). The third part,
documentation, is rather inadequate — Though a few of the header files for
Iliad-specific libraries are documented for
doxygen, most are completely
undocumented.
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The iRex Iliad is an electronic book reader device. Its most obvious distinction is its large screen resolution (768x1024 pixels, now surpassed by the Digital Reader 1000, also by iRex). A far more important and less obvious peculiarity (to some) is its hackability. The Iliad runs a Linux operating system, and most of its software is open source.
As has been pointed out before, the use of open-source software alone does not
by itself make a device open and hackable. On the Iliad, iRex has got two out
of three right: they provide not just the sources, but also a development
toolchain for cross-compiling programs for the Iliad (both can be downloaded
here). The third part,
documentation, is rather inadequate — Though a few of the header files for
Iliad-specific libraries are documented for
doxygen, most are completely
undocumented.
Documentation on the device itself is also sorely lacking. Most of the
hacking tutorials are mailing list posts on the
mobileread forum.
They are very helpful and readily found via search engines, but are not a
coherent whole. So when I started tinkering, and as I have a bad memory
anyway, I decided to write down what I learned for everybody's benefit.
My version of the Iliad: I own an Iliad Book Edition, the version without WLAN, so you are not going to find anything here on using WLAN. My firmware version is 2.12.1. Other versions may differ in some respects.
Disclaimer: You tinker with your device at your own risk. Anything I present here is provided as-is, and is not in any way guaranteed to be accurate or free of errors. I have not (yet) tried it all out myself. Inappropriate use or interpretation of this information may require you to have your device repaired by the manufacturer, or even buy a new one. Use your brain.
Description of the main components, disk partitions, boot sequence and installation packages of the Iliad
Iliad-specific configuration files
Brief howto notes on common tasks
How to change the appearance of the content listings
Cross-compiling, runnning and diagnostics
Software environment and API libraries
A concise and simplified API for reader programs
Making use of an open device to improve the comfort of reading serialised texts
Brief definitions for Iliad-related terms
, a prerequisite for obtaining shell access for the Iliad linux kernel sources, development toolchain and application sources, among others
hyperlinked doxygen documentation of
its libraries and applications at iSuppli
, with download links to the installer package on getting shell access and installing third-party applications, on the iRex site and in the wiki
(alternate link)
and a dump of the bootloader console output (of interest primarily for
hardware folks) to increase usage time