Which Kobo plugins/mods are worth using in 2020?

[Autodidact]

I've read through tons of threads on here about plugins and mods for improving the kobo experience, but most haven't been updated or replied to in 3-10 years. Furthermore, I've heard that the built-in kobo reader has gotten better over the years, as have other built-in features. I've just purchased a Kobo Libra H2O so I am wondering if there are any tried-and-true plugins/mods that improve the experience of owning a kobo with respect to reading experience and book organization (not interested in playing chess or anything like that).

I'm sure there are lots of shiny new plugins and mods that I will explore in due time, but for the time being I am searching for timeless things that have nearly consensus endorsement by experienced kobo users (things that have a 50/50, love/hate split would also be interesting to hear about).

The short list of candidates I've come across:

Kobo touch extended driver?
Kobo Utilities?
DeDRM/Obok (no question)
KoReader?

Are the first two no-brainers, or are people divided on them? I already know people are divided on KoReader and other alternative readers, but generally speaking are they as popular as they used to be? And if so is that due to reading experience and book organization reasons or just chess-like reasons? And are there any other basics I should know about?

Thanks in advance. Like I said, I know it's been discussed many times but there's seems to be a need for a more up-to-date discussion on this.

[Autodidact]

Further thoughts: Are the built-in kobo dictionaries still bad? Are the several-year-old posts about the pros and cons of epub and kepub still relevant?

[davidfor]

Huh? Everyone of those plugins and addons are heavily and frequently discussed here. And all of them have had at least one update this year. So, I'm completely baffled by the idea that you can't find discussion on them that is less than three years old. I mean, right now, there are two threads in the first page about the dictionaries (and no, it hasn't changed).

For the plugins, there have been two recent threads asking roughly the same question. I suggest that you search for them. I can't comment on Koreader as I don't use it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Autodidact

Further thoughts: Are the built-in kobo dictionaries still bad? Are the several-year-old posts about the pros and cons of epub and kepub still relevant?

Not quite relevant. Things have gotten much better with ePub since 4.20 firmware. For example, highlighting with ePub is so much better.

[ZodWallop]

Everything you mentioned has been discussed recently.

At any rate:

Kepub vs. ePub is still valid. Both have their strengths and weakneses.

Kobo Touch Extended is mostly useful to me as it auto-converts to kepub (the format I prefer) when sending books to the reader.

Built-in dictionaries haven't changed that I'm aware of. But then, I really think how bad the dictionary is has been overblown (caveat: I only use the English dictionary and to be honest, I only use it rarely).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Everything you mentioned has been discussed recently.

At any rate:

Kepub vs. ePub is still valid. Both have their strengths and weakneses.

Yes still valid, but some of the pros/cons from before firmware 4.20 are now invalid.

[Sirtel]

KOReader isn't necessary, unless you read PDFs or have really unusual preferences how the text should look.

Extended driver is good to have if you want to read kepubs instead of epubs.

Personally I don't find much use for KoboUtilities, but others do. So that depends.

Most of the mods are now all in one place, Kobopatch. So if you're interested in them, you don't have to read 100 threads all over the forum and download 20 different patches from different threads. The patches and their descriptions are now together in the kobopatch.zip.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=330070

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

KOReader isn't necessary

My heart, it bleeds! .

----

While custom readers may not be "necessary", they're certainly very nice to have. And while the PDF argument stands, that's mainly because the stock PDF reader is abysmal.

But @poire-z has been working wonders with CRe, and KOReader's ePub handling can do wonders without you ever having to touch a computer to tweak wonky stylesheets, which is pretty much priceless in my book.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

My heart, it bleeds! .

----

While custom readers may not be "necessary", they're certainly very nice to have. And while the PDF argument stands, that's mainly because the stock PDF reader is abysmal.

But @poire-z has been working wonders with CRe, and KOReader's ePub handling can do wonders without you ever having to touch a computer to tweak wonky stylesheets, which is pretty much priceless in my book.

What can KOReader do with ePub that makes it worth using? Does it give the same level of typesetting that you get from RMSDK?

[JSWolf]

I highly suggest installing the Reading List plugin. I use it every time I have books I want to side load to my H2O.

[Ken Maltby]

As to KOReader discussions, there is a KOReader Forum here, under Software.

[Autodidact]

Huh? Everyone of those plugins and addons are heavily and frequently discussed here. And all of them have had at least one update this year. So, I'm completely baffled by the idea that you can't find discussion on them that is less than three years old.

Ah, well I've also gathered that people like to facepalm newbies here, so I had tried editing my post with a 'if this is dumb just link me elsewhere' line, but I missed the 5 minute editing window. Perhaps I didn't make this clear, but I tried starting off the discussion by mentioning those examples precisely because they have been discussed more recently. That is what makes them candidates. As far as most other plugins/mods go, the 'definitive guides' and hundred reply posts about them are many years old, so I am trying to find out if I'm missing any fundamentals. Maybe my mistake is using google search in lieu of the mobileread search engine, as google tends to primarily provide posts that haven't been edited in 5+ years, with the latest reply being 3+ years old or with the 10 pages of most recent replies consisting of three people in an esoteric argument.

[Autodidact]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

KOReader isn't necessary, unless you read PDFs or have really unusual preferences how the text should look.

Extended driver is good to have if you want to read kepubs instead of epubs.

Personally I don't find much use for KoboUtilities, but others do. So that depends.

Most of the mods are now all in one place, Kobopatch. So if you're interested in them, you don't have to read 100 threads all over the forum and download 20 different patches from different threads. The patches and their descriptions are now together in the kobopatch.zip.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=330070

Thank you for the succinct description of kobopatch. I will have to check out.

[geek1011]

You'll also definitely want to to try NickelMenu, as it's quite unobtrusive and has many useful features.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

KOReader isn't necessary, unless you read PDFs or have really unusual preferences how the text should look.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=330070

It is not useful only for pdf, with KOReader I read books with notes o images obtaining ligatures. And I can choose to avoid some css format I don't like in the book.