Aura HD A New Beginning - Predicament!!

[xibalban]

Hello folks,

Greetings!!

My long awaited Aura HD just arrived, and it "feels" perfect to me. Except, I can't seem to find a way to set-it-up. Oh, I've followed the instructions precisely but success eluded me, and here's my discovery:

• The desktop app tries to download stuffs in the background
• It doesn't let me know exactly what's going on behind those two rotating arrows
• It must have failed to fetch the required updates

I had left my device plugged in to the computer (with direct internet access) for more than 15 hours now. I am a very patient guy, but when I found the kobo desktop app with those infinitely rotating arrows (still), it made me think.

Have I done anything wrong? The following checks were performed:

• Internet connection: works
• Antivirus: is disabled
• Charge on the device: no indication but 15 plus hours into the USB port must have charged the device

I don't have Wi-fi to try alternative set-up, therefore - I'm left clueless!!

Someone please tell me, tell me that there is a way to set-up the device without the kobo desktop app or any internet connection or both.

[ewphoenix123]

If nothing else helps skip the registration and set a koboaccount later (if you need it).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=171664

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by ewphoenix123

If nothing else helps skip the registration and set a koboaccount later (if you need it).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=171664

Thanks for the link, that did the trick for me

Is there a way to install the kindle app onto my Aura HD alongside the normal "nickel" interface?

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Thanks for the link, that did the trick for me

Is there a way to install the kindle app onto my Aura HD alongside the normal "nickel" interface?

Nope. There is no Kindle app for the Kobo eReader family; you can install two alternative readers, CoolReader and Koreader.

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Nope. There is no Kindle app for the Kobo eReader family; you can install two alternative readers, CoolReader and Koreader.

Thanks for the response. Is it possible to access Amazon store from within these two alternative readers?

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Thanks for the response. Is it possible to access Amazon store from within these two alternative readers?

Nope. I'm not even sure which (if any) of the proprietary Amazon formats they do handle.

[xibalban]

Hello folks,

Since I do not wish to create too many threads, I will add requests for assistance to this one singular thread.

So, I've bypassed the registration and loaded a few PDFs, and subsequently installed the KoReader (latest nightly) using the adboot method (now I realise why KoReader is so popular around here ). Somehow, KoReader was unable to even detect CBR files. The CBR opens fine with nickel, but it looks faint. KoReader, on the other hand has the provision to play around with contrast, and I was hoping to load the CBR up, and increase contrast to suit my needs.

OR

Is there a "contrast" hack for Kobo Aura HD, somewhere? Have I missed something, so far?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Hello folks,

Since I do not wish to create too many threads, I will add requests for assistance to this one singular thread.

So, I've bypassed the registration and loaded a few PDFs, and subsequently installed the KoReader (latest nightly) using the adboot method (now I realise why KoReader is so popular around here ). Somehow, KoReader was unable to even detect CBR files. The CBR opens fine with nickel, but it looks faint. KoReader, on the other hand has the provision to play around with contrast, and I was hoping to load the CBR up, and increase contrast to suit my needs.

OR

Is there a "contrast" hack for Kobo Aura HD, somewhere? Have I missed something, so far?

You can rename the file from .cbr to .cbz. You can also add .cbr to the supported documents for Koreader, but I can't remember the posts describing how that is done.
(you may need to set the zoom mode)

Luck;
Ken

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

You can rename the file from .cbr to .cbz.

Was it that "dead simple"? Well, I was currently converting those files using ComicRack.

KoReader is certainly better than stock reader, but it has led me to factory reset my device twice already. Why? Well, I had deleted the only PDF file present in the device through Kobo's USB connect interface. Incidentally, that same file was last accessed by KoReader and it threw an error every time I tried to launch it. Instead of taking me back to file manager, the KoReader - unable to find the last accessed PDF - took me to the dual boot screen of adboot. Launching the Kobo, just froze the device. I reset it twice using the pin-hole, without success. Hence, I was forced to do a hard reset.

Is there a KoReader hack to enable USB support? And, is deleting files by browsing them from the computer forbidden?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Thanks for the response. Is it possible to access Amazon store from within these two alternative readers?

Not unless they add an internet browser, which is a bloat I would not like to see. Tshring has mentioned possibly adding one to his "Kobo Start Menu".

