Calibre 0.8.60 - Kobo database not fully supported

[Rob557]

From my own experience today, and as described at
https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+...3?comments=all
Calibre 0.8.60 under win7 does not appear to be fully compatible with Kobo with firmware 1.9.17 or with more current firmware 2.0.0. Calibre can still transfer files to the Kobo but cannot see the Kobo database. I updated to Calibre 0.8.60 yesterday (July 17).

The error message in both cases is:
"WARNING: Failed: Kobo database version unsupported - See details

Your Kobo is running an updated firmware/database version. As Calibre has not been updated, database editing is disabled. You can enable support for your Kobo in plugin preferences. Doing so may require you to perform a factory reset. Before selecting the "Attempt to support newer firmware" option you should be familiar with restoring your Kobo to factory defaults."

[Rob557]

The above problem might be related to the following link which describes the updates incorporated into Calibre 0.8.60
http://mac.softpedia.com/progChangel...log-35818.html

"What's new in calibre 0.8.60:
July 13th, 2012 ...
Bugfixes:
Kobo driver: Do not perform write operations on the Kobo database if its version is newer than the latest version the driver supports, for safety"

Somewhat ironically, the error message is perhaps a new message that makes reference to this compatibility check, although in the two cases noted in my initial posting, Calibre still performs write operations to the Kobo database.

It might be useful if the Calibre error message made reference to what is the most recent version of the Kobo firmware that the updated Calibre software supports ... but does that mean that a new version of the Calibre software must be created and installed every time the Kobo firmware is updated ?

[davidfor]

Rob557,

If you have a look at my post in https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=185229, you will see that the Kobo Touch hasn't had a firmware version supported by calibre for a while. It still works, but it doesn't take advantage of any new stuff in the KT's database. And if you use bookshelves, data will be left in the KT's database when you delete a book. The message was added in calibre 0.8.60 because the new KT firmware raised the question. As calibre is testing the DBVersion, not the firmware version, putting that in wouldn't have been correct thing. And putting the DBversions in wouldn't give many people any real help (though it would have saved me hunting through the calibre code).

Right now, we have to wait until someone with the time, desire and skill to update the driver for this firmware. Tim Legge said he won't have time have time in the next few weeks. Kovid won't (and rightly so) as he doesn't have one of the devices and he has much more important things to do. If I can wrap my head around the code, I might have a look at it. But it won't be too soon.

[Rob557]

Hi davidfor,
Thank you for the additional context and clarifications. I should have been clearer that I was referring to Kobo Touch.

I came across the following tip (but don't have the link) which seems to solve the problem (hopefully without introducing risks). Under "preferences/ change calibre behavior/ advanced/ plugins/ Device Interface Plugins/ Kobo Reader Device Interface (1.0.13) by Timothy Legge" place a check beside "attempt to support newer firmware". The default appears to be to not have a check mark beside that item (or maybe the upgrade to Calibre 0.8.60 removes the checkmark?).

For users who do not use the new KoboT bookshelf feature, it seems to be the best thing to do if they are going to still use Calibre to load books onto Kobo, because even with the new warning message Calibre is loading files onto the KoboT, but just not providing confirmation on what books are already on the KoboT.

[eddie19]

Hi Rob557

I have recently updated my KT to firmware v2.0 and got the Calibre message about the unsupported Kobo database. I followed your 'tip' report and checked the box "attempt to support newer firmware" in the Calibre preferences. It seemed to work and with the Kobo attached a number of books in the Calibre library had a tick against them with either 'Main' or 'Card A', but not all, even though all are in the Kobo library. Any idea why they are not all recorded?

If they are recognized in Calibre does that mean I can edit the metadata of files on the Kobo?

Eddie Price

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Rob557

Thank you for the additional context and clarifications. I should have been clearer that I was referring to Kobo Touch.

Based on the context, I assumed it was a Kobo Touch.

