Kobo Start Menu

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

For my AuraHD 3.2.0, using that icon to return works, but the menu is displayed upside down, so I just use the slide switch to power off and then start back up in the menu.

And I thought this problem was already solved! Do you run the original .kobo/kbmenu/onstart/startreader.sh of 3.2.0 (KBStartMenu_03check.zip)? This script tries to set the correct orientation after returning from nickel and tries to check whether this has been successful. If it finds that it has failed, it reboots the device. Or this is how I thought it works.

Note: Since nobody reported about the upside down display, or about rebooting, I thought everything is running smooth and removed the reboot part in startreader.sh of the version for 3.3.0.
Note 2: Maybe it is generally better not to mix the script files of different Start Menu versions. There might always be some incompatibility. I personally would always opt for the most recent version of the Menu.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by tshering

And I thought this problem was already solved! Do you run the original .kobo/kbmenu/onstart/startreader.sh of 3.2.0 (KBStartMenu_03check.zip)? This script tries to set the correct orientation after returning from nickel and tries to check whether this has been successful. If it finds that it has failed, it reboots the device. Or this is how I thought it works.

Note: Since nobody reported about the upside down display, or about rebooting, I thought everything is running smooth and removed the reboot part in startreader.sh of the version for 3.3.0.

I am still using 3.2.0, but I am pretty sure that I am using KBStartMenu_04.zip. In fact I think I forgot to add the script entry to correct the orientation, that I used before, when I redid everything and used the KBStartMenu_04. The thing is I hardly ever enter Nickel anymore, and your Start Menu comes on so quickly that using the slide switch to power cycle is no hardship. I sometimes use Nickel to check the charging level and its sleep to get the battery% while it is charging.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I am still using 3.2.0, but I am pretty sure that I am using KBStartMenu_04.zip. In fact I think I forgot to add the script entry to correct the orientation, that I used before, when I redid everything and used the KBStartMenu_04. The thing is I hardly ever enter Nickel anymore, and your Start Menu comes on so quickly that using the slide switch to power cycle is no hardship. I sometimes use Nickel to check the charging level and its sleep to get the battery% while it is charging.

Luck;
Ken

I see! I thought you are still on the older version. Since you mention the charging level while charging, I just got the idea that we could use "scripts" > "test" > "checkbattery.sh" when we call it with the arguments -autoselectafter={number of seconds} -autoselectoption=refresh.

[tshering]

If anybody is having troubles when exiting nickel by selecting exit_nickel.png, please report it, so that we can address the problem. Aura HD users are likely candidates. If nothing else, we could at least auto-reboot the reader in order to spare you the bottom up menu.

Edit: I just read in the first post of this thread, that exiting nickel on Aura HD does not work as wished. Therefore, I posted a new version of the startreader.sh for the KBStartMenu_04 version here.

[ipse]

@tshering: THANK YOU...I think this was the missing piece to complete my Aura. I'm really happy now, as the magnetic cover works and all seems fine, frontlight included.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by ipse

@tshering: THANK YOU...I think this was the missing piece to complete my Aura. I'm really happy now, as the magnetic cover works and all seems fine, frontlight included.

I am happy that you are happy.

[tshering]

I just installed FW 3.4.1 and did so far not notice any problems with the Kobo Start Menu (KBStartMenu_04.zip).

The update process, however, was a bit strange. I selected "handle update" > "install partial update" in order to keep the start menu installed. The screen froze, and than nothing happend. Expected behaviour is the display of the update spinner and an automatic reboot.

That the update spinner did not show, might be explained by the fact that since one of the more recent FWs, pickel, this is the executable that displays the update spinner and so on, works only as long as nickel has not been running. As soon as nickel has been running, pickel does not work. (You might have noticed that, if you start nickel from the menu several times without rebooting in between, you see the dancing squares only the first time. This is the effect of pickel not working.) Therefore, reboot the device before you install the update. Otherwise you don't get visual information on how the update process is going on.

As for the missing automatic reboot, I might simple have been to impatient and forced the power off, before the reboot started. If this is not the case and your device does also not reboot, wait for a sufficent time (or you might interrupt the update process), and force a power off by holding the power slider in the off positon for about 20 seconds or more.

If you are running an earlier version of the Kobo Start Menu, it will not work with the current FW. Therefore, select "handle update" > "install update" (rather than "handle update" > "install partial update"), or uninstall the Kobo Start Menu before updating the FW.

