Kobo Start Menu

[WS64]

Couldn't test with the latest freezing problems since my Kobo does not freeze anymore after I exchanged the internal SD card, but if I see it correct the only change that was done is in Start Menu.
For those whose devices were freezing, did they also freeze when you start Koreader from nickel without Start Menu being involved? If yes I guess this issue is still there...

@tshering, does this mean that the new Start Menu keeps the device busy somehow all the time which actually should decrease the battery life? And can this "keep device busy/prevent from freezing" script be executed before starting Koreader (or other applications) independent from Start Menu?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by WS64

Couldn't test with the latest freezing problems since my Kobo does not freeze anymore after I exchanged the internal SD card, but if I see it correct the only change that was done is in Start Menu.
For those whose devices were freezing, did they also freeze when you start Koreader from nickel without Start Menu being involved? If yes I guess this issue is still there...

@tshering, does this mean that the new Start Menu keeps the device busy somehow all the time which actually should decrease the battery life? And can this "keep device busy/prevent from freezing" script be executed before starting Koreader (or other applications) independent from Start Menu?

Good question, I like the way everything is working on my AuraHD now, and while I think it's great that problems others may have get corrected, I really don't want to lose what I have working so well. I can of course just stick with the versions I am using now. Or Maybe I can find a way to optionally implement new features I want but leave out fixes that don't apply to me.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by WS64

Couldn't test with the latest freezing problems since my Kobo does not freeze anymore after I exchanged the internal SD card, but if I see it correct the only change that was done is in Start Menu.

Right, the change is done in/by the Start Menu. However it affects the whole system.

Originally Posted by WS64

For those whose devices were freezing, did they also freeze when you start Koreader from nickel without Start Menu being involved? If yes I guess this issue is still there...

chandravadans reported this problem already before he had installed the Start Menu. If the solution does work, it does it for all applications independent of how one starts them.

Originally Posted by WS64

@tshering, does this mean that the new Start Menu keeps the device busy somehow all the time which actually should decrease the battery life?

I don't think that it has a perceptible influence on battery life. Maybe I should also mention, that it is an option that can be switched on and off in usersettings.txt.

Originally Posted by WS64

And can this "keep device busy/prevent from freezing" script be executed before starting Koreader (or other applications) independent from Start Menu?

Yes, it is possible. chandravadans proposed it for koreader, and they were/are testing it.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Or Maybe I can find a way to optionally implement new features I want but leave out fixes that don't apply to me.

This is exactly what I am after.

[tshering]

This is a little experiment in response to this post by Ken. As I currently only have access to a very limited development environment (basically a text editor), I tried to achieve the goal with the means provided by the present version of the Kobo Start Menu.

This package needs KBStartMenu_04_update01a.zip to be already installed on your device.

Install:

• Extract KoboRoot.tgz from the archive
• Copy KoboRoot.tgz to .kobo of your device
• Safely eject the device
• Select "handle update" > "install update"
• Attention: This will overwrite your user settings.

Alternative way to install:

• Extract the content of KoboRoot.tgz
• Edit usersettings.txt according to your wishes
• Merge the kbmenu folder with the kbmenu folder of your device

Usage: Generally speaking, the process consists of two parts
1) compose a search string and hand it to the search function
2) select a book from the provided list

Example: We will search for files that match A*.epub. If you don't have a matching file on your device change the search string accordingly.

• 1)
  • Select "koreader additons" > "find and open" > "koreader find.sh"
  • Select "AaBbCcDdEe" > "A"
  • Select "accept"
  • Select "[] {asterisk} ..." > "{asterisk}"
  • Select ".epub"
  • In the info box you should see now: A{asterisk}.epub
  • Select "accept"
  • Select "find"
• 2)
  • You should now see a list of files. Since the file names might be long and the available space of the menu entries is very limited, you might need to select one entry so that it gets displayed in the info box so that you can identify it.
  • If you have settled for a file, toggle the mode to "open in koreader"
  • Select the file you have settled for
  • You should now see the file opened in koreader

The usage is a little cumbersome, but might nevertheless be useful in some cases. (While testing, I discovered some interesting unread books on my device that I had already forgotten about.) I could possibly make the first point (composing the search string) more comfortable be providing a keyboard in future.

