Guide to Hacking Sony PRS-T1 Home Screen for Enhanced Display Functionality
Yesterday, we described how you can root the PRS-T1. Today, we’ll cover a less invasive but equally useful modification to the reader software. By default, the PRS-T1 homescreen only shows the most recently read book and the most recent additions. When you open another book, the last one you read disappears into a submenu rather than remaining directly accessible from the homescreen.
The hack described here changes this display behavior. By editing a database file, after performing this hack, the homescreen will show not only the most recently added books but also the most recently read ones. The best part? It takes only about 5 minutes and a few steps to adjust everything accordingly. Below, you’ll find out how to do it.
All you need is the free program SQLiteSpy. Once downloaded, extract the archive into any directory. Now, connect the PRS-T1 to your computer and copy the file “books.db” from the directory “\Sony_Readerdatabase” into the SQLiteSpy directory.
Let me remind you again that any modifications are done at your own risk!
You need to copy the Books.db file to your PC
Start SQLiteSpy…
… open “books.db” and paste the code into the field
After starting SQLiteSpy, go to File -> Open Database. Here, select the books.db file that you copied to your computer. In the right field, paste the following code:
CREATE TRIGGER recently_opened_trigger AFTER UPDATE OF reading_time ON books
BEGIN
UPDATE books SET added_date = 0 WHERE _id = new._id;
UPDATE books SET added_date = reading_time WHERE reading_time NOT NULL AND _id <> new._id;
END
Then select Execute -> Execute SQL. It’s best to repeat this step once more to ensure the changes have been successfully applied. If everything goes well, a message saying “trigger recently_opened_trigger already exists.” will appear. Now you can close the program. When asked if you want to save the project, you can choose ‘no’ – the file has already been updated.
Execute SQL runs the code and updates the file
Now, you just need to copy the books.db file from your PC back onto the reader, and you’re done. If you’re using an SD card, you will need to perform the same steps with the same file on the SD card.
As soon as you unplug the reader, the new display behavior will be active. This hack does not require root access. Thanks for the instructions go to “Kolenka” and “jackie_w” from Mobileread!
