Japanese Kobo Dev - kobohack-j

ewphoenix123 · 05-14-2013, 09:59 AM

Searching the Web i stumbled over a few development projects for the Kobo Software.

Sadly my knowledge of the language is almost non-existant and translation software is rather limited especially when it comes to linux based libraries. :P

As far as I can understand it, this first project is an effort to updated internal libraries for increased performance, and to add some additional functionality.

It seems to support up to date kobo firmware 2.5.2.

I hope someone who can read japanese or/and linux, might help the rest of us figure out whats going on there. *g*

kobohack-j

giorgio130 · 05-14-2013, 10:34 AM

Quote:

A brief description of the difference
u-boot_hack.bin

By writing to the internal SD this u-boot_hack.bin, it becomes possible to easily external conditions SD starts is changed.
Old conditions It remains && power switch is pressed && Home key card is mounted to the external SD slot is slid.
New conditions Card is mounted to the external SD slot.

To start with root = / dev/mmcblk1p1 and loaded from external SD the uImage, external SD boot is very useful to hack can be easily replaced in the rootfs and kernel.

It should be noted that this binary (It unfazed even if paperweight mosquitoes, etc.) are those people who are able to fully understand how to rewrite the u-boot.

Well, this is something I wanted to do for a long time! Great find

norbusan · 07-03-2013, 09:41 AM

Hi

I also stumbled over this page and I am interested in trying it out. I can read enough Japanese, but it is unclear to me from the descriptions how to run/install the u-boot_hack.bin which is responsible for booting from a different root device.

Does anyone have an idea what to do with this u-boot_hack.bin?

Thanks,

Norbert

yoq · 07-03-2013, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by norbusan

Hi

I also stumbled over this page and I am interested in trying it out. I can read enough Japanese, but it is unclear to me from the descriptions how to run/install the u-boot_hack.bin which is responsible for booting from a different root device.

Does anyone have an idea what to do with this u-boot_hack.bin?

Thanks,

Norbert

You can flash it with:

Code:

dd if=u-boot_hack.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1K seek=1 skip=1

But be cautious, validate the checksum before using the command and have a backup (and be prepared to open your device)

It worked for me some time ago, but I can't read japanese so don't really know what exactly is loaded from the external sd.

norbusan · 07-04-2013, 12:49 AM

Huuu. that flashes the internal memory boot loader ... scary. I mean, I have done that often on my laptop, but there I can boot from usb and get back all to work. But here ...

What do you mean with "open your device"? Is there a way to restore to the previous flash state?

Thanks

PeterT · 07-04-2013, 12:59 AM

Follow the instructions posted in some of the threads here on taking a backup of the internal SD card before trying anything

While yes, a script has been posted that will do a backup without removing the card, nothing has been posted for a restore

So physically open your unit, use a tool (dd under linux or maybe Win32Imager under Windows) to take a full backup of the SD card; restore that image to a brand new card that you will put in your Kobo, and then put the original in a safe place.

Ken Maltby · 07-04-2013, 01:12 AM

The free tools in:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122
work fine for that purpose, in Windows.

There are also directions for opening the Kobo ereaders.

Luck;
Ken

norbusan · 07-04-2013, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122

Great, thanks. That is enough for me. I am positively surprised that they put a simple SD card that can easily be exchanged into the unit, instead of a soldered on memory ... great... running to a shop for getting a nice card ;-)

PeterT · 07-04-2013, 01:39 AM

The initial models of the Touch had memory....

Ken Maltby · 07-04-2013, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by norbusan

Great, thanks. That is enough for me. I am positively surprised that they put a simple SD card that can easily be exchanged into the unit, instead of a soldered on memory ... great... running to a shop for getting a nice card ;-)

You might want to make that a Class 4 card.

Luck;
Ken

norbusan · 07-04-2013, 10:16 PM

Hi Ken, hi all

ok, here my first report. I managed to update my sd card and merge the kobohack-j adaptions into it, but for now I have not managed to boot from the external sd card.

