had no result - previous Freda could open these files.

-problems in saving my presets: I could not save a new preset (if I did it ,when selected nothing changed on the screen) ,I had to modyfy existing presets and then rename them with file explorer.

-can't start my dictionaries :"problem launching dictionay program.tap oK to continue".

Same on HD2 (800x480), one icon line is out of screen, I've to scroll to see it

suggestions:

-I miss a window mode (useful for switching quickly between proprams ), would be nice a window mode with "font+/-" buttons on bottom bar (instead the page arrows of prewious version) so you could also remove those icons from main menu.

-I found autoscroll a little eye tiring because of scrolling after each line, I think would be much better if the box on the word could arrive till the end of the page and then flick to next page

-the presets saving is quite boring... is it necessary to check all changes?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jjollyroger:
sent 2 example books (email redleffe@... I forgot to specify my xda username in mail)

133MB freespace on device, 8GB on sd ,Rom artemis 15.5 working perfectly (I reinstalled freda1 and it opens the large books),I forgot to say that I've uninstalled freda1 and removed all remaining app files-folders before installing beta .

I use "pocket dictionary 2.5" from Daniel Vladutu www.free-soft.ro and set path scheda di memoria\programmi\dizionari\dictionary.exe

could you tell me how to create the logfile.text files you need?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] chvvkumar:
@Jim Chapman

First, let me thank you for this awesome application! It really helps me pass the frequent 12hrs+ travel times.

Is it possible to implement a motion compensation using the inbuilt accelerometer so that on particularly rough roads it is easier to read? That would be a killer feature (i guess it would be a killer of battery life too ;) )

Thanks once again for the effort you put in, we really appreciate the time!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Freda creates its logfile in a file called "logfile.txt", which will be in the same folder as the Freda executable (on my English-localised device it is \program files\freda\logfile.txt). The file may be large - so if you want to demonstrate a particular problem case (and not your whole history of running Freda), you should delete the existing file, then launch Freda.

Thanks for your help with testing Freda,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
I guess you're hoping for something like the 'steady picture' feature you get on camcorders. I think that feature actually uses the image sensor (camera), not the accelerometer, to detect movement. The accelerometer would not respond quickly enough. I could imagine (but this is really science fiction!) a feature whereby, if you have a camera on the 'screen' side of your phone, Freda (or any other app) might detect your face in that camera image, and move the on-screen image around so as to compensate for high-frequency jiggling movements. I think that the Windows Phone 7 gesture and motion-detection features are moving in this direction, but I'm not sure whether/when they will do what you're asking for.

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] dapope:
Ok, the beta you kindly sent seems much better, as long as I dont go with the landscape look, loads OK, exits really smartly.

Think I can live with the portrait mode

I didnt read the manual, works fine intuitively :)

brownie points for great software:)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jjollyroger:
hi, logfile on my device is in "program files\freda" :confused: sent you by mail

I tried again opening large books ( no result also if freda is installed on device as its temp folder), found a bug if the temp folder is on sd card, look at the bottom of image, it happens each 5-10 pages.

I arrived to load large books till 99% by scrolling the pages bar ,I arrived till last page but book still hanged on 99%, so no table of contents, no chapters, no pages numbers..

I tried saving presets, there is something weird cause if I save a preset as you wrote, then switch to another one they seem merged .

E:G I saved a pink preset with 1.5 line spacing and pink text then switch to the "stanza "preset I have it in the right colour but with 1.5 line spacing.. :confused:

So after this test I can say that functions, structure of menus and the visualization are improved, but found that the "engine" that opens books works worst than version 1 for large books (or better.. dos not work at all to me) and preset setting is more complete but creates the problems I wrote above.

I also found a little confusing the library list cause of different visualization of not yet opened books that result in a non alfabetical order with those already opened .
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
What are you doing to put the phone into landscape mode? Are you using a control on the phone, the gravity sensor, or the 'Rotate' button on the Freda shortcuts screen?

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] dapope:
The rotate in the program, as rotate doesnt work on the phone (think theres a tweak for that, will investigate) and its not rotating via gravity sensor

If I restore screen to portrait, it come back out nice n clean, if I exit while in landscape, i have to soft reset

Will fiddle further...edit... no tweak to let the sensor do it that i can find:(
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Raudi1:
When I exit Freda, it stays in landscape, sense doesn't show and sometimes I can't click anything. But on my HD2 I have a button for the start menu and that works in landscape, so it doesn't require a soft reset. I just have to switch back to portrait(I have a couple of ways for that: Changescreen, xTask, or just a shortcut that came with my rom...). But it is a bit annoying. I think it would be best to make an option, that lets Freda change to Landscape when starting it and back to portrait when closing it.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jasonsf:
Jim, I found the logfile.txt file. I installed Freda to my storage card, but the app created a /Program Files/Freda folder on internal memory and placed the logfile there. Any chance of making Freda create the logfile in either the installation folder or the designated temp folder? I'd like to keep self-growing files off the internal memory.

Thanks,

Jason
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] mmp17:
For the main menu if it could be made available without the icons it would be helpful. Either each item as a box with text in it or as a menu. I sent info about the Hebrew via email.

