Kobo HD Glo Options and settings

[spastro]

Hey All

Been looking at buying a Kobo HD Glo as my first ebook device.
I have used the kindle paperwhite briefly and am quite comfortable with its operations however i see the kobo has been getting some great reviews.

On further research i noticed there are some annoyances with page header and footers and other little things that have to be changed manually via scripts on the kobo, and have seen the custom firmware that introduces lots of added options

https://www.preining.info/blog/2016/...tch-ssh-fonts/

Does anyone have an all in one guide for the HD Glo.
What changes should be made for best compatibility between files..
Best alternate firmware to use for new users... is the default kobo firmware really that bad?


I plan to purchase a few books from the kobo store but there are also a lot of open free books that i would like to read.
I have tried downloading some from the kindle beta browser which saves straight to the kindle device, im told this feature also works on the kobo.

Does the built in kobo software work well at interpreting the different formats without having to run them through calibre?

The mobi files i downloaded straight to the kindle from open library, was formatted quite well, granted i got the mobi file i needed.

Any help getting a new guy sorted with a complete list of recommendations of what i need to do straight off the bat for best experience would be greatly appreciated.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by spastro

... is the default kobo firmware really that bad?

It is certainly not! Of course, it will depend on your expectations or your aesthetical needs. I personally do not care much about the header and footer, and I am very happy with the default readers (there are two) for reading epub/kepub. Reading pdf, however is a pain. I cannot tell about the other formats, since I never use them.
I would say you are better off, if you start reading on a kobo device, and only look for hacks, if you feel your personally really need them, instead of asking for a complete list. Anyway, my list would be: KSM, KOReader.

[meeera]

The default Kobo firmware is pretty terrific for reading epubs/kepubs. And the added beauty of it is that it is open enough to be very readily tweaked to fine-tune it further if one wishes.

I like the patch for the option to have advanced font controls on sideloaded fonts, and for the extremely fine-grained control of margins/font size/line spacing that it provides. The stock firmware is still pretty fine grained (vastly so compared to its major competitor), but it's nice to have the full range of options.

Check the stickies for the relevant guides.

I recommend converting all mobis to your choice of epub or kepub before loading onto your Kobo. And I recommend using Calibre to manage your library; triply so if you want decent collections (shelves) management.

[datcha]

I have use a Kobo Glo HD for about 6 months. I find it quite comfortable for reading, and very adaptive to varying environments (like using larger fonts when I am required to lower the backlighting). The dictionnary feature is also very convenient, once you understand how to touch the screen to activate it.
Problems I did run into:
- I could not read a physics book (Kobo actually reimbursed me for it) because it would not display figures and math formulae (Though Kobo told me it worked on their desktop software).
- It seemed also to have problem displaying text fragments in unusual alphabets such as Arabic or Hebrew, that appeared as quotes in one of my books.

Its seems that in all cases, the problematic content was being displayed in such a tiny size as to be nearly invisible. May be that has improved in more recent versions of the software.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by datcha

Its seems that in all cases, the problematic content was being displayed in such a tiny size as to be nearly invisible. May be that has improved in more recent versions of the software.

There are usually up to three issues with problematic ePub.

1. Bad code -- Should be validated and any errors fixed. You can use Calibre's eBook editor. It has a validator built in.

2. Code in the CSS for small or x-small or some small number set for the font size -- You can use the Calibre editor to check for this and fix it.

3. Both 1 & 2

You can only fix things if the ePub has no DRM.

[spastro]

Went out and bought the HD Glo today, I'm disappointed to say that the beta browser on it does not allow direct download of free ebooks in epub format that I tired from digilibraries, I always liked that with the kindle I was able to download ebooks from the beta browser. was a nice little ability to search open libraries for free books and put them straight on without calibre,

are there any browser hacks or alternate browsers?

cheers

[frostschutz]

The browser does download epubs but it also depends on how the site presents them... if I remember correctly a link to a static file/name.epub works but a dynamic download.php?id=1234 might not work. Not sure exactly which headers it's looking for...

[spastro]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

The browser does download epubs but it also depends on how the site presents them... if I remember correctly a link to a static file/name.epub works but a dynamic download.php?id=1234 might not work. Not sure exactly which headers it's looking for...

any you can recommend that work so I can add to the browser favourites.
would be able to get some on the go.

cheers

[filmo]

http://www.feedbooks.com/
Has worked with my Kobo readers.

[spastro]

Originally Posted by filmo

http://www.feedbooks.com/
Has worked with my Kobo readers.

Thanks. I will give it a shot.
And yes I think it is the dynamic links that are failing. I just checked some of the link addresses from some sites.
Sigh. I hope they fix that. The convenience of downloading from the browser was great on the kindle.

[filmo]

Calibre "Get Books" Tile in header bar has many ebook sources listed for downloading. You can put name of any of these ebook sources in browser search bar to get web address and enter it into your reader's browser and bookmark it.

[spastro]

Great. Will give that a shot also.
I see heaps of threads with page number issues for side loaded epub. Is there a fix for that yet.
It's annoying to progress to the next page only to have the number display the same because the paragraph still exists on the new page.
I'm sure how small they expect us to have the writing to make it fit a page for a page.

Badges are still broken too. Can't get the sign in to kobo badge to work or the download ebooks. I side loaded a good 10 yesterday and it still do t have it. 0%
Even though kobo has a better screen and slightly smaller. It really feels like they haven't even tried with the os.

[robko]

Originally Posted by spastro

Great. Will give that a shot also.
I see heaps of threads with page number issues for side loaded epub. Is there a fix for that yet.
It's annoying to progress to the next page only to have the number display the same because the paragraph still exists on the new page.
I'm sure how small they expect us to have the writing to make it fit a page for a page.

That's not broken, that's how it works. Since there is no "standard" way to measure a page length Adobe decided that a page would be 1024 characters (slightly more complicated than that, but that's close enough for these purposes). Kobo has no control over this as long as they are using Adobe code for displaying epubs. And they are using Adobe because they pretty much have to if they want to allow reading of DRM protected epubs.
On the other hand, for their own format (kepubs) they have control over the page numbering because it is their own firmware code that is displaying it. If you use Calibre you can convert your (non-DRM) epubs to kepub and then it will number each screen as a page regardless of the font size.

[spastro]

Originally Posted by robko

That's not broken, that's how it works. Since there is no "standard" way to measure a page length Adobe decided that a page would be 1024 characters (slightly more complicated than that, but that's close enough for these purposes). Kobo has no control over this as long as they are using Adobe code for displaying epubs. And they are using Adobe because they pretty much have to if they want to allow reading of DRM protected epubs.
On the other hand, for their own format (kepubs) they have control over the page numbering because it is their own firmware code that is displaying it. If you use Calibre you can convert your (non-DRM) epubs to kepub and then it will number each screen as a page regardless of the font size.

Oh, i will give that a try too. I thought that kepubs were for kobo books only, had no idea i could convert to that with calibre.

Another thing to give a try tonight.

Cheers

[robko]

Originally Posted by spastro

Oh, i will give that a try too. I thought that kepubs were for kobo books only, had no idea i could convert to that with calibre.

I should add, you do need the proper extension/add-on for calibre (can't remember which it is right now )