v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc7

Seventh release candidate, still based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-4. Thanks to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports, and to @getthething and @jmswangit for their reports.

See CrossInk's rc-4 notes for everything this RC inherits (frontlight schedules, pinch-to-resize and two-finger gestures, X4 Pro USB Drive, Quick Lock, and a long list of touch fixes).

Important

KOREADER SYNC IS GONE FROM THIS FORK. The reason is space, not preference: the latest CrossInk changes increased the firmware size, and with this fork's features added, the image no longer fits the available partition.

Dropping KOReader Sync is the best compromise, as this fork exists for users who specifically want to synchronize their reading progress with BookOrbit.

If you have KOReader credentials saved on the SD card, they remain untouched and unread, allowing you to switch back to CrossInk or CrossPoint seamlessly.

Important

SINCE RC4: THE X3/X4 BUILT-IN FONTS NO LONGER CARRY EMOJI, SYMBOL AND CJK FALLBACK GLYPHS. It is once again an attempt to make some space for the features delivered by this fork. Regular text in every supported language is untouched — what goes away is a small set of fallback glyphs (about fifty common emoji and some CJK characters) that was duplicated in all 32 built-in reading font variants. The S3 devices keep the complete fonts.

If you read books that use those glyphs, install your font from Settings > Manage Fonts: the downloadable fonts — including Bitter and Lexend Deca, the same families as the built-in ones — carry the full fallback coverage.

Every book re-paginates once on first open after this update, because the font identities change.

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• The Lyra and Lyra Extended home menus scroll by swiping on the X4 Pro and the Sticky (fixes #49). Those themes show seven menu rows at a time and turn the page by moving the selection past the last row, which is a button motion; on a touchscreen there was no way to reach the rows beyond the first page. On the Minimal and Dashboard themes, Settings is still a swipe down from the middle of the home screen.

• Smart sync (implements #42). A new Sync Behavior choice in the BookOrbit settings, on the device and in the web settings: Ask every time (the default — what every sync did until now) or Smart sync. Smart sync applies the server's progress or uploads yours without showing the choice screen, but only when the two sides tell the same story: the further position must also be the more recent one, judged against the last time this device synced the book. Equal positions just say "Already synced" and return to the book. A genuine conflict (both sides moved since your last sync), a first sync of a book, or a server that sends no dates still shows the choice screen.

• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). Wherever it is triggered from, it behaves like the power-button shortcut already did.

• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.

• The screens this fork adds are translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Dutch and Polish, each following the wording its language already uses for KOReader sync.

Fixed

• New in rc7 — BookOrbit no longer pads the reading log with reading sessions this firmware never reported (fixes #59). Recent BookOrbit servers, when a device pushes progress without ever announcing that it uploads its own reading sessions, estimate a session out of the time between two pushes — a feature meant for plain KOReader installs, which have nothing better to offer (bookorbit#1140). CrossInk-Bookorbit uploads its real sessions but had never made that announcement, so every sync's progress push also added an estimated session next to the measured ones, wrongly timed at the sync rather than at the reading. Each sync now records its passage the way BookOrbit's own KOReader plugin does; the server then stops estimating for this reader and retires the duplicate estimates earlier syncs left behind — so the reading log cleans itself up on the first sync with this version. Older servers without this behavior are unaffected.

• Two CrossInk readers on the same BookOrbit account are now referred to the server with dedicated identifiers (fixes #55). This issue only impacted people using several devices running with this firmware and syncing on the same server. Every CrossInk reader introduced itself to the server under the same identifier, and BookOrbit tells devices apart by that identifier alone — so a highlight synced from one reader was treated as deleted when the other synced the same book without it, with the same confusion over reading sessions, device retirement and progress resets. Each reader now identifies itself by its chip's factory address. After updating, a reader shows up as a new device in BookOrbit's device list beside its old crossink-device entry, which you can retire.

• BookOrbit sync now behaves correctly with the Incremental indexing method (fixes #56). A position received from another device landed pages behind: the reader turned it into a page number from an estimate of the chapter's length and, since the chapter opens before its layout is finished, could not correct it.

• A highlight or bookmark now reaches BookOrbit on the very next sync, instead of on the one after (fixes #51). Its position in the book is determined the moment it is created. When it previously did not have enough memory, the position was quietly never recorded; the sync had nothing to send, and only the next sync actually sent the element.

