The One with the Thoughts of Frans

KOReader 2024.11 “Slang”

21:32 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-2024-11-slangie

Some of you on Android may have had dictionary issues. That should be fixed now.

Connecting to Wi-Fi should be more reliable on platforms where we manage it ourselves, most notably Kobo (koreader/lj-wpaclient#11).

Color is now supported when reflowing (#12085).

This month’s logo was contributed by @Sonnenfee

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

New Contributors

Full Changelog: v2024.07...v2024.11 — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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KOReader 2024.07 “Outside”

18:27 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-sonnenfee-2024-07-outside

Bookmarks have been renamed to annotations to reflect that notes and bookmarks are two sides of the same coin.

A big thanks to @ezdiy and @benoit-pierre for taking on the major effort of updating MuPDF (#11940). Unfortunately or hopefully you won’t notice a thing, but some edge cases in PDF rendering have been fixed.

Likewise our gratitude to @Commodore64user for the many non-touch/keyboard focused improvements.

If you used the built-in update to try out a development version in the last week of June you might need to overwrite the install manually, see #12115.

This month’s logo was contributed by @Sonnenfee

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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KOReader 2024.04 “Sourdough”

22:04 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

As usual, there have been so many changes that it’s difficult to tell a coherent story about them. One of the more noticeable changes is that the sleep screen menu (formerly known as the screensaver menu) has been reworked (#11549). But there’s also been a lot of work on the backend, updating the build infrastructure and crengine.

This month’s logo was contributed by @Sonnenfee

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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Forwardport (reverse backport) Muon to Ubuntu 24.04

23:05 · Filed under Software

Apparently Muon was kicked out of Debian/Ubuntu for being inactive, but since it’ll take a while longer for bitrot to set in, for now a quick forwardport will suffice.

Muon is nice for quickly being able to select multiple things at once and it searches while you type. They’re just a few little UI conveniences. Synaptic is seemingly identical, but there you have to authenticate even before performing any actions, which makes it much more annoying to use.

dget -xu http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/m/muon/muon_5.8.0-2ubuntu1.dsc
cd muon-5.8.0
dch --local ~frenzie "forwardport"
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -sa
cd ..
sudo apt install ./muon_5.8.0-2ubuntu1~frenzie1_amd64.deb

For more info on how to backport packages, see this random search result.

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KOReader 2024.03 “Read ‘n Relax”

11:37 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

Sonnenfee - KOReader - 1000 x 852

The cover grid is now adjustable, allowing you to display more or fewer book covers at once (#11232).

In more technical news, the CSS pseudoclasses :is(), :where() and :not() are now supported (#11353), as well as a private syntax extension for matching text in user stylesheets (#11323). Also of note is the new HttpInspector plugin, that can be used to inspect KOReader internals while it’s running (#11457). This can be useful when the program is running on a device.

Last but not least, the user guide received a big update again by @offset-torque, full details here.

This month’s logo was contributed by @Sonnenfee

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

  • CoverBrowser: adjustable mosaic grid (#11232) @hius07
  • Reader: Do less work on same-orientation non-gyro rotations (#11297) @zwim
  • Input: Simplify input slot storage alloc (#11296) @NiLuJe
  • Fix missing diacritics on first row of Slovak keyboard layout (#11343) @sonix-github
  • OTAManager: Slightly less cryptic error on connectivity issues (#11341) @NiLuJe
  • Text selection: add option to disable corner scroll (#11327) @poire-z
  • Text selection: show top left icon when very-long-press delay reached (#11327) @poire-z
  • bump base: add cre.findAllText(), many 3rd party bumps (#11347) @poire-z
  • Fulltext search: all entries in entire document (#11313, #11388) @hius07
  • bump crengine: fix CSS cascade, support :is(), other fixes (#11353) @poire-z
  • ReaderStatus: Fix some more lifecycle issues in onEndOfBook (#11350) @NiLuJe
  • InputDialog: Don’t close the VirtualKeyboard when you tap inside a key’s border (#11350) @NiLuJe
  • reMarkable: More robust Wi-Fi scripts (#11287) @gbyl
  • Frontlight widget: add left button as close key on hasFewKeys devices (#11376) @a-ignatev
  • Virtual keyboard: add Scandinavian layouts (Norwegian, Swedish & Danish) (#11365) @cookiebit
  • TextBoxWidget: allow showing bits of text in bold (#11362) @poire-z
  • UI: Add a verbose debug logging checkbox next to “Report a bug” (#11366) @NiLuJe
  • PRSTux: Disable OTAs, since we actually stopped offering them a few years ago (#11395) @NiLuJe
  • Terminal: Clearer error message on prereq failures, and disable it (#11395) @NiLuJe
  • Text editor: refresh path on saving file (#11396) @hius07
  • CoverBrowser: use bookinfo cache in Classic mode (#11404) @hius07
  • PathChooser: fix calling Folder shortcuts (#11367) @hius07
  • Clear UI leftovers before doing an OTA-install, add unmovable to InfoMessage and ConfirmBox (#11412) @zwim
  • TextViewer: make find result bold (#11427) @hius07
  • CoverBrowser: do not call lfs on every item (#11449) @hius07
  • [i18n] ReaderSearch: add translation context to “All” button (#11352) @Frenzie
  • bump base: libjpeg-turbo, libpng, and other tweaks (fixes some PocketBook devices like PocketBook Basic 613) (#11462) @poire-z @NiLuJe
  • HttpInspector: new plugin for developers to inspect KOReader (#11457) @poire-z with thanks to @bneo99
  • bump crengine: text selection and footnotes fixes and tweaks (allows for single images in footnotes) (#11468) @poire-z
  • Style tweaks: add inpage foootnote classnames and a tweak (#11468) @poire-z
  • FileChooser: add new percent - unopened - 100% or complete sorting method (#11369, #11472) @hasezoey
  • Various pan zoom mode fixes (#11325, #11408, #11425) @hugleo
  • Kindle oasis has no ambient brightness sensor (#11456) @Hzj-jie
  • Alt status bar: custom metadata support (#11463) @hius07
  • VocabBuilder.koplugin: support batch operations in book filtering (#11475) @weijiuqiao
  • Wallabag: match text/html mimetype as starting with rather than exactly (#11492) @Frenzie
  • MenuSearch: open upper menu when needed only (#11495) @hius07