Here is what I did (linux commands):

Replacement of the sd card

Of course, see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122

(opening the device is necessary!)

extract internal SD card
make image of external SD card
dd if=/dev/sd??? of=kobo-original-sd.img
insert new SD card
copy image onto the new SD card
dd if=kobo-original-sd.img of=/dev/sd???
resize the partition sd?3
probably best with gparted
insert into the KOBO internal slot and reboot

Installation of kobohack-j

(opening the device is *not* necessary)

unpack firmware of Kobo:
mkdir KoboOriginal-2.6.1 ; unzip -d KoboOriginal-2.6.1 kobo-update-2.6.1.zip
unpack the original KoboRoot.tgz into a separate directory
mkdir KoboRoot ; tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f KoboOriginal-2.6.1/KoboRoot.tgz
unpack the kobohack-j-YYMMDD.zip file
mkdir kobohack-j ; unzip -d kobohack-j kobohack-j-YYMMDD.zip
unpack the kobohack-j KoboRoot.tgz into the unpacked original KoboRoot
tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f kobohack-j/KoboRoot.tgz
if wanted, unpack the kobohack-j KoboRoot_hack.tgz, too
tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f kobohack-j/KoboRoot_hack.tgz
create a new KoboHack.tgz
tar -cvzf KoboRoot.tgz -C KoboRoot .
copy new KoboRoot.tgz to KOBOeReader/.kobo/
reboot reader, it should show "Updating ..."

Booting from external sd slot

(work in progress)

I am not sure what the boot hack is doing, I though it only consists of the kernel and the boot parameters, so just using a brand new empty sd card and dd-ing it onto it should be enough. But that did not boot. The LED went blue for a moment and then nothing happened.

If anyone has an idea what the boot hack is actually doing and what is necessary to get it running, please let me know.

Thanks

Norbert

giorgio130 · 07-05-2013, 05:22 AM

Booting from the external sd card should actually involve two sd-cards, since the bootloader is always loaded from the internal one. Did you keep that one inserted? the blue led then nothing could mean it's not finding the bootloader at all.

norbusan · 07-06-2013, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giorgio130

Booting from the external sd card should actually involve two sd-cards, since the bootloader is always loaded from the internal one. Did you keep that one inserted? the blue led then nothing could mean it's not finding the bootloader at all.

Yes of course, I had two cards. One that I used first internally I put into the external slot. And one other I just dumped the boot loader onto. But it seems only dumping the boot loader is not enough, we need a full Kobo Card, I guess at least the rootfs and maybe the rescuefs partition should be present, right?

giorgio130 · 07-06-2013, 03:22 AM

Well no but if I got it right the external sd card is used to boot only if you are pressing the home or light button, at least that's what I got from an automatic translation

ewphoenix123 · 07-07-2013, 05:35 AM

Just tried the new version of it for 2.5.2, the updated freetype (font renderer) is a noticeable improvement for me.
I use a rather thick fontsetting and have a long full page refresh setting (20) with the original renderer the font starts sometimes to fade out slightly (really minimal) in places after 10-15 pages.
With the updated renderer there is no more fading.

05-14-2013, 09:59 AM	#1
ewphoenix123 Addict Posts: 200 Karma: 42238 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo: Glo, Aura , Aura H2O, Aura ONE, Forma, Elipsa	Japanese Kobo Dev - kobohack-j Searching the Web i stumbled over a few development projects for the Kobo Software. Sadly my knowledge of the language is almost non-existant and translation software is rather limited especially when it comes to linux based libraries. :P As far as I can understand it, this first project is an effort to updated internal libraries for increased performance, and to add some additional functionality. It seems to support up to date kobo firmware 2.5.2. I hope someone who can read japanese or/and linux, might help the rest of us figure out whats going on there. g kobohack-j

