Kobo, Kindle, KOReader and hyphenation

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Kobo is rooted out of the box, no restrictions included. Nooks are notoriously good for rooting. Kindles are extremely locked down, and all recent models have remained unrootable without hardware alteration for a couple of years.

Amazon's new $50 Fire tablet was quickly jail-broken and rooted. They sold a lot of them and there are a large number of Android hackers who were interested in making that happen.

Kindle devices are much less mainstream and there is only a small developer community interested in hacking the latest models. Despite it being known that one developer found a security hole in the version 5.6.5 firmware, the exploit has not been replicated by anyone else. To me this shows a lack of interest rather than a lack of exploitable holes in their software.

ETA: "Hardware alteration" is not very accurate. You do need to open the case and temporarily attach a serial port, but no soldering is required. It would take less time to do the procedure than it takes to complain about it on this forum. Sure there is a risk of breaking something, but even a software-only jailbreak risks bricking the device.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon's new $50 Fire tablet was quickly jail-broken and rooted. They sold a lot of them and there are a large number of Android hackers who were interested in making that happen.

Kindle devices are much less mainstream and there is only a small developer community interested in hacking the latest models.

There is a lot of interest in hacking the Kindle, as is well-known on these forums. Amazon has worked hard to stop the device being hacked. It is nonsense to suggest otherwise.

Originally Posted by jhowell

Sure there is a risk of breaking something, but even a software-only jailbreak risks bricking the device.

It is obviously much more risky and scary to open a device and to start altering the hardware then it is to apply a pre-prepared software hack. Again, it is nonsense to suggest otherwise.

[roger64]

Hi

Thanks all for your contributions. Comments about jailbreaking seem to overflow the hyphenation ones, even if I did my best to try to put the thread back on track.

I do not complain about it. I realize that both subjects are mysteriously considered to be quite offensive by some Kindle users. It's a pity for them. They obviously miss a lot of things. Furthermore, it appears that there is clearly a huge lack of information about it.

One example:

Originally Posted by darryl

To blame Amazon's advertising is sheer rationalisation. It is hardly a secret that not only Amazon but all of the major vendors of e-ink readers like to put you in jail, as you put it.

Well, as Rizla already told you: Kobo and Nook which are the biggest sellers of e-ink readers after Amazon are not jails. You are free to root, patch, hack them. They are yours. Kindle 5.6.5. today is still a jail because Amazon interfered heavily with the release of a zeroday.

I remark that eschwartz who probably knows better does not try to correct this obvious mistake but dives for a kfx comment (of which I know nothing about to tell the truth).

Originally Posted by darryl

Please stop whinging about it

Thank you also for perfecting my poor English. I looked for the meaning of this word (probably "whining"), then for synonyms: it's my pleasure to tell you that you can still use: griping, wailing, whimpering, "grousing", grumbling, sobbing, deploring, kicking up a fuss.. and many others. Feel free to tell me how disgusted you are that I am telling the truth (i.e. not lying by omission).

If you desperately want to be back on track, well there is an open question to Kindle users about hyphenation that is still unanswered.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by roger64

Hi
If you desperately want to be back on track, well there is an open question to Kindle users about hyphenation that is still unanswered.

Maybe because you directed your question to Kindle owners who care about hyphenation, and there just aren't that many of those?

It would make sense that most people who really care about hyphenation don't own a Kindle, since that feature has just been released recently.

Shari

[roger64]

@shalym
You may be right. They will have to taste it to fully appreciate it.

But at least, it's worth asking the question because there are many use cases where it could be a big plus:
- for foreign language users like Germans, French, but presumably these users don't use an English language forum.
- for all users which use small screen devices or bigger than average font-size. These are simple maths. The lack of hyphenation is felt stronger on a five inches device than on a six inches one. Or, if you have rather use a bigger font-size, then of course the "holes" between words will be bigger.

It seems that Amazon agrees with this view since they added it in their new KFX file format. So, I am amazingly politically correct on this point.

I would have been curious to test it on a KFX book (it's just a matter of a few dollars), but I am too afraid to leave the "airplane mode" and get an unwanted update which could destroy any -small- possibility I may have to install later the 5.6.5 jailbreak for which I am longing for.

