Line spacing between different firmware

Ripplinger · 08-06-2014, 10:56 PM

Since I've picked up a spare Glo I've been playing around with the newest firmware just to see differences. One thing I can't get right though on the newer firware is line spacing. The reader at the left has my preferred firmware of 2.4.0, the reader at the right has 3.5.0. The identical epub file is loaded. Both readers use the same size font, readingFontSize=28.

In the Kobo eReader.conf file, I manually changed 2.4.0 to readingLineHeight=1.225, which was posted as a tip to decrease the too wide line spacing at the time. The Kobo eReader.conf file for 3.5.0 has readingLineHeight=1. Yet the one with the smaller specified line spacing has wider spacing and 3 less lines per page.

What am I not getting about the newer firmware to force smaller spacing between lines like on 2.4.0? I tried lowering it below 1, but that doesn't seem to work at all, unless I just didn't hit on the magic decimal number.

GeoffR · 08-07-2014, 01:44 AM

The line spacing scale changed in firmware 3.0.0.

Before 3.0.0 the line spacing slider set the readingLineHeight value in the config to a value in the range 1.3 to 3.0, and was equivalent to the CSS line-height property.

From 3.0.0 on the line spacing slider sets the readingLineHeight value in the config file to a value in the range 1.0 to 3.0, but it is a different scale and not equivalent to the CSS line-height property.

I think readingLineHeight=1.3 in the old firmware gives roughly the same line spacing as readingLineHeight=1.0 in the new firmware. So if you wanted to set the spacing the same as 1.225 in the old firmware, you would need to use a value slightly less than 1.0.

In the new firmware readingLineHeight does not have a lower limit, by editing the config file you should be able to set it to a much tighter spacing than in the old firmware. On my Glo values such as 0.75, 0.8, etc. work and give extremely tight spacing.

Edit: One thing to watch out for if you change readingLineHeight by editing the config file: If you open a book that had already been opened before you made the change, it will not use the global value from the config file but a book-specific one from the database. You can use the KoboUtilities plugin in Calibre to change the line spacing for a book that has already been opened, or there is a line spacing patch that allows you to change the values set by the line spacing slider, which avoids the need to edit the config file.

Edit2: If you're interested in the details of the line spacing slider values, the slider in the old firmware selected from 9 values {1.3, 1.35, 1.4, 1.6, 1.775, 1.9, 2.0, 2.2, 3.0}, while the slider in the new firmware selects from 15 values {1.0, 1.05, 1.07, 1.1, 1.2, 1.35, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 3.0}.

Ripplinger · 08-07-2014, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffR

...
Edit: One thing to watch out for if you change readingLineHeight by editing the config file: If you open a book that had already been opened before you made the change, it will not use the global value from the config file but a book-specific one from the database. You can use the KoboUtilities plugin in Calibre to change the line spacing for a book that has already been opened, or there is a line spacing patch that allows you to change the values set by the line spacing slider, which avoids the need to edit the config file.
...

Thank you! That was my mistake why the same book wouldn't change. When I opened another book, the readingLineHeight=.90 did work and was pretty close as a first guess, it gave me 25 lines per page.

I'll give Kobo Utilities a try, but first I might try just deleting all the books and then loading them back on again. When I used Kobo Utilities to try and remove some tiles earlier today just to see how well it worked, it lost all books, my library and collections were empty. So I had to log out of Kobo and set up the reader again (which is a HUGE pain when it comes to entering a 64 random character wi-fi key over and over...). And while the books appear, they're not in their collections and Kobo again added 50 empty collections. This is the 2nd time it happened in a week so I can't be sure it was the plugin or just a firmware quirk (although I'm leaning more towards firmware).

Thanks again for clearing up my problem and for the other scaling info.

davidfor · 08-07-2014, 02:58 AM

Ripplinger: The plugin shouldn't be corrupting the database. Hopefully, it is something else. If you use the daily backup of the database that the plugin provides, you will be able to restore that the next time you have a problem.

A likely reason for the corruption is not ejecting the device properly. But, one thing I am seeing is that sometimes the eject takes longer than I expect. At the moment, I am making sure the USB icon in the system tray disappears before I unplug. I have had a couple of database corruptions recently where I hit eject in calibre and unplugged without waiting.

