MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - worth putting another reader on kobo glo hd?

tayseidel · 12-30-2015, 01:46 AM

I'm a fairly new Kobo user, coming from the Sony PRS line of ereaders.

So, from my perspective as a new user, installing an alternative reader like Koreader is absolutely worth it. Koreader allows me to fine tune the reading experience in ways that the stock reader cannot. I have installed the following:

KSM 8
Koreader (Latest stable, I believe 2015.5)
Coolreader (Latest stable)

So far, I have done the following:

KSM 8:

Customized the power down screen
Edited ksmAutoselectafter=20 to ksmAutoselectafter=0 for ksmAutoselectoption=start_koreader. This way, upon powerup, KSM is bypassed and I'm booted directly into koreader, which is set to open the last open book.

Koreader:

Added a light toggle button / Power down button to the top menu bar
Disabled the bookcover screensaver on suspend, and customized the suspend message to show DEVICE STATUS: SUSPENDED instead of "suspended"
Increased minibar padding from 14 to 20, increased minibar height from 7 to 14, and increased minibar font size to 16.

The modifications I made to the minibar make it more visible and easier to read. The progress bar in particular, is more visual because it is bigger by virtue of the height increase.

IMO, one of the biggest benefits to running an alternate reader like koreader is the ability to more closely duplicate the physical reading experience. The progress bar is an excellent visual indicator of how far you are in a book, similar to picking up a physical book and then going to where the bookmark is. Instantly, you get a feel of where you are in the book from looking at the progress bar, similar to picking a book up and seeing where the bookmark is. With the stock reader, you don't really get a feel of where you are in the book, other than looking at 253/454 on the bottom footer. I much prefer having the visual progress bar in Koreader, along with the page number (ex. 253/454), pages left in a chapter, and the clock. All of those, you cannot get with the stock reader.

Cold booting to KSM is also quicker than booting into Nickel. I like how Nickel manages collections though. but, I'm starting to adapt to the file manager approach of Koreader's file manager.

Like others have said, installing KSM 08 + Koreader/Coolreader has no impact on the stock software. In fact, KSM 08 has a fail safe built into it by booting every other boot up in case it has problems. This way, Nickel boots on every other boot that KSM doesn't boot. This behavior can be changed once KSM looks like it is working as it should.

For future firmware updates, I will just use the partial update through KSM's handle update feature.

I've also gotten Calibre Wireless Connection to work, although I'm not a big fan of how it pushes books onto the Kobo without creating subfolders, like it does through the USB connection, so I'll stick with transferring via USB. I have also connected to the OPDS catalog from my calibre library on the computer via wireless, but again, I don't like the way it downloads books without first creating a folder based on the author's name. For now, I'll stick with transferring via USB, but these two ways of connecting through wireless indeed work.

12-30-2015, 01:46 AM	#4
tayseidel Zealot Posts: 146 Karma: 189664 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Glo HD, Aura H20, PRS-T1	I'm a fairly new Kobo user, coming from the Sony PRS line of ereaders. So, from my perspective as a new user, installing an alternative reader like Koreader is absolutely worth it. Koreader allows me to fine tune the reading experience in ways that the stock reader cannot. I have installed the following: KSM 8 Koreader (Latest stable, I believe 2015.5) Coolreader (Latest stable) So far, I have done the following: KSM 8: Customized the power down screen Edited ksmAutoselectafter=20 to ksmAutoselectafter=0 for ksmAutoselectoption=start_koreader. This way, upon powerup, KSM is bypassed and I'm booted directly into koreader, which is set to open the last open book. Koreader: Added a light toggle button / Power down button to the top menu bar Disabled the bookcover screensaver on suspend, and customized the suspend message to show DEVICE STATUS: SUSPENDED instead of "suspended" Increased minibar padding from 14 to 20, increased minibar height from 7 to 14, and increased minibar font size to 16. The modifications I made to the minibar make it more visible and easier to read. The progress bar in particular, is more visual because it is bigger by virtue of the height increase. IMO, one of the biggest benefits to running an alternate reader like koreader is the ability to more closely duplicate the physical reading experience. The progress bar is an excellent visual indicator of how far you are in a book, similar to picking up a physical book and then going to where the bookmark is. Instantly, you get a feel of where you are in the book from looking at the progress bar, similar to picking a book up and seeing where the bookmark is. With the stock reader, you don't really get a feel of where you are in the book, other than looking at 253/454 on the bottom footer. I much prefer having the visual progress bar in Koreader, along with the page number (ex. 253/454), pages left in a chapter, and the clock. All of those, you cannot get with the stock reader. Cold booting to KSM is also quicker than booting into Nickel. I like how Nickel manages collections though. but, I'm starting to adapt to the file manager approach of Koreader's file manager. Like others have said, installing KSM 08 + Koreader/Coolreader has no impact on the stock software. In fact, KSM 08 has a fail safe built into it by booting every other boot up in case it has problems. This way, Nickel boots on every other boot that KSM doesn't boot. This behavior can be changed once KSM looks like it is working as it should. For future firmware updates, I will just use the partial update through KSM's handle update feature. I've also gotten Calibre Wireless Connection to work, although I'm not a big fan of how it pushes books onto the Kobo without creating subfolders, like it does through the USB connection, so I'll stick with transferring via USB. I have also connected to the OPDS catalog from my calibre library on the computer via wireless, but again, I don't like the way it downloads books without first creating a folder based on the author's name. For now, I'll stick with transferring via USB, but these two ways of connecting through wireless indeed work. Last edited by tayseidel; 12-30-2015 at 04:58 PM.