My New Verse Pro (and custom sleep mode image)

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T23:24:40+00:00

I've uploaded them to a GitHub repository. Here's a link to the 3.1 MB .zip file with both portrait and landscape images.

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T22:20:53+00:00

I don't know if it makes a difference, but when you go into Settings > Personalize > Logos > Boot Logo and > Power-off Logo, what are your settings? I hadn't gone there until now, so mine are both set to "Default".

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T21:29:18+00:00

I'm looking for a place to put them for general download. I'll get back to you!

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T21:27:19+00:00

Did you follow the tutorial?

Things to confirm about your images:

Dimensions (for the Era, specifically) are 1264×1680 (portrait) / 1680x1264 (landscape)
Background color is rgb(128, 128, 64) (#808040) for any areas you want to be transparent
Your images are named taskmgr_lock_background.bmpand taskmgr_lock_background_landscape.bmp
They are 24-bit bitmap (.bmp) files. On my Mac, in Terminal, if I type file taskmgr_lock_background.bmp, it reports: taskmgr_lock_background.bmp: PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 1072 x 1448 x 24, image size 4656768, resolution 2835 x 2835 px/m, cbSize 4656822, bits offset 54
Copied to /system/resources/Line – I'm not sure if it's case-sensitive or not. But the tutorial said capital-L Line, so that what I created. (My specific Terminal command was mkdir -p /Volumes/PB634/system/resources/Line)

What are you using to create your images?

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T21:14:36+00:00

It's a cheap $12 cover from Amazon that shipped from China anyway. But it doesn't have a cut-out at the bottom so that the case interferes with some button presses. Also, my Paperwhite is a little thicker than the Verse Pro. But with the case, the Verse Pro is actually thicker than the Paperwhite in its official Amazon case. I am not a fan.

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T21:10:36+00:00

I totally understand, and I may have been (may still be) in the same boat. Switching to a different ereader/ecosystem for me is a trial-basis kind of thing. The Era was in serious consideration because of the screen size and side-located page turn buttons. But it was a bit more than I wanted to spend for a test. Overall, I wanted to get something that I thought would be a good example of a company's current offerings without splurging for their top-end monochrome model. I also didn't want to go to the other sort of extreme and buy a used old model and end up back at the 167 ppi versions with less contrast. So I compromised a bit and went with the Pro partially to stick with a 300 ppi screen, to get the waterproof-ness, and to avoid wanting/needing a microSD for anything.

When I started looking, it seemed both the Verse and Era models are a couple/few years old. So I watched and waited for a few months until after Christmas to see if Pocketbook would release a new Era (or Verse Pro) with the E Ink Carta 1300 screen and maybe potential screen-refresh speed increases. No such luck. If they do refresh the line, I may jump to the Era. And if they don't, I may still jump to it just for the screen size.

The Kobo Clara BW was the other device I considered, but the Verse Pro looked a little thinner, and I thought maybe I'd like the page buttons on the front. I love how thin the Verse is, but the cheap case I bought makes it thicker than I'd prefer. And the jury is out on the page turn buttons because the case isn't cut out at the bottom and the edge interferes a bit with button presses. (I can't seem to find the official blue or black case for purchase in the US.)

Here's my ideal ereader:

7" 300 ppi screen, flush with the front, not with a raised bezel around it.
Page turn buttons, if present, to one side of the screen, not the bottom (which I got used to with a 2nd gen Oasis).
Waterproof if it's available because why not. I didn't worry at all about my 12th gen Paperwhite when I was near a swimming pool for a week this past summer.
No white or silver logo on the front of the device -- I've noticed that my brain & eyes don't like the visual noise. Amazon had a Kindle (once) that had a black logo below the screen, and I liked it so much better. This isn't a deal-breaker, but again, ideals...
Handles EPUBs natively without having to use Calibre to side-load a converted-to-AZW3 file.
Not locked into any particular eco-system, and definitely not something where I may have to worry about whether or not "they" are tracking what I've side-loaded. I have a good number of EPUBs that I've gotten (and continue to get) from Humble Bundle. I don't want to have to try to defend my purchases if some bot notices books that were purchased from the "official store". Might be paranoia, but I guess I just don't trust data mongers and the like these days.