Ripplinger · 08-07-2014, 03:05 AM

I always wait for the eject to actually happen, and I always use the eject device from within Calibre or the system tray if Calibre isn't running. It's never happened on the older Glo with firmware 2.4.0 that I plug in and out much more frequently, so I suspect it's more to do with the newer firmware than anything.

I have noticed though the new reader with only 55 books on it is slower than the older reader with over 400 books on it. And those 55 books are also on the older reader, so it's unlikely it's caused by a badly formatted epub. Possibly it does need even more time after an eject, I'll try waiting even longer after ejecting the new firmware and see if it happens again.

valery · 08-07-2014, 01:34 PM

In 3.3.0 it doesn't seem to work. I tried setting 0.90 and 0.80, but nothing has changed. The next time I open Kobo eReader.conf file I see it has been changed to 1, as if it was the lowest acceptable value.

Ripplinger · 08-07-2014, 02:49 PM

I think it will revert back to 1 if you open a book that's already been opened as GeoffR explained above. Or if you touch the slider for the line spacing again, then it most definitely reverts back to 1. But I just plugged my reader in again after deleting and reloading all my books and checking several books on it last night night, and the Kobo eReader.conf file remains at .90.

Edit: After I synced it, it did indeed revert back to 1 again though, and books that were showing 25 lines last night are now back to a max of 21 lines. It seems pretty touchy what will revert it back. At least I'm assuming the sync is what caused it to revert.

Edit 2: I removed all books again, loaded them again, made sure line height was back to .90, and it is working again. The odd thing is though what used to be 25 lines per page is now 23 lines per page with the same settings. It's still better than it was, but just seems quirky. The minimum of 1 isn't that bad, not as bad as it was with older firmware at least, so it's livable if it's something that just won't remain as set through syncing.

Actually, it seems to revert back to 1 no matter what. When I reopened a book that was showing 23 lines per page, it was back to 21 lines per page. When I checked the .conf file, it was oddly still at .90. So it doesn't seem to be a reliable fix this way anymore.

valery · 08-07-2014, 04:06 PM

I removed all books, set to 0.8 (it stays that way if I do not open any book), uploaded a book and... nothing changes. I still have 22 lines (with font size 27), no matter what.

davidfor · 08-07-2014, 11:24 PM

I just had play on my Glo using FW3.5.0. It looks like this firmware will not use any line height other than what can be set from the slider.

What I did was to use the utilities plugin to set the line height for ten books. The books were all in one series to make it easy to go through them. I started from 0.5 and stepped up by 0.1 for each book. The plugin sets the line spacing in the content_settings table for each book. It can also update the config file.

When I opened the books, most were using 1.0 as the line spacing. Only those that I set to 1.1, 1.2 and 1.5 used the set values. And when I connected and looked at the content_settings table, the values had been changed 1.0. I did another check of a few other values and had the same result. I also tried with the config file set to 2.8, to see if it was using the config file value if it wasn't a match, and they were still changed to 1.0.

GeoffR · 08-08-2014, 12:12 AM

If it only use values from the config file that match the ones set by the slider, then applying the line spacing patch would seem to be the only way to go, as it changes the values set by the slider. It would be a real pain to edit the config file each time you wanted to change the line spacing anyway.

valery · 08-09-2014, 02:33 PM

I made some tests today and I managed to lower the line height, but it works only in epubs. I converted the book to an epub with these parameters (Look&feel section): "Minimum line height=100%", "Line height=15.0".
With the font size=27 and margins=1 I am pretty happy with the result (I've got 27 lines of text). Unfortunately this method does not work with kepubs, or just maybe I can't do it right.
Another thing: I've noticed that some fonts give lower line height (e.g. Gothic), so I think I'll try to find a serif font that gives me similar effect in kepubs.

Ripplinger · 08-09-2014, 03:17 PM

I wanted to avoid having to modify every book before sending it to the Kobo. And the default lowest spacing of Kobo's new "1" isn't that horrible so I gave up on trying to decrease that spacing. Kobo just never seems to allow for a small enough number on any firmware as default or the lowest.

