DR1000S RC1 Software Release
IREX Technologies is happy to announce Release Candidate 1 of DR1000S 2.0 software. This release addresses many issues and concerns raised during the two-month Beta phase. The version is fully functional and feature complete. Note that the translations of the GUI texts are not complete, so you may still see English messages even though your language is set to something else. Also there is no User Manual for this release yet.
Improvements from v2.0-beta
- Cycle through pen states in document viewer by clicking status bar icon
- Add “Shortcuts” button next to “Search” button for quick access
- Enhanced text contrast in document viewer
- Pen calibration improved and reduced accidental input with tilted stylus
- Improved Notepad application:
- Show Thumbnail for Notes
- Improved performance when navigating in Notepad
- Improved writing speed, especially for thick lines
- Improved page turning speed in complex document
- Fixed position and scaling of Scribbles converted from 1.7 firmware
- Fixed a bug that would occasionally drain the battery quickly while in Suspend (white screen)
- Fixed a bug in Scribble on PDF that allowed you to write outside of the physical PDF page
- Many other smaller improvements and bugfixes
Improvements from v1.7.x
- Completely new DR800-style GUI, including new Menu
- Many performance improvements making the GUI much more responsive
- Minor improvements to Power Management have been made
- DR800-style views (Books, News, Images, Personal Documents) in Content Browser in addition to “SD Card” folder browsing
- ‘Recently Added’ view in Content Browser
- Search in Library (to locate a file) based on metadata
- Documents are shown with their Title and Author in the Content Browser (instead of filename), except in the “SD Card” folder view
- A dedicated Notepad Application which adds the possibility to insert pages and rename the Note. This replaces the old Templates.
- Adobe RMSDK 9.1 EPUB and PDF rendering engine, including B&N EPUB support and PDF reflow
- Selection zoom in PDF
- Scribble (note taking) on top of PDF documents
- Switch between 4 open documents using tabs on the side of the screen
- Support for opening password-protected PDF documents
- GUI localized in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Greek
- Automatic indexing of title, author and thumbnail when a file is added to the device
Limitations / Regressions
In addition to the features and improvements above, there are unfortunately also some regressions from the v1.7.1 release. For this reason we will keep the older firmware versions available for download.
- The PC Companion Software application does not work anymore. There is currently no way to merge scribbles or safely rename a file on the PC.
- Mobipocket Support (both DRM and non-DRM) has been removed in favor of Adobe DRM and EPUB
- Dictionary Support has been removed, because this relies on the Mobipocket format.
- Shortcut functionality is still available, but shortcuts have moved to a subfolder of the Home screen. Also, v1.7 shortcuts are not automatically converted.
- The Toolbar is not configurable anymore but hard-coded. We aim to fix this in a future software release.
- Automatic ‘Hide Margins’ zoom factor is not available anymore. We aim to improve this in a future software release.
- Template support has been removed in favor of the new Notepad application. We aim to add different templates (lines, squares, …) to the Notepad application in a future software release.
Notes to Upgraders From v1.x
Please carefully read the information and instructions below before installing the update if you are upgrading from a v1.x version of the DR1000S software:
- You should make a full backup of your SD card on a PC by selecting all files and folders and copying them to your PC
- The upgrade will attempt to migrate all your bookmarks and scribbles. Please report any issues you see with this.
- The first boot of this new version (directly after the upgrade) will likely take a long time. The system will create thumbnails for all documents on the card, which takes several seconds per document. Please be patient, this is a one-time action.
- If you choose to downgrade to v1.7.1 again, completely format the SD card using your PC before putting back your backup.
- After the upgrade, verify your Settings. They may not have all been migrated correctly and there are some new ones.
Manual Download and Installation Instructions (all operating systems)
You will have to manually download the firmware update and extract it onto your SD card. Please follow these steps:
- Download the update ZIP file from http://updates.irexnet.com/beta/ (choose the dr1000s directory)
- Extract/copy the contents of this ZIP file to the root of your SD card (either while connected via USB, or by inserting the SD card into your PC’s card reader).
Make sure that the System folder in the ZIP is extracted to the root of the card, creating a folder called ‘update’ inside your existing System folder on the SD card. - Put the SD card into your device or disconnect the USB cable.
- The device will detect the new firmware and ask to install it. Choose [Yes].
- The update procedure will start and automatically complete, your device will reboot with the new firmware.
- You can verify the new firmware version in Settings > Device Information.
15 Comments so far
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Wow. Am I the first to download this release?