• The download progress bar of the BookOrbit catalog no longer refreshes the screen on every step (fixes #48). It was repainted far too often, a blinking effect on some panels and needless wear on all of them; the screen now refreshes after a delay or once the progress has moved enough to show.

• A position pushed by KOReader (e.g. a Kindle) now lands on the right page (fixes #46). KOReader and CrossInk will never compute the same book percentage — two engines, two ways of measuring the book — which is why the sync protocol also carries the position as an XPath. But the parser resolving an incoming XPath treated XML comments and declarations as elements that never close, so on some books the position silently fell back to a rough byte estimate, several pages off. The XPath now resolves properly, numeric character references are counted as a single character, and KOReader's flattened-text character offsets are accepted as such. For the same reason, the sync screen and Smart sync no longer rank the two sides by their raw percentages: both compare positions in local pages, and the remote line shows a percentage computed the same way as the local one, so the two numbers on screen can actually be compared.

• Progress sync in incremental indexing mode uploads real progress (fixes #45). Syncing the same book between two devices no longer shifts the reading position when indexing method is set to Incremental. Progress pushed to BookOrbit now uses the same estimated chapter total the page footer shows, and the position an upload carries is refined to the exact character, so two readers on the same passage now report the same progress no matter how their fonts, orientation or indexing settings paginate it. Full-section indexing was never affected.

• A BookOrbit sync on the X3/X4 no longer fails because of low memory (fixes #44). The sync now restarts the device first, the way KOReader sync does, so Wi-Fi starts from a fresh boot's memory, and the whole sync shares one connection, kept through the choice screen. The sync begins with a brief "Loading" flash and a silent restart: that is the fix working, on every device, and it also makes a sync a few seconds faster.

• The two-finger swipe settings no longer appear on the X3 and X4: four settings that could never do anything on button-only readers.

• Launching BookOrbit Sync from the Quick Actions menu or from the Home key now actually starts the sync instead of dropping you back to the book (fixes #41).

• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).

• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded (fixes #38).

• The sync choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).

• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.

• A BookOrbit sync no longer restarts the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). No reading session is lost: a queue that fails to upload is kept and retried on the next sync.

• The BookOrbit password is shown while you type it, and the web Settings page no longer sends the saved password back to the browser.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc6...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc7

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc6

Sixth release candidate for the X4 Pro, still based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-4. Thanks to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports, and to @getthething and @jmswangit for their reports.

See CrossInk's rc-4 notes for everything this RC inherits (frontlight schedules, pinch-to-resize and two-finger gestures, X4 Pro USB Drive, Quick Lock, and a long list of touch fixes).

Important

KOREADER SYNC IS GONE FROM THIS FORK. The reason is space, not preference: the latest CrossInk changes increased the firmware size, and with this fork's features added, the image no longer fits the available partition.

Dropping KOReader Sync is the best compromise, as this fork exists for users who specifically want to synchronize their reading progress with BookOrbit.

If you have KOReader credentials saved on the SD card, they remain untouched and unread, allowing you to switch back to CrossInk or CrossPoint seamlessly.

Important

SINCE RC4: THE X3/X4 BUILT-IN FONTS NO LONGER CARRY EMOJI, SYMBOL AND CJK FALLBACK GLYPHS. It is once again an attempt to make some space for the features delivered by this fork. Regular text in every supported language is untouched — what goes away is a small set of fallback glyphs (about fifty common emoji and some CJK characters) that was duplicated in all 32 built-in reading font variants. The S3 devices keep the complete fonts.

If you read books that use those glyphs, install your font from Settings > Manage Fonts: the downloadable fonts — including Bitter and Lexend Deca, the same families as the built-in ones — carry the full fallback coverage.

Every book re-paginates once on first open after this update, because the font identities change.