Koreader has added OPDS support so you can browse catalogs at the free ebook sites and download ebooks to your device. Calibre also has a "Get Books" function where you can access many stores, including a number of country specific Amazon stores. Koreader has added a couple of new features that work with calibre, primarily a search function and a calibre companion plugin.

Luck;
Ken

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Was it that "dead simple"? Well, I was currently converting those files using ComicRack.

KoReader is certainly better than stock reader, but it has led me to factory reset my device twice already. Why? Well, I had deleted the only PDF file present in the device through Kobo's USB connect interface. Incidentally, that same file was last accessed by KoReader and it threw an error every time I tried to launch it. Instead of taking me back to file manager, the KoReader - unable to find the last accessed PDF - took me to the dual boot screen of adboot. Launching the Kobo, just froze the device. I reset it twice using the pin-hole, without success. Hence, I was forced to do a hard reset.

Is there a KoReader hack to enable USB support? And, is deleting files by browsing them from the computer forbidden?

There are some who switch back and forth between Koreader and Nickel (the Kobo User Interface) all the time, but having anything done to a file that the Kobo database is managing is a bad idea. I would keep your PDFs, or other files that you want to read in Koreader. in a "Hidden" folder, so it won't be added to the Kobo database.

It sounds like you have Koreader set to start in the last opened file, and you deleted that file. It used to drop to File Manager, after the "File not Found" message, but now that there is an icon in the top menu for the File Manager, it is just exiting (as if you selected the Home icon).

If you go to the File Manager top menu you can uncheck the open in last file option.

Luck;
Ken

P.S. I use Tshring's Kobo Start Menu which includes a USB function. (instead of the Advboot) This might help.

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

There are some who switch back and forth between Koreader and Nickel (the Kobo User Interface) all the time, but having anything done to a file that the Kobo database is managing is a bad idea. I would keep your PDFs, or other files that you want to read in Koreader. in a "Hidden" folder, so it won't be added to the Kobo database.

It sounds like you have Koreader set to start in the last opened file, and you deleted that file. It used to drop to File Manager, after the "File not Found" message, but now that there is an icon in the top menu for the File Manager, it is just exiting (as if you selected the Home icon).

If you go to the File Manager top menu you can uncheck the open in last file option.

Luck;
Ken

P.S. I use Tshring's Kobo Start Menu which includes a USB function. (instead of the Advboot) This might help.

Thank you. I shall now attempt the following:

• Delete sideloaded PDFs from within Nickel
• Install Kobo Start Menu and KoReader
• Create a hidden folder (folder with a preceding dot) for future sideloading

I have discovered that "manual crop" with KoReader is difficult with the "cropping rectangle" not being able to register my touch/swipe. Is there a bug, or am I doing something weird?

Are there even more alternative readers for PDFs? What's/How's CoolReader?

[Ken Maltby]

For now I only know of the two add on readers for Kobos and Kindles. Sergey's port of the Coolreader program is part of his PBChess download which includes some of the USB functionality as well as other games and utilities. The Kobo Start Menu can launch that as well as Koreader. Coolreader is not as much for PDFs.

I personally don't use Nickel anymore for reading, but as I said before there are others who still use both. Starting Koreader with Advboot or the Kobo Start Menu means that all the background database processing and phone home Kobo process, of Nickel, are not started or running while you use Koreader.

I most often do the "Switch Zoom mode" first, with PDFs, and "Zoom to fit content" often has the effect I want. When I have used the crop functions they seemed to work fine.

Luck;
Ken

[embryo]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

You can rename the file from .cbr to .cbz. You can also add .cbr to the supported documents for Koreader, but I can't remember the posts describing how that is done.

It's here.

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I personally don't use Nickel anymore for reading.

Neither do I, now just 2 days after I received my Aura HD.

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I most often do the "Switch Zoom mode" first, with PDFs, and "Zoom to fit content" often has the effect I want. When I have used the crop functions they seemed to work fine.

Currently, KoReader doesn't seem to remember my zoom mode preference, which is "zoom to fit content" like yours. Is the "crop" function required after the "zoom to fit content"? I've found that these default settings would best suit me:

• Zoom: 'zoom to fit'
• Contrast: 'darker'
• Default folder: 'external SD card'

Where/How do I set these as "global" values?

I greatly appreciate the help that you have been providing