I came across the following tip (but don't have the link) which seems to solve the problem (hopefully without introducing risks). Under "preferences/ change calibre behavior/ advanced/ plugins/ Device Interface Plugins/ Kobo Reader Device Interface (1.0.13) by Timothy Legge" place a check beside "attempt to support newer firmware". The default appears to be to not have a check mark beside that item (or maybe the upgrade to Calibre 0.8.60 removes the checkmark?).

Umm, did you read the message that calibre displayed when it found the later DBVersion? It actually tells you that you can do this.

(or maybe the upgrade to Calibre 0.8.60 removes the checkmark?).

It is a brand new check and option in calibre 0.8.60. There are no other changes made in the code (that I can see) for the Kobo driver. It works exactly the same as for 0.8.59 except for this.

For users who do not use the new KoboT bookshelf feature, it seems to be the best thing to do if they are going to still use Calibre to load books onto Kobo, because even with the new warning message Calibre is loading files onto the KoboT, but just not providing confirmation on what books are already on the KoboT.

As there are no actual function changes in the calibre Kobo driver code, and Kobo Touch database has not changed in the areas that the driver touches, ticking the above checkbox and using the full function of calibre is the way to go. If you use the KT's bookshelves, it is still OK unless you delete the book via calibre. calibre doesn't go near these database tables that store the bookshelves. This means that if you do a delete, you might have some orphaned entries.

The only other thing to consider is not getting calibre to load the images. The handling of these with the Kobo 2.0.0 firmware is completely different and I don't think there is an advantage to having calibre create them.

[Rob557]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Umm, did you read the message that calibre displayed when it found the later DBVersion? It actually tells you that you can do this.

I looked back at the error message detail and with further insight now I see you are right. I'm a newbie and did not clue into what the message was really saying, partly because I was thrown by the suggestion of a factory reset and, until I saw the process detailed elsewhere, did not specifically know how to use plugin preferences to enable support for devices. I was also thrown by the fact that the KoboT that I was using when first encountering the problem yesterday had the same (and only) firmware version (1.9.17) that I had been using prior to updating Calibre to 0.8.60 (I'm new to this and bought the KoboT a couple of weeks ago), so the error message in my case was not triggered by a new KoboT firmware version but by the Calibre upgrade. I found the problem applied to 2.0.0 as well because I had updated the firmware on my wife's KoboT but not on my own as yet.

Regarding the question from eddie19, I'll have to defer to others who are more experienced.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eddie19

I have recently updated my KT to firmware v2.0 and got the Calibre message about the unsupported Kobo database. I followed your 'tip' report and checked the box "attempt to support newer firmware" in the Calibre preferences. It seemed to work and with the Kobo attached a number of books in the Calibre library had a tick against them with either 'Main' or 'Card A', but not all, even though all are in the Kobo library. Any idea why they are not all recorded?

I think it means that there is a mismatch between the metadata in the calibre library and what is on the KT. I have had a few cases like this where I changed the author_sort for an author after the epub was sent to the KT. calibre also puts a file called "metadata.calibre" in the root directory of the device and the memory card. I am sure I seen a recent explanation that this is also used in the matching, but I can't find it right now.

If they are recognized in Calibre does that mean I can edit the metadata of files on the Kobo?

Not really. calibre will edit the metadata in its library. You can then send this to the Kobo. But, the Kobo does not read this again after the first time it sees the file. This might have changed with the new firmware, but I haven't done enough experiments to find out what the new firmware is doing.

[Maxine2]

Current kobo firmware installed itself a couple of days ago. 3.19.5761.
My Calibre has allowed me to download books onto the kobo but has not copied metadata. The books have not been added to my shelves or collections on my reader.
Any advise?

[PeterT]

I know this is your first post here, but .... the answer actually IS posted in this thread (and in many other similar threads here).

With your device attached click on the drop down arrow besides Device on the calibre menu bar, then select Configure this device. On the options screen displayed select the option Attempt to support newer firmware and then click the OK button.

The next time you connect your device it will work.

Trust me when I say if there EVER were to be an issue with an upgrade where this option should NOT be set, either myself or davidfor would ensure message(s) were posted across MobileRead ensuring that people knew, and that davidfor would have a fix available ASAP.