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• The Lyra and Lyra Extended home menus scroll by swiping on the X4 Pro and the Sticky (fixes #49). Those themes show seven menu rows at a time and turn the page by moving the selection past the last row, which is a button motion; on a touchscreen there was no way to reach the rows beyond the first page. On the Minimal and Dashboard themes, Settings is still a swipe down from the middle of the home screen.
• Smart sync (implements #42). A new Sync Behavior choice in the BookOrbit settings, on the device and in the web settings: Ask every time (the default — what every sync did until now) or Smart sync. Smart sync applies the server's progress or uploads yours without showing the choice screen, but only when the two sides tell the same story: the further position must also be the more recent one, judged against the last time this device synced the book. Equal positions just say "Already synced" and return to the book. A genuine conflict (both sides moved since your last sync), a first sync of a book, or a server that sends no dates still shows the choice screen.
• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). Wherever it is triggered from, it behaves like the power-button shortcut already did.
• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.
• The screens this fork adds are translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Dutch and Polish, each following the wording its language already uses for KOReader sync.

Fixed

• New in rc6 — two CrossInk readers on the same BookOrbit account are now referred to the server with dedicated identifiers (fixes #55). This issue only impacted people using several devices running with this firmware and syncing on the same server. Every CrossInk reader introduced itself to the server under the same identifier, and BookOrbit tells devices apart by that identifier alone — so a highlight synced from one reader was treated as deleted when the other synced the same book without it, with the same confusion over reading sessions, device retirement and progress resets. Each reader now identifies itself by its chip's factory address. After updating, a reader shows up as a new device in BookOrbit's device list beside its old crossink-device entry, which you can retire.
• New in rc6 — BookOrbit sync now behaves correctly with the Incremental indexing method (fixes #56). A position received from another device landed pages behind: the reader turned it into a page number from an estimate of the chapter's length and, since the chapter opens before its layout is finished, could not correct it.
• A highlight or bookmark now reaches BookOrbit on the very next sync, instead of on the one after (fixes #51). Its position in the book is determined the moment it is created. When it previously did not have enough memory, the position was quietly never recorded; the sync had nothing to send, and only the next sync actually sent the element.
• The download progress bar of the BookOrbit catalog no longer refreshes the screen on every step (fixes #48). It was repainted far too often, a blinking effect on some panels and needless wear on all of them; the screen now refreshes after a delay or once the progress has moved enough to show.
• A position pushed by KOReader (e.g. a Kindle) now lands on the right page (fixes #46). KOReader and CrossInk will never compute the same book percentage — two engines, two ways of measuring the book — which is why the sync protocol also carries the position as an XPath. But the parser resolving an incoming XPath treated XML comments and declarations as elements that never close, so on some books the position silently fell back to a rough byte estimate, several pages off. The XPath now resolves properly, numeric character references are counted as a single character, and KOReader's flattened-text character offsets are accepted as such. For the same reason, the sync screen and Smart sync no longer rank the two sides by their raw percentages: both compare positions in local pages, and the remote line shows a percentage computed the same way as the local one, so the two numbers on screen can actually be compared.
• Progress sync in incremental indexing mode uploads real progress (fixes #45). Syncing the same book between two devices no longer shifts the reading position when indexing method is set to Incremental. Progress pushed to BookOrbit now uses the same estimated chapter total the page footer shows, and the position an upload carries is refined to the exact character, so two readers on the same passage now report the same progress no matter how their fonts, orientation or indexing settings paginate it. Full-section indexing was never affected.
• A BookOrbit sync on the X3/X4 no longer fails because of low memory (fixes #44). The sync now restarts the device first, the way KOReader sync does, so Wi-Fi starts from a fresh boot's memory, and the whole sync shares one connection, kept through the choice screen. The sync begins with a brief "Loading" flash and a silent restart: that is the fix working, on every device, and it also makes a sync a few seconds faster.
• The two-finger swipe settings no longer appear on the X3 and X4: four settings that could never do anything on button-only readers.
• Launching BookOrbit Sync from the Quick Actions menu or from the Home key now actually starts the sync instead of dropping you back to the book (fixes #41).
• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).
• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded (fixes #38).
• The sync choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).
• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.
• A BookOrbit sync no longer restarts the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). No reading session is lost: a queue that fails to upload is kept and retried on the next sync.
• The BookOrbit password is shown while you type it, and the web Settings page no longer sends the saved password back to the browser.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc5...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc6

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc5

Fifth release candidate for the X4 Pro, still based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-4. Thanks to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports, and to @getthething and @jmswangit for the two reports fixed in this RC.