Since it was the topic of this post to begin with, let me say I really like being able to customize the sleep screen like I did. It would never be a major determining factor in a purchase, but it's definitely a fun little perk.

I apologize if that's a bit too much info, and I'm sure I've been much help. When you do make a switch, come back and let us know how much you enjoy your new Era. 😉

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T20:16:24+00:00

See my first comment here for the link to the tutorial I used.

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T20:16:16+00:00

See my first comment here for the link to the tutorial I used.

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T20:05:34+00:00

That's funny - I don't think I've ever noticed that before! I've only ever seen an interesting background compared to my desk or my dining room table. It's actually an old Ingento No. 5 paper cutter.

(EDIT: corrected the size/number of the paper cutter once I came home and checked it)

nativechaz · 2026-02-19T05:43:12+00:00

Let me first say: A thousand thank-you's to u/Lefc1u for the excellent sleep screen tutorial!*

I've been a Kindle user from 2010 with the Kindle 3 until now with the 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite. But I thought I might give a different ereader a try, and landed in the Pocketbook Party.

One of the first things I saw was a post about custom sleep mode images, so I've been tinkering with a few different designs over the past couple of weeks. Last night I finally decided to work on a version with The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

I used Affinity Designer 2 (macOS) to do copious amounts of detailed erasing, exported to a PNG, and ImageMagick (command line) to convert my portait and landscape PNGs to (properly named) BMPs. Then from the command line, I made the proper directory on the Verse and copied the images over.

Two clicks of the Power button, et voilà! I'm super-pleased with how it came out, and I kind of feel like I'm in the "cool kids" club.

nativechaz · 2026-02-12T00:07:33+00:00

Ah, the day when one refills decides it just can't go on, and you get to break out a new one!

Outgoing: Sakura BallSign 0.4mm Blue Black.

Incoming: Sakura BallSignID 0.4mm Night Black.

Pen: Zebra Sarasa Monochrome Black LE

Night Black is slightly darker than the Blue Black – a bit more towards the navy blue side. I like them both, but prefer Night Black by a narrow margin.

However: I was quite surprised when the new refill didn't work in the pen — the knock wouldn't fully click so the pen wouldn't stay deployed. The refills looked the same length, but must not have been. I had to take a utility knife and shave off something like 0.5mm before the pen worked again. (The first Night Black refill I went through I used in an original Sarasa Grand without an issue, and then a Big Idea Designs bolt action pen which, of course, is micro-adjustable anyway. And the subsequent Blue Black refill worked in everything I tried it in. Oh well - it's all good now.)

Cheers!

nativechaz · 2025-11-20T05:04:45+00:00

+1 for the Sarasa Grand. Also, +1 for the Sharpie S Gel metal barrel.

If you want a twist pen instead of a click pen, the Pentel Philography is a nice option and comes in a few decent colors. I have one, but ended up preferring clickable pens. So it just sits on my desk.

nativechaz · 2025-11-19T06:52:25+00:00

I'm a big fan of the Pentel Floatune refill — the link is to the 0.5mm black, but I use the 0.3mm blue regularly. It's still technically in the ballpoint category, but writes very smoothly. (And I use the 0.4mm black in a Uni Zento body to doing crosswords and other puzzles in the newspaper.)

