Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 2.0

[taming]

never mind--someone else gave the same response.

[murg]

On Windows 7, it downloads the firmware update zip file to :

C:\Users\<user>\Local Settings\Kobo\Kobo Desktop Edition\kobo3-update-2.0.0.zip

This file is deleted when the eReader is finished being updated, so if you want a copy of it, copy the zip file while it is updating the eReader.

In fact, make a few copies while it is being downloaded from Kobo, to ensure that the zip file is completely downloaded.

The final size is 106,495 KB.

[murg]

So... after updating the firmware, and removing the usb connection to the computer, how long are the 5 black boxes supposed to iterate for?

[taming]

Waaay longer than you might think, murg. I didn't time it, but it was pretty long.

[murg]

Like 5 minutes? 10 Minutes?
I'm currently going on 15 minutes...

[Skimble]

Hello all.

I was trying to do some stuff in Calibre with my Kobo in its shiny new 2.0 iteration, but I ran into a problem.

Calibre recognises the device but then sits for ages telling me that it's "Getting the list of files" from the device. It says it's 100% done but then just continues sitting there counting up. I've left it for around five minutes before. Has anybody else had this problem?

I did sideload a large number of my roleplaying PDFs on to the SD card recently which aren't in my Calibre library; I wonder if that might be the issue?

[clsdclsd]

Originally Posted by taming

...the kepub advantage. The developers did come through for us with changes that equalized this kind of thing...

First of all, why should be any difference between epub and kepub anyway? Why the touch handles them differently?
Rename an epub from something.epub to someting.kepub.epub. The kobo will think it's a kepub, and will render with the Gentium Book font flawlessly. The exact same file! Can you explain it?

[kumaryu]

Originally Posted by DaMastah

This update is a step forward.
Will we be getting the japanese firmware or is the japanese kobo hardware different ?

In the fonts menu in v2.0, I noticed that they have "Gothic MB101" and "Ryumin". Japanese equivalents of sans serif and serif fonts. (When these fonts are selected, "Advanced" settings are unavailable.)

Does this mean that v2.0 supports Japanese text display but not to EPUB3 standards (eg vertical layouts and ruby)?

----
I've opned a new thread on this topic here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...75#post2145475
----

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by clsdclsd

First of all, why should be any difference between epub and kepub anyway? Why the touch handles them differently?
Rename an epub from something.epub to someting.kepub.epub. The kobo will think it's a kepub, and will render with the Gentium Book font flawlessly. The exact same file! Can you explain it?

Epub's and Kepubs are *not* the same. There are some similarities, and some epubs might work named kepub, but others will fail horrendously. (epubs with multi-level TOC's, for example, will not follow the chaters in the correct order when paging forward.)

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by taming

[*]What is now the most wonderful thing in the entire world (AKA shortlist) used to be a much maligned part of the dreaded carousel that took up significant screen space on the home page.

I never complained about the shortlist or the carousel.

And the shortlist used to be in the dropdown menu (and I would not complain if it still was, but it isn't anmyore).

Are there problems with the build. Yes. For sure the way custom fonts display is a problem for people who liked them the old way. We have somehow lost diacritical marks in other fonts.

If I was a company, threads like this would be very valuable to me.

Yes, there will always be people who'll complain about everything. But lots of the remarks, complaints, requests or bug reports should be considered helpful (even if some of the things people ask for will never be implemented).

But really does this firmware build look like something that was marketing driven? Really? What new marketing ploy was built in? What reader advances and features first saw the light in this build?

Wishlist (on the homescreen)?
Books similar to those you are reading?
Discover?

Not sure, but I think all of that is new or at least changed a lot.

Also you could consider the planned release in Japan a big factor in the development of the new firmware - if you want to sell a "technical gadget" in Japan, it needs to be very "up to date".

Originally Posted by taming

Change is hard. And it isn't always seen as a move forward. The developers now know something they had no clue about before the build was released--some people love the shortlist. Let's cut them some slack for not being omniscient mind readers and see if here is a response to this in future builds.

No one says they should be mindreaders. But there are numerous ways to find out what people might want.

Like this thread, for example...

Or creating polls to get to know what the customers want or not.

Also Kobo could give people more choices about what they like on the homescreen. With the carousel you could decide wether you wanted the shortlist, recommendations or new releases. Why not do someting similar with the Wishlist part?
Some people my want their shortlist there, others maybe one of their other shelves, others may love the wishlist on their homescreen.

These are only suggestions and remarks. And they don't mean to say that I dislike the new firmware (I actually like it a lot, even though my Kobo is slower now in the menus - it's not when reading).

[clsdclsd]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Epub's and Kepubs are *not* the same. There are some similarities, and some epubs might work named kepub, but others will fail horrendously. (epubs with multi-level TOC's, for example, will not follow the chaters in the correct order when paging forward.)

I know those are not the same (the kepub structure seems more restricted), the question was why? The touch can handle epub, why they "developed" a similar file type with no advantages?

[frankieGom]

Originally Posted by Skimble

Calibre recognises the device but then sits for ages telling me that it's "Getting the list of files" from the device. It says it's 100% done but then just continues sitting there counting up. I've left it for around five minutes before. Has anybody else had this problem?

I did experience something very similar last night...

François

[frankieGom]

Originally Posted by clsdclsd

I know those are not the same (the kepub structure seems more restricted), the question was why? The touch can handle epub, why they "developed" a similar file type with no advantages?

Because Kobo wanted more control, or more predicability, on the rendering of books they sold? Or maybe add a mechanism to protect the included intellectual property? In any case, what we know is that the formats are somewhat different and the FW uses a separate renderer for each.

François

[RareBird]

Originally Posted by PeterT

HUH

To me page turning is faster than it ever was; and I am seeing no double turns / missed turns.

Do be aware that warmer temperatures DO cause issues with page turns.

Yeah I thought it was faster too. I've had one dead tap but that was it.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by RareBird

Yeah I thought it was faster too. I've had one dead tap but that was it.

Interesting difference. I've only tested with 1 book so far. I'll have to add more and see if I can find a difference. For those reporting improved page trn speeds, is that with an Epub or a Kepub?