Tweaks made easy
Rather than reproduce all the code here – which is essentially JavaScript wrapped in XML – the best way to learn is by looking at it in detail. The MobileRead forums include a development corner for the Sony Readers, where you can find lots of hacks. And, more usefully, you can find a way to apply many of these without having to get your hands dirty using XML or programming in JavaScript.
PRS Customizer lets you tweak your Reader by ticking a few checkboxes
PRS Customizer is a tool for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux which makes it much much simpler to apply some of the common customisations to your Reader.
All you have to do is tick the options you require, fill in any details you want for personalising the About screen, and then click the Customize button. A folder called sdcard will be populated with all the files necessary to re-flash your reader, including a copy of the Universal Flasher, so you don’t even need to download that separately. There are three alternative icon sets included with PRS Customizer, if you want a change from the Sony ones, and don’t fancy creating some yourself from scratch.
Alternative icon sets are included with PRS Customizer
If you want to find out more about the reader, the forums at MobileRead are well worth exploring, and you can also download some of the additional applications that have been written to run from the SD card slot. ®
How to hack a Sony Reader
COMMENTS
Yep, temptation won in the end.
I bought one of the Sony readers recently because it clearly now does a little more than when first released and there is so much material to read. And it seems there are people dedicated to removing the defective-by-design DRM from protected books so many of those can be had free too. But of course if the publishers would make eBooks a little cheaper then buying them would feel less of a rip-off.
Now, all I need is to find time to live, work and sleep in between reading and I'm all set!
@ Well, pretty much everybody
I've had a PRS505 ever since they went on sale in the UK, being both a book buff (whatever one of those is) and a lover of gadgetry in all its forms.
Several points spring to mind:
1) As has been said, when travelling, one PRS505 is way more portable than even a couple of paperbacks. Compared to the 5 or 6 paperbacks I used to carry, it's no contest, and the electronic version allows even more variety. Battery life is good for 2 week trips without a recharge, even when spending hours every evening in hotel rooms reading.
2) The price. I paid £200 for mine. However, I have read well over 100 free books on it, there's a huge amount of copyright free classic stuff out there for free download. As these are all out of copyright, they would normally retail at £2-3 in paperback, so the device has paid for itself and more, and has expended my reading as a bonus.
3) The scope. There's a load of stuff out there for download that is out of print, or never made it into print in the first place. I've found loads of stuff from the golden age of Science Fiction, for example, all out of copyright and freely available. One day I might buy a book for download, but I doubt it will happen any time soon.
The lack of depreciation despite there being no stock shortage should be the clue. These are deeply gorgeous machines (let down, as ever, by the shite supporting software - pull your finger out, Sony....).
GJC
Uh-oh!
Auto-executed JavaScript on removable SD cards?! Uh-oh! Here come the viruses...
@Gerard Krupa: re PDFs
If your reader isn't rendering PDFs well, make sure you're running the latest firmware. I agree that the firmware that shipped with my 505 was hopeless on PDFs, but since getting the new firmware I read quite a bit in PDFs and it's totally fine.
Since PDF is a page-description format, it's really not suitable for ebooks, and it's foolish for people to publish ebooks as PDFs, but if that's all you have, then reflowing like the new firmware does is about the best that can be done.
@ dima..
home insurance clain? or some such similar insurance prod to replace rather than repair?
i wouldn't mind one of these but i'm a habitual late-adopter.. mostly due to financial constraints.. and i might never put the thing down if i had one and that might be a bad thing.
i liked the article and it's light approach as an intro on how-to etc. well written, more of this please Monsenior El Vulture.. this is much better than the bash-the-government-for-yet-another-software-snafu stuff.. :)
