Glo Ordinary filebrowser for Kobo Glo?

[PyroDevil]

Hi, it's my first post here! And a very strange one too !

My first ebook reader was a Pocketbook Touch, but it's display got damaged by a bicycle accident.
I bought a Kobo Glo because of the background light and seemingly more open plattform. (I hate vendor-lockin)

I have written some python scripts for myself which converts fanfiction and other sources on the internet to epub books and now have a collection of around 20000 - 30000 books on my micro sd card. To manage these books I have a directory structure. (Manually sorting out what books I what and what I don't want in advance isn't so easy)

On the Pocketbook Touch reader I could disable the automatic library indexing function and browse and open the books like a filebrowser.

On the Kobo Glo I couldn't find these settings and while it is indexing I can't use it. And it's indexing 8 hours already.

Are there filebrowser like applications available or could I do the indexing on my linux pc? (like filling the sqlite database with a script or something?)

[jackie_w]

Hi PyroDevil,

Welcome to MobileRead As far as I know Kobos can't be organised via the file system. Although you can store your books in whatever directories you like, the whole disk will be scanned. Organisation is via Shelves based on metadata inside each epub rather than file path. If you use Calibre to organise your books on the PC then it is easy to automate the set up of the Shelves as you wish e.g. by Author, by Genre, by Series (or combination of same). However I suspect you will be struggling with 20,000+ books.

I also still own an old Pocketbook, but it is the only reader I've owned which could use nested file directories for organisation as a standard feature. It was also possible on the older Sonys but only via 3rd party custom firmware.

As far as I know none of the current models from the other 'big name' readers, Kindle, Sony, Nook organise via the file system.

P.S. Calibre also has an add-on plugin specially for Fan Fiction, in case you're interested at some point.

[PyroDevil]

Thanks for your reply.

But this situation irritates me to the core.

Are the people really happy with this situation, that I can't simply copy my data on a file storage device put it into another portable device and browse/open/read it?
Do they really need something like a 80 MB big book management tool like calibre or a 150MB tool like kobo-desktop only to copy them to their device?
And I thought it's about reading books not managing them.

I am 25 but maybe I am to old to understand this.

Yeah I have calibre installed and played a little bit around with it. And I also discovered the FanFiction plugin. But I prefer my small scripts, it's far easier for me to change them to use other sources. But I use calibres ebook converter to create epubs and thats nifty.

Do you know if it's possible to develop a file browser with plugins? Maybe I could pack those books into a tar/zip file and use the file browser to open them browse them and then extract them temporary so I can open them with the reader application.

[John F]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

... Organisation is via Shelves based on metadata inside each epub rather than file path. ...

I'm not sure this is correct? I believe that Kobo shelves are stored in a database on the device (and maybe a Kobo server, if you're syncing).

[Liesse]

Originally Posted by PyroDevil

Are the people really happy with this situation, that I can't simply copy my data on a file storage device put it into another portable device and browse/open/read it?

I don't mind.

I've noticed a lot of people come to this forum and they seem a tad irritated that you can't use folders to organise your Kobo. I suppose it is sort of instinctive to want to drag and drop. But perhaps I've been using Calibre so long that I don't mind. It is an indispensable part of my ebook hobby. When friends start with ebooks, I urge them to start with Calibre alongside it. The benefits are huge, but its hard to explain to someone til they use it.

When I first started reading ebooks, it was on an old pocket PC thing that someone gave me. I stuck a micro SD in it and discovered mobipocket reader. I also used MS reader for lit files. The mobipocket PC application handled my ebooks and shovelled them onto my device for me. Calibre was around, but I didn't need it. It was big and itimidating. People said it was an excellent library manager, but why did I need to bother? Fidling with metadata and stuff seemed pointless. Mobipocket did everything I needed.
Then the ancient pocket PC broke. I found an IPAQ (remember those?) on eBay. But when I got it, I found that mobipocket didn't like it so well. By then, they'd been bought by Amazon and updates had stopped. Conversions were no longer smooth. I got it working, but it wasn't a seamless process. I remembered thinking that having my library handled by one application, that could convert file types for me would have helped. Wish I'd started with Calibre then. Would have saved me a lot of work..
Then when the Kindle 3 came to the UK, I was given one for Christmas. No problem, most of my library was in .mobi anyway, right? I could drag and drop from folders.
Er, no. Massive problem actually. I had different author and series spellings, no series information, some books without or with wrong covers and no way to manage that at all. I had books that hadn't converted well, and no backups of the originals without going back to the vendor. I was so irritated!