But surely there may have been people who read some KFX books and can report about it? Some screenshots would be appreciated. I provided some of them coming from Koreader (EPUB and six inches PDF) so people could compare.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Rizla

There is a lot of interest in hacking the Kindle, as is well-known on these forums. Amazon has worked hard to stop the device being hacked. It is nonsense to suggest otherwise.

A lot of interest yes, but from a much smaller community of folks working on it.

Apparently the current version of Kindle firmware has been broken (according to posts in the dev forum) without connecting to the serial port (unless there's newer firmware now?), but the person who has accomplished this has chosen not to release the jailbreak at this time.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by roger64

@shalym
You may be right. They will have to taste it to fully appreciate it.

But at least, it's worth asking the question because there are many use cases where it could be a big plus:
- for foreign language users like Germans, French, but presumably these users don't use an English language forum.
- for all users which use small screen devices or bigger than average font-size. These are simple maths. The lack of hyphenation is felt stronger on a five inches device than on a six inches one. Or, if you have rather use a bigger font-size, then of course the "holes" between words will be bigger.

It seems that Amazon agrees with this view since they added it in their new KFX file format. So, I am amazingly politically correct on this point.

I would have been curious to test it on a KFX book (it's just a matter of a few dollars), but I am too afraid to leave the "airplane mode" and get an unwanted update which could destroy any -small- possibility I may have to install later the 5.6.5 jailbreak for which I am longing for.

But surely there may have been people who read some KFX books and can report about it? Some screenshots would be appreciated. I provided some of them coming from Koreader (EPUB and six inches PDF) so people could compare.

As I said earlier, I am one of those who use a bigger than average font size at times, and even on my Kobo with hyphenation enabled I end up with large spaces between words sometimes. I've attached a photo for reference.

Shari

Edited to add a second image--a screenshot of a Kindle KFX book.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

A lot of interest yes, but from a much smaller community of folks working on it.

It took five people one day to hack the Fire. That's just five people. That's not many work-hours. It's taken a whole year to crack the Kindle. But back to hyphenation

[roger64]

@shalym
Thanks for your screenshots. A first on the Kindle side. Cheers.

I shall not discuss why to use use such big font-sizes (you may have no choice) but, if I judge from your second screenshot, even with KFX hyphenation, it seems to be beyond repair . The text indeed looks ragged.

Another screenshot taken on a justified text using an average font-size (i.e. about 20 lines a page instead of 8) would maybe show us how efficient is the KFX format for hyphenation on average.

@Rizla
I did not know this information about duck's arse. I knew only about force-feeding them. This is disturbing.

It's always tricky to explain why something is so long to happen or is simply not happening (namely a jailbreak). There is obviously only a minority involved working on a jailbreak, as well as soldering iron or cracking open the lids but I would tend to agree that cracking a Kindle is probably not easy at all. You both may be right on this.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by roger64

@shalym
Thanks for your screenshots. A first on the Kindle side. Cheers.

I shall not discuss why to use use such big font-sizes (you may have no choice) but, if I judge from your second screenshot, even with KFX hyphenation, it seems to be beyond repair . The text indeed looks ragged.

Another screenshot taken on a justified text using an average font-size (i.e. about 20 lines a page instead of 8) would maybe show us how efficient is the KFX format for hyphenation on average.

@Rizla
I did not know this information about duck's arse. I knew only about force-feeding them. This is disturbing.

It's always tricky to explain why something is so long to happen or is simply not happening (namely a jailbreak). There is obviously only a minority involved working on a jailbreak, as well as soldering iron or cracking open the lids but I would tend to agree that cracking a Kindle is probably not easy at all. You both may be right on this.

I don't always need such large font sizes, only when my eyes are very tired and I'm reading in my bed without my glasses.

I've attached another screenshot at a font size that shows 22 lines per page.

Shari

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by shalym

I don't always need such large font sizes, only when my eyes are very tired and I'm reading in my bed without my glasses.

Have you tried using a bold font?

[roger64]

@shalym

Nice KFX screenshot. For me, hyphenation is a minor but definite improvement. If on average we find two hyphens a page (a little less than 10% of the text), it's significant even in English.

