Kindle Scribe no longer connects as USB drive

[tomsem]

Update 5.16.3 includes this Scribe-only 'feature':

Connect Kindle Scribe over USB using Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) instead of emulating a disk drive.

Connecting via USB no longer shows as a USB Drive (removable volume in Finder, a drive volume in Windows Explorer). As it is not mounted in file system, there is no access via command line. Mac requires third party MTP client like Android File Transfer to manage content. Another inconvenience is that only one MTP client can connect at a time. I don't know if this is also true on Windows. It also causes issues on Linux but I don't have one set up to be able to describe what these are.

Disconnect is done by tapping Disconnect on the Scribe.

Calibre evidently knows MTP, so it still connects and shows content, is able to Send to device, etc.

However, calibre Show books now displays items which are normally filtered out (by calibre?) or hidden with '.' filename prefix on an emulated FAT32 partition. (see screenshot). Matching to In Library does not always work correctly because of this (see '.Anna Karenina'). Also some .kfx content inside of .sdr folders, html files in /System folder, readme in /fonts folder etc..

Of course undocumented ebook-device command line tool does not work with Scribe.

Kindle 10th and 11th generation also got this update, but still mount to file system as before. Without knowing Amazon's motivation for making this change, it seems as likely as not that they might get this 'feature' in the future.

So some sort of fix is needed for Scribe. I will be happy to provide more information if any is needed. Thanks.

[Quoth]

USB Mass Storage was probably using an actual FAT32 partition, and a .prefix doesn't hide files in windows. Probably on Mac & certainly Linux you can "display hidden files" and "display backup files" the .files or .directories and backups end with ~ and are normally hidden, in the File Managers. "Emulating" is a strange choice of phrase by Amazon.

I'm not clear what your problem is?

With the Sage and Elipsa there are exported notebooks (can be any of *.txt, *.pdf, *.png, *.docx or *.html) most of these are "valid" files for Calibre but I'd not want to match them to the Library or import them to Calibre. I see these in Calibre if I pick "Device" instead of Library. I just ignore them. Likely png don't show?

If I've put ebooks or PDFs on via a different computer (Calibre or not) I might want to "match" to Library and "Add" if they aren't in it. That's rare.

Also other Kobos will have saved *.svg files from the sketch pad and unusually the Libra 2 seems to have a digitiser so the Kobo/MS/Ntrig Pen works on it. I've not investigated if these show up on Device View on Calibre.

Likely Kindle myclippings.txt shows?

[tomsem]

The issue is that calibre is showing content items that is not really user content, i.e. that you would not see it when viewing Library on Kindle. This stuff should be filtered out, and then the actual user content matched to calibre content to determine what is In Library.

Apologies if I'm not using the correct technical terms.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The issue is that calibre is showing content items that is not really user content, i.e. that you would not see it when viewing Library on Kindle. This stuff should be filtered out, and then the actual user content matched to calibre content to determine what is In Library.

Apologies if I'm not using the correct technical terms.

Maybe Amazon will really hide those whatever they are. Calibre in device mode simply shows anything that could be added to the library. I think these must be new files that that Amazon is doing on the Scribe as they are not there on a PW3 (x2) or the Oasis 2 (now given away), KK3 or DXG. The USB Mass Storage mode can't hide files. That's an actual FAT32 partition. In fact on Kobo models that use an SD card internally for all storage you can remove the card and put it in PC and see ALL the partitions, and if you can access Linux Ext type, even read/write/change the files. But then even the database and user settings are on the visible Fat32 partition, which is why Calibre can do Collections & Series on a Kobo by editing the database on the second connection after the books added on 1st and database entries created. Also read/write reading status / position / % and highlights, bookmarks and annotations.

My first ereaders were Kindles, but sadly Amazon is making the Kindles more and more locked down. You used to be able to do collections without a jailbreak. Amazon sets Series and you can't fix it if wrong, even on Website. Kids mode hides all the valuable sideloaded PD books from Gutenberg.

I can't see given the vast range of devices and fact that some people use ereader storage simply as portable storage what can be done other than ignore them. Presumably they only appear in device view.

Perhaps I'm wrong.

[jhowell]

The problem is that calibre has special handling for Kindle devices. It knows about the Kindle-specific folder layout and file formats found there.

When the Scribe is detected as an MTP device it is not treated as a Kindle but instead as a generic device that might have book files of any type anywhere in storage.

[kovidgoyal]

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...14252ad4d08459

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...2f5f8306b87b2d

But files whose names start with . are not ignored. There is no good reason to do so. Where are they coming from?

[kovidgoyal]

Ah those ._ are the infamous appledouble files. They will have been created by apple software in the past when the device wa a USB disk. Just delete them once and they will not be recreated since the device is now an MTP device.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Ah those ._ are the infamous appledouble files. They will have been created by apple software in the past when the device wa a USB disk. Just delete them once and they will not be recreated since the device is now an MTP device.

.Anna Karenina (and the other one) are also Mac artifacts, in .Trashes/ folder.

