Serving PDF

Using the Boox to read sheet music, I have to adjust my workflow. Previously, I had used a web server, KWS, to provide set lists and sheet-music pdf files to the browser.

The Boox seems to be highly optimized to conserve battery life, and perhaps as a consequence the web server freezes. I see this happen on my Pixel C, but relatively infrequently — about once every 6-8 hours of use on the Pixel C versus once every 10 minutes on the Boox.

To make matters worse, the Boox is slow to switch and restart applications.

Organizing PDF

The Boox default view is a PDF browser, and it supports organizing files by directory, but the selection process is slow and cumbersome and is opaque in that it doesn’t correspond to actual directories.

Another idea is to concatenate sheet music into a single-file set list. There are lots of programs available to concatenate pdf, and Apple Preview is one of them.

Another option is to use a sheet music app running on the Boox, such as Fakebook, Orpheus, or Mobile Sheets Pro. I have used Fakebook before to read chord charts, but didn’t realize it could read PDF, too.

While searching for Android sheet-music readers, I stumbled upon Musical Android, a site devoted to Android audio apps.

Bluetooth

After several tries, I was able to connect my Airturn Duo pedal to the Boox. The process was tedious in that the pedal requires long button presses to send to pairing mode, the Boox only infrequently updates the list of available devices, and the Boox usually displays the Bluetooth address in the place of the device title.

December, 2019 update:

The afternoon of a performance, while I was warming up for an orchestra holiday show, the Boox did its best brick impersonation. I scrambled to print out my sheet music before rushing out for the performance across town.

I was eventually able to return the Boox to usable condition, but only after booting it into safe mode and losing all of my sheet music.