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffR

If it only use values from the config file that match the ones set by the slider, then applying the line spacing patch would seem to be the only way to go, as it changes the values set by the slider. It would be a real pain to edit the config file each time you wanted to change the line spacing anyway.

I've hunted through the patch thread and searched the forums but can't find a spacing patch. Do you have a link to it if it's simple to do?

Edit 2: NM! Finally found it from another thread. I was looking for a patch for one thing, when it's a grand patch that includes quite a few fixes. All I can say about it after playing around with it is just brilliant! And thank you to the creator.

JMikeD · 12-14-2014, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I wanted to avoid having to modify every book before sending it to the Kobo. And the default lowest spacing of Kobo's new "1" isn't that horrible so I gave up on trying to decrease that spacing. Kobo just never seems to allow for a small enough number on any firmware as default or the lowest.

Edit:

I've hunted through the patch thread and searched the forums but can't find a spacing patch. Do you have a link to it if it's simple to do?

Edit 2: NM! Finally found it from another thread. I was looking for a patch for one thing, when it's a grand patch that includes quite a few fixes. All I can say about it after playing around with it is just brilliant! And thank you to the creator.

If I may ask… what/where is the patch?

jackie_w · 12-14-2014, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMikeD

If I may ask… what/where is the patch?

This should help.

08-06-2014, 10:56 PM	#1
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	Line spacing between different firmware Since I've picked up a spare Glo I've been playing around with the newest firmware just to see differences. One thing I can't get right though on the newer firware is line spacing. The reader at the left has my preferred firmware of 2.4.0, the reader at the right has 3.5.0. The identical epub file is loaded. Both readers use the same size font, readingFontSize=28. In the Kobo eReader.conf file, I manually changed 2.4.0 to readingLineHeight=1.225, which was posted as a tip to decrease the too wide line spacing at the time. The Kobo eReader.conf file for 3.5.0 has readingLineHeight=1. Yet the one with the smaller specified line spacing has wider spacing and 3 less lines per page. What am I not getting about the newer firmware to force smaller spacing between lines like on 2.4.0? I tried lowering it below 1, but that doesn't seem to work at all, unless I just didn't hit on the magic decimal number. Attached Thumbnails

08-07-2014, 01:44 AM	#2
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	The line spacing scale changed in firmware 3.0.0. Before 3.0.0 the line spacing slider set the readingLineHeight value in the config to a value in the range 1.3 to 3.0, and was equivalent to the CSS line-height property. From 3.0.0 on the line spacing slider sets the readingLineHeight value in the config file to a value in the range 1.0 to 3.0, but it is a different scale and not equivalent to the CSS line-height property. I think readingLineHeight=1.3 in the old firmware gives roughly the same line spacing as readingLineHeight=1.0 in the new firmware. So if you wanted to set the spacing the same as 1.225 in the old firmware, you would need to use a value slightly less than 1.0. In the new firmware readingLineHeight does not have a lower limit, by editing the config file you should be able to set it to a much tighter spacing than in the old firmware. On my Glo values such as 0.75, 0.8, etc. work and give extremely tight spacing. Edit: One thing to watch out for if you change readingLineHeight by editing the config file: If you open a book that had already been opened before you made the change, it will not use the global value from the config file but a book-specific one from the database. You can use the KoboUtilities plugin in Calibre to change the line spacing for a book that has already been opened, or there is a line spacing patch that allows you to change the values set by the line spacing slider, which avoids the need to edit the config file. Edit2: If you're interested in the details of the line spacing slider values, the slider in the old firmware selected from 9 values {1.3, 1.35, 1.4, 1.6, 1.775, 1.9, 2.0, 2.2, 3.0}, while the slider in the new firmware selects from 15 values {1.0, 1.05, 1.07, 1.1, 1.2, 1.35, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 3.0}. Last edited by GeoffR; 08-07-2014 at 02:01 AM.