See CrossInk's rc-4 notes for everything this RC inherits (frontlight schedules, pinch-to-resize and two-finger gestures, X4 Pro USB Drive, Quick Lock, and a long list of touch fixes).

Important

KOREADER SYNC IS GONE FROM THIS FORK. The reason is space, not preference: the latest CrossInk changes increased the firmware size, and with this fork's features added, the image no longer fits the available partition.

Dropping KOReader Sync is the best compromise, as this fork exists for users who specifically want to synchronize their reading progress with BookOrbit.

If you have KOReader credentials saved on the SD card, they remain untouched and unread, allowing you to switch back to CrossInk or CrossPoint seamlessly.

Important

SINCE RC4: THE X3/X4 BUILT-IN FONTS NO LONGER CARRY EMOJI, SYMBOL AND CJK FALLBACK GLYPHS. It is once again an attempt to make some space for the features delivered by this fork. Regular text in every supported language is untouched — what goes away is a small set of fallback glyphs (about fifty common emoji and some CJK characters) that was duplicated in all 32 built-in reading font variants. The S3 devices keep the complete fonts.

If you read books that use those glyphs, install your font from Settings > Manage Fonts: the downloadable fonts — including Bitter and Lexend Deca, the same families as the built-in ones — carry the full fallback coverage.

Every book re-paginates once on first open after this update, because the font identities change.

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• New in rc5 — the Lyra and Lyra Extended home menus scroll by swiping on the X4 Pro and the Sticky (fixes #49). Those themes show seven menu rows at a time and turn the page by moving the selection past the last row, which is a button motion; on a touchscreen there was no way to reach the rows beyond the first page. On the Minimal and Dashboard themes, Settings is still a swipe down from the middle of the home screen.
• Smart sync (implements #42). A new Sync Behavior choice in the BookOrbit settings, on the device and in the web settings: Ask every time (the default — what every sync did until now) or Smart sync. Smart sync applies the server's progress or uploads yours without showing the choice screen, but only when the two sides tell the same story: the further position must also be the more recent one, judged against the last time this device synced the book. Equal positions just say "Already synced" and return to the book. A genuine conflict (both sides moved since your last sync), a first sync of a book, or a server that sends no dates still shows the choice screen.
• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). Wherever it is triggered from, it behaves like the power-button shortcut already did.
• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.
• The screens this fork adds are translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Dutch and Polish, each following the wording its language already uses for KOReader sync.

Fixed

• New in rc5 — a highlight or bookmark now reaches BookOrbit on the very next sync, instead of on the one after (fixes #51). Its position in the book is determined the moment it is created. When it previously did not have enough memory, the position was quietly never recorded; the sync had nothing to send, and only the next sync actually sent the element.
• New in rc5 — the download progress bar of the BookOrbit catalog no longer refreshes the screen on every step (fixes #48). It was repainted far too often, a blinking effect on some panels and needless wear on all of them; the screen now refreshes after a delay or once the progress has moved enough to show.
• A position pushed by KOReader (e.g. a Kindle) now lands on the right page (fixes #46). KOReader and CrossInk will never compute the same book percentage — two engines, two ways of measuring the book — which is why the sync protocol also carries the position as an XPath. But the parser resolving an incoming XPath treated XML comments and declarations as elements that never close, so on some books the position silently fell back to a rough byte estimate, several pages off. The XPath now resolves properly, numeric character references are counted as a single character, and KOReader's flattened-text character offsets are accepted as such. For the same reason, the sync screen and Smart sync no longer rank the two sides by their raw percentages: both compare positions in local pages, and the remote line shows a percentage computed the same way as the local one, so the two numbers on screen can actually be compared.
• Progress sync in incremental indexing mode uploads real progress (fixes #45). Syncing the same book between two devices no longer shifts the reading position when indexing method is set to Incremental. Progress pushed to BookOrbit now uses the same estimated chapter total the page footer shows, and the position an upload carries is refined to the exact character, so two readers on the same passage now report the same progress no matter how their fonts, orientation or indexing settings paginate it. Full-section indexing was never affected.
• A BookOrbit sync on the X3/X4 no longer fails because of low memory (fixes #44). The sync now restarts the device first, the way KOReader sync does, so Wi-Fi starts from a fresh boot's memory, and the whole sync shares one connection, kept through the choice screen. The sync begins with a brief "Loading" flash and a silent restart: that is the fix working, on every device, and it also makes a sync a few seconds faster.
• The two-finger swipe settings no longer appear on the X3 and X4: four settings that could never do anything on button-only readers.
• Launching BookOrbit Sync from the Quick Actions menu or from the Home key now actually starts the sync instead of dropping you back to the book (fixes #41).
• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).
• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded (fixes #38).
• The sync choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).
• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.
• A BookOrbit sync no longer restarts the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). No reading session is lost: a queue that fails to upload is kept and retried on the next sync.
• The BookOrbit password is shown while you type it, and the web Settings page no longer sends the saved password back to the browser.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc4...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc5

