Firmware 4.36.21095

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The upgrade folder? That has been there for a long time. It's the hardware end of the upgrade. It's also the reason for the different hardware version firmware downloads since the collection for all Kobo's supported ereaders would give a very large firmware download. You will notice that the manifest.md5sum lists the MD5 checksums for the files in the upgrade folder.

Kobo's software is installed by the KoboRoot.tgz file and has few if any hardware dependencies though some bits such as the pen bits for most of the ereaders and the various images are left out or supplied in versions suited to the resolution of the destination devices.

I was just curious enough to check and placing all the hardware upgrades in the same directory along with the KoboRoot.tgz from the Elipsa/Sage firmware gives me a 300MB of files which added to a .zip file using 7Zip's high compression give a 233MB file compared to the Elipsa/Sage's 140MB file or the Elipsa 2E's 125MB file.

Maybe I wasn’t being clear. Instructions online tell one to unarchive the contents of the FW zip file into .kobo, but that sticks a folder which contains the update files into .kobo—which the Kobo consequently ignores. One needs to move the contents of the zipped folder into .kobo.

It’s been so long since I’ve manually updated that I can’t remember there being containing folders holding the upgrade files. Understand my question now?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Maybe I wasn’t being clear. Instructions online tell one to unarchive the contents of the FW zip file into .kobo, but that sticks a folder which contains the update files into .kobo—which the Kobo consequently ignores. One needs to move the contents of the zipped folder into .kobo.

It’s been so long since I’ve manually updated that I can’t remember there being containing folders holding the upgrade files. Understand my question now?

Odd. I've never seen a directory with the KoboRoot.tgz file in it in a Kobo firmware update archive. It's always been KoboRoot.tgz, manifest.md5sum and the upgrade directory. At least that is the case with the older firmware .zip file I still have around (kobo-update-2.5.0 from April, 2013).

I open the archive with 7Zip and drag the 2 files and the directory into the .kobo directory on the connected ereader and it just works. I've also used 7Zip's extract option and browsing to the .kobo directory as the destinanation and again it worked without issue other than more clicks. If I extract the items into a directory on my computer and copied the contents of the directory to the .kobo directory, again no issues.

Now if I copy the directory in which I extracted the files to the .kobo directory on my ereader, it will not work since the update process is triggered by seeing very specific filenames in the root of the .kobo directory. You will need KoboRoot.tgz (or it's cousins) to trigger the update process. Part of the update process which will look for the files listed in the manifest.md5sum list for any kernel/hardware/other Linux bits. Those files in the upgrade directory must have the same MD5 sum as listed in the manifest.md5sum directory.

May I ask what operating system you are using that does not allow you to copy the contents of a .zip archive directly to the .kobo directory on your ereader?

[Quoth]

To be sure of what I'm doing, after making sure eReader is charged more than 50%:
1) Download *.zip into a folder/directory named after model
2) Unzip (extract all here) download, which creates a folder/directory.
3) Connect eReader
4) Enable Show Hidden Files.
5) Open 2nd file window and navigate to .kobo
6) Copy contents of folder created in (2) to .kobo.
7) Eject when done.
8) Unplug when Kobo notices eject, though Kobo may start to update immediately.


Sounds more long winded than it is.

[Quoth]

I'd think the firmware version specifically for the Elipsa 2E might brick some models of Kobo?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I'd think the firmware version specifically for the Elipsa 2E might brick some models of Kobo?

Possibly. I've tested on 6 different Kobo ranging from the Glo to the Sage (Glo, Aura HD, Aura H2O, Aura One, Forma and Sage) and no bricks so far. OTOH, I did limited testing before reverting them to 4.35.20400.

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Possibly. I've tested on 6 different Kobo ranging from the Glo to the Sage (Glo, Aura HD, Aura H2O, Aura One, Forma and Sage) and no bricks so far. OTOH, I did limited testing before reverting them to 4.35.20400.

