iComics - The iPhone Manga Reader Installation Guide

Use your iPhone/iPod Touch as portable manga reader.

Normally you'd expect that it should be a piece of cake. After all, the iphone has an excellent picture viewer and transferring pictures to and from the iPhone is supported by iTunes ... but for some arcane reason all pictures get scaled down - optimized - for out favorite handheld device. Good enough for pictures but it's nearly impossible to read anything these converted manga pages.

Happily there are other solutions, all requiring you to jailbreak your iphone. The second method I tried was using the browser application as picture viewer. This worked pretty good, but it's too complicated to realize in a hurry: You'd have to install a webserver on your iphone and write a script to generate html-files for each picture of a manga. After copying them to the iphone's site directory I was able to browse the manga at localhost, which worked pretty well in good quality and quite comfortably.

However, it's simply easier using a dedicated program for just that purpose: iComic

In the following paragraphs I'll steer you through the tedious process of getting that thing to run on your iPhone/iPod touch, which isn't always as unproblematic as one might hope.
I used this method on the following system configuration:

PC

• Windows XP
• iTunes 7.6.2.9
• ZiPhoneWin 3.0
  

Mobile device

• iPod Touch 16gb
• Firmware 1.1.4
• iComic 0.10

1. Jailbreak your iPhone.
   To do this, download the best jailbreaker from ZiPhone at his homepage: http://www.ziphone.org/
   Don't worry, it's pretty comfortable these days. See a video on CNET with a live jailbreak: http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50001833.html
   
2. Prepare your jailbroken iPod.
   This means installing software using the newly installed installer application. Enable WiFi, Edge or whatever for Internet connection. Tap on the installer icon. This might take a while, since the installer will scan the net for new programs to install. The first thing we have to do is to enable access to the iPod's file system. If you're afraid of doing so then kiss iComic goodbye.
   Tap 'Install' on the bottom panel. The software repository is organized in categories and i'll just list the categories and applications you'll need:
   
   • System -> BSD Subsystem
     Unix tools for the iPhone. Needed for ssh.
   • System -> OpenSSH
     Allows remote access
   • Network -> Pure-FTPd
     If you prefer FTP to ssh, then use this app instead of OpenSSH and BSD. I have both, so no worries.
     
   • Utilities -> BossPrefs
     A system management app. Allows you to enable/disable ssh, ftp and other services. Pretty much a hub for system settings.
   This is pretty much all you need for preparation.
3. Install iComic.
   There are several ways to do this but I'll only cover the installer version. If you want to do it manually, download the latest version from the author and good luck to you.
   Enter the installer again. This time tap on sources. Then tap on 'Edit' in the top right corner, followed by 'Add' in the top left.
   Enter this string:
   http://hpcgi3.nifty.com/moyashi/ipodtouch/repository.cgi
   Wait for the update. After that you can install iComic:
   
   • Multimedia -> iComic (1.1.3)
   Ignore the 1.1.2 version unless you have the 1.1.2 firmware installed. iComic 1.1.3 works with both 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 firmware.
   
4. Install ssh/ftp file-transfer software .
   Since we provided the iPod with ssh/ftp access, you'll need a program on you PC to actually chuck them over. My recommendation:
   
   • WinSCP
   I don't know any good Mac Programs. Drop me a note and I'll add one.
   Download the software and install then start it.
   
5. Connect to iPod and Transfer files.
   Start BossPrefs. You should see a SSH or FTP trigger right from the start. If not, enable it in the 'Config' menu in the upper left. Enable SSH/FTP and WiFi.
   Switch to your SSH client (e.g. WinSCP) and create a new connection. Fill in these values:
   
   • Host name: [your iPod IP] e.g. 192.168.2.150
   • Protocol: SCP
   • Port: 22
   • Username: root
   • Password: alpine
     
   For some reason, I sometimes have problems connecting with a preset password. If you have the same problem, erase the password and just type it manually when prompted. Save and connect.
6. Enable english language
   Use WinSCP to navigate to the installation path of the iComic application:
   
   • /Applications/iComic
   You'll find a few files and a subfolder named "Japanese.lproj". Rename or remove the "Localizable.strings"-file inside that folder and the iComic application will default to english language. Alternatively you can enter the folder and translate the "Localizable.strings" file to your language.
   
7. Copy Manga to the correct target folder.
   Emphasis on correct. Depending on the iComic and firmware version the target folder for comics are at different locations.
   For iComic 0.10 (1.1.3) the correct folder is at
   
   • /var/mobile/Media/Comic
     
   For older versions the path was
   
   • /var/root/Media/Comic
     
   Create the folder if it doesn't exist yet. Enter the folder and then simply copy zip-archives with pictures into it. You can even organize it by creating subfolders.
   Note that all mangas have to be zipped and all pictures inside the zip have to be either jpg, png or gif.
   
8. Start iComic
   Everything should work fine now. iComic has many options to tweak, so look inside and experiment. Personally, I prefer flipping pages with the "invisible buttons" although I don't know if they are supposed to be invisible or if that's just a bug.
   Enable "Button Page Slide" in the settings menu and then you'll be able to navigate like shown in the picture.

That's it.
I'll think about releasing iphone ready mangas but most mangas already are. You just have to stuff the images in a zip and you are done.

Cheers !

[update]
I case you encounter difficulties you might want to discuss it in some forums. Try these for help:
* http://www.modmyifone.com/forums/native-iphone-ipod-touch-app-launches/20955-icomic-manga-reader.html
* http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23759

Mention my site ;)