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc4

Fourth release candidate for the X4 Pro, now based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-4. Thanks again to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports.

See CrossInk's rc-4 notes for everything this RC inherits (frontlight schedules, pinch-to-resize and two-finger gestures, X4 Pro USB Drive, Quick Lock, and a long list of touch fixes).

Important

KOREADER SYNC IS GONE FROM THIS FORK. The reason is space, not preference: the latest CrossInk changes increased the firmware size, and with this fork's features added, the image no longer fits the available partition.

Dropping KOReader Sync is the best compromise, as this fork exists for users who specifically want to synchronize their reading progress with BookOrbit.

If you have KOReader credentials saved on the SD card, they remain untouched and unread, allowing you to switch back to CrossInk or CrossPoint seamlessly.

Important

NEW IN RC4: THE X3/X4 BUILT-IN FONTS NO LONGER CARRY EMOJI, SYMBOL AND CJK FALLBACK GLYPHS. It is once again an attempt to make some space for the features delivered by this fork. Regular text in every supported language is untouched — what goes away is a small set of fallback glyphs (about fifty common emoji and some CJK characters) that was duplicated in all 32 built-in reading font variants. The S3 devices keep the complete fonts.

If you read books that use those glyphs, install your font from Settings > Manage Fonts: the downloadable fonts — including Bitter and Lexend Deca, the same families as the built-in ones — carry the full fallback coverage.

Every book re-paginates once on first open after this update, because the font identities change.

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• Smart sync (implements #42). A new Sync Behavior choice in the BookOrbit settings, on the device and in the web settings: Ask every time (the default — what every sync did until now) or Smart sync. Smart sync applies the server's progress or uploads yours without showing the choice screen, but only when the two sides tell the same story: the further position must also be the more recent one, judged against the last time this device synced the book. Equal positions just say "Already synced" and return to the book. A genuine conflict (both sides moved since your last sync), a first sync of a book, or a server that sends no dates still shows the choice screen.
• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). Wherever it is triggered from, it behaves like the power-button shortcut already did.
• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.
• The screens this fork adds are translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Dutch and Polish, each following the wording its language already uses for KOReader sync. (Quietly shipped in rc3.)

Fixed

• New in rc4 — a position pushed by KOReader (e.g. a Kindle) now lands on the right page (fixes #46). KOReader and CrossInk will never compute the same book percentage — two engines, two ways of measuring the book — which is why the sync protocol also carries the position as an XPath. But the parser resolving an incoming XPath treated XML comments and declarations as elements that never close, so on come books the position silently fell back to a rough byte estimate, several pages off. The XPath should now resolve properly, numeric character references are counted as a single character, and KOReader's flattened-text character offsets are accepted as such. For the same reason, the sync screen and Smart sync no longer rank the two sides by their raw percentages, both now compare positions in local pages, and the remote line shows a percentage computed the same way as the local one, so the two numbers on screen can actually be compared.
• New in rc4 - progress sync in incremental indexing mode should upload real progress (fixes #45). Syncing the same book between two devices no longer shifts the reading position when indexing method is set to Incremental. Progress pushed to BookOrbit now uses the same estimated chapter total the page footer shows, and the position an upload carries is refined to the exact character, so two readers on the same passage now report the same progress no matter how their fonts, orientation or indexing settings paginate it. Full-section indexing was never affected.
• New in rc4 — a BookOrbit sync on the X3/X4 should no longer fail because of low memory (fixes #44). The sync now restarts the device first, the way KOReader sync does, so Wi-Fi starts from a fresh boot's memory and the whole sync shares one connection, kept through the choice screen. You will notice the sync now begins with a brief "Loading" flash and a silent restart: that is the fix working, on every device, and it also makes a sync (a few seconds) faster.
• New in rc4 — the two-finger swipe settings no longer appear on the X3 and X4: four settings that could never do anything on button-only readers.
• Launching BookOrbit Sync from the Quick Actions menu or from the Home key now actually starts the sync instead of dropping you back to the book (fixes #41).
• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).
• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded (fixes #38).
• The sync choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).
• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.
• A BookOrbit sync no longer restarts the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). No reading session is lost: a queue that fails to upload is kept and retried on the next sync.
• The BookOrbit password is shown while you type it, and the web Settings page no longer sends the saved password back to the browser.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc3...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc4

