Adding alternative readers to Kobo devices

[yayo]

Ok, KOBO Aura 6' here, on 3.2 firmware.
After installing the latest build of KoboLauncher for standalone Qt apps (AKA pbchess 1.2.6.36) I got a landscape oriented menu screen, unresponsive to tapping. I did a pinhole reset to get back to Nickel and then installed tshering's launcher.sh

As a remedy replace the file launcher.sh in .kobo\vlasovsoft by the one I provided in post #325. You have to extract it from launcher.sh.zip.

KoboLauncher and all its components, including Coolreader, are now working fine on my KOBO Aura 6', as is Koreader.

[hrissim]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Update Current builds are now working with FW 3.2.0
...

Confirm.
Thank You!
Almoust all works on my Kobo Aura HD - FW 3.2.0
Only usbnet doesn`t. No driver for Win7 Premium - RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget.
Anyone with advice where to find it?
Thanks.

[Ken Maltby]

Hmm... I have the same issue, but I was not sure the update to FW 3.2.0 was when it showed up. I wonder if FW 3.3.0 will fix it?


Luck;
Ken

[hrissim]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Hmm... I have the same issue, but I was not sure the update to FW 3.2.0 was when it showed up. I wonder if FW 3.3.0 will fix it?


Luck;
Ken

Ufff, I`m too lazy in the evenings - gooogling...
I`ll try this later on.
I belive it will helps

[firehawk12]

I'm just wondering, what reader would be good for manga cbzs? The default Kobo Aura reader doesn't read the pages in order unfortunately.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by firehawk12

I'm just wondering, what reader would be good for manga cbzs? The default Kobo Aura reader doesn't read the pages in order unfortunately.

If they're jumbled up, surely this is a problem with the CBZ, not the Aura? Or did you just mean the right to left issue - in which case, you could use the slider to whip to the "end" of the book, then page left to turn page instead of right, just as if you were reading it on paper. Or did you mean something else?

[Ken Maltby]

Current builds of KOreader do a good job with the .cbz samples I've tried. This is on my AuraHD though.

Luck;
Ken

[firehawk12]

Originally Posted by meeera

If they're jumbled up, surely this is a problem with the CBZ, not the Aura? Or did you just mean the right to left issue - in which case, you could use the slider to whip to the "end" of the book, then page left to turn page instead of right, just as if you were reading it on paper. Or did you mean something else?

Specifically, I have several chapters in a cbz and the default Kobo reader doesn't display them in order. I'll get the first page of each chapter before moving on to the second page of each chapter.

I had a problem and asked the creator of KCC, this is what he said:

Originally Posted by AcidWeb

@firehawk12 - In this case solution is simple. Use other CBZ reader software. You are not first person with this problem on Aura. For some reason one of CBZ readers there can't properly parse CBZ files with directories inside. I need add that to Wiki.

I'll try out KOReader when I get the chance. Hopefully this isn't hard to set up!

Edit: I seem to be stuck trying to install the KOReader tar file. Every time I copy over the file to the .kobo directory, the only thing that shows up after I restart the device is the KO Reader png image and not the actual program... what am I missing?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by firehawk12

Specifically, I have several chapters in a cbz and the default Kobo reader doesn't display them in order. I'll get the first page of each chapter before moving on to the second page of each chapter.

What do the file names for the images look like? And do they use subdirectories? I would expect the cbz/cbr reader is using the file names of the images in the file to order them. Different cases in the names or numbers without leading zeros could lead to what you are seeing.

[firehawk12]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What do the file names for the images look like? And do they use subdirectories? I would expect the cbz/cbr reader is using the file names of the images in the file to order them. Different cases in the names or numbers without leading zeros could lead to what you are seeing.

They're in the proper file structure according to the KCC creator. All the files in numbered chapter folders, all the images as 01.png, 02.png, etc.

Edit: Yep, KOReader reads the pages in the correct order. The unfortunate part is that it feels clumsy because you can't really search. Although I guess you can organize your files without using shelves at least.

I kind of wish you could just switch from KOReader to the default reader without having to go through the pbchess launcher. It seems if you open a book from the default reader and go "Home", it goes right into KOReader instead of going to the default home screen.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by firehawk12

They're in the proper file structure according to the KCC creator. All the files in numbered chapter folders, all the images as 01.png, 02.png, etc.

From that and some experiments, it looks like the CBR/CBZ reader is ignoring the directories and just sorting on file name. Including the chapter number in the file names would solve it, but would be a bit ugly.

I know this has been discussed before and I thought it was handled properly. Does anyone remember if it was different in an earlier firmware version?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by firehawk12

They're in the proper file structure according to the KCC creator. All the files in numbered chapter folders, all the images as 01.png, 02.png, etc.

Edit: Yep, KOReader reads the pages in the correct order. The unfortunate part is that it feels clumsy because you can't really search. Although I guess you can organize your files without using shelves at least.

I kind of wish you could just switch from KOReader to the default reader without having to go through the pbchess launcher. It seems if you open a book from the default reader and go "Home", it goes right into KOReader instead of going to the default home screen.

There is the "Kobo Start Menu" which you can use without the fmon program, if you don't want to use the launcher pngs. If you are having the problem you describe, I would delete the .png files with the device and install the Kobo Start Menu, by only copying over the KoboRoot.tgz into the .kobo directory.

Luck;
Ken

[bluefan]

I wish Perfect Viewer was available on the default Kobo OS ereaders. The Aura HD uses a modified ARM A8 CPU so technically speaking, the app should work. But the author hasn't done any updates in some time, so I guess the projects dead. Only APK files exist for it from what I could find.

Anyhoo, for my manga reading, I convert my files to CBR format. Some strange reason CBZ just doesn't work for me, even though it's just a zip extension, hmmm. Three tools I use to load up manga onto my device.

First, if the original image files aren't properly named and/or use a weird format, I use an program called "Bulk Rename Utility" (http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php) to quickly rename into a 001.jpg/png/etc... format.

Once all the images are renamed, I rar it up with Winrar.

Then I use an app called "AnalogX Extension Changer" (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/...-Changer.shtml) to change the extension from .rar to .cbr. This one I like as it has a drag and drop feature.

I've been debating on loading Android for Perfect Viewer onto my Aura HD but this seems to work well, albeit time consuming.

[firehawk12]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

There is the "Kobo Start Menu" which you can use without the fmon program, if you don't want to use the launcher pngs. If you are having the problem you describe, I would delete the .png files with the device and install the Kobo Start Menu, by only copying over the KoboRoot.tgz into the .kobo directory.

Luck;
Ken

The warnings about 3.2.0 are kind of frightening... is there any issue with bricking/locking the Kobo at this point?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by firehawk12

The warnings about 3.2.0 are kind of frightening... is there any issue with bricking/locking the Kobo at this point?

It turned out that one library used by the Kobo Start Menu is incompatible with the KoboMultitouch320 hack, which resulted in the device being unresponsive. If you don't use this hack, it should be ok.

If you decide to try the Kobo Start Menu, take the most recent version, which works for FW 2.6.x to 3.3.0 (and I hope beyond that). Currently, it has been downloaded 35 times, and there is no report of any problems. And if there should something happen, a factory reset will restore the original state of the device.

As with any hack, I would recommend you back up the database (KoboReader.sqlite), the ADE authorization file, and any side-loaded books you don't have a copy of, before installing.