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Forum: Support
Last Post: Benedict H
09-16-2023, 07:31 AM
» Replies: 4
» Views: 186
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Mobi dll crashing in late...
Forum: Support
Last Post: Redmound
09-15-2023, 03:50 PM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 67
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HOW TO: Synchronise readi...
Forum: Support
Last Post: Jan Vandromme
09-04-2023, 09:59 AM
» Replies: 20
» Views: 22,927
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Progress/position saving ...
Forum: Support
Last Post: lwx
08-29-2023, 02:49 PM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 217
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Version 5.0 - circles dis...
Forum: Support
Last Post: Michael
08-25-2023, 04:33 PM
» Replies: 7
» Views: 616
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Display Tools with Touch ...
Forum: Support
Last Post: vousgarde
08-25-2023, 10:35 AM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 264
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Change Log v5.00
Forum: Discussion
Last Post: jim_chapman
08-17-2023, 06:21 PM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 127
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Freda and Privacy: (Updat...
Forum: Discussion
Last Post: jim_chapman
08-17-2023, 05:37 PM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 113
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Cycle through highlights ...
Forum: Suggestions
Last Post: fredaz
08-16-2023, 05:46 PM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 140
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Change Log v4.41
Forum: Discussion
Last Post: jim_chapman
08-08-2023, 10:38 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 124
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Mobi dll crashing in latest update |
Posted by: Redmound - 09-14-2023, 05:37 PM - Forum: Support
- Replies (2)
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Longtime user on a windows tablet...and yes I have seen some very odd advertisements over the years.
At first I was not happy with the V5 update.... but now that I have read why you did it I find it commendable.
After first launch I had to set things up again and I noticed two things:
1). There was an issue after tablet reboot (update) that Freda lost the last page you were on. It did not used to do that, I think someone else has also mentioned that.
2). Page turning has changed... and I often see the page swipe as if it turned, only to find it is still on the same page.
Most recent update was within the last week and a new issue has developed. The DLL for MOBI is crashing during the opening of a Mobi format book, leaving FREDA in an uncertain state. This did not occur in the first update to V5 as I was reading the same mobi encoded book then.
Of course I had a MOBI encoded book open at the time of update, which cause confusion and I tried reinstalling and other remedies. I just converted the book to EPUB (elsewhere) and things work fine.
So the error has a very long name of a DLL (with mobi in it)...that is not recognized as a program (or corrupt). Freda itself does not crash, but becomes unresponsive.
Unfortunately, for me my tablet is Win10 32bit which is the source of the issue. Just thought I would let you know.
cheers,
rdl
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Progress/position saving issues |
Posted by: lwx - 08-28-2023, 11:58 PM - Forum: Support
- Replies (2)
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Hello! Long(ish) time user, first time poster. First of all, thank you for such a wonderful app, I truly appreciate how customizable it is in every aspect and it has been of great use as I've gotten back into reading the past couple of years.
I got the v5 update a couple of days ago and since then I've noticed an issue I didn't have before, and I'm wondering if there's some setting I'm missing or if there's some kind of glitch to work around. In case it's relevant, I use the app on Windows 10, on a single device, and thus never connected the app with OneDrive as all the files I use are local. Most, if not all, of the files I use are .epub.
The issue I've been having since the update is that whenever I try to open a file, it opens from the first page regardless of what my position was the last time I used it. The progress is saved every time I open a book, but on a different "version" of the file that I can access from the bookshelf view, which has hilariously led to there being about 10 different copies of the same book at different progress percentages on the shelf (including multiple 0% ones) as I kept trying to figure out what was going on.
I tried looking through the settings but didn't find anything that seems related, so I would really appreciate any guidance. How can I make it so that opening a file automatically loads it on the last progress position?
I hope my explanation wasn't too messy. Thank you so much in advanced and thanks once again for such a useful and accessible app!
Hope you all have a lovely week!
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Display Tools with Touch While in Reading View |
Posted by: vousgarde - 08-25-2023, 09:30 AM - Forum: Support
- Replies (2)
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Hello,
I am using a Microsoft Surface as a reading device and until the last update, holding my finger anywhere on the screen while reading would let me display every settings that was available while reading (return button, chapters, settings, how far I am in my book, etc.).
Now, I can't. I have tried holding and tapping with two fingers but the only way I found that involved touch was by adding the action specifically in the touch controls.
So, how do I bring back the old behaviour? Or, surely there is a *very* good reason for this to be gone? Otherwise, it would be nice to have this be brought back in the next update.
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Change Log v5.00 |
Posted by: jim_chapman - 08-17-2023, 06:21 PM - Forum: Discussion
- No Replies
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The major update to version 5 is now live, and being progressively distributed to Windows and Android users.
Changes include:
- Application settings have been overhauled and rationalised, introducing a broad class of settings that allow you to tell the app to extract a value from the book file if provided (with a default if not) or else to override the value from the book with some specific value.
- Other settings have been renamed or removed, where this makes sense.
- Legacy mode rendering is removed (but an option is offered to instruct the renderer to use a simplified layout if you need it).
- Popup ribbons, menus and dialogs now have ‘drag handles’ so you can move them around the screen. The ‘read aloud’ (etc.) ribbon has been redesigned.
- Reading page UI has been improved, adding a ‘magnifying glass’ for selected text, and offering additional options for text scrolling and page turning.
- There is an ‘accessible menu’ mode, in which the book navigation (etc.) tasks can be done using a single menu, and the ribbons are disabled. The other app pages use a page-level app bar menu for their various tasks.
- Book synchronisation is entirely reworked, allowing you to tell the app to continuously synchronise reading position, library contents, book sources, bookmarks etc. across multiple devices – or to perform such synchronisation on demand if you prefer.
- Hyphenation now uses proper hyphenation rules (selected according to the language of the book).
- CODE and PRE content is now handled more accurately, so that whitespace doesn’t get accidently skipped or wrongly added.
After the update, Freda will display a ‘first run’ popup, and will offer to load your old (version 4) Freda content – this is optional, and if you choose not to load it, Freda will discard the old content, and re-initialise its bookshelf, settings and book sources. If you do wish to keep your existing Freda content, please be sure to complete this ‘first run’ task when prompted. If you should, subsequently, want to go through the 'first run' process again, it's available as an option on the 'support' menu.
Impact on the Freda+ app:
For historical reasons, there is a paid-for Freda app (called Freda+) on the Microsoft Store. That’s not going to be upgraded to version 5, so if you’ve already bought it on the Store, you can continue to use it for as long as you want, though it will not receive further updates and will eventually become obsolete. If you’re using Freda+ at the moment you should NOT remove it from your device(s), even if you decide to install the new Freda version 5 app. This is because right now, the Freda app will be unable to recognise the past purchase of Freda+, and it will therefore disable the premium features package. Within a few weeks, a new capability will be added to Freda (and the old Freda+ app) to connect to the Freda licence server, so as to allow existing users of Freda+ to use Freda's premium features without having to pay for them again - but this capability will not work if Freda+ is no longer installed on any of your devices.
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Freda and Privacy: (Update for Freda version 5) |
Posted by: jim_chapman - 08-17-2023, 05:37 PM - Forum: Discussion
- No Replies
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Up until now (August 2023) Freda has been advertising supported. For me, as the app’s author this has become increasingly troublesome:
- Back in the day, on-line advertising worked like TV and billboard advertising, the business model being ‘I rent out some display space, and in that space the advertiser shows an appealing product description, which may induce the viewer to buy their product’.
- But that has morphed, over the years, into something much more objectionable – these days it isn’t really ‘advertising’ at all, as I used to understand the word; rather, the app is becoming a conduit for the harvesting and correlating of personal data, for purposes that we mere netizens cannot understand but would probably disapprove of if we did understand them.
- Assorted initiatives (GDPR for instance) have tried to restrict this data harvesting (or at least make sure it happens only with the subject’s consent) but mainly what they’ve achieved is to make the process more cumbersome, without really making it any less insidious.
So I’ve finally had enough of all that. Freda is no longer advertising supported. The app won’t participate in the harvesting and selling of your personal data to anyone. Instead, Freda is now freemium/nagware: you can use Freda free of charge for as long as you like, and all that will happen is that you see occasional nagging messages, and certain features are restricted. In the current release, the restrictions are:
- You can’t create more than ten bookmarks or highlights in one day
- The read-aloud function will stop at the end of each chapter
- Automatic sync of book position and other details from one device to another will not be available.
To remove these restrictions, you can buy the ‘premium features’ package. At present, Freda is available only from the app stores (Microsoft Store and Google Play, with Apple App Store coming soon). The ‘premium features’ package will be available as an in-app purchase item in these stores.
Within the next few months, I will release a version of the app that’s designed for side-loading – so you can just download an installation file (APK, MSIX or whatever) from Turnipsoft’s website and install it yourself, without using an app store at all. Licencing for such a Freda setup will be managed via a licence server running on the Azure cloud. To buy the ‘premium features’ licence for this kind of installation, you’ll need to sign in to OneDrive using Freda, and make a PayPal payment to Turnipsoft. The OneDrive sign-in is needed to give me a verified email address for the person who bought the licence and – if you should lose or re-install Freda – we can grant you the licence again without you having to pay for it. One payment (whether on an app store, or via PayPal) will allow you to use Freda on multiple devices (the limit will be about ten devices).
From a privacy perspective, your options will be:
- If you’re OK to share your personal details with an app store operator (Microsoft/Google/Apple): download Freda from the app store, and buy the premium features’ add on if you wish.
- If you don’t want to share personal data with an app store operator: download the Freda installer from Turnipsoft’s website.
- If you’re willing to share personal data (your OneDrive user name / email) with Turnipsoft, then you can acquire a Freda ‘premium features’ licence, and share it between your devices, by paying me for it (either using PayPal, or via an app store).
- If you don’t want to share personal data at all, you can still use Freda, but you won’t be able to use the premium features.
What about existing users of the old (version 4) Freda?
If you’ve been using the old version of Freda for a while, the upgrade process will notice this fact, and will grant you a licence to use the premium features without making any payment. My reasoning: you’ve already ‘paid’ me by putting up with advertising for some time; it wouldn’t be right to make you pay again. Note that very recent installations of Freda version 4 will not benefit from this concession, unless you’ve actually paid for the ’no advertising’ feature.
What about existing users of the old (version 4) Freda+ app?
For historical reasons, there is a paid-for Freda app (called Freda+) on the Microsoft Store. That’s not going to be upgraded to version 5, so if you’ve already bought it on the Store, you can continue to use it for as long as you want, though it will not receive further updates and will eventually become obsolete. If you’re using Freda+ at the moment you should NOT remove it from your device(s), even if you decide to install the new Freda version 5 app. This is because right now, the Freda app will be unable to recognise the past purchase of Freda+, and it will therefore disable the premium features package. Within a few weeks, a new capability will be added to Freda (and the old Freda+ app) to connect to the Freda licence server, so as to allow existing users of Freda+ to use Freda's premium features without having to pay for them again - but this capability will not work if Freda+ is no longer installed on any of your devices.
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Cycle through highlights in a book |
Posted by: fredaz - 08-15-2023, 02:48 PM - Forum: Suggestions
- Replies (2)
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Hi,
Thanks for Freda. It is wonderful and i use it a lot. I like to highlight sentences and revisit them later. Is there a way to cycle through highlights? As in, go to next or previous highlight.
If not, could you please considering supporting it?
Thank You
fredaz
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Change Log v4.41 |
Posted by: jim_chapman - 08-08-2023, 10:38 AM - Forum: Discussion
- No Replies
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- Minor bug fixes and updates to the versions of some third party libraries
- Changes to support the imminent update to Freda version 5
Freda will be updated to version 5 in the coming days.
After the update, Freda will display a ‘first run’ popup, and will offer to load your old (version 4) Freda content – this is optional, and if you choose not to load it, Freda will discard the old content, and re-initialise its bookshelf, settings and book sources. If you do wish to keep your existing Freda content, please be sure to complete this ‘first run’ task when prompted.
Additionally, to reduce the risk of problems you may: (1) using Freda’s backup function, make a backup of your bookshelf and other Freda content to your OneDrive (2) in addition, if you have bookmarks that are important to you, open each book that contains bookmarks, view the bookmark list for that book and then close it again.
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