Did you happen to try any of the patches? I'm wondering if the patches for 4.35.20400 will work on 4.36.21095. I'm afraid to try, but my new Elipsa 2e is staring at me, begging me to set it up.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by icallaci

Did you happen to try any of the patches? I'm wondering if the patches for 4.35.20400 will work on 4.36.21095. I'm afraid to try, but my new Elipsa 2e is staring at me, begging me to set it up.

It depends which patches you want. I suspect (most of ???) the nickel.yaml patches will probably work using the old 4.35.20400 file. The ones in libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml are less certain.

I need to say that I haven't tested any of this.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by icallaci

Did you happen to try any of the patches? I'm wondering if the patches for 4.35.20400 will work on 4.36.21095. I'm afraid to try, but my new Elipsa 2e is staring at me, begging me to set it up.

Sorry but the only patch I use is the Unify font sizes patch which did work on 4.36.21095.

[icallaci]

Thanks, jackie_w and David. I use the unify font sizes patch and just a couple of others. Maybe I'll get adventurous and give the nickel ones a try later today. I'll report back if I do.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Possibly. I've tested on 6 different Kobo ranging from the Glo to the Sage (Glo, Aura HD, Aura H2O, Aura One, Forma and Sage) and no bricks so far. OTOH, I did limited testing before reverting them to 4.35.20400.

I thought someone bricked a Libra 2 with the 4.35.20400 FW for a Sage?

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Odd. I've never seen a directory with the KoboRoot.tgz file in it in a Kobo firmware update archive. It's always been KoboRoot.tgz, manifest.md5sum and the upgrade directory. At least that is the case with the older firmware .zip file I still have around (kobo-update-2.5.0 from April, 2013).

It is not the firmware file that has an extra directory. However, if you right click on the Zip file in Windows explorer, and select Extract All, Windows will, be default, create a new directory with the contents of the extracted zip.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rashkae

It is not the firmware file that has an extra directory. However, if you right click on the Zip file in Windows explorer, and select Extract All, Windows will, be default, create a new directory with the contents of the extracted zip.

Since I never use Windows builtin zip facility (I prefer 7Zip since it handles .zip, .rar, .tgz, .iso, etc. archive formats.), I hadn't noted that behaviour.

OTOH, I just tested and if I copy the contents of the autocreated directory to a Kobo, I would have the upgrade directory, KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files in the correct location. Copy to the root of the .kobo directory does not mean to copy to a directory in the .kobo directory.

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

It depends which patches you want. I suspect (most of ???) the nickel.yaml patches will probably work using the old 4.35.20400 file. The ones in libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml are less certain.

I need to say that I haven't tested any of this.

So, I tried to patch 4.36.21095 with the patches from 4.35.20400, but got an error message that it couldn't find a required key (I forgot to write down the specific error message; sorry). Anyway, I really don't want to fiddle with it, so I updated my original Elipsa with 4.36.21095 and left it unpatched. I'll read with it for a while to see if I can stand it. In the meantime, I'll wait for geek1011 to release the patches for 4.36.21095.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by icallaci

So, I tried to patch 4.36.21095 with the patches from 4.35.20400, but got an error message that it couldn't find a required key (I forgot to write down the specific error message; sorry). Anyway, I really don't want to fiddle with it, so I updated my original Elipsa with 4.36.21095 and left it unpatched. I'll read with it for a while to see if I can stand it. In the meantime, I'll wait for geek1011 to release the patches for 4.36.21095.

Is geek1011 still active here?

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Is geek1011 still active here?

I'm not sure. I thought he mentioned that he'd take a look at the patches and update them for 4.36.21095 over the weekend if he got a chance, but today is Tuesday and nothing has shown up.

I installed the stock firmware on my old Elipsa, and have been pleasantly surprised. I've been patching for years, so I thought I'd really miss the patches, but it's not bad at all. Perhaps Kobo has been subtly improving the firmware, and I never noticed because I routinely applied the patches before doing anything else. Anyway, I'm waiting patiently for the patches, but am also considering not applying them if and when they do show up.