Cool Reader for Kobo

[Lucas Malor]

What are the pros / cons compared with Koreader?

[Ken Maltby]

I have 5 or 6 reading programs on my tablet, having four on my Kobo isn't a problem.
(Kobo's two, Giorgio's Koreader port and Sergey's CoolReader port) Of the four, I am much more optimistic for the future development and improvements provided by the development community for the last two. Not the least, because of the more exposed development process. Both efforts are worth our support and certainly benefit us all greatly. Just watching how the two projects progress over time, will be interesting.

Luck;
Ken

[paola]

Originally Posted by Lucas Malor

What are the pros / cons compared with Koreader?

I haven't had a chance to try Sergey's coolreader yet, but as compared to Koreader i expect it to be able to take notes (at least, the port i had for the Pocketbooks could do that, which is still impossible with koreader). However, as far as i know Coolreader does not handle pdf/djvu files.

[ectoplasm]

Originally Posted by Lucas Malor

What are the pros / cons compared with Koreader?

I used Cool Reader for quite a while on my tablet. I've gotten to the point where I put android ebook readers in two categories: those that can render a book's CSS fairly well (Mantano, Aldiko) and the rest (Cool Reader, Moon, etc.) Koreader would be in the first group. And I'm aware of the option in CR to enable document internal styles.

Some people might prefer the second group since they allow you to force settings like paragraph spacing, etc.

One particular area where the second group always seems problematic is with scene changes within a chapter, often indicated by extra blank space between paragraphs. The second group will sometimes remove this, I've decided I want my reader to closely match what the Calibre viewer shows me. Koreader works in this regard.

I do my fine tuning in Sigil, test in Calibre viewer, then expect the reader to display it the same (or very close) as Calibre.

[pkbo]

Originally Posted by ectoplasm

I put android ebook readers in two categories: those that can render a book's CSS fairly well (Mantano, Aldiko) and the rest (Cool Reader, Moon, etc.) Koreader would be in the first group.

The Koreader renders a book's CSS fairly well and Cool Reader is not. Did I get you right? I'm asking because not sure how is that possible considering they both use the same rendering engine.

[ectoplasm]

Originally Posted by pkbo

The Koreader renders a book's CSS fairly well and Cool Reader is not. Did I get you right? I'm asking because not sure how is that possible considering they both use the same rendering engine.

Oops, my mistake. At first I thought Koreader was referring to the Kobo built in renderer, which is based on the ADE renderer (I think). I realize now that Koreader is a separate project.

If Koreader is using the same engine as Cool Reader, then indeed they should both be in the same category.

As an example, I opened a Star Wars ebook "Heir to the Empire" in Cool Reader, and if "enable document internal styles" is enabled, the book is frankly a mess. It renders as expected in Calibre, the Kobo reader, and Mantano.

[Ken Maltby]

First, I can see how my post above must have had no effect at all.

**Correction**
Giorgio's Koreader port includes the ability to select specific "Render Styles" as well as an "Auto" option.

Koreader has a separate renderer for PDF/DjVu and uses the cr3engine components for the rest.

Luck;
Ken

[Mike76]

Originally Posted by sergeyvl12

1. Settings dialog will be fixed in the next build
2. Storing/restoring recent books and bookmarks will be fixed in the next build

I've tried latest CR version from the-ebook.org forum and I have to tell you every version is better and better. Some improvements here and there (speed optimalization, suspend mode, battery indicator) and it'll be the perfect reader for Kobo. Great thanks for your work!

As a hungarian user I'm really glad localisation is working now. Unfortunately hungarian translation isn't perfect. I tried to copy Hungarian.qm from my PW (hungarian translation of Coolreader for Kindle is my work), but it has the same issues. If you can send me Hungarian.ts and qt_hu.ts files I'll complete the translation for Kobo.

[sergeyvl12]

Hi!

The new version of CoolReader is ready.

What's new:

1. Remember last opened books, bookmarks
2. Open file dialog improved (use taps to open files and directories)
3. Initial localization support
4. Settings dialog interface improved. Now it's easy to change sizes, margins, etc. Just select field with parameter you want to change and you'll see the 2 buttons in the bottom-left corner on the screen: "<" and ">".

