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Old 10-18-2012, 01:23 AM   #16
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What about the Glo? Is there any update for it?
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Old 10-18-2012, 01:39 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by met67 View Post
What about the Glo? Is there any update for it?
The Glo, Mini and Touch use the same firmware.

Edit: Well, I've since been proven wrong.

Last edited by davidfor; 10-18-2012 at 07:42 PM.
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Old 10-18-2012, 01:53 AM   #18
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murg,

The "Going forward" comment should be above the 2.0.4 firmware. That firmware is the first of the version specific ones.
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Old 10-18-2012, 03:11 AM   #19
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Old 10-18-2012, 12:25 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davidfor View Post
The Glo, Mini and Touch use the same firmware.
This doesn't seem to be true:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2269562
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Old 10-18-2012, 12:49 PM   #21
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Kobo Glo 2.1.5 r43939 (Why the same rev as the touch?)

http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...date-2.1.5.zip
md5sum: 66e28ab31af8361e7223bfe48f926001



Touch md5sum (/kobo3/) 9a826451c1114e88fca23cf55a75b0ef

Looks like different uboot at least.
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Old 10-18-2012, 12:53 PM   #22
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Cool 2.1.5 sideload update

Hi fellow Mobilereaders,

I'm fed up with waiting for the 2.1.5 update for my Kobotouch (now on 2.0.0, or more precisely r41166) so I downloaded 2.1.5.

Now I have a whole lot of goodies on my Mac, including
- Koboroot.gbz
- Manifest.md5sum
- Update file

The latter contains:

- ulmage
- u-boot.bin
- NTX508 file

The latter contains:
- u-boot.bin
- ulmage

I wonder if some charitable soul, familiar with the Mac, could help me to the next step, that is, the actual sideloading? What do I put where on the Kobo touch device?

I am well aware that sideloading is wicked

Thanks for all advice,
Rojofo.
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Old 10-18-2012, 05:53 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ginnder View Post
Looks like different uboot at least.
This is why firmware packages should not be sideloaded.
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Old 10-18-2012, 06:35 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by george.talusan View Post
This is why firmware packages should not be sideloaded.
This is why the onboard Firmware Update Management Firmware should confirm that the presented firmware update package is for the device being updated.

This isn't very hard. It can be done with a single file containing the device the firmware is for. And the FUMF should be able to determine which device it is operating on fairly easily.

Code:
if (DeviceCodeInFirmware != DeviceCodeOnDevice)
{
    // firmware for wrong device
    DeleteFirmwareFiles();
}
else
{
    // firmware for this device
    UpdateFirmware();
}
I'm sure we can find people on here that can write this snippet in any language or scripting language you want.
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Old 10-18-2012, 07:03 PM   #25
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Surpisingly or amusingly, after my post yesterday, having decided to sideload the 2.1.4 update, come what may, my Kobo touch updated itself by wifi to 2.1.5 !!!

All I can suggest to those (particularly Australians apparently) who are stuck on version 2.0.0 of the firmware, is to threaten to sideload on this forum!

They may suddenly get lucky!

Best,
Rojofo.
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Old 10-18-2012, 09:30 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by murg View Post
I'm sure we can find people on here that can write this snippet in any language or scripting language you want.
Armchair pseudocode is one thing. Actual code is another. As you guys can see, the files in the payload of the firmware are writable and changeable by anyone. This is evidenced by some of the cool stuff that I've seen happening on the developer sub-forum here.

How does the e-reader actually know that these files are the correct ones? There's an MD5 manifest to verify that the files are not corrupt but there is no way to validate that the kernel or bootloader are actually targetted for that device's particular hardware, moreover this doesn't actually prevent tampering or DIY'ing. This is why we rely on the backend server to serve out the correct files for the device's firmware during a Wi-Fi update or desktop update.

Locking down the firmware update mechanism has been proposed, but why would we want to stifle hacking? It really wouldn't accomplish anything in the end.

Put it another way: what happens when you use fastboot to flash a new ROM on an Android phone or tablet? Does it do any validation? Nope. If you flash the wrong bootloader then you're pretty much on your own.

