Instructions for patching firmware 3.1.1

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by Bill_D

Icallaci,
Sorry, I asked you a question but I did so before I read the entire thread...Thanks,

No problemo.

[GibbinR]

I have an Aura HD with firmware 2.8.1 and with the Metazoa patcher applied.
When I first got the HD (with firmware 2.5.x - I think) I was pretty disgusted with its unreliability/functional glitches, but since I upgraded the firmware to 2.8.1 and applied the Metazoa patcher, the clarity and quality of the 1400 x 1080 screen have made it my e-reader of choice. (Despite the cranky/non-functional annotation system, and the flattening of the table of contents hierarchy, etc.)
Now I see that I could upgrade to firmware 3.1.1 and still apply the Metazoa patcher, but the question is whether there is anything on 3.1.1 compared to 2.8.1 which make it worth the upgrade.
Sorry if this append is slightly off-topic on this forum, but if anyone who has successfully upgraded to 3.1.1 and applied the patcher has any views on the value of the upgrade, I'd be interested to hear them.

[GeoffR]

One patcher related improvement going from 2.8.1 to 3.1.1 is that the linespacing patch works better with kepubs. In 2.8.1 setting the spacing closer than 1.225 caused problems in kepubs, but with 3.1.1 kepubs work as well as epubs with any spacing.

3.1.1 has new features like Pocket, dictionary cross-referencing and google/wikipedia lookup, library filter by unread/reading/finished, double-tap to zoom images in kepubs, a back button to return to the place you opened the book from, option to mark books as unread, a second dyslexic font, and probably more I can't think of.

The only potential issues I can think of with 3.1.1 is that some kepub features such as chapter progress charts no longer work with sideloaded kepubs, and the Kobo Nickel font has super wide line spacing (but this can be mitigated by the linespacing patch). Also some reports of wifi issues with certain networking setups (fritzbox routers?).

I have a Glo not an Aura HD, but I think 3.1.1 is a very good improvement over 2.8.1, lots of nice new features and I've had no problems at all. The best firmware so far for me.

[GibbinR]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

One patcher related improvement going from 2.8.1 to 3.1.1 is that the linespacing patch works better with kepubs. In 2.8.1 setting the spacing closer than 1.225 caused problems in kepubs, but with 3.1.1 kepubs work as well as epubs with any spacing.

3.1.1 has new features like Pocket, dictionary cross-referencing and google/wikipedia lookup, library filter by unread/reading/finished, double-tap to zoom images in kepubs, a back button to return to the place you opened the book from, option to mark books as unread, a second dyslexic font, and probably more I can't think of.

The only potential issues I can think of with 3.1.1 is that some kepub features such as chapter progress charts no longer work with sideloaded kepubs, and the Kobo Nickel font has super wide line spacing (but this can be mitigated by the linespacing patch). Also some reports of wifi issues with certain networking setups (fritzbox routers?).

I have a Glo not an Aura HD, but I think 3.1.1 is a very good improvement over 2.8.1, lots of nice new features and I've had no problems at all. The best firmware so far for me.

Thanks very much for this information. You mentioned the double-tap to zoom images working on kepubs.
That would be a great feature that would push me into upgrading, but most of my books are epubs (which started life on my PRS-650). I am not quite clear whether you are saying that double-tap to zoom images doesn't work on epubs, or that you have only tried it on kepubs.

Thanks again

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by GibbinR

Thanks very much for this information. You mentioned the double-tap to zoom images working on kepubs.
That would be a great feature that would push me into upgrading, but most of my books are epubs (which started life on my PRS-650). I am not quite clear whether you are saying that double-tap to zoom images doesn't work on epubs, or that you have only tried it on kepubs

Image zoom only works for kepubs. The other features I listed work for both epubs and kepubs.

[boysingh]

Something risky but I think I need this, Got to study this and learn more. Thank you so much!

[zal1]

GeoffR, thanks a lot for this thread!
The patcher is making a big difference to my Kobo experience.

Keep up the good work, it is appreciated.

[GeoffR]

I've updated post #2 with an improved line spacing patch. This one lets you change all 15 line spacing values, and there is no need to choose some values from a fixed table, any values can be used.

Edit If you add this patch to your kpf.conf remember to set patch_enable=`no` on the other line spacing patch.

[marlowe310]

I'm having an odd bug -- at least I think it's a bug -- basically the size difference between the VERY smallest font size and the next step up (the second smallest) seems huge. Any idea what might be going on?

One thought I had was that somehow or another the patch got corrupted, and so now the extra font steps aren't there, but missing somehow. Could that be the case?

And if so, would just reapplying the patch as normal work?

Kobo Aura HD, 3.1.1 w/ KoReader + Coolreader both installed.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by marlowe310

I'm having an odd bug -- at least I think it's a bug -- basically the size difference between the VERY smallest font size and the next step up (the second smallest) seems huge. Any idea what might be going on?

Did you choose your own font sizes in kpg.conf or did you use the ones that were already set in the patch? If your own, what sizes did you use?

The sizes in the kpg.conf in this thread are just examples, they suit me on my Glo but you will probably want to change them to suit you and your device.

One way to check whether the patch is working is to select the smallest font size in a book, then plug your device in to a computer and look in the file .kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf, there should be line readingFontSize= set to whatever font size you have chosen in the book. Check that it matches what you have set for the smallest font in your kpg.conf. Repeat for the second smallest font, etc.

Edit: I don't know anything about KoReader or Coolreader, I think this patch just affects the built-in Kobo readers, but perhaps someone else can confirm this.

[marlowe310]

That explains it utterly, thanks a ton!

[oitaven]

Hello everyone.

First of all thanks to GeoffR for this thread.

I got to do a patch for mi Aura HD with FW 3.1.1 but I'm not happy at all.

I read at this post and I thought:

Maybe the first step to make a patch to decrease the title space is doing something like:

xorsearch.exe libnickel.so.1.0.0 ReadingFooter

Changing ReadingFooter for another word like "Header" or "Title" or something similar to find the address. But I don't know exactly the word I'm looking for.

[giododa]

Thank you again for your effort.
I installed the patch following your instructions and everything went fine.
Just a little question: in the kpg.conf for previous firmware 3.0.0 I found two patches named `Ignore book internal CSS stylesheet` and `Ignore book TOC navpoints`

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Ignore book internal CSS stylesheet`
patch_enable = `no`
replace_string = 1438104, `s`, `_`
replace_string = 143811C, `s`, `_`
</Patch>

<Patch>
patch_name = `Ignore book TOC navpoints`
patch_enable = `yes`
replace_string = 143A5C4, `n`, `_`
</Patch>

It is possible to have these also for firmware 3.1.1?

[GeoffR]

I've added versions of these for fw 3.1.1 to post #2

[giododa]

Thank you, I didn't saw them.