Some tips for a newcomer

[Shadow_Galecross]

Hello fellow readers. I´ve just bought a Kobo aura edition 2 and I´m a bit overwhelmed with the information about alternative apps.
I´m going to do backup of the internal SD with win32diskImager after doing anything but , Should I update firmware if I want to use some apps or is it better to keep on stock? Also , what apps would you recommend me as a manga reader and linux lover?

[patrik]

As davidfor usually say, spend a couple of days (or weeks) just reading and get to know the reader. After that, start to play around with other apps and patches if they provide something you are actually missing.

[Shadow_Galecross]

Originally Posted by patrik

As davidfor usually say, spend a couple of days (or weeks) just reading and get to know the reader. After that, start to play around with other apps and patches if they provide something you are actually missing.

Thank you , I was worried that I could not be able to downgrade the firmware

[patrik]

You typically can downgrade easily. I believe there are some few gotchas if you want to install some really old one, but pragmatically, it's no problem. (Search for davidfor's posts about downgrading.)

It's also easy to re-install the same firmware, in case you want to remove any patches you installed.

My perception is that as long as you stay within reason (fairly new firmwares, patches and apps other people use) Kobo is extremely durable and easily fixed in case something happens or you want to revert changes.

And maybe best of all, if something do happen, there are plenty of people here that are both very knowledgeable _and_ willing to help.

[geek1011]

And, if you don't want to open the cover to make the initial backup (you'll still need to do it to restore), you can enable telnet access (search devmodeon), force WiFi on, remount the filesystems read-only, pipe /dev/mmcblk0 into a local file, then disable telnet access again (devmodeoff).

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by patrik

My perception is that as long as you stay within reason (fairly new firmwares, patches and apps other people use) Kobo is extremely durable and easily fixed in case something happens or you want to revert changes.

Yes. In 99.9% of the cases, a full reset will fix any software problems (for you, hold down the power button for 15s while the device is off, but note you'll lose all data).

If you're planning to play with patches (as in, make your own, rather than use the tested ones included), enabling telnet and forcing WiFi on, adding a PIN, and applying the USB on lock screen patch should let you recover from almost any bad patch.

If you're planning to play with uboot or the kernel (but don't do this just for fun or without experience), it's useful to have a serial connection, or at the least, easy access to the SD card.