Comments on: Review: Elonex 511EB from Waterstones

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:51:29 +0000

This whole thing is getting ridiculous.
Adobe digital editions does not work with books in this format on the Elonex ebook.
As lots of people have said, you just get the message “No valid lisense”-their spelling not mine.
So You do’t bother ringing Waterstones- you can see from this blog that they have no idea.So you ring elonex who quicly let you know that the only option is to contactAdobe.So after lots of emails they ring you and give very confusing advi ce that they don’t know if this ebook works with digital editions but it may not be working because the permissions haven’t been downloaded, even though I am able to read my books on my laptop with my Adobe password.
So now I wish I’d never bought this piece of junk that I can only use to view non-copyrighted books.I think I will go back to real paper books because life is just too short .Any body want to buy my book for about £100?

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:31:13 +0000

FYI – it looks like there *will* be another firmware update for the 511EB!
http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/2010/08/the-511eb-is-getting-a-firmware-update/

Please, please, please call or email Elonex and ask when they will be releasing it.

By: Terence Eden has a Blog » Blog Archive » The 511EB Is Getting a Firmware Update

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:29:02 +0000

[...] work with the 511EB, there’s no guarantee that it will.Previous blog posts about the 511EBReview Part 1Review Part 2Firmware UpdateShare This Category: /etc/Tags: 511eb, ebook, elonex, firmware, hanvon, [...]

By: pete daly

pete daly — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:26:17 +0000

Still not happy with Adobe Digital Edfitions.Can’t open any public library ebooks.
To change the subject I found an old writing pad holder made of leather and it just happens to be the perfect size for the ebook reader.
I can’t remember where I bought it but it’s worth keeping yours an eye on cheapie high street shops that are just trying to sell a bargain rather than an overpriced specialist accessory

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:09:54 +0000

This is a problem with PDF. The conversion from it is very bad. I would recommend you try to find them in ePub format or in HTML and then convert them. You may be able to fix some of the errors by just editing the stylesheet with the ePub. But you’ll need to know some CSS (it’s not hard when you figured it out)

By: henry

henry — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:39:14 +0000

Hi.

I found that if you just rename the ebook file, the bookmarks get cleared out.

By: lanced

lanced — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:26:07 +0000

I purchased the 511 about 2 weeks ago, been finding it amazing and ePub the best format. I’ve used calibre to convert from pdf to ePub however when converting from time to time only 3/4′s of the file is viewable on the e-reader while it is totally viewable on computer. Any suggestions with regards to settings that I may be missing?

By: pete daly

pete daly — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:32:39 +0000

A further thought.If anyone is struggling with an unreadable elonex, is it commonly known that you can download ebooks onto a blackberry or even many Sony Ericsson phones.Although the page is very small you can read it in the dark and listen to your music while you read.The drawback is that looking back at the text can be tedious when sometimes you can’t even get a whole para on one page but it is great for reading under the covers and not disturbing baby if you have to sit with her/him!

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:26:45 +0000

Hi Pete,

I’ve used my BlackBerry charger to power the reader – it works fine.

Happy reading.

By: pete daly

pete daly — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:24:46 +0000

this is the most informative review I’ve seen on this product.I looked at all the enthusiastic reviews on the Waterstones site and take the plunge.I visited Waterstones at Christmas and was sorely tempted by the sony prs but the guy selling them knew far less than me so it put me off buying.So today I’m impatiently charging it up for 8 hours.
Would it be ok to use the charger from my blackberry to charge my elonex reader or would it overheat or translate all the books into hieroglyphics?

By: roy lovelock

roy lovelock — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:20:31 +0000

has anyone heard about the firmware update to enable the keyboard? it all seems to have gone very quiet.
thanks

By: NT

NT — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:19:14 +0000

Personally I’ve hacked an old DVD case by taking out (most of) the DVD ring, cutting the ends off the booklet-hooks and shoving a couple of small shims in the bottom. I haven’t put in a hole for a headphone cable yet (I use a separate MP3 player) but that wouldn’t be hard as I’ve specifically left a gap in the shims around the headphone and USB sockets for this purpose.

Not only does it leave you with a pretty good level of protection, it also means there’s somewhere obvious to store it — in the DVD rack!

By: Martin Rogers

Martin Rogers — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:59:05 +0000

I am sorry to trouble you, but can you help me. I download a book title from Waterstone and it appears in Adobe Digital Editions OK. You can read it OK.
I then drag the “picture” of the book in Library view onto the 511EB device in the left hand side. It displays 3 options and I select Replace Book. Then it says Product Authorisation and then the book is transferred.
I then select “3 Digital Editions” and “3 The Pacific” but it then displays a Note screen with the message “No valid lisence for the book” (Their spelling!).

If you do not have this trouble do you mind letting me have all your settings and anything that may help me.

By: NT

NT — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:41:06 +0000

When you’ve got the PDF open, press the menu button. Option 6 is normal (fully formatted) PDF rendering, option 7 is reflow (reformatted to fit the screen).

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:34:15 +0000

Am I missing something, cos b*ggered can I see how to apply reflow?