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc3

Third release candidate for the X4 Pro, now based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-3. Thanks again to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports. As stated in CrossInk's release notes:

I'd appreciate help verifying the following:

• All UI components are touch-friendly on X4 Pro/Sticky devices
• All Quick Action items launch as expected
• X3/X4 devices do not display any touch-only related UI elements
• Power + Up button combo shortcuts work as expected

See their notes for everything this RC inherits from CrossInk (frontlight schedules, pinch-to-resize and two-finger gestures, X4 Pro USB Drive, Quick Lock, and a long list of touch fixes).

Important

KOREADER SYNC IS GONE FROM THIS FORK. The reason is space, not preference: the latest CrossInk changes increased the firmware size, and with this fork's features added, the image no longer fits the available partition.

Dropping KOReader Sync is the best compromise, as this fork exists for users who specifically want to synchronize their reading progress with BookOrbit.

If you have KOReader credentials saved on the SD card, they remain untouched and unread, allowing you to switch back to CrossInk or CrossPoint seamlessly.

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• Smart sync (implements #42). A new Sync Behavior choice in the BookOrbit settings, on the device and in the web settings: Ask every time (the default — what every sync did until now) or Smart sync. Smart sync applies the server's progress or uploads yours without showing the choice screen, but only when the two sides tell the same story: the further position must also be the more recent one, judged against the last time this device synced the book. Equal positions just say "Already synced" and return to the book. A genuine conflict (both sides moved since your last sync), a first sync of a book, or a server that sends no dates still shows the choice screen.
• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). Wherever it is triggered from, it behaves like the power-button shortcut already did.
• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.

Fixed

• Launching BookOrbit Sync from the Quick Actions menu or from the Home key now actually starts the sync instead of dropping you back to the book (fixes #41).
• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).
• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded (fixes #38).
• The sync choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).
• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.
• A BookOrbit sync no longer restarts the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). No reading session is lost: a queue that fails to upload is kept and retried on the next sync.
• The BookOrbit password is shown while you type it, and the web Settings page no longer sends the saved password back to the browser.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc2...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc3

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc2

Second release candidate for the X4 Pro, now based on CrossInk v1.5.1-rc-2 and closing every BookOrbit issue reported against RC1. Thanks to @boop-kpy for the detailed X4 Pro reports.

The same verification requests as RC1 still stand — see CrossInk's release notes for the upstream checklist and for everything RC-2 brings on the CrossInk side (X4 Pro USB Drive, Power + Up shortcuts, Page Turn Gesture, Quick Lock, Wi-Fi password display, and a long list of touch fixes).

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• BookOrbit Sync can now be assigned to the Home button (tap, long press or double tap) and picked as a Quick Action (fixes #37). It behaves like the power-button shortcut already did: it syncs the book you have open, the last EPUB you opened when you are outside the reader, and opens the BookOrbit settings when there is no book to sync.
• A BookOrbit sync now shows what its reading-session upload is doing — a message, a count and a progress bar.
• The screens this fork adds are now translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Polish.

Fixed

• The BookOrbit Sync settings menu responds to touch (fixes #36).
• The BookOrbit catalog responds to touch: tap a line to open it, swipe to scroll — loading the next page when you reach the end of what is loaded, as the buttons already did (fixes #38).
• The sync behavior choice (Apply remote progress / Upload local progress) is now made of real buttons you can press, instead of highlighted text (fixes #38).
• The BookOrbit authentication screen has a back button in its title bar, so it can be left with a finger.
• A BookOrbit sync no longer crashes the device when a book has a long backlog of reading sessions waiting to be uploaded (fixes #39). The queue is now read and sent 25 sessions at a time. An upload that no longer fits reports a memory error and is retried on the next sync, and no reading session is lost.