So I have deleted those as well.

Well there's at least some upside to the change: won't have this junk in the future!

Looking at your changes, I think we may need to add .active_content_sandbox to folder ignore list, it is picking up a couple of .html files in there.

Thanks!

[kovidgoyal]

No need one of the changes was to ignore all top level folders starting with .

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No need one of the changes was to ignore all top level folders starting with .

Nice, thanks!

[sanch]

My Scribe is not being detected by Calibre. Any ideas to help troubleshoot?
Android File Transfer application has no issues detecting the Scribe when plugged in, but Calibre doesn't show it at all.
Calibre 6.26.0
Kindle Scribe 5.16.3
macOS Ventura 13.5.1

[sanch]

Apologies, don't see an Edit button on the previous post, but wanted to add the initial output of debug device detection:

Spoiler:

calibre 6.26 embedded-python: True
macOS-13.5.1-arm64-arm-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '22.6.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 22.6.0: Wed Jul 5 22:17:35 PDT 2023; root:xnu-8796.141.3~6/RELEASE_ARM64_T8112')
Python 3.10.1
OSX: ('13.5.1', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')
Interface language: None
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Set KFX metadata (from KFX Output) (2, 3, 0) && KFX Output (2, 3, 0) && KePub Metadata Reader (3, 4, 3) && KePub Metadata Writer (3, 4, 3) && KePub Output (3, 6, 5) && Kobo Utilities (2, 16, 10) && KoboTouchExtended (3, 6, 5) && Obok DeDRM (10, 0, 3)
USB devices on system:
[['0x1058',
'0x25a3',
'0x1031',
'Western Digital',
'Elements 25A3',
'3546473534555754'],
['0x1949', '0x9981', '0x223', 'Amazon', 'Kindle Scribe', 'G0923L07245500T5'],
['0x5ac',
'0x1460',
'0x235',
'Apple Inc.',
'USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter',
'DLC7156047SG2KQA0\x00']]

Disabled plugins: KOBOTOUCH

Looking for devices of type: MTP_DEVICE
No MTP devices connected to system

Looking for devices of type: SMART_DEVICE_APP
All IP addresses {'lo0': [{'addr': '127.0.0.1', 'netmask': '255.0.0.0', 'peer': '127.0.0.1'}], 'en0': [{'addr': '192.168.1.4', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'broadcast': '192.168.1.255'}]}
No device is connected

Looking for devices...

Devices possibly connected: None

[kovidgoyal]

Update its firmware so that it uses the new MTP driver and also make sure you tap whatever is needed on the Kindle to put it in MTP mode.

[ebeng]

Hi Kovid Goyal,

The same is happening for me. Kindle Scribe is on latest firmware, MacOS as well. The device is not getting detected on the latest Calibre

calibre 6.26  embedded-python: True
macOS-13.5.2-arm64-arm-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '22.6.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 22.6.0: Wed Jul  5 22:21:53 PDT 2023; root:xnu-8796.141.3~6/RELEASE_ARM64_T6020')
Python 3.10.1
OSX: ('13.5.2', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')
Interface language: None
USB devices on system:
[['0x1949', '0x9981', '0x223', 'Amazon', 'Kindle Scribe', 'G0923M072446018E']]

No disabled plugins
Looking for devices of type: MTP_DEVICE
No MTP devices connected to system
 
Looking for devices of type: SMART_DEVICE_APP
All IP addresses {'lo0': [{'addr': '127.0.0.1', 'netmask': '255.0.0.0', 'peer': '127.0.0.1'}], 'en1': [{'addr': '192.168.1.44', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'broadcast': '192.168.1.255'}]}
No device is connected
 
Looking for devices...
 
Devices possibly connected: None

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ebeng

Hi Kovid Goyal,

The same is happening for me. Kindle Scribe is on latest firmware, MacOS as well. The device is not getting detected on the latest Calibre

calibre 6.26  embedded-python: True
macOS-13.5.2-arm64-arm-64bit Darwin ('64bit', '')
('Darwin', '22.6.0', 'Darwin Kernel Version 22.6.0: Wed Jul  5 22:21:53 PDT 2023; root:xnu-8796.141.3~6/RELEASE_ARM64_T6020')
Python 3.10.1
OSX: ('13.5.2', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')
Interface language: None
USB devices on system:
[['0x1949', '0x9981', '0x223', 'Amazon', 'Kindle Scribe', 'G0923M072446018E']]

No disabled plugins
Looking for devices of type: MTP_DEVICE
No MTP devices connected to system

It looks as if your Scribe is still connecting as a USB device. Can you see the FAT32 volume on your Scribe mounted on the desktop? What firmware version does your Scribe show as being installed. It should be 5.16.3 or higher to use MTP instead of USB.

As an alternative, if you are on 5.16.3 and if Android File Transfer has opened, you will need to close AFT before calibre will be able to see your Scribe. MacOS and Linux only allow one connection to an MTP device.