Mendel
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] whizkid7:
Will there be DRM support for this software in future? :)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
I don't know. Technically, it would be easy to implement, but unless it was done with the permission of the book supplier, it would constitute 'circumventing copy protection measures' and so it would contravene the DMCA in the USA and various equally vicious pieces of legislation in assorted other jurisdictions. So write to your favourite ebook vendors saying "I want to read your books using Freda, please license Jim Chapman to implement a version of Freda to do that" ;).

A DRM-supporting version of Freda couldn't be released as Open Source free software, but I don't imagine it would cost much (actually, the book vendor would get to decide on the revenue model ... but I don't suppose it would be in their interest to gouge their users too severely!).

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Exitao:
Freda Beta:

When used in landscape, and Freda is minimised (End or home), WinMo doesn't like to go back to portrait. Same goes for exiting Freda.

Even though I disable animations, the page transition sliding effect still remains.

This is annoying when in landscape and the page transitions horizontally... it takes too long (my eyes reach the top left corner before the transition ends and waiting throws my rhythm

I like the option to enter books to the library individually. However, I miss the option of a folder that is maintained by Freda.

Otherwise I'm finding no problems or reasons to complain.

Thanx for this outstanding app!

P.S.

Personally, I'd rather not have DRM as a feature. Particularly if it changes the cost/distribution model.

The only free readers I've seen that support DRM are supported by the publishers/distributors that protect their product with DRM. They would likely want control of Freda if they were going to license it.

Of course, you could find a way to become a distributor and earn income from that... LOL

Then you could bloat Freda out with an RSS reader and everything. :rolleyes:
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Yes, for v2.0 I have changed the way that Freda deals with orientation changes. In v1.1, I tried to implement logic that would, when Freda was switched to the background, attempt to restore the previous screen orientation. But that worked patchily and created bad interactions with Manila/TouchFlow - because the compact framework doesn't notify an application when it gets moved to the background. And therefore, for v1.1 I had to build in all kinds of ugly work-arounds so the app could periodically query various bits of window state to try to guess whether it has just been moved to the background.

So now, in v2.0, you just have a control that rotates the screen, plus two settings to adjust its behaviour:

1) define the permissible orientations/'stop positions' (so for example if you don't want an upside-down orientation, you can tell Freda to rotate straight from Landscape-Left to Landscape-Right);

2) lock orientation: if this option is chosen then, every time it is asked to paint the screen, Freda will check the system orientation, and ensure that it's oriented the way that Freda wants it; if you have this option set, then, as long as Freda is running, the Freda shortcuts screen will be the only means you can use to rotate the screen, whereas with the option not set, you can use other device controls to rotate the screen (e.g. by sliding out the keyboard) and Freda will respect that change of orientation.

When exited or minimised/backgrounded, Freda makes no attempt to 'restore' orientation to what it was before you started.

I will fix.

I guess I'm being dim here, but I don't see what you're missing ... can you not get basically the same library setup as v1.1 by putting your books into a certain folder hierarchy, and adding that folder as a 'source' in the library?

There is always going to be an Open Source version of Freda that can read DRM-free books.

By the way, this is going to pose something of a problem in Windows Phone 7, because you can't install Open Source programs on WP7 (you can only install via MarketPlace, and you aren't allowed to publish Open Source programs there ... also I would have to pay $99 in order to publish there, and I'm not that keen to do that, just for the sake of giving away my work!). I'm still pondering what to do about that.

Freda is already quite bloated enough! But actually, OPDS catalogs (which Freda v2 can read) are a kind of RSS feed ... so that particular feature is already there, sort of.

Thanks for the feedback,

Jim
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jjollyroger:
hi Jim, any news about epubs and logfiles sent by beta users?

I ask you if is possible to make the pages scroll bar bigger (what are the related arrows for? if I tap them after scrolling they only take me back to the text without page change) or add a "go to page number" option.

Also miss the option "go to chapter" , useful in freda 1 for navigating into large epubs that can't be indexed with the page number.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] jjollyroger:
have you tried using bsb tweaks http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=589305 ? I added freda to the rotation list and it automatically rotate when I change device position to landscape and viceversa, it seems to be more responsive than using freda manual rotation.

-for others devices than HD2 you can use "gyrator" http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=427805
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
I've made fixes so that those epubs open OK with Freda; I'll circulate a new beta build in a few days (some of the requested changes will take me a while).

I'm not quite clear which scroll bar you're referring to here. On the 'shortcuts' screen you have:

1) a scrollbar at the right, which you can use to move up and down the available buttons.

2) a slider control at the bottom, which lets you move through the book (if the book is fully loaded, it will let you move to any page; for epubs that are too large to load, it will only let you move from one chapter to another). Tap right of the slider to advance by one chapter, tap to the leftof it to move back by one chapter; for fine-grained control, drag the slider.

3) a >> button that moves to the start of the next chapter, and a << button that moves to the start of the previous chapter.

If you have a table of contents, you can use it to navigate around the book, even if the book it too large to load. I guess it could be useful, if there is no table of contents, for me to automatically create one that just has one entry at the start of each chapter; I will implement that.

Thanks,

Jim