Last edited by george.talusan; 10-18-2012 at 09:38 PM.
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Old 10-18-2012, 09:49 PM   #27
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Here's some actual code for the guy that bricked his Glo:

sudo dd if=u-boot_mddr_256-E60610D-K4X2G323PC.bin of=/dev/<your sdcard> bs=1K seek=1 skip=1
sudo dd if=uImage of=/dev/<your sdcard> bs=512 seek=2048

You will need to remove the back from Kobo Glo using an exacto knife or plastic prying tool. Be careful to not mar the finish.

1. Boot your computer into Linux (I hope you or a friend have it installed) and plug your Kobo Glo's micro SD card into your computer.
2. Note the dev node of your card, let's call it "sdX" for the time being. Use 'df' to figure it out.
3. Replace <your sdcard> with sdX while typing out those two commands above into a terminal.
4. Safely eject the card and plug it back into your Kobo Glo.

You can get u-boot_mddr_256-E60610D-K4X2G323PC.bin and uImage from the Kobo Glo firmware at the top of this thread.
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Old 10-19-2012, 06:05 AM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by george.talusan View Post
How does the e-reader actually know that these files are the correct ones? There's an MD5 manifest to verify that the files are not corrupt but there is no way to validate that the kernel or bootloader are actually targetted for that device's particular hardware, moreover this doesn't actually prevent tampering or DIY'ing. This is why we rely on the backend server to serve out the correct files for the device's firmware during a Wi-Fi update or desktop update.
Like the MD5 Manifest, there is nothing preventing Kobo from adding another file to the zip, containing a one line device identifier. The updater can read this file and confirm that it is for the correct device. Or the md5sum file can be renamed to something like: kobo3.md5sum or kobo4.md5sum.

This allows people who want to tamper to tamper, but protects non-tamperers from harming their device.

Quote:
Originally Posted by george.talusan View Post
Locking down the firmware update mechanism has been proposed, but why would we want to stifle hacking? It really wouldn't accomplish anything in the end.
Not to mention that it would then become a challenge...

Quote:
Originally Posted by george.talusan View Post
Put it another way: what happens when you use fastboot to flash a new ROM on an Android phone or tablet? Does it do any validation? Nope. If you flash the wrong bootloader then you're pretty much on your own.
Not being familiar with this sort of thing, I presume that you have to go out of your way to use this app. Not like, say, just copying files to the eReader's disk.

Also, there is some presumption that the firmware acquired is for a specific device, not like Kobo's latest release where the two different firmware files have exactly the same filename.

-----

And another thing, are you willing to guarantee that the Kobo PC software will NEVER get confused and load the wrong firmware onto the device?

Before you answer that, you may want to consider that Kobo doesn't have a very stellar reputation for releasing bug-free software.

Last edited by murg; 10-19-2012 at 06:10 AM.
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Old 10-19-2012, 06:07 AM   #29
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1. Boot your computer into Linux (I hope you or a friend have it installed)
Having to have Linux to undo this is so far beyond being reasonable that I'm having a hard time believing that Kobo understands that it is selling consumer grade electronic devices.

I almost forgot... Not having a Glo, is it true that Kobo has removed the ability to do a hardware factory reset from the Glo? That you have to have a functioning Glo in order to do a factory reset?

What recent experience could possibly lead Kobo to believe that this was a good idea? The square-dancing bug?

Last edited by murg; 10-19-2012 at 06:13 AM.
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Old 10-19-2012, 06:16 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by murg View Post
Not being familiar with this sort of thing, I presume that you have to go out of your way to use this app. Not like, say, just copying files to the eReader's disk.
Actually it doesn't get much more complicated than that with the latest tablets/smartphones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by murg View Post
And another thing, are you willing to guarantee that the Kobo PC software will NEVER get confused and load the wrong firmware onto the device?
In this particular case I do expect that Kobo would either provide a way to restore the device, or replace the unit altogether.
It's quite different from a user willingly sideloading such firmware.
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