Ode to new Firmware

[Jack Volanty]

Here we daily look all broken hearted
yearning for new Eslick Firmware
of which Foxit has not parted
multiple times a day a url we stare

Only to find firmware yet not there
wading through spam of shoes and toys
finding fellow E-slickers who share
our desire for new firmware to appear

[foxitupbaby]

In wandering I sometimes wonder was it dream or idle fantasy?
Shall I arrive today to the presence of a pleasant product update
or the same void filling whitened space on a page?

I too am getting a little bit anxious. They keep promising a firmware update very soon, but they still haven't released it. I appreciate that they want to make sure it's fully tested etc... prior to releasing it, but it seems like they keep promising one date and pushing it back. Since this only affects units shipped before April 1, that either implies those units either have updated software or updated hardware.

If it's software, they should be able to post it on the website as a firmware update. If they're making further improvements, they should be able to just release them as a newer firmware update when they're finished. It would seem to me that releasing a critical update first addressing an issue that makes some customer's units either unusable or unreliable ought to take precedence and any further improvements be released as a future firmware update.

If the reason the post-April 1 units don't have the issue is because they changed the hardware and not the software, they ought to do a product recall to replace the defective part (or send out replacement batteries if that's what the problem is).

[michael83815]

Not knowing what is causing the holdup is more frustrating then the wait. A little communication would help.

[foxitupbaby]

I agree completely. I would be much happier with a May or June firmware update, if it was stated well in advance.

[wanchope]

I heard the the defects, like the battery drainage, had been fixed in the new version of firmware 4.08 or something, which came with the devices shipped out about a week ago. If that was the case, I don't really see what kind of tests they are still performing.

I don't really expect a lot from this first fireware upgrade, and having it a few days/weeks late is not the biggest thing in the world. But the thing is: this lengthy delay really reduced users' confidence in foxit's ability of coming up with other future improvements on this device.

[joseandrew]

Hi guys! I got my eslick.

1.) The remembering last page issue has been fixed.

2.) It's very early to comments on the battery give me 2 days for it.

3.) Delete book has been fixed.

4.) The Reflow still not perfect.

I will give my full review on Eslick soon.To those programmers who read PDF or CHM wait for my review before you buy.

Guys, If you have questions don't hesitate to ask me.

Thanks!

[wanchope]

Thanks, Jose.
Can you elaborate a bit on how the "last reading" was fixed?
And are you saying that eslick supports CHM now?

[joseandrew]

Wanchope,
When you reading a PDF file then you turn off Eslick,he can remember last page where you at that time.Regarding on the CHM file,I converted some of my CHM files into PDF and it's very readable on my Eslick.

Thanks!

[wanchope]

I thought the "last read" was a function that was already included in the earliest version. I got my eslick prior to Apr. 1st, and I have this funtion on the device. The problem was it only saves the last reading history of less than 10 books. And in case the device frozes, the data won't be saved. The next time you wanna read that book, you'll have to start from the 1st page.
So how was this issue fixed?

[joseandrew]

Sorry,I will try it later if Eslick can remember more than 10 books.

[joseandrew]

wanchope,
I opened more than 10 books when I went back on the Main Menu and select again a book the history was reset.Still this bug has not been fixed.

[christina]

And in case the device frozes, the data won't be saved.

This issue has been fixed in our internal new edition.

[christina]

wanchope,
I opened more than 10 books when I went back on the Main Menu and select again a book the history was reset.Still this bug has not been fixed.

We don't find this problem up to now. If you open more than 10 books, such as 11 books, please be aware that the first opened book will not be remembered.

[wanchope]

We don't find this problem up to now. If you open more than 10 books, such as 11 books, please be aware that the first opened book will not be remembered.

I think that's what we are talking about here. 10 books is too few! If you can't come up with a real bookmark function, can't you at least make the device save the last reading data of more books?
This is a very common scenario, if you load some new books and just remember not to open each books to check how they look on the deivce, otherwise the reading history of the few books that you've been actually reading will be lost. Coz it'd be easily more than 10 now!

[christina]

Actually our development team are discussing on this. Bookmark will be improved in our further development, and reading history is being dicussed for a better solution. We know 10 books is too few, but due to limited memory resource, if more history were added, it should significantly slow down the rendering speed.

[wanchope]

Good to hear about the potential improvement. We are looking up to you.

PS. Is it possbile to save the reading data on the SD card?

[christina]

I think that's impracticable...

[dracodoc]

Right now eslick will remember many information about book readed, including page number, zoom ratio, landscape mode, etc. If you say more than 10 books' history will occupy too much memory, I think a compromise method is like this will work:
1. remember full history for like 10 books.
2. when exit reading of the 11th book, archive the oldest item in history into "simple history", which only include file name and page number. I don't think even 50 books' simple history will occupy much memory!
Simple history only need file name, not the full path. Because if user have files with same in different directory (a rare case), he can always rename files a little bit like adding a prefix. But if user reorganized his books in sd card, it will be good that eslick can still have history of them based on name. Actually I think foxit pdf reader's history is just like this, it's based on filename, not path.
3. when some book is deleted, purge the history of that book too (of course, maybe you already done this).
4. If some book was opened but kept on page 1, no need to keep history for that(you may already done this too).