Now, if you have a Mobi and AZW3 library, it would be nice to be able to batch upgrade them to KFX. Maybe Amazon will make it possible some day, or more probably a Calibre-like utility will be able in the future to provide this functionality. But as some of the books are "protected" with DRM, it probably will never be so easy as if Amazon allowed it directly from within the Kindle. To do it the way Microsoft "upgrades" older versions to Windows 10 (but it should leave them the choice!).

For improving the readability, out of increasing the font-size, there may be other tries:
1 - increasing line-height helps (but yours seems fine)
2 - boldening a font. This deserves some comments:
Some software (FontForge among others) allow you a bolden slightly the font. From my short experience, it works sometimes with ttf fonts, hardly with otf. I tried with some e-text fonts and totally failed. When this works, this can bring a big improvement.
But then, it seems you can't side-load your fonts on a non-jailbroken Kindle. Maybe it would be possible to modify some fonts already supplied by the system. No experience yet with this.
Another possibility to circumvent this limitation would be to embed your favourite reading font in your books. But you can edit only AZW3 and not KFX, so you would have to hyphenate them in a separate process. Not undoable but a lot of work.
3. - using a real bold font. I don't like it but it's a matter of choice.
4. - other?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by roger64

For improving the readability, out of increasing the font-size, there may be other tries:
1 - increasing line-height helps (but yours seems fine)

But not too much. I know I like the line-height closer than a lot of people, but I think an inbetween szie might do. Smaller then what the Kindle uses.

2 - boldening a font. This deserves some comments:
Some software (FontForge among others) allow you a bolden slightly the font. From my short experience, it works sometimes with ttf fonts, hardly with otf. I tried with some e-text fonts and totally failed. When this works, this can bring a big improvement.
But then, it seems you can't side-load your fonts on a non-jailbroken Kindle. Maybe it would be possible to modify some fonts already supplied by the system. No experience yet with this.
Another possibility to circumvent this limitation would be to embed your favourite reading font in your books. But you can edit only AZW3 and not KFX, so you would have to hyphenate them in a separate process. Not undoable but a lot of work.

Yes, you can up the weight of a given font family and then embed it. But then you have to do this for most fonts for use on an eInk screen. With a Kobo Reader, you can patch the firmware to enable the advanced font control so you can use the weight to what you want. You can also side load fonts on a Kobo. No need to jailbreak to have the fonts you want to use. You can even reference the side loaded fonts You can even reference them from the CSS of the ePub without having to put them in the ePub.

3. - using a real bold font. I don't like it but it's a matter of choice.

Sometimes a bold font is used because it's that or the underweight font.

4. - other?

What also helps is hyphens. Large gaps can be off-putting to some.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Have you tried using a bold font?

I have--that, along with the slightly larger screen, was the biggest reason why I bought my Kobo. The picture of my Kobo screen does have the font enhanced.

Shari

[Funslinger]

Originally Posted by roger64

Of course I am not the world. But I am just here because of some hasty statements of this kind above. How can people be so mistaken? To "go by the majority" here makes absolutely no sense (the whole statement in fact makes no sense).

There is no Gulf Stream divide between lovers and haters of typography. Users are the same on each platform (Kindle, Kobo, etc.). They look for the most easy or convenient solution provided by their platform.

As it happens, most EPUB users seem to use hyphenation, most Kindle users don't.

Why? EPUB users have automatic hyphenation and use it even if they do not care any more about typography than Kindle users. And Kindle users don't use hyphenation because it's not automatically provided to them.

If Kindle provided automatic hyphenation to its users, I bet that 98% would use it - without thinking about it. There is no need to make hasty and earth-shattering statements of this kind, it's just a matter of ease of use of certain feature.

While justification and auto hyphenation makes displayed text look pretty, it makes reading harder/slower for me. I much prefer a jagged right margin and no auto hyphenation. Spacing between words is uniform and I don't have to scan all the way to the right margin on every line of text.

I understand why publishers would like justification and auto hyphenation for printed books as it makes printed pages look more uniform and attractive. I couldn't care less how the dynamically displayed pages on an ereader look. I want the layout styled in a way that increases my reading speed.