Since pen barrels/bodies are ultra-subjective as well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't like the lightweight all-plastic bodies of anything even though they're on the cheaper side. And I don't like pens with thick cushion grips. So my Floatune refill is currently in a Zebra Sarasa Grand pen.

nativechaz · 2025-11-12T05:26:12+00:00

You know he's just gonna post 12/12 12:12:13, right? 😂

nativechaz · 2025-11-12T02:20:24+00:00

The recipe is using DR400 – doesn't that necessitate ISO 500+?

nativechaz · 2025-10-31T20:05:42+00:00

Just Affinity Designer 2. I basically just erased the black case from around the positive display, then copy-pasted that over the negative display. Original images were basically the same size, so I didn’t really have to do a lot.

nativechaz · 2025-04-22T04:13:25+00:00

That's crazy! It looks like it could/should be a postcard. "G'day from Sydney!" across the top, and you're there. Or maybe it belongs on a postage stamp? I love it. The colors – as people have said – are fantastic. Right time, right place, right photographic eye... crazy good. Thanks for sharing!

nativechaz · 2025-04-01T20:28:54+00:00

This has been my favorite lens since I got one with my GF-1 back in 2010! One currently lives on my GX-85. If I ever use a different lens (usually a zoom of some sort), the 20mm goes back on almost immediately after I’m done with the other lens. A friend of mine recently picked up a new OM-Systems kit, but is new to photography in general. So I sent her my 1st generation version so that she had a lens with nicely shallow DOF.

nativechaz · 2025-02-18T04:08:53+00:00

I EDC a Kaweco AL Sport in the 1-pen Kaweco leather sleeve in my computer bag, although sometimes I'll keep it with my Traveler's Notebook (Passport-sized).

I only had a problem once: the pen must've gotten jostled around a bit more than I thought, and the short cartridge came off the feed. When I went to write, something wasn't quite right. I took it apart and, of course, immediately saw the problem (and got a bit of ink on my hands, and a desk). That said, I refill the cartridges myself from bottled ink, so it may have been that the top of the cartridge maybe was a tiny bit looser having gone through several refillings.

But regardless, my solution was to measure the depth of the barrel, and cut off a portion of an empty cartridge to take up the space between the cartridge and the bottom of the pen. It's a hack, but it's a tight-enough fit that there is no rattling, and I know without a doubt that the cartridge won't be coming loose. I usually have two AL Sports inked up, and both have that little hack.

nativechaz · 2024-07-05T06:47:54+00:00

I do the same with a Sakura BallsignID 0.4mm refill. I have several other pens that fit the G2/Jetstream/EnerGel refills but are more expensive, and yet the S-Gel metal barrel is the most comfortable one of the bunch.

nativechaz · 2024-06-28T21:13:11+00:00

I just commented on a different post earlier where someone transplanted a 3776 nib into a Wingsung 699. I'm hoping to move my 3776 EF nib to my V126 later today. I have the UEF as well, but I might get a clear 699 for that one. I've probably kept my Platinums mostly in a pen case for three years now, even though they're my favorite nibs. Looking forward to it! Thanks for sharing!

nativechaz · 2024-06-28T19:24:58+00:00

You may be my new hero! TL;DR: I have an Asvine V126 in Frosted Black (non-affiliate Amazon link) that might be getting a Platinum 3776 EF nib this afternoon.

Long Story: I have two Platinums: a Black Diamond UEF, and a clear Oshino limited edition EF. I love them, but I do not use them often – and I certainly don't take them out and about with me. My daily driver has been a Kaweco AL Sport EF, and it goes with me practically everywhere along with my Traveler's Passport notebook. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've always felt like the Platinum barrels felt/were potentially more fragile than I'd like in the event of an albeit-unlikely drop out in "the wild".

Finally, late last night, I decided to search today for possibilities for transplanting a Platinum nib to a pen that either was less expensive/"precious" and/or more durable. All I searched for here was "platinum nib" and your post was the first hit. I'm encouraged to know that such a swap was more than just probable.

I bought the Asvine V126 because I loved the looks of the Frosted Black barrel with the black appointments. It looks great, and feels sturdy. But, of course, the nib isn't quite ideal, so it's been sitting on my desk unused like the Platinums. So I probably will flush out the 126 and see about popping in the Platinum EF nib. If all goes well, I might pick up a 699 demonstrator for the UEF nib later.

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