In the last years, the Modifications for bad eyes went through several transformations. For user instructions for patching more recent versions of the firmware, cf. this
post which describes the process with regard to FW 4.3.8842 and Aura One.
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Some time ago I started modifying libnickel in an attempt to make the Touch more useful for people with bad eyesight. Because of copyright concerns I didn't upload the files in this forum, but offered to share them per PM.
Several people asked for some changes, or asked for a modified version of one FW in order to compare them to the original and apply them to the file of another FW or for another device. For these and some other reasons, I thought it might be better to share information and patch files, so that everybody can produce her own modified version.
Therefore, I put together a package consisting of one executable (for Windows), several patch files and a punch of batch files (for Windows).
[The patch files, by the way, can be opened and edited with a simple text editor and show in detail what changes are made to libnickel; they contain also comments for easier maintenance. So they might be useful for people who don't intend to use the other parts of the package too.]
The current package is for FW 2.6.1b.
(There are packages for FW 2.8.1[a], FW 3.0.0, FW 3.0.1, FW 3.1.1, FW 3.2.0, FW 3.3.0, FW 3.5.0, FW 3.8.0 (For install instructions for these packages see those for 2.8.1[a]); FW 3.12.0, FW 3.12.1, FW 3.13.1, FW 3.14.0, FW 3.15.0, FW 3.16.0, FW 3.17.0, FW 3.17.3, FW 3.18.0, FW 3.19.5613, FW 3.19.5761, FW 4.0.7523, FW 4.1.7729, FW 4.2.8110, FW 4.2.8283, FW 4.2.8432, FW 4.3.8842, FW 4.3.8871, FW 4.3.8929, 4.3.8945 and 4.3.8966,FW 4.3.9084,
FWs 4.4.9298, 4.4.9344, 4.4.9349, 4.5.9587 , 4.4.9995)
The current package modifies
- the library view (books, shelves)
- the annotation list and details view
- the search list
- some menus
- the dictionary
- the header and footer texts
- as an option it can set the user language to en_GB
If everything goes as planned, the whole process can be achieved with some mouse clicks.
I prepared the package mainly for the Touch. I did however change the values for Glow/Mini/Aura whenever I easily found them. Since I only own a Touch, I had to guess the values for the other devices without checking the results (so some of them are probably off).
If you have some findings or suggestions, please share them.
I attach one picture here. See
here and
here more pictures of earlier attempts (the current results however are slightly better).
Instructions are included in the package. I put it here too for your convenience:
Spoiler:
This presupposes that your OS is Windows XP or newer and that 7-zip is installed.
Preparing
1) unzip kbpatcher.zip on your PC (you should then have something like: C:\mytestprogs\kobopatcher)
2) download the upgrade file 2.6.1b (mark 4) to somewhere on the SAME drive (e.g. C:\) as kobopatcher is located
3) extract KoboRoot.tar from the upgrade file
4) drag and drop KoboRoot.tar onto 01_drop_KoboRoot.tar_here.bat (drop it ONTO the .bat file, don't drop it IN/INTO the folder!)
Patching
5) double click on 02_libnickel_bigfontsize.bat
6) double click on one or several of the 03_...bat files, as fits your needs (the file names are self explaining, I hope)
Compressing
7) double click on 04_makeKoboRoot.bat
If everything went smooth, you should now find a new KoboRoot.tgz in the folder newKoboRoot. Connect your reader to the PC, copy KoboRoot.tgz to the .kobo folder of the reader, eject and disconnect the reader from the PC.
ATTENTION: The current patch files are only applicable to FW 2.6.1b. Your reader must have installed FW 2.6.1b. In order to know whether FW 2.6.1 is installed look at Settings>Device Information. To find whether it is version "b", use the test file from
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=63. Take the epub (rather than the kepub.epub). If the png-image does not display, you are on FW 2.6.1a, if it does display, you are on 2.6.1b.
DISCLAIMER: Use this package at your own risk.