I had little choice but to download Calibre. It now manages everything I didn't know I needed to manage for me. Need to make sure series info is all the same in a series? Find an ISBN for a book? There's a plugin for that. Need to rename all my books when I move them to my device? Does that. Download metadata and covers? Convert from any other filetype while keeping the original? Tweak the book layout? Store my whole library in folders I can backup to an external drive and dropbox? Move stuff to a whole new device that uses a different format? Does all that and more stuff I don't use and don't even know it can do. Take a look at the sticky in this forum on Calibre and shelves.

Calibre seems a bit overwhelming at first, but for me the benefits outweigh the positives.
There is a brilliant Calibre community here on these forums who will help with anything, no matter how daft you think your question is. Learning to love it made my ebook experience better and less painful than any other way I've found. I found that like any library owner, managing my books properly makes reading them easier and better. Sounds like you write your own scripts anyway -- there's developer sections on here who might be able to help you make those into plugins so you can still use them. I don't use Kobo Desktop. I don't need it.

I really appreciate all the work David and others does with the Kobo Driver for Calibre. You can set it to make and manage your shelves, covers, series info, send books to SD rather than main memory. I can't do any of this by just dragging and dropping folders. Having it all handled automatically or with a few clicks, makes my ebook reading a far better and easier experience.

I know folders seem natural. Give Calibre a try. There are plenty on here who will hold your hand through any learning curve.

[PeterT]

Maybe (shock, horror) use the calibre ePubMerge plugin to combine those books into a more manageable number.

I also can't help but feel that if you had done some research into Kobo and folder (or lack there of) support, you would have realized that Kobo was not the device for you.

I'm also not at all sure if a plugin of any type on the Kobo would help; if materiial were to be extracted from a zip file, until a scan of the file system (normally triggered by the end of a WiFi sync, a USB unplug, or the addition of an SD card) the material would not be available to be viewed.

[paola]

Originally Posted by PyroDevil

Do you know if it's possible to develop a file browser with plugins? Maybe I could pack those books into a tar/zip file and use the file browser to open them browse them and then extract them temporary so I can open them with the reader application.

why don't you give it a go, if you have the programming expertise? If you check the Developer's subforum there is plenty of tools being developed, maybe one can be tweaked for your purposes?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm not sure this is correct? I believe that Kobo shelves are stored in a database on the device (and maybe a Kobo server, if you're syncing).

You may be right, John. I'm not sure how the Shelf data is passed from Calibre to the Kobo database. I thought it was via the epub metadata but I suppose it's possible that the Calibre driver manipulates the Kobo database directly. As the OP is only using sideloaded epubs I don't think the Kobo servers are involved.

[PeterT]

The calibre driver does manipulate the database on the Kobo; it adds entries to the shelf and shelf_content tables.

it also upfates the content table to add in the series info.

[dassie]

You could upload all your epubs in your preferred folder structure to a website (or run one locally) that allows for directory listings. Then use the browser on the Kobo to navigate your folders and download the book to read/add to the kobo's library.

[PyroDevil]

Thanks for all your replies.

Originally Posted by dassie

You could upload all your epubs in your preferred folder structure to a website (or run one locally) that allows for directory listings. Then use the browser on the Kobo to navigate your folders and download the book to read/add to the kobo's library.

I though about porting (more like compiling) httpd to kobo and use the internal browser for everything. But then I need to disable the library indexing function for these files.

I read that you can trigger the reindexing by manipulating a file and making nickel think that usb was pluged in an out.