Well, I'm afraid I cannot do it
I downloaded the firmware update SD-Card content from
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94133 (second link from angusrobertson.com) and untared to an ext3 formatted SD-Card.
I booted my kobo 1st gen from the SD-Card with D-pad center button + power, but the kobo freezes after the 7th square has appeared in the lower right corner. I've waited up to 10mn, nothing occurs. Only way to exit is pressing center pad + power about 2 seconds, 2 times in a row to make the kobo reboot.
I have been fighting 2 straight days, trying everything: reformatting the SD-Card, modifying the /etc/init.d/rcS file (among others to run a runme.sh script at the base of SD-Card containing a simple "/bin/show_pic /pic/01.jpg"), keeping it intact, playing with "show_pic" and "led" but the result is always the same.
I have the latest kobo 1st gen firmware 1.8.3 and it seems the "boot from SD-Card" functionality has been deactivated in this version