07-04-2013, 10:16 PM	#11
norbusan Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 82382 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Glo, Kobo GloHD	Hi Ken, hi all ok, here my first report. I managed to update my sd card and merge the kobohack-j adaptions into it, but for now I have not managed to boot from the external sd card. Here is what I did (linux commands): Replacement of the sd card Of course, see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122 (opening the device is necessary!) extract internal SD card make image of external SD card dd if=/dev/sd??? of=kobo-original-sd.img insert new SD card copy image onto the new SD card dd if=kobo-original-sd.img of=/dev/sd??? resize the partition sd?3 probably best with gparted insert into the KOBO internal slot and reboot Installation of kobohack-j (opening the device is not necessary) unpack firmware of Kobo: mkdir KoboOriginal-2.6.1 ; unzip -d KoboOriginal-2.6.1 kobo-update-2.6.1.zip unpack the original KoboRoot.tgz into a separate directory mkdir KoboRoot ; tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f KoboOriginal-2.6.1/KoboRoot.tgz unpack the kobohack-j-YYMMDD.zip file mkdir kobohack-j ; unzip -d kobohack-j kobohack-j-YYMMDD.zip unpack the kobohack-j KoboRoot.tgz into the unpacked original KoboRoot tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f kobohack-j/KoboRoot.tgz if wanted, unpack the kobohack-j KoboRoot_hack.tgz, too tar -xv -C KoboRoot -f kobohack-j/KoboRoot_hack.tgz create a new KoboHack.tgz tar -cvzf KoboRoot.tgz -C KoboRoot . copy new KoboRoot.tgz to KOBOeReader/.kobo/ reboot reader, it should show "Updating ..." Booting from external sd slot (work in progress) I am not sure what the boot hack is doing, I though it only consists of the kernel and the boot parameters, so just using a brand new empty sd card and dd-ing it onto it should be enough. But that did not boot. The LED went blue for a moment and then nothing happened. If anyone has an idea what the boot hack is actually doing and what is necessary to get it running, please let me know. Thanks Norbert

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07-03-2013, 09:41 AM	#3
norbusan Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 82382 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Glo, Kobo GloHD	Hi I also stumbled over this page and I am interested in trying it out. I can read enough Japanese, but it is unclear to me from the descriptions how to run/install the u-boot_hack.bin which is responsible for booting from a different root device. Does anyone have an idea what to do with this u-boot_hack.bin? Thanks, Norbert

07-04-2013, 12:49 AM	#5
norbusan Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 82382 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Glo, Kobo GloHD	Huuu. that flashes the internal memory boot loader ... scary. I mean, I have done that often on my laptop, but there I can boot from usb and get back all to work. But here ... What do you mean with "open your device"? Is there a way to restore to the previous flash state? Thanks

07-04-2013, 12:59 AM	#6
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,166 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Follow the instructions posted in some of the threads here on taking a backup of the internal SD card before trying anything While yes, a script has been posted that will do a backup without removing the card, nothing has been posted for a restore So physically open your unit, use a tool (dd under linux or maybe Win32Imager under Windows) to take a full backup of the SD card; restore that image to a brand new card that you will put in your Kobo, and then put the original in a safe place.

07-04-2013, 01:12 AM	#7
Ken Maltby Wizard Posts: 4,465 Karma: 6900052 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: The Heart of Texas Device: Boox Note2, AuraHD, PDA,	The free tools in: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122 work fine for that purpose, in Windows. There are also directions for opening the Kobo ereaders. Luck; Ken

07-04-2013, 01:39 AM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,166 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	The initial models of the Touch had memory....

07-05-2013, 05:22 AM	#12
giorgio130 Time Waster Posts: 422 Karma: 289160 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kobo Glo and Aura HD	Booting from the external sd card should actually involve two sd-cards, since the bootloader is always loaded from the internal one. Did you keep that one inserted? the blue led then nothing could mean it's not finding the bootloader at all.

07-06-2013, 03:22 AM	#14
giorgio130 Time Waster Posts: 422 Karma: 289160 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kobo Glo and Aura HD	Well no but if I got it right the external sd card is used to boot only if you are pressing the home or light button, at least that's what I got from an automatic translation

07-07-2013, 05:35 AM	#15
ewphoenix123 Addict Posts: 200 Karma: 42238 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo: Glo, Aura , Aura H2O, Aura ONE, Forma, Elipsa	Just tried the new version of it for 2.5.2, the updated freetype (font renderer) is a noticeable improvement for me. I use a rather thick fontsetting and have a long full page refresh setting (20) with the original renderer the font starts sometimes to fade out slightly (really minimal) in places after 10-15 pages. With the updated renderer there is no more fading.

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