PDF browsing on Kobo WiFi

[silvermane]

Hello everyone

After my Kindle Classic suddenly died on me, I bought a used Kobo WiFi (mostly because it supports PDFs). So here are some questions.

1. The most problematic issue is that, when viewing zoomed in PDFs, pressing the down (or left) button at the bottom of a page moves me to the BOTTOM of the next page instead of to the TOP. Kindle worked correctly when doing this, zoom or no zoom. This is hugely annoying and almost disqualifies the reader for me, since I read mostly PDFs.

2. I put a PDF consisting of images on the SD card. Kobo threw itself into a loop trying to add it into the library. So I guess these are no-no? There are lots of public domain scans done this way, which I'd hate not being able to read.

3. Is version 1.9.10 the latest firmware version?

4. Is there any way to disable the larger/smaller font feature when pressing up/down? I am often pressing these buttons by mistake and have to wait several seconds before the screen is redrawn. (The redrawing speed is much inferior to the Kindle, but I guess you can only get so much with 5 years old technology - at least it works in the sun).

[eschwartz]

KOReader is generally recommended as a vastly preferable PDF renderer over the builtin one on either the Kindle or the Kobo.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

KOReader is generally recommended as a vastly preferable PDF renderer over the builtin one on either the Kindle or the Kobo.

Remember we're talking about the Kobo WiFi and not one of the modern series of devices (Touch and newer).

[eschwartz]

I'm afraid I don't know much about Kobos.

I take it the Kobo WiFi is vastly uncooler and doesn't support KOReader, or from the sound of it, many things? (Kobos have unified firmware, right?)

[PeterT]

The WiFi was the second generation device AMD does not share the same f.w versions with any of the newer devices.

[BryanK]

PDFs work as expected on my Kobo Wifi, whether on the reader or on an SD card. Can you post steps to reproduce the problem? Also, there is a 32GB limit on the size of the SD card , just in case you're trying to use something bigger.

Yes, the Wifi is slow... The Touch introduced a faster screen and a faster processor which (as PeterT points out) also allows you to use the newest firmware.

Speaking of firmware, I wouldn't suggest trying to update your Kobo to a later version. There are endless threads here requesting images to resurrect Wifi's bricked by 1.9.11.

[filmo]

Serial number on bottom of your Kobo wifi also indicates model A, B or C. No letter in serial number is model A. but B or C letter in serial number indicates model B or C. Models B and C has removable internal SD card making easy to resurrect your Kobo Wifi if you somehow brick it trying alternate firmware. (Easy if you are comfortable disassembling your Kobo and putting it back together.)

Yes Kobo wifi readers have slower processors and page turns. You will learn to turn page a little sooner without thinking about it. You will only realize your doing this after using a faster page turning reader and returning to your Kobo Wifi.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by filmo

Serial number on bottom of your Kobo wifi also indicates model A, B or C. No letter in serial number is model A. but B or C letter in serial number indicates model B or C. Models B and C has removable internal SD card making easy to resurrect your Kobo Wifi if you somehow brick it trying alternate firmware. (Easy if you are comfortable disassembling your Kobo and putting it back together.)

I think you're confusing the Touch and WiFi. Both do have three models, but for the WiFi it is N467, N467B and N289. And all three have internal SD card.

[filmo]

davidfor
Your correct.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by filmo

davidfor
Your correct.

If I give you my wife's email address, will you tell her?

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If I give you my wife's email address, will you tell her?

LOL!!!

[filmo]

My wife is convinced I'm so bad remembering names and dates I have to look at my drivers license to know my birthday, 17 March.

[silvermane]

Gentlemen, while I appreciate your offside banter, your posts have not moved me closer to solving the PDF problem beyond a painful reminding that Kobo WiFi is a rather obsolete piece of hardware, a fact that is as true as it is peripherial to the discussion.

As for reproducing the step, I am afraid that I have described the problem lucidly enough so that nothing of value can be added. I just press the down button while I am at the bottom of a page and am whisked to the bottom of the next one despite my earnest wish to continue reading. The Kindle did it right, so it was only natural to expect that Kobo would stay in line as well.

Just to keep this thread alive, is there a way to make the device automatically enter library management mode when the USB cable is plugged in? I find having to select this option every time rather vexing.

[PeterT]

Again unfortunately not, or at least no one has authored any hack or mod to do that. (And that's true for the newer devices as well.)

[BryanK]

Originally Posted by silvermane

As for reproducing the step, I am afraid that I have described the problem lucidly enough so that nothing of value can be added. I just press the down button while I am at the bottom of a page and am whisked to the bottom of the next one despite my earnest wish to continue reading.

Then all I can say is that while reading a PDF, whether stored on the internal SD card or an external SD card, when I press the down button at the bottom of a page, regardless of my horizontal position within that page, I am dutifully deposited at the top-left of the next page. This happens at magnification levels of 100%, 150%, 175% and 200% (I confess I did not test at 125% magnification) in both portrait and landscape orientation. My reader is model N647 running software version 1.9 (r25373, Mar 29 2011).