[Ken Maltby]

I thought FW3.4.1 was just for "selected" Minis ? Is it good for the other Mark fours? Is there any benefit for those of us who use the Start Menu and alternative readers and not Nickel or the provided readers? I have stayed clear of FW 3.3.1 and find FW 3.2.0 to be working well with the software I am using. Will the bug introduced by FW 3.4.1 (You know there will be one.) effect us, or just the Nickel users?

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I thought FW3.4.1 was just for "selected" Minis ? Is it good for the other Mark fours?

I don't know. I just was curious whether it breaks the Kobo Start Menu. I wanted to be one of the first to try it, in order to prevent others from bad experiences. There is a new dhd.ko file. Maybe that could be useful also for other devices with wifi problems. From the string miniforkids in the download link one could guess that there a two topics: "mini," and "fork ids," and the second topic must not necessarily be restricted to the first. But who knows. Maybe one has to read "mini for kids."

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Is there any benefit for those of us who use the Start Menu and alternative readers and not Nickel or the provided readers?

I did not notice any change.

[tshering]

I upload here two scripts that start Cool Reader without using Kobo Launcher. Kobo Launcher (or at least the part that contains the Cool Reader) must of course be available on your device.

Copy the two script from the archive to .kobo/kbmenu/scripts and select "scripts" > "cr3.sh" or "scripts" > "cr3 landscape.sh" to start the Cool Reader in portrait and landscape orientation respectively.
I will include these two items as an option into the main menu of the next version of the Start Menu.

Edit: I faintly remember that I uploaded these two scripts (maybe with different names) already somewhere at the Kobo forum, but I cannot find them now. They are exactly the same as those posted here. Therefore, if you already have them, there is no need to upload the new ones.

[yayo]

snip, after writing my complains my reader started behaving correctly. Go figure...

[tshering]

Originally Posted by yayo

snip, after writing my complains my reader started behaving correctly. Go figure...

Sometimes complaining pays off!

[Markismus]

Originally Posted by tshering

Do I understand correctly that you are saying that (1) you have installed the Start Menu, (2) you cannot exit nickel by selecting exit_nickel.png, (3) you can launch koreader and Kobolauncher vie pngs from nickel? If this is the case, then something went wrong.... But I think, this is not the problem you were referring to, but rather that after selecting exit_nickel.png nothing at all happens. Right?

Indeed it did. First my mistake was that I copied the png-files to /mnt/onboard instead of copying the whole directory. Second after a few days Start Menu disappeared all on its own and I started in Nickel again.

Today I moved the png-files to their proper directory and reinstalled Start Menu by copying the tgz-file to /mnt/onboard/.kobo and it works..for now. First time starting of Nickel takes the usual long time with the dancing squares, but after that switching is fast!

Since it disables all the problem koreader is having with the newer firmwares ---the button and sleepcover events are no longer available to any program but Nickel--- I think this approach will be suggested as the standard approach for installing koreader.

I will test it for a week to see whether Start Menu dissappears again on an Aura 3.3.0, but on the whole it seems great.

[Markismus]

Okay, I did it again.

So I tested whether koreader could still be launched from within Nickel and it could. And after that the device doesn't return to Start Menu. When powered off and on it returns to Nickel. When powered off and on again it returns to Start Menu.

So anybody any idea of what could cause this?

Nickel also hangs now frequently. Only a reset will work to get the device responsive again.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Markismus

Okay, I did it again.

So I tested whether koreader could still be launched from within Nickel and it could. And after that the device doesn't return to Start Menu.

I did not expect that anybody using the Start Menu would like to start Koreader from nickel. Anyway, how do you do this? I guess you call a script via fmon, the script kills nickel and starts koreader, and then you exit koreader at some point. This should work, I think. Still I wonder: if you don't want to go back to nickel, why don't you exit it and call koreader from the menu.
Or are you saying that you return from koreader to nickel, but then you can not return form nickel to the Start Menu?

Originally Posted by Markismus

When powered off and on it returns to Nickel. When powered off and on again it returns to Start Menu.

So anybody any idea of what could cause this?

I guess you did not read this:

Originally Posted by tshering

After booting, the Kobo Start Menu will be launched alternating with nickel. If you have checked that everything goes fine, you will likely want to change this behaviour, see this post for an explanation.

Originally Posted by Markismus

Nickel also hangs now frequently. Only a reset will work to get the device responsive again.

Does it do this only in specific situations? For instance, only if you call nickel for the 25th time without a power circle, or something like that?