Possible 2.8.1 bug
 

Just noticed that a book I was trying to open that opened correctly prior to 2.8.1 locked on the loading ..... screen. Thinking to perhaps put it in sleep mode and bring it back out I pressed the power button once and the Aura immediately powered off to a blank screen and rebooted.

Has any one else encountered this particular bug?

Regards

Jack

Yes it happened to me with 2 books that I tried, whereas others worked fine.

---on my Glo. I don't have an Aura.

Well at least its not a hardware issue then. I am curious though what format was your book, Epub, True Kepub, Converted Kepub? Mine was a converted Kepub..


regards

JAck

Mine were sideloaded kepubs. I then loaded the same books as epubs and there was no problem with them.

For me the bug has happened but has not reoccurred on the same book yet.


regards

jack

Well I tried the affected books several times and it happened every time. I should reconvert and resend and see if it happens again.

Hmmm, I have seen corrupt books regardless of type cause interesting results...

Have you tried those books in the Koreader port for Kobo ereading devices?

I know it's not a problem with the Kobo software, those are just bad ebook files, have you seen if they pass the epub checking services? You can't possibly suggest that not being able to read the files could be a short coming of the Kobo software. Maybe, you can, but I certainly ran into objections to such a suggestion in earlier posts.

Luck;
Ken

I'd suggest running the problem books through FlightCrew and epubcheck. If both of those say that all is okay, your Kobo may be having issues. If either says the epub has problems, you might want to try doing an epub to epub conversion and/or using Sigil to edit the epub.

So far I've only seen one ebook that made it through FlightCrew and epubcheck and caused an issue on my Kobo. Opening that ebook with 7-Zip showed several non-standard files which were either not noticed or not reported by the checkers but after an epub to kepub conversion, my Glo was very unhappy with it.

Regards,
David

Hmmm.... I generate .docx files using LibreOffice. When my colleagues try to use MS Office Word 2010, it either refuses to open the file or the formatting doesn't look like it does on my computer. That MS Word is a piece of crap and Microsoft should fix it! Even though when I open the .docx file within LibreOffice, it shows the same screwed up formatting and, on a couple of occasions, has refused to open the file. The sheer joy of hitting a moving target.

If an .epub file makes it through FlightCrew and epubcheck AND my Kobo ereader has problems with it, then it is a Kobo issue. If the .epub fails to make it through those tests, fix it first before whinging that Garbage In should not equal Garbage Out.

Regards,
David

@ ken maltby and DNSB,

did you notice they mentioned these are converted KEPUBS?

Sounds like a definite calibre plugin issue to me.

I download an epub file and the Kobo rejects it but it reads fine on other ereading devices and on most software reading programs. You seem to be saying that if it is not fully in compliance with your testing programs and perhaps the epub standard, then the file is garbage. How do you then explain that other readers have no problem allowing the reading of this "Garbage File", and providing the story for my entertainment, while the Kobo can't. Can you explain how this is of benefit to someone who just wants to read the story?

Luck;
Ken

I'd still check the epub and then try sending it again before placing any blame. I don't remember if booklover6 tried sending the unconverted epub to the ereader or if doing so worked. The only epub that caused me issues when I was playing with the epub to kepub plugin turned out to have several files that were not part of the epub standard embedded in it. Sigil did not show the files but left them in the file after editing. The epub version worked but after the epub to kepub conversion, the ACCESS renderer was not happy with it -- I'm assuming that a restart and stack.log file indicates the computational equivalent of unhappiness.

Regards,
David

Perhaps Kobo were more concerned with commercial epubs where some attempt to be compliant would be made and not in handling the non-compliant crap that floats around the shadier side of the Internet?

As an example, I read quite a few books downloaded from Gutenberg in epub format. At this time, I'm surprised when one of them does not pass FlightCrew and epubcheck without any errors. The ones that don't, I fix the problems before sending to my ereaders. And, BTW, neither FlightCrew or epubcheck are "my" programs. They are the work of quite a few talented people -- check their web pages for more information.

If an .epub file does not pass the testing programs, there is no question of "not fully in compliance" and "perhaps the epub standard". Kinda of like being pregnant -- there ain't no such thing as a little bit pregnant.

The epub recommended specifications are publicly available as are the tools to check to see if an .epub file is compliant with the specification. The EPUB 2 specification was released 6 years ago with some amendations in 2.01 3 years ago. The EPUB 3 specification was released in October, 2011. So there is no real excuse for producing files which do not comply with those recommendations.

Perhaps you can supply us with a sample epub that passes FlightCrew and epubcheck while you are unable to read the epub on your Kobo ereader using the stock software?

Regards,
David

No offense Ken, but because one reader is less picky about adhering to a standard that another might, does not necessarily make the second reader worse. However, I can see from a user standpoint why one might feel that way based on it's reaction and utility. I'm pretty sure their attitude was ultimtely, "well, our books are going to meet the standard, if sideloaded books don't that's not our fault..." I suppose it might be a little unfair to assume they are going to be able to process anything that ends in epub, but they could be a little more graceful about it when they can't.

My biggest gripe with Kobo software is probably lousy error handling and reporting. If you're not going to make it bulletproof at least let us know what the problem is so we can try to work around it... To me the success and manner of error handling is one of the most obvious indicators of the thought that went into a piece of software.