Warning

If you had assigned BookOrbit Sync to the power button or to the long-press menu, you have to pick it again once after this update.

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not been able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc1...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc2

v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc1

First release candidate bringing support for the X4 Pro. As stated in CrossInk's release notes:

This release brings compatibility to the X4 Pro. I have plans for additional features and UI updates, but for now this is a working version for those waiting for Crossink support.

I'd appreciate help verifying the following:

• All UI components are touch-friendly on X4 Pro/Sticky devices
• All Quick Action items launch as expected
• X3/X4 devices do not display any touch-only related UI elements or settings

Installation

This is a release candidate so it should be installed from USB or SD firmware update. OTA updater will not provide access to this release.

New

• Full touch support for Xteink X4 Pro
• Please refer to CrossInk's release notes for more details about the other changes

Note

X4 Pro support introduced new actions / shortcuts so you will have to rebind the BookOrbit Sync action

Warning

Please note that I do not own a X4 Pro myself so I have not be able to test that everything works on those devices. I do not expect any major issue on the BookOrbit layer but we never know.

Full Changelog: v1.5.0+bookorbit.2...v1.5.1+bookorbit.1-rc1

v1.5.0+bookorbit.2

Summary

Second stable release of this fork built on CrossInk v1.5.0.

As stated in the CrossInk release notes:

This release should be SAFE for all known X3 and X4 variants.

Warning

This release is NOT compatible with the XTEINK X4 Pro — do not flash it on one. Upstream has announced X4 Pro support for a later release.

It brings everything upstream added in 1.5.0 — dictionary lookup, touch support for the Seeed Sticky, incremental indexing, nearby device-to-device file transfer, word spacing, and a long list of fixes — plus this fork's own features and fixes below. For the upstream half, see the CrossInk changelog and release notes.

Installing

This is a stable release, you should normally be able to install with Settings → System → Check for Updates on a device running this fork.

There is no tiny or xlarge variant anymore. CrossInk 1.5.0 reworked the build targets and those two no longer exist:

• If you were on the tiny build, you will get the default font size back — set it again in Settings.
• If you were on the xlarge build, download the font sizes you need from Inky and place them on your SD card in a .fonts or fonts folder.

What's Changed

• fix: return to the same BookOrbit catalog page after a download by @agosez in #31
• fix: reading session should be reliably sent on first BookOrbit sync by @agosez in #33

Full Changelog: v1.5.0+bookorbit.1...v1.5.0+bookorbit.2

v1.5.0+bookorbit.1

Summary

First stable release of this fork built on CrossInk v1.5.0.

As stated in the CrossInk release notes:

This release should be SAFE for all known X3 and X4 variants.

Warning

This release is NOT compatible with the XTEINK X4 Pro — do not flash it on one. Upstream has announced X4 Pro support for a later release.

It brings everything upstream added in 1.5.0 — dictionary lookup, touch support for the Seeed Sticky, incremental indexing, nearby device-to-device file transfer, word spacing, and a long list of fixes — plus this fork's own features and fixes below. For the upstream half, see the CrossInk changelog and release notes.

Installing

Warning

This is a stable release, you should normally be able to install with Settings → System → Check for Updates on a device running this fork will offer it over the air but an it seems that there is a bug preventing it.
PLEASE perform a MANUAL install over USB or update through SD CARD firmware update.

There is no tiny or xlarge variant anymore. CrossInk 1.5.0 reworked the build targets and those two no longer exist:

• If you were on the tiny build, you will get the default font size back — set it again in Settings.
• If you were on the xlarge build, download the font sizes you need from Inky and place them on your SD card in a .fonts or fonts folder.