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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KOReader 2024.01 “Snowy Summit”

18:41 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-logo-2024-01-fs8

We wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2024!

Image credit for snowy mountains: Bing Dall-E

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

CommentsTags: ,

KOReaver 2023.10 “Ovis”

21:39 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-2023-10-sheep

Image credit: Bing Image Creator (Dall-E 3)

The user guide has had a big update. Included below is the full release announcement.

USER GUIDE 23.10 UPDATE

This is the biggest ever update to the guide. 2 years ago I started with the intention to make a simple how-to guide. With this release, user guide reached 60 A4 pages ! KOReader might be the best documented reader app now 🙂

Our guide is now a HTML document:
https://koreader.rocks/user_guide/

It was very tedious to recreate the PDF as a web page (especially considering that I had to learn CSS to do it).
But there are many benefits like:
– More frequent and real-time updates
– Better compatibility for smaller devices
– Ability to directly link to it in issues and discussions
– Possibility to be packed as an EPUB
– PDF sucks

Also I recently noticed that our color palette in the guide was not suitable for color blind people. Some important items were indistinguishable for color blind users so I updated the colors to provide nice contrast for them too. Also added icons and visual aids to make the text more accessible.

CHANGELOG

GUIDE CHANGES:

  • Recreated the guide in HTML
  • Updated the colors, fonts and styles to accomodate color blind users
  • Optimized all the images to make them as small as possible without degradation (Achieved ~50% reduction in size)

MAJOR CHANGES:

  • Fonts has its own section now
  • Quick Menu and Profiles has its own section now
  • Expanded Plugins section to include contrib and external plugins
  • Rewritten Highlighting, Bookmarks and Notes section
    • “Highlight icon” in the File Browser
    • Bookmarks: filter by highlight style
    • Multiple highlights and notes
  • Expanded Export section
    • Export multiple files
    • Export to clippings format
    • Export to memos format
    • See and choose export folder
  • Added Keyboard shortcuts section for non-touch devices and Linux
  • Added full list of actions that is available in Gesture Manager

ADDED INFO ABOUT:

  • Partial rendering
  • Translate current page
  • Scrolling modes
  • Creating a profile with current document settings
  • Open with: Archive viewer
  • Open with: Image viewer
  • Patch manager
  • Menu search
  • Location history
  • Setting to turn off flashing on pages with images
  • Ability to change statistics calculation time
  • Clearing PDF cache
  • Switching the style to HTML5 to fix some problems
  • Toggle status bar via gestures or Quick Menu
  • Scrollable Quick Menu
  • “Move to archive” availability in Gesture Manager
  • Custom book cover setting
  • Using “Exit screensaver” gesture as a pseudo lock screen
  • Tap on time to show date
  • Verbose logs procedure in How to report problems section

UPDATED IMAGES:

  • File Browser
  • Skim widget
  • Book map menu

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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KOReader 2023.08 “Lavender”

18:34 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-2023-08

Which plant bravely withstood the drought and now the wetness? Lavender of course! You can eat them too.

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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KOReader 2023.06 “Hydrangea”

9:04 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-2023-06-hydrangea-fs8

Hydrangea seems to be the common English name for what I know as the hortensia. They’re quite pretty this month, with bumblebees buzzing all around.

This will be the final release to support Android 4.0 – Android 4.2, after which support for those versions will be removed. The new minimum supported version will be Jelly Bean MR2 (API18/Android 4.3). For more information see #10614.

Image credit: amilo (source)

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

CommentsTags: ,

KOReader 2023.05 “Azalea”

22:01 · Filed under Software

As one of the maintainers of KOReader, a versatile a document and image viewer, I’m proud to announce the latest release.

koreader-2023-05-azalea

This is neat. The FSF published an interview with me about KOReader. You can read it here.

Like any human I’m a bag of contradictions. I often studiously upload the correct cover to LibraryThing, yet in KOReader I’m perfectly satisfied with auto-generated covers if the metadata doesn’t specify any. But if you’re not, and you don’t want to edit the file itself, you can now set custom covers right within KOReader (#10329). A custom cover can be added or removed in the program through the book information page, or you can put a cover image in the .sdr folder manually.

Of course there are many other improvements. Enjoy!

Image credit: adapted from Bilder ur Nordens flora.

We’d like to thank all contributors for their efforts. Some highlights since the previous release include:

Full changelog — closed milestone issues

Installation instructions: Android • Cervantes • ChromeOS • Kindle • Kobo • PocketBook • ReMarkable • Desktop Linux • MacOS

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