By: les

les — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:21:36 +0000

In addition to the other reply. you also have to set option 6 to ‘Cycle’ rather than ‘Single’

By: les

les — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:18:51 +0000

I’ve just returned from a weeks holiday and had the opportunity for some heavy use of the 511EB. Overall the experiance was superb. Bright sun provided no hinderence to reading (something iPad users wont be able to say) and even after a full days reading there was no eye soreness (unlike back lit screens)

The only downside I found was that the ghosting of text sometimes got to be annoying, however since getting home and installing the firmware upgrade this has all but disappeared.

In comparison with my wife who took paperbacks instead my observations were that

1. I could slip all my books into a jacket pocket rather than take up valuable case weight
2. I had dozens of books to choose from – unlike my wife who had read her 3 books by day four and had to resort to the hotels book swap shelf
3. I didnt need to charge the reader all week despite 5-6 hours reading per day.
4. I couldnt read during take off and landing (them’s the rules)
5. I’m less likely to leave the 511 on the sunbed as a marker whilst I nip off for a few minutes.
6. Dont sit on it by mistake if you do leave it as a marker on your sunbed as that loud cracking noise is going to be expensive.(nearly happened)
7. I need to get a better case as the pencil case I’m using the dye comes off in warmer more humid conditions and its leaving marks on the casing
8. My wife now wants her own 511 – ordered

By: Les

Les — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:02:56 +0000

To save you having to search the web here is the link to the mobipocket creator website

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp?Language=EN

By: Stacie

Stacie — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:53:08 +0000

Sounds Great will try this out myself. Love my E-reader and this was the only flaw that mattered to me. So hopefully this will fix it somewhat. Thanks for mentioning it Les.

By: Les

Les — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:01:07 +0000

a note on converting PDF. I really struggled with this myself in Calibre (a fantastic piece of software) however trawling the web I came upon this solution.

First convert the PDF file using mobipocket creater (free software) and then convert the output file – prc or html – to epub in Calibre. You will get a much better quality file, though you may need to play with the paragraph settings in calibre so you don’t get a blank after each line.

Found this really useful for work documents that tend to be only published in PDF and which I don’t want to have to open up my laptop to reference.

By: Howard Osborn

Howard Osborn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:21:13 +0000

Further update. Just spoke to Elonex – despite the link on the web site they tell me that the teb files have not been updated yet but will be “in the next couple of days”. Mystery solved for now.

By: Howard Osborn

Howard Osborn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:09:19 +0000

Update on this. The downloaded zip files for the 511teb are the ones dated 18th Jan. My teb still will not install them as it says the latest files are already installed. Perhaps the teb files were not updated?

By: Howard Osborn

Howard Osborn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:54:52 +0000

Thanks Terence, that’s very helpful.

I’ll try downloading again as you suggest. Sorry if I’ve misled anyone.

I think the Openinkpot team were working on the N526 (511 teb).

By: Terence Eden

Terence Eden — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:47:24 +0000

Hi Howard,
My full review of the firmware is at http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/2010/03/elonex-511eb-firmware-update/

It is different from the previous version on their website – as evidenced by the version number and different checksums. The previous version was 0.41. I suggest you try downloading it again to make sure the old version wasn’t cached on your computer.

There’s no note-taking yet. That’s coming soon. I suggest people call Elonex to ask them when it will be.

OpenInkPot – http://openinkpot.org/ – is a Linux based firmware. The 511EB runs Windows CE. From the look of the website – http://openinkpot.org/wiki/Device/N520/Overview – no one is working on it. If you were to donate (either a unit or some cash) you might be able to get someone to work on it.

HTH

By: Howard Osborn

Howard Osborn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:38:19 +0000

They are now showing a firmware update v 0.47 on the web site. Having tried to install it it appears to be the same as the one that was put online a few weeks ago. The ebook wont update as it says that this is the most recent version already. In other words they don’t seem to have addressed the problems with random chinese characters on accented letters, no search capability in Epub (Waterstones please take note – readers won’t be able to search the books you sell) etc.. They also say ” Please check back soon for a further update which will add note taking functionality to the 511EB.” This was supposed to appear in the 22nd March update, which doesn’t appear to have been an update at all. In short – a poor show imho.. Anyone know if Openinkpot are getting anywhere with their firmware for the touchscreen version?

By: Howard Osborn

Howard Osborn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:08:44 +0000

Great! I’ve just ordered one (can’t keep dragging it around in a padded envelope forever – even if well bound with parcel tape). Thanks for the tip!

By: Evad

Evad — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:10:08 +0000

If anybody is still looking for a case, I got 2 of these (one for me one for son) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ULBLACK-EVA-ARMOR-HARD-CASE-FOR-SONY-READER-PRS-600-600_W0QQitemZ350307879012QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_AudioElectronicsVideo_Video_TelevisionSetTopBoxes?hash=item518ffa0864
at 12 quid they are an excellent buy and the reader fits perfectly in it.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:11:46 +0000

Like I said before PDF is a nightmare to convert from.

By: Stacie

Stacie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:43:05 +0000

Has anyone been having a problem with converting PDF to EPUB? Seems no matter which setting I choose with Calibre the Elonex will show footer page numbers in the actual document. Some pages look like this :

Name of Book

Author

Then the rest of the page is blank. Is this just because PDF is messy to convert or am I doing something wrong? Other then this my Elonex is working much better with the new firmware.

By: Elonex 511EB Firmware Update – Terence Eden has a Blog

Elonex 511EB Firmware Update – Terence Eden has a Blog — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:45:23 +0000

[...] may be interested in part 1 and part 2 of my [...]