New features

• Highlights now sync with BookOrbit, in both directions: highlights made on the device appear in the web reader at their exact position in the text, highlights created on the web are drawn in the book, and deletions propagate both ways. Highlights made before this release gain their sync identity progressively as you read. by @agosez in #16
• Bookmarks sync with BookOrbit the same way, in both directions, alongside highlights. by @agosez in #18
• The BookOrbit catalog browser now uses the device theme, scrolls through listings seamlessly instead of paging with "Previous/Next" entries, and keeps the session's listings in a cache so navigating back is instant. by @CaptainFrito and @agosez in #25

Fixed in this fork

• BookOrbit sync, statistics and the catalog work again against servers whose TLS certificate chain has grown — most Let's Encrypt hosts today. If your catalog stopped connecting on v1.4.1, this is the fix.
• Starting a sync no longer crashes when the time server's address is not yet known.
• Reopening a book returns to the page you left, instead of the one before it.

Security — please read before installing

BookOrbit connections can no longer confirm that the server answering is really yours.
Your credentials and reading data are still encrypted in transit; what is no longer checked is the identity at the other end. That matters on a network you do not control rather than your home WiFi.

The same limitation applies to the OPDS catalog since CrossInk 1.5.0, and has always applied to KOReader Sync. It will be lifted once the SDK exposes a certificate store to that transport — until then, sync from a network you trust.

Known issues

• Check your button shortcuts after updating. CrossInk added a Lookup Word action that took the slot this fork used for BookOrbit Sync, and shortcuts are stored as numbers. If you had a short Power press or a long press set to BookOrbit Sync, it will now be Lookup Word — set it back in Settings → Controls. Nothing else is affected.
• Highlights are only sent to BookOrbit by batches of 8 entries. If you have more to send you will have to perform several sync.
• Downgrading is lossy for long highlights: this release stores up to 2 KB of text per clipping (previously 512 bytes). An older firmware reading a book whose clippings file holds a longer one treats that file as corrupt and drops it.
• Battery drain in CrossPoint v1.5.0 has been reported by some users. Keep in mind that the battery percentage is an estimation and might not reflect correctly its current status. If you use the "Keep Clock While Asleep" feature battery might drain even faster.

What is most useful to report

• BookOrbit highlight and bookmark round-trips against your own server — especially deletions and highlights created on the web.
• The catalog browser's new scrolling on large libraries.
• Anything from CrossInk 1.5.0 you rely on, since this is the fork's first stable build on that base.

Full Changelog: v1.5.0-bookorbit.1-rc2...v1.5.0+bookorbit.1

v1.5.0-bookorbit.1-rc2

Summary

Second release candidate of this fork built on CrossInk v1.5.0-rc3.

As stated in the release note:

This RC version should have the fixes for all known X3 and X4 display variants.

Warning

This build does not bring support for the XTEINK X4 Pro

It brings several changes: everything upstream added in 1.5.0, and the fork's own features / fixes below. For the upstream half, see the CrossInk changelog.

Installing

Copy the firmware for your device over USB. Updating from the device will not offer this build: it is a pre-release, and the updater only follows stable releases.

There is no tiny or xlarge variant this time. CrossInk 1.5.0 reworked the build targets and those two no longer exist, so if you were running the tiny build you will get the default font size and will want to set it again in Settings.

New features

• Add highlights synchronization with BookOrbit by @agosez in #16

Fixed in this fork

• Reopening a book returns to the page you left, instead of the one before it.

Security — please read before installing

BookOrbit connections can no longer confirm that the server answering is really yours.
Your credentials and reading data are still encrypted in transit; what is no longer checked is the identity at the other end. That matters on a network you do not control rather than your home WiFi.

The same limitation applies to the OPDS catalog since CrossInk 1.5.0, and has always applied to KOReader Sync. It will be lifted once the SDK exposes a certificate store to that transport, until then, sync from a network you trust.

Known issues in this RC

Check your button shortcuts after updating. CrossInk added a Lookup Word action that took the slot this fork used for BookOrbit Sync, and shortcuts are stored as numbers. If you had a short Power press or a long press set to BookOrbit Sync, it will now be Lookup Word — set it back in Settings > Controls. Nothing else is affected, and there is no need to reset any other setting.

What is most useful to test

• Reopening books, especially chapters with full-page images, and after changing font or margins.
• BookOrbit highlights synchronization
• BookOrbit progress sync, statistics upload and browsing the catalog. And anything from CrossInk 1.5.0 you rely on since this is the first build of the fork on that base.

Full Changelog: v1.5.0-bookorbit.1-rc1...rc-1.5.0-bookorbit.2-193e820