Setup (if you have KoboLauncher installed)

1. Download the latest version
2. Remove .kobo/KoboLauncher directory
3. Install KoboRoot.tgz

Originally Posted by Mike76

I've tried latest CR version from the-ebook.org forum and I have to tell you every version is better and better. Some improvements here and there (speed optimalization, suspend mode, battery indicator) and it'll be the perfect reader for Kobo. Great thanks for your work!

As a hungarian user I'm really glad localisation is working now. Unfortunately hungarian translation isn't perfect. I tried to copy Hungarian.qm from my PW (hungarian translation of Coolreader for Kindle is my work), but it has the same issues. If you can send me Hungarian.ls and qt_hu.ls files I'll complete the translation for Kobo.

Thanks!

Files:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...o/Hungarian.ts
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/.../kobo/qt_hu.ts

[ewphoenix123]

Originally Posted by Lucas Malor

What are the pros / cons compared with Koreader?

Big pros of the coolreader app for sony, may be different in the current implementation for kobo.

- option to define/modify a custom css style in the reader app that will be used for all books.
- define custom actions to custom tapzones (f.e. switch to next page no matter where you tap on the screen.)
- some font finetuning, similiar to the kobo options, although the internal kobo options are superior.

[Ken Maltby]

I now have 4 "pchess-1.2.6_kobo" zip files fortunately windows7 adds (#) to differentiate files of the same name. But, when selecting the file for download there is little to indicate that it is the new one I am looking for. By the filename it could be an older version.

OK, the latest version works and the page slider and the chevrons work to adjust numeric fields. It still would be great if the size of the text -in the menus- could be adjustable or at least smaller, to allow more text on the menu pages and especially in the file listings.

Luck;
Ken

[parkher]

yes, always 1.2.6 is a bit confusing.

There are also direct download links for CR:
http://pbchess.vlasovsoft.net/files/kobo/cr3.zip
http://pbchess.vlasovsoft.net/files/kobo/eink.qss.zip

This is the version I am using. Seems to be either newer than 1.2.6 or at least has some ini files added (maybe with good chosen values?).
But no version number either, so not sure what will happen with those links when something changes.

Anyway, there are lots of things to do and to improve, but I already love it on Aura HD.
I added Amasis font to it myself, so now I am happy.

I mostly miss dictionaries.
I also would like an integration of file manager with the recent book list (as on android) and an ability to handle long folder and file names better.
And for long lists - use next/previous page swipes or buttons instead of scrolling.
I saw it in the to do list so I assume it is not done yet - I am yet to try with longer lists, but I hate scrolling so much on T2 (which, thankfully, is still needed only in dictionaries, not in Cool Reader (jotas builds) itself ).

[Mike76]

Originally Posted by sergeyvl12

3. Initial localization support

Here is the modified hungarian localisation files, now hungarian translation is complete. I'll try to keep it up to date. I've cleared all unnecessary entries from .ts file, so it may be a good base for other translations.

UPDATED for pbchess-1.2.6.1:

Hungarian.qm
Hungarian.ts

(It was a bit weird, because some menus remained in English after completing translation and changing language from English to Hungarian in CR. Nor exiting from CR, neither exiting from Kobolauncher was not enough to solve it, I had to do a full restart of my Kobo to take full effect of translation without remaining foreign language menus.)

[sergeyvl12]

Hi!

Version 1.2.6.1 is released

New:

1. Now all the messages in the "Settings" dialog should fit the screen.
2. Horizontal scroll bar is displayed in the file open dialog if file names are to long to fit the screen.
3. Show battery level (updated after text updating - e.g. prev/next page).

Available for download here: http://pbchess.vlasovsoft.net/en/index.html
Direct link: http://pbchess.vlasovsoft.net/files/...2.6.1_kobo.zip

P.S. Ken, now file names will be 1.2.6.1, 1.2.6.2, ... and so on...

[sergeyvl12]

Originally Posted by Mike76

Here is the modified hungarian localisation files, now hungarian translation is complete. I'll try to keep it up to date. I've cleared all unnecessary entries from .ts file, so it may be a good base for other translations.

Hungarian.qm
Hungarian.ts

(It was a bit weird, because some menus remained in English after completing translation and changing language from English to Hungarian in CR. Nor exiting from CR, neither exiting from Kobolauncher was not enough to solve it, I had to do a full restart of my Kobo to take full effect of translation without remaining foreign language menus.)

Thanks, Mike!

I'll add it into the next build.