[taming]

Installation of 1.8.1 Original Kobo

I am updating this as things come up. Please read the whole (very long) post before you begin.

This update is only for the original Kobo--not the WiFi version.


On December 21, Kobo released 1.8.2 which addresses the problems people were having with Adobe DRM books. Please see JC Kobo's post for more information. Note that he recommends this update to anyone who is having related issues with 1.8.1. If all your problems are resolved, you can pass on this one, if you wish.

As far as I can tell, people who have 1.8 or 1.8.1 or 1.8.2 or 1.8.3 working properly need not do any new updates (in the 1.8.X series) if the reader is working well. Each of those incremental updates past 1.8.0 were created, to address difficulties people were having with the 1.8.0 update (and beyond). The features and function are the same for all of them.

The 1.8.3 release addresses an issue where KXML books were having repeating pages (this was the only change made from 1.8.2).



It works best if you to do a factory reset (in settings--advanced) before doing the update. If you pass on this, and have strange things happening, try a factory reset at that point.

If you have sideloaded books (books not added through sync with the desktop reader), things go more smoothly if you remove them if they are still on your reader after the factory reset.

The 0.7.34 Calibre version is Kobo 1.8.1 friendly. If you ran 1.8.1 with earlier versions, you may have a corrupted data base. There are other reasons, of course that folks sometimes have a corrupted Db.

If you do have a corrupted Db, then instructions for replacing it can be found here. . Please note: when you are installing a new database, in 1.8 you will replace 3 things: the entire images directory, kepub directory, and database. this is different than 1.4 which did not have a kepub directory. Your preloaded books will have dictionary support after you replace these files.

One MR user stated that after she did the update she replaced the db and re-synced. All of her Calibre loaded books were still there and she didn't have to re-authorize ADE at all. Since my reader is fine, I can't repeat this to confirm.

When you have done a factory reset you will have to reauthorize your Kobo reader with Adobe Digital Editions (if you load ePUB files).If you run out of authorizations in ADE, go to this page in Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/support/digitaleditions/. Look to your left, you will see "submit a web case". Make a request to have your authorizations reset. They seem to do this fairly quickly. The reader will appear to work without an authorization and not need a de-authorization and then a re-authorization, but it does. Instructions are in the WiKi for doing this.

Some Windows user may have to try the update twice. On some machines, the finding new hardware script interrupts the update. It looks like the script then completes, so the 2nd attempt at the update goes through just fine.

There is a small group of people that have downloaded the 1.8 firmware. Those people will have to do press Control+Shift+U (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+U (MAC) when the desktop application opens to get upgrades.

Anyone who has the 1.8 desktop will get the upgrade prompt if they plug in a 1.0 or 1.4 Kobo Reader.

Any Kobo Wi Fi users will get the new Desktop at the same rate as original Kobo users. They'll get the new Desktop features but there won't be any change to their Kobo Wi Fi's.

I asked Kobo staff about partners like Borders AU and they said: "We will be updating those partners soon. Right now the only people who are getting the 1.8 upgrades are those that see pink and teal in their desktop apps."

An unofficial Linux desktop application is now available. It is in the ongoing Linux thread here. Note: Kobo does not officially support Linux and this update is for Ubuntu.

The dictionary works on kepub files only. Books that are on your reader in the old kobo format will not have dictionary support. That means if you are doing an update from 1.0 or 1.4, any of the books that were on your reader before the update and stayed on the reader after it was done will NOT have dictionary support as they continue to be on in the old kobo format.

If Calibre sideloaded books stay in "I'm Reading", remember that you can change their status from the Calibre application. With the kobo plugged in and detected, go into "show books in main memory of the device" or "show books in storage slot a", depending on where the books are, and set the flag for "collections" to blank if they are showing up as "Im_reading". Setting the status as "Read" also works.