Under the entry "koreader additons" > "find and open" you see apart from "koreader find.sh" also "koreader find dot pdfs.sh." koreader find dot pdfs.sh does the same as koreader find.sh with the difference that the search is limited to the directory .pdfs (and its sub directories). The related script file koreader_find_dot_pdfs.sh lives in kbmenu/koreaderfindsh. You can take it as a template for similar scripts. Put them into the same folder- They will all be listed in "find and open."

[chandravadans]

@WS64:
If its not too much trouble, and assuming you still have the SD cards that were problematic (caused your device to freeze), could you put one of them in and test the patch for the sleep crashes? I'm really interested in knowing if it alleviates the problem, and we could also see if the problem, atleast in part, was with the SD cards.

[chandravadans]

Originally Posted by Cyphox

works for me. my kobo idled for some minutes, no freeze so far.

going to test it further, but i think you just elimated this bug.

thanks!

edit: yepp, guess you did, still no freeze.

thanks to chandravadans and to you of course!

Glad to see it helped you!

[WS64]

Originally Posted by chandravadans

@WS64:
If its not too much trouble, and assuming you still have the SD cards that were problematic (caused your device to freeze), could you put one of them in and test the patch for the sleep crashes? I'm really interested in knowing if it alleviates the problem, and we could also see if the problem, atleast in part, was with the SD cards.

Sorry, the SD card already started another life in a camera which does not complain about any flaws this card might have...

[Fabry]

Originally Posted by Markismus

The discussion of that aspect of his problem can be found here: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/663

I think is not a real crash but only that touchscreen become very very slow.
And it is not related to KoboStartMenu since until few days ago I have used only AdvBoot and I had the same problem (koreader stops to respond to touch event).
I have done a factory reset on Aura HD, updated fw by OTA (only 3.3.0, 3.3.1 non installed by OTA) and installed then KoboStartMenu to see if the problem was related to AdvBoot or corrupted fw, but the problem is still present with the new installation (3.3.0).

When the problem happens Koreader is not dead it is still alive, and touch events are recorded but only processed much time later.
I.e. click now and nothing happens, but wait 2 o 3 min and you will see that your touch event has been recorded and now processed.

Not a crash, not a freeze but a very long process time for touch events.
I have done a telnet session during the problem and Aura HD is perfectly working, cpu is not busy and from telnet all work ok and fast, only touch is slowed
Why I don't know

[Andy2No]

In the installation instructions in the first post, it says this:

Originally Posted by tshering

Step 1

1. connect the Kobo to the PC
2. copy the folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)
   ...

It wasn't immediately obvious to me that the second line was meant to say:

"copy the contents of folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)"

I just installed Kobo Start Menu on my Kobo Mini, on the advice of chox, in the github list of issues for koreader. It seems to work fine, but I never saw the icons on the main page for the library in nickel, where I expected to see them, despite repeating Step 1 (corrected) over and over again - I still don't. I did see them among the list of books though, so I carried on.

It seems the only way I can get the Kobo Start Menu back, after using Start Nickel, is to turn it off and back on again, often twice. Opening exit_nickel from within the library, in Nickel, just shows me the icon, blown up to fill the screen.

I'd previously installed fmon and Kobolauncher, following instructions in another thread in this forum for installing Koreader - that's the only reason I installed them. I was only interested in installing Koreader. I won't atttempt to give a link as it's my first post, and I'm not sure if that's allowed.

Suffice it to say, it all went a bit wrong. I couldn't leave koreader after installing it, even by restarting with a paperclip. I started a thread in the koreader list of issues on github, with roughly that title ("Can't exit File Manager - even with a paper clip", to be precise). I had to seek advice tof ind a way to stop it starting by itself. I mention this in case it's relevant to the fact that I can't get back into Kobo Start Menu, without using the power switch.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Andy2No

In the installation instructions in the first post, it says this:


It wasn't immediately obvious to me that the second line was meant to say:

"copy the contents of folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)"

I just installed Kobo Start Menu on my Kobo Mini, on the advice of chox, in the github list of issues for koreader. