# Duokan comments/discussion - COMBINED thread



## s0nicfreak

Why isn't there more talk about this?! (We are allowed to talk about it here, right? I mean we talk about the screensaver and font hacks...) I just discovered this yesterday. Now PDFs are actually readable, and ePubs work!

http://flip.netzbeben.de/2010/11/duokan-available-with-english-gui-today/

Does anyone know if library books work? I tried to find out, but my library card is expired and I don't have an ID with a current address to renew it  I don't want to bother renewing the ID and then renewing the library card if they don't...


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## kansaskyle

Adding an alternate OS is a bit more drastic than the screensaver hacks.  I'm guessing folks are leery of taking that big a leap to read ePub and better looking PDF files.

Have you tried it yet?


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## s0nicfreak

Yes, I have tried it, and it is _awesome_. I can now read some PDFs that converting with calibre didn't make readable, and some epubs that for some reason would not convert. Although I can see how adding an alternate OS can be scary, just a restart allows you to switch between the normal OS and Duokan, and Duokan is easily removable. Installing it was pretty much the same as installing the screensaver hack - I put some files on the Kindle, went to "update your Kindle," and I was done.


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## ice-9

I am also curious whether or not this alternate OS will work with library books.  I would PM you my library card information so you could try it out on your Kindle, but I apparently have some sort of problem with my login at the moment that I'll have to work out with library staff.

So, anybody tried Duokan with library books?  Especially Overdrive?


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## NogDog

It may also be further outside the terms of use, and therefore at best may void your warranty. (To date Amazon has not made any fuss I've heard of over the screen-saver or font hacks, but I do not know if they would be as lenient about this -- then again they may be.)


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

I tried this out on my "spare" K2 this evening, and it seems to work. It has somewhat unpredictable results, i.e., some ePub books had irregular line breaks that don't show up on my ePub reader (iPad).

Also, I can’t get it to go into USB mode when using the Duokan OS, I have to switch back to the Kindle OS to do that. Fortunately, switching back and forth is relatively painless, albeit taking a minute or so.

If they get the bugs out of it, it will be pretty impressive.

Mike


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## Ann in Arlington

I'm with NogDog on this one. . . .it's probably against terms of service so if YOU screw something up, they'll likely not replace the Kindle. Something to consider seriously when considering this dual boot "hack".

Remember, this still doesn't mean that you are permitted to break DRM on books.  (And we _still_ don't allow discussions of or links to how to do that.  )

But it does speak well for the possibility, in the future, for "one EReader to rule them all". . . . .with the ability to utilize all formats.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

In my case, if it bricked the K2, it's not that much of a loss, considering how inexpensive the K3 is.  

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it, and it will likely get removed soon. It's not ready for actual use yet. I ended up with two book titles on the Home page for every book I transferred to it. One would have an author listed, the other not. The one with the author listed would open, the other would not. Plus it seems to have only one font (a particularly unattractive sans serif), although I may have missed any option for others.

I think I will still end up with a separate eInk reader for ePubs at some point, though.

Mike


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## s0nicfreak

I don't remember exactly how to do it right now, but there is an option to change fonts.


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## s0nicfreak

A new version was released that improved PDFs and made some other improvements!

jmiked, to change the font press the AA button, then go down to EN: [font currently in use], click it and a list of fonts will show up.


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## makkumatr

I mentioned this in another thread, but doing this helped me read PDFs as well as I am able to read the mobi books.
- Install OpenOffice on your computer
- Copy,paste the entire contents of the original PDF into OpenOffice Writer
- Increase font size of the content
- Export to PDF using the Menu option
- Load new PDF to Kindle

I tried it on some books and it renders the new PDF as well as anything else.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

s0nicfreak said:


> A new version was released that improved PDFs and made some other improvements!


Did they fix the problem of every book showing up twice? Or was I the only person that had that happen? 

Mike


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## mmlife

Fantastic OS.  I downloaded it to my DXG and now I can play my Vietnamese language course and read the accompanying text at the same time, as the MP3 player can be opened/closed with the PDF open. MP3 player is sooo much better. I can also goto pages without holding the alt key to access the numerals. Much better overall user interface. This turns my kindle into the language machine I was hoping for. Amazon should be a little embarassed by this I think.

Regards

Michael


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## mmlife

and it has bookmarks for PDF's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards

Michael


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## ice-9

The big question for me still is can you use a Kindle with Duokan to check out library books.

This was the ONLY advantage I saw of the other e-readers over Kindle, and if my Kindle had this ability I would consider it very close to perfect.

So, anyone try library books on Duokan?


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## s0nicfreak

jmiked said:


> Did they fix the problem of every book showing up twice? Or was I the only person that had that happen?
> Mike


Although I have heard of a couple of other people having this problem, it has never happened to me, so I am not sure.



> The big question for me still is can you use a Kindle with Duokan to check out library books.
> 
> This was the ONLY advantage I saw of the other e-readers over Kindle, and if my Kindle had this ability I would consider it very close to perfect.


This is my exact view  so I too am hoping to find out if they work!


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## Tabatha

There is also a thread for this at Mobiread forums:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105316


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## ice-9

Thanks for the link Tabitha!

Unfortunately, I found this in that thread:



montalex said:


> DRMed ePubs, library or otherwise, are not going to work on Duokan, because you won't be able to register the device, I believe.


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## duoxi

jmiked said:


> Did they fix the problem of every book showing up twice? Or was I the only person that had that happen?


Go to the settings menu. There is an option to use the original Kindle documents folder, in addition to the DK_Documents folder. If you turn this option on, and you have made a copy of the items in the documents folder, then you will see each book twice (once from each folder). If you did this, either don't use both folders, or put only one copy of each book on the device.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

duoxi said:


> Go to the settings menu. There is an option to use the original Kindle documents folder, in addition to the DK_Documents folder. If you turn this option on, and you have made a copy of the items in the documents folder, then you will see each book twice (once from each folder). If you did this, either don't use both folders, or put only one copy of each book on the device.


I don't see any option to use any folders; I do see an option to Use Kindle Lists Yes/No. Is this it? It is set to "No".

Thanks.

Mike


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## NightGoat

I have tried to apply this to my DXG several times, following the instructions, only the update fails. I even tried after a factory reset. 

Could firmware 2.5.7 be the issue?


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## Drew93

The Duokan firmware goes on the firmware 3.2.1? because i try to install it...the update goes but when it restart load the original firmware... sorry for the bad english xD


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## Betsy the Quilter

Hi, Drew93, I've merged this with our existing thread on Duokan as there might already be some answers for you in that thread.

Betsy
KB Moderator


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## s0nicfreak

Unfortunately it looks like they changed something in 3.2.1 which no longer allows unofficial things to be installed in the method that was used previously. But another exploit has been found, so I would expect that before long a 3.2.1 compatible Duokan update will be released.


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## duokan

What is Duokan?

Its an alternative OS for the Kindle developed by a Chinese team. It's also available on Kindle2/Kindle DX/Kindle DXG. It's free for non-commercial use. It doesn't overwrite the official system in Kindle, but works as a secondary system. After installation, there's a boot menu where you can select from Duokan or the official system by pressing 1 or 2 ("Q" and "W" on a Kindle 3). Duokan improves on the compatiblity with Chinese characters of the K3, along other key features. It has a new PDF reader which provides full-screen reading, cropping the white margin and better support of two/four-column papers. Duokan can also do partial screen refreshes which is faster when switching pages compared with the default black screen refresh used in the original system. Users report that Duokan works better with comics and some complicated PDF files.
Adapted from: http://www.duokan.com/forum/thread-4688-4-1.html

What are the principal benefits of using Duokan's OS?
More filetypes supported
Clear, crisp layout
More customizable
Better PDF reader
Better dictionary support
Decent MP3 player
Fine control of fonts and margins
Lots of shortcut keys
Folders (which can be easily organised)

What does Duokan mean?
"Read More". Note: When using Google Translate to read website www.duokan.com Duokan is translated as "see more" and "look at" means read me as in readme file.

How is it installed?
Note: Jailbreak is NOT required
Download Duokan from http://www.duokan.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=272&extra=page%3D1 or Flip's English site (which also has good instructions).
Open compressed file eg with 7-Zip
Copy the three folders starting DK to your Kindle's root folder.
Copy the relevant bin for your Kindle to the root folder (see list below).
In the Kindle's settings menu select "Update your Kindle"
When Duokan splash screen appears press Q
Kindle will boot in to Chinese
Press Menu key and select spanner icon (settings)
Go down to 3rd screen and press D to change language
Select English
(On Kindle 2 you might see no letters but numbers. So press Menu, then 0 (settings), page 3, select 3 (Language), then select 2 (English))

Is there a browser?
No. There is a basic book find that connects to various sites though which works via wifi only. There is no support for 3G at present although its being worked on.

How can I use the bookstore feature?
TBA

How can I edit the English translations?
Try editing DK_System\system\Profiles\FontInfo_yw.txt (Note: not all text strings can be altered using this file)

Can I still enter terminal commands?
TBA

Where are my existing files?!?!
To see your ebooks from your original installation to Duokan go to Settings, page 3, select "F. Support old system" and confirm. You can also copy some ebooks to your DK_Documents folder to use them only in Duokan eg I put Word docs and ePub books in here.

What formats can Duokan read?
TXT
PDF
EPUB
MOBI
DJVU
ZIP
DOC
CHM (but NOT HTML files at present)
Image formats:
BMP
PNG
JPG/JPEG
GIF
TIFF
Audio formats:
MP3

Which Kindle do I have?
To find your serial number look in "Settings". The serial number prefixes are:
B001 = Kindle 1
B002 = Kindle 2 U.S.
B003 = Kindle 2 international version
B008 = Kindle 3 WIFI version
B006 = Kindle 3 3G + WIFI U.S. version
B00A = Kindle 3 3G + WIFI European version
B004 = Kindle DX U.S.
B005 = Kindle DX international version
B009 = Kindle DXG

Does installing Duokan affect the Kindle's software?
No. Duokan is independent of the original system, when you start the Kindle you can choose to boot .

How do I un-install?
Delete the folders starting DK and reboot the Kindle.

Will an Amazon firmaware upgrade affect Duokan?
No, you can upgrade the original system Kindle without issues.

How to get the MP3 player working?
Create DK_Music folder at same level as DK_Documents (may require Kindle reboot to see files).
ALT M pops-up the music player. 
Aa key switches between control via playlist or 5-way controller.
Repeat and random modes are supported.

How to return to USB mode without unplgging/plugging in USB lead?
TBA

Screensavers?
Add them to DK_System/Savers/
In 2nd page of System Settings, press "7" key to set "screen saver image settings" to "Custom Folder". Note on sizes (6-inch screen: 800x600; 9.7-inch screen: 1200x824 resolution)

Dictionaries?
Download one of the StarDict dictionary files 
http://reciteword.cosoft.org.cn/star...c/freedict.de/ - are all a bilingual
http://reciteword.cosoft.org.cn/star...-dic/dict.org/ - English dictionaries and thesurus plus other specialist English dictionaries.
http://stardict.sourceforge.net

Where can I find more StarDict download links?
http://reciteword.cosoft.org.cn/stardict-iso/stardict-dic

How do I install a StarDict dictionary file?
Download a StarDict format dictionary from one of the above sites
Extract three files with the following suffixes (using 7-Zip): dz, idx, ifo
The file ending dz is also compressed file so extract open it (again with 7-Zip or similar program)
Now we have four files: Dz Idx Ifo Dict.
Copy the idx, ifo, and dict files to DK_System\system\dict\
Multiple dictionaries can be installed

How do I look up a word?
1st install a dictionary! 
To invoke the dictionary interface do one of the following:
Press MENU and select Dictionary
In a pdf (non-text mode) press any letter to open dictionary.
TXT, EPUB, CHM, and PDF (in text mode): press MENU and select "Find. Dictionary. Notes" -> in the pop-up input box to find the word, and then select "Search dictionary."

TTS Voices?
Apparently you can get a better US female voice using this file: http://sourceforge.net/projects/star...pleTTS.tar.bz2
Extract the WyabdcRealPeopleTTS folder and copy to the Kindle's DK_System\system\dict\

Screenshot?
shift + Alt + G to save. 
Where is this saved to?
TBA

Screen wipe/refresh?
When the screen is blurred or ghosted you can force a full refresh pressing the Enter key

Is there a shortcut list?
Registered users can view the shortcut image chart in this FAQ. There's lots more great info but you'll need Google Translate to help your make sense of it all!

Where can I learn more?

Thank *Polvo* for sorting out date and details!


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## duokan

up!


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## lilytolucy

duokan said:


> up!


I know duokan,it's famous in China.It helped for reading Chinese.


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## Elk

Some also find it helpful for reading PDF files.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

I've been trying each new version on my K2 since around last December and found it wanting.

The fonts are ugly, I get tired of having multiple entries for books in the home page (some of which will open books, some won't).

It also doesn't help that the directories and file names in the installation package are not labeled so you know what they are, or that there are no English instructions included (that I could find). It just looks like a half-hearted attempt to make the English-language version.

It's just easier to run the ePub books through Calibre and read the mobi version. Particularly in light of the fact that in three years of using Kindle, I've one gotten two books that were not available in mobi format. ePub seems hardly worth it.

I'm not downplaying the technical achievement, which is considerable. The authors just need to spend a little time cleaning things up if they want a general audience to use the program.

Mike


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## Martel47

I really want this to try some added PDF capabilities on my KDX, but it won't install.

Yes, I've copied all 3 DK prefixed folders, yes I've copied the appropriate bin file (not the folder) to the root menu.  Update is still grayed out.

I agree that the English-language conversion just for the install leaves something to be desired, but thanks for all the work anyway!  I'm sure it will get there.


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## Tinderbox (UK)

I have had Doukan on my DX-G for a couple of month`s and it works great, no more having to convert epub`s to mobi


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## duokan

Tinderbox (UK) said:


> I have had Doukan on my DX-G for a couple of month`s and it works great, no more having to convert epub`s to mobi


And now DUOKAN developed the Lite style,you can also download them from this link:http://www.duokan.com/forum/thread-16541-1-1.html


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## Guest

My biggest problem was with load times. I have a couple book files that are over a couple megs each and duokan took forever to load them into memory. I had to wait until it was fully loaded in order search or use the table of contents links. Otherwise, I liked the look (except the fonts) and number of options in settings.


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## NightGoat

I had Duokan on my DXG for about a week. There's just something about the UI that I just didn't like. If the later versions are cleaned up a bit, I'll give it another shot.


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## duokan

NightGoat said:


> I had Duokan on my DXG for about a week. There's just something about the UI that I just didn't like. If the later versions are cleaned up a bit, I'll give it another shot.


Now,DUOKAN have developed the Lite style,about its feature,you can look below:
"DUOKAN lite" introduced this time is anther reading software launched by DUOKAN, which is only suitable for users of Kindle 3.

Compared with the present DUOKAN software, "Read More lite" has newly design of structure plan at functional level, resource deployment of system and functions and interaction of software interface and so on.

"DUOKAN lite" still keeps the basic reading functions, considering the expansibility of software. The design of multi-format support and other functions which net-friends concern most will be released in the form of plug-in in the related section regularly. (The first edition of "DUOKAN lite" only support TXT format,and now the PDF format can also be supported; other formats will be provided with the regular upgrade.)

The main characters are as following:
1. System function: quicker, steadier, less electricity cost
2. User experience: new design of ue and is; concise format and reasonable operation.
3. Product function: book search based on the internet with more resources and more reasonable results.

You can also update your DXG from www.duokan.com


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## duokan

NightGoat said:


> I have tried to apply this to my DXG several times, following the instructions, only the update fails. I even tried after a factory reset.
> 
> Could firmware 2.5.7 be the issue?


You can download the file at www.duokan.com


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## duokan

Z.D. Robinson said:


> My biggest problem was with load times. I have a couple book files that are over a couple megs each and duokan took forever to load them into memory. I had to wait until it was fully loaded in order search or use the table of contents links. Otherwise, I liked the look (except the fonts) and number of options in settings.


You can use the DUOKAN Lite style, it doesn't remember your read page


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## Tinderbox (UK)

If you have duokan on your kindle and you break the screen or your kindle is non-responsive , how do you remove duokan before you return your kindle for repair/replacement, as doesn't having doukan on your kindle invalidate your warranty, I paid £280 for my DXG and it`s a lot of money to risk.


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## s0nicfreak

You just hook it up to your computer via USB and remove the Duokan files.


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## sofreshsofoul

I believe a US version with support has been released: http://www.kindleos.com


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## Ann in Arlington

Just a reminder that using an alternate OS will likely void your warranty. . . I'd suggest caution and wouldn't advocate any such thing unless the device is already out of warranty.  And, honestly, probably not even then. . . .but I'm relatively happy with the existing OS and don't see a need for an alternate.


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## sofreshsofoul

again, I do not see where it would void the TOS as it does not modify or replace amazons default OS

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_rel_topic?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200506200


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