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kumaryu · 06-27-2012, 10:19 AM

I bought my Kobo Touch from FNAC, the French book store chain. This is a note for those in the EU or France considering its purchase from FNAC.

To summarise.. There are a few "feature differences" between plain vanilla KT and those supplied by FNAC. They can all be rectified by using "Factory Reset". The device may be untethered using methods reported earlier for standard KTs and standard firmware updates applied.

Notes

The firmware version on the supllied device was 1.9.16.

The splash screen as the device booted was a branded graphic with: "Kobo by FNAC" emblazoned on it. When the device is turned on for the first time, there is an option to select the default language (English, French, Spanish etc).

During initial setup, there was an option to register with FNAC as well as the standard registration with kobo.com.

By registering with kobo.com, the new firmware (1.9.17) was downloaded and installed.

One notable difference between the FNAC branded OS and the standard Kobo OS was that in:
Home>>Settings>>Sleep & Power
there was no option to toggle the "Book Cover"
Instead, the Sleep Screen and Power Off Screen always dispalyed the FNAC branded screen.

A. Getting rid of FNAC "features"
FNAC branded splash screens and lack of "Book Cover" option were corrected by
Home>>Settings>>Device Information>>Advanced: Factory Reset.
Note that this restores the device to its unregistered state and will delete all user downloaded content (books, config etc). It also appears to eliminate the option to register with FNAC.

Don't do this if you intend to use KT with FNAC online services/store.

B. Skip Registration
During its second setup, I used SQLite3 (on Linux) to skip registration altogether.
Open the file at:
/media/KOBOeReader/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite
Issue this command:
INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa','aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa','xxxx@xxxx.xx','xxxx@xxxx.xx','2aaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaa==');

Instructions may be found here.
http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/sh...d.php?t=171664

C. Managing Books without Kobo Desktop app
I used Calibre to copy ebooks into the unregistered device.
http://calibre-ebook.com/

D. Manually Update Firmware
Download the latest firmware .zip from:
http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...ate-1.9.17.zip
and extract the contents into the hidden ".kobo" direct0ry on KOBOeReader volume.

E. Restore WiFi
After skipping the registration and manually updating the firmware, the Wifi connectivity was restored by invoking the browser from:
Home>>Settings>>Extras>>Launch Browser
and selecting the WiFi access point and entering the WPA keys.

06-27-2012, 10:19 AM	#1
kumaryu Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 222128 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Carteya Guadarranque, Andalucia Device: PRS-300, Kobo: Touch, Glo, Arc, Aura, Glo HD, Nexus7, nergy Pro HD	Kobo by FNAC I bought my Kobo Touch from FNAC, the French book store chain. This is a note for those in the EU or France considering its purchase from FNAC. To summarise.. There are a few "feature differences" between plain vanilla KT and those supplied by FNAC. They can all be rectified by using "Factory Reset". The device may be untethered using methods reported earlier for standard KTs and standard firmware updates applied. Notes The firmware version on the supllied device was 1.9.16. The splash screen as the device booted was a branded graphic with: "Kobo by FNAC" emblazoned on it. When the device is turned on for the first time, there is an option to select the default language (English, French, Spanish etc). During initial setup, there was an option to register with FNAC as well as the standard registration with kobo.com. By registering with kobo.com, the new firmware (1.9.17) was downloaded and installed. One notable difference between the FNAC branded OS and the standard Kobo OS was that in: Home>>Settings>>Sleep & Power there was no option to toggle the "Book Cover" Instead, the Sleep Screen and Power Off Screen always dispalyed the FNAC branded screen. A. Getting rid of FNAC "features" FNAC branded splash screens and lack of "Book Cover" option were corrected by Home>>Settings>>Device Information>>Advanced: Factory Reset. Note that this restores the device to its unregistered state and will delete all user downloaded content (books, config etc). It also appears to eliminate the option to register with FNAC. Don't do this if you intend to use KT with FNAC online services/store. B. Skip Registration During its second setup, I used SQLite3 (on Linux) to skip registration altogether. Open the file at: /media/KOBOeReader/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite Issue this command: INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa','aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa','xxxx@xxxx.xx','xxxx@xxxx.xx','2aaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaa=='); Instructions may be found here. http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/sh...d.php?t=171664 C. Managing Books without Kobo Desktop app I used Calibre to copy ebooks into the unregistered device. http://calibre-ebook.com/ D. Manually Update Firmware Download the latest firmware .zip from: http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...ate-1.9.17.zip and extract the contents into the hidden ".kobo" direct0ry on KOBOeReader volume. E. Restore WiFi After skipping the registration and manually updating the firmware, the Wifi connectivity was restored by invoking the browser from: Home>>Settings>>Extras>>Launch Browser and selecting the WiFi access point and entering the WPA keys.