08-07-2014, 02:49 PM	#7
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	I think it will revert back to 1 if you open a book that's already been opened as GeoffR explained above. Or if you touch the slider for the line spacing again, then it most definitely reverts back to 1. But I just plugged my reader in again after deleting and reloading all my books and checking several books on it last night night, and the Kobo eReader.conf file remains at .90. Edit: After I synced it, it did indeed revert back to 1 again though, and books that were showing 25 lines last night are now back to a max of 21 lines. It seems pretty touchy what will revert it back. At least I'm assuming the sync is what caused it to revert. Edit 2: I removed all books again, loaded them again, made sure line height was back to .90, and it is working again. The odd thing is though what used to be 25 lines per page is now 23 lines per page with the same settings. It's still better than it was, but just seems quirky. The minimum of 1 isn't that bad, not as bad as it was with older firmware at least, so it's livable if it's something that just won't remain as set through syncing. Actually, it seems to revert back to 1 no matter what. When I reopened a book that was showing 23 lines per page, it was back to 21 lines per page. When I checked the .conf file, it was oddly still at .90. So it doesn't seem to be a reliable fix this way anymore. Last edited by Ripplinger; 08-07-2014 at 03:52 PM.

08-09-2014, 02:33 PM	#11
valery Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Poland Device: Kobo Glo	I made some tests today and I managed to lower the line height, but it works only in epubs. I converted the book to an epub with these parameters (Look&feel section): "Minimum line height=100%", "Line height=15.0". With the font size=27 and margins=1 I am pretty happy with the result (I've got 27 lines of text). Unfortunately this method does not work with kepubs, or just maybe I can't do it right. Another thing: I've noticed that some fonts give lower line height (e.g. Gothic), so I think I'll try to find a serif font that gives me similar effect in kepubs. Attached Thumbnails

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08-07-2014, 02:58 AM	#4
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Ripplinger: The plugin shouldn't be corrupting the database. Hopefully, it is something else. If you use the daily backup of the database that the plugin provides, you will be able to restore that the next time you have a problem. A likely reason for the corruption is not ejecting the device properly. But, one thing I am seeing is that sometimes the eject takes longer than I expect. At the moment, I am making sure the USB icon in the system tray disappears before I unplug. I have had a couple of database corruptions recently where I hit eject in calibre and unplugged without waiting.

08-07-2014, 03:05 AM	#5
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	I always wait for the eject to actually happen, and I always use the eject device from within Calibre or the system tray if Calibre isn't running. It's never happened on the older Glo with firmware 2.4.0 that I plug in and out much more frequently, so I suspect it's more to do with the newer firmware than anything. I have noticed though the new reader with only 55 books on it is slower than the older reader with over 400 books on it. And those 55 books are also on the older reader, so it's unlikely it's caused by a badly formatted epub. Possibly it does need even more time after an eject, I'll try waiting even longer after ejecting the new firmware and see if it happens again.

08-07-2014, 01:34 PM	#6
valery Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Poland Device: Kobo Glo	In 3.3.0 it doesn't seem to work. I tried setting 0.90 and 0.80, but nothing has changed. The next time I open Kobo eReader.conf file I see it has been changed to 1, as if it was the lowest acceptable value.

08-07-2014, 04:06 PM	#8
valery Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Poland Device: Kobo Glo	I removed all books, set to 0.8 (it stays that way if I do not open any book), uploaded a book and... nothing changes. I still have 22 lines (with font size 27), no matter what.

08-07-2014, 11:24 PM	#9
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	I just had play on my Glo using FW3.5.0. It looks like this firmware will not use any line height other than what can be set from the slider. What I did was to use the utilities plugin to set the line height for ten books. The books were all in one series to make it easy to go through them. I started from 0.5 and stepped up by 0.1 for each book. The plugin sets the line spacing in the content_settings table for each book. It can also update the config file. When I opened the books, most were using 1.0 as the line spacing. Only those that I set to 1.1, 1.2 and 1.5 used the set values. And when I connected and looked at the content_settings table, the values had been changed 1.0. I did another check of a few other values and had the same result. I also tried with the config file set to 2.8, to see if it was using the config file value if it wasn't a match, and they were still changed to 1.0.

08-08-2014, 12:12 AM	#10
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	If it only use values from the config file that match the ones set by the slider, then applying the line spacing patch would seem to be the only way to go, as it changes the values set by the slider. It would be a real pain to edit the config file each time you wanted to change the line spacing anyway.

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