I am very happy to see this. Let me download and see what has been changed.
Thanks a lot for the release.
I found some spanish translation bugs (“a pagina principal” instead of “ir a pagina principal”) and some untranslated sentences.
All the PDF shows cut-off on the right side and bottom side. Please repair this bug as soon as you can. Thank you.
What’s the point without automatic ‘Hide Margins’? I really liked that feature as well as the configurable toolbar.
I think I will wait with the update until at least the automatic ‘Hide Margins’ zoom is available.
I’ve just downloaded and installed it.
And it’s a disappointment !!!!
iRex, are you listening to your customers ????
Why can’t we browse through our JPG files like in 1.7 ?????
What that so complicated to keep this function ?
Many people have comic books made of JPEG in sequence, and now they are UNREADABLE !!!!
PLEASE PLEASE for your final firmware, CORRECT this ASAP !!!!
Thanks
Digo lo mismo que mi el comentarista anterior, QUEREMOS LA FUNCION DE NAVEGACION A TRAVES DE IMAGENES.
WE WANT BROWSE THROUGHT IMAGE FILES.
Gracias.
Thanks.
This 2.0 RC1 seemed to have bricked my DR, it installed and when it was about to restart into the new firmware. Nothing. Screen is all blank and only the power and bottom middle led is lit. Tried all kind of resets as well. Contacted support now, and hope to hear from them real soon.
If iRex doesn’t include the browse through jpg functionality, we will have to convert all our jpg into PDFs…
Hours of work
And iRex, could you think about an option to modify the levels or the contrast of a file ?
Would be nice to increase the contrast of files when they were poorly scanned…
Thanks a lot
Yes, I confirm, many of my comic books are in JPEG because I scan them. I don’t understand why they did that !!! Please make it right ASAP so we can read comics on our DR1000S again
Thanks
This 2.0 RC1 seemed to have bricked my DR, it installed and when it was about to restart into the new firmware. Nothing. Screen is all blank and only the power (orange) up led and bottom middle led are lit. I tried all kind of resets as well. I tried also to use a new SD card and original IREX SD card formatted. Nothing. DR1000 is completely blocked.
I tried all possible downgrade to beta 0401, 0408 and to firmware 1.7.1, nothing, always a blank screen and the power (orange) up led and bottom middle led are lit.
Exactly like Terje’s message June 5th, 2010 10:27 am.
I opened a case at iRex American support.
By the way, for now, I think that it’s better to not use new release of firmware.
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Don’t remove mobipocket support, I only use it, I will never ever read a pdf except on a big-screen computer and pdfs are meant to be PRINTED not viewed anyway.
Irex = big losers, Apple can be happy you’re no competition for their shitty ipad.
I’m quite disappointed too. Besides the fact of no more “Hide Margins”, it’s the changing of the font size which doesn’t provide the primary formatting, especially in documents with letters like ä,ö,ü.
I really like the much faster handling of pdfs. Hide margins is not necessary, because you can use the zoom-in-function with the stylus. Works fine for me.
Still a bug: When charging the device, there is no sign, when the charging is done, orange light doesnt switch off…
Still VERY DISSAPOINTING: What is the problem with providing a small software to merge scribbles!? I purchased the device because of the stylus and the scribbles! Whats the use of scribbles, if you cant use them on the PC? I feel kind of betrayed (700€ for a mono-use-device! I could buy two netbooks with the same amount!), please fix this as soon as possible! There is a database and the pdf. What is so hard, to merge those two things? So please fix this, because I am afraid, that you make another update and the scribbles are all lost. If somebody has a work around, please post it here…
EPUB is a good choice and the pdf-usability is very good right now!
I dont use jpg-functionality, but it seems as if there is a need for a better viewer?
So thanks for the improvements so far…but take the complaints serious!
Dan
IREX and this “update” – or better DOWNGRADE – is a big dissappointment. It needs months to get bugs removed from this company and now they are trying to sell a “new buggy unready version 2″? Does IREX think, it is the only manufacturer of such devices? I have also purchased the DR1000s BECAUSE of its tablet-functionality and to use it as a tool to work on papers (annotations). I feel also betrayed by IREX and suggest to everyone – buy cheaper, better solutions. I expect that this company will not succeed over a longer period if it behaves that way.
I now use as an e-book reader and annotator a Hanvon device – much cheaper, faster, more reliable,.. just much better than IREX and they really develop their Software there at Hanvon/Hexaglot! As a working tool I switched back to real tablet-PCs like the HP2730p.
Bye, Irex.
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