Android on Kobo: "Tips and Apps"

[GustavoB]

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Gustavo,
You seem to be on the right track. There may be a few steps missing.

In order to boot from the ad card, you need to make the Kobo acknowledge its existence before boot, and you need the boot loader.

First, just to check if you have those two things, boot the Kobo while holding the light button. Be sure you are holding the light button before the led on the top starts blinking.

If you do that a few times and do not get a boot, you have two more steps.

I do not have a link to the required files, but they are in the first post on this thread.

You need to modify your Kobo just a bit.

Grab the file that allows you to boot from an ad card, unzip it directly to the .Kobo directory on the actual device (you need to enable hidden files to find the folder on Windows Explorer).

Then, do the same as above with the boot loader. Better directions and the files are on the first post of this thread. Let me know if you are still confused or if it did not work.

~Leko

Thanks for the reply. Now I am trying to do the following:

The first thing you need to download the SD card image with Android for AuraHD, Glo, or Touch. To create a SD card from this image you need Flash Drive Image Writer and at least 8GB miсroSD card. You can use micro SD card up to 32GB, you only need to move the last two partitions to the end of the card and extend the first partition. After you create the card you'll need to delete the folder .kobo from the created SD card.

Now you are ready to install the patch that lets you run Android from the external SD. First we create a backup internal SD card. You need to install this patch (fix-udev-tgz.zip) (alt link), otherwise the device won't see the external card, which will be used to save the backup. Connect your device to your computer through USB and unzip fix-udev-tgz.zip to the folder named .kobo which is located on the device.

I've burned the image into the card - for future reference, I have 2 of them. The one that comes with Kobo (4GB) and one I bought (16GB). I've burned the image on the 16GB card. In the first bold text, he says to delete the .kobo folder. I've checked the 16GB card that has the android and it had no .kobo folder. So I presumed I should erase the one in the 4GB card. I did it, but in the second bold text, he says I should put the file in the .kobo folder, but I deleted it. I'm a little lost on this.

I'll try it again in a while, I just had to format the 4GB card because I had a shortcut virus in it and it was annoying to access the folders. But it's fixed now.

[GustavoB]

Now I've completely made the procedure given here:

Now you are ready to install the patch that lets you run Android from the external SD. First we create a backup internal SD card. You need to install this patch (fix-udev-tgz.zip) (alt link), otherwise the device won't see the external card, which will be used to save the backup. Connect your device to your computer through USB and unzip fix-udev-tgz.zip to the folder named .kobo which is located on the device. Next you need to safely unmount and disconnect the device from the computer. Then the device will be upgrading and rebooting. Creating a backup is a long process, it took me about 15 minutes. Now you have to download the main patch for AuraHD (alt link), Glo and Touch (alt link). Connect your device to your computer through USB and unzip dualboot-android-******.zip to the folder named .kobo which is located on the device. Next you need to safely unmount and disconnect the device from the computer. Then the device will be upgrading and rebooting. During the upgrade will be created backup, so be prepared for a long wait.

After the device will reboot you will be able to choose which system to boot. If you press the backlight button when the device turns on then Android will boot from the external SD card which was created earlier. If backlight button isn't pressed the standard firmware will boot from the internal SD.

I've extracted the fix-udev-tgz.zip to the .kobo folder and then I safely removed it from my system and it rebooted. Then after it I've extracted the dualboot-android-******.zip into the .kobo folder. When it turns on in the Kobo system, it says it can't recognize the card because it's not FAT32. When I try to turn the Kobo on with the light button on, it get some lights on (with different colors) and then it turn off again.

This is the card I'm trying to use:

[Image violates Posting Guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

[GustavoB]

Oh, I've searched the forum for information and discovered that I need an external card reader, I've used one and now I'm ok. Now I just need to discover how to make the led stop blinking and to turn the backlight off.

[embryo]

Originally Posted by GustavoB

Oh, I've searched the forum for information and discovered that I need an external card reader, I've used one and now I'm ok. Now I just need to discover how to make the led stop blinking and to turn the backlight off.

1st post > - The Tips - > Scripts Spoiler

Also you can use the Display brightness.
It control (and closes) the screen light.
(1st post > - The Apps - > Misc Spoiler)

[android4kobomini]

Is there anyone here who has a Kobo Mini and knows how to hex edit? I need some help on editing the files on the kobo mini for Android to work on it.

[GustavoB]

Originally Posted by embryo

1st post > - The Tips - > Scripts Spoiler

Also you can use the Display brightness.
It control (and closes) the screen light.
(1st post > - The Apps - > Misc Spoiler)

Thanks for the reply. I've been able to kill the blue light, but the following script is not working:

#!/system/bin/sh
echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/mxc_msp430_fl.0/brightness

When I run it via Smanager, it gives me

ss: Permission Denied.

. I'll try the app you suggested.

[dfect]

I have a problem with none of the images working in my Kobo Glo.

2013-11-23_Android_Kobo_Glo
Android.Kobo.Glo.X
Android.Kobo.Glo.X.DualBoot

I've tried different images.

Both installed thru Windows and Linux.

Tried to adjust the volume to maximize the full size of the card as it is 32GB. With this I extended the FAT32 portion.

None of the above have worked.

When I switch cards I get blue lights when trying to start.

No change after resetting with a nail. Also tried resetting and holding lights button (factory reset?) at the same time.

When I try to dual boot it doesnt detect the filesystem on the card it says.

When I holding lights button to trigger dual boot nothing happens, just giving solid red light and must do a reset to bring it back to life the first time. Sometimes I have to connect to USB to wake it up.

Though it upgrades after the patches is installed and device disconnected, but just very fast.

The strange is that it can access the card without any problem as a storage medium as I had all my ebooks on it before.

I've used the built in usb reader in Kobo Glo to access the memory card as I dont have a cardreader for the micro cards for my computer. Is it maybe that is the cause of the errors?

[dfect]

Doh! Fixed it. Worked fine when connecting and accessing card directly from computer without thru kobos memslot. Bought a microsd to sd adapter.

[SoccerDad91016]

Any chance that there will be an image for the non-HD aura?

I have an Aura (non-HD) and it does have an micro-SD card slot, so this seems doable.

Been searching through this thread but have not noticed a definitive answer if this would be doable (though I may of course have overlooked one).

Any hope?

[gpassero]

I've followed the tips here and made myself an Android SD card for Kobo Aura HD. I've used it for almost 4 months now, working around the small quirks. One thing I've noticed is that the battery can burn down when I leave the device "asleep" on the bookshelf. When that happens, it's very difficult to get Android to boot again. It's now been 3 weeks since I have been able to use my Android Kobo because the "hold-down-the-light-button-while-turning-on-the-device" combinations isn't being recognized.

Please.... someone... can we can a "boot-directly-to-android-if-the-SD-card-has-Android-OS" feature implemented? Or maybe the "always-boot-to-android-unless-the-light-button-is-pressed"? SOMETHING that I can actually control which OS to boot to, or for lack of that-- just boot to Android.

Any help available out there?

Thanks

[embryo]

Originally Posted by gpassero

SOMETHING that I can actually control which OS to boot to, or for lack of that-- just boot to Android.

You can always put an appropriate Android image in the internal SD card and use it as your exclusive OS.
I had mine setup like that up until recently.

[embryo]

Recently I changed my 'Android only' setup to a 'Dual Boot' one, and I was really happy about it until I discover that the Android part could not recognize unicode characters in the file names.
Instead of the characters I see question marks.
I tried different file managers with no luck.
Even changing the System Language did not help.

Knowing that the original image could recognize the filenames correctly, the culprit could be one of the following two:
- The files of the patches that make the reader Dual Boot capable or
- The files I copy to the image to make it able to run from the SD card.

If someone with some knowledge of the Android internals could find which file is responsible for this problem, would be really appreciated.

UPDATE: As I was suspecting, the problem comes from the way the FAT32 partitions are mounted before starting Android.

A workaround is to remount the Fat32 partitions.
I can do that from the settings for the mnt/sdcard/extsd/ but not for the mnt/sdcard/

With the terminal, if I try to umount/mnt/sdcard I get I failed response.
Its the same if I first try umount/mnt/sdcard/.android_secure
Mounting the system to the PC and unmounting it, fixes the problem.

[lekofraggle]

A few questions for everyone. Now that I have my setup running in a stable fashion. I have a few tweaks I would love to make to make the device even better. I have some developer knowledge, but my linux box is out of commission at the moment. Here they are...

Is there any thought to how one would go about implementing the magnetic auto sleep wake function on Android? That would be amazing.
Is there any way to implement a rotating image screensaver? Also would be nice.
Finally, does anyone know where the German power menu is located so I could change the language?

Thanks for everything this far.

~Leko

[chriscsh]

i can't replace or delete the MsgE6.apk
i try some apps (total commander, root explorer) still no luck

[embryo]

Originally Posted by chriscsh

i can't replace or delete the MsgE6.apk
i try some apps (total commander, root explorer) still no luck

You can do it with ES File Explorer File Manager
Be sure to turn ON the 'Root Explorer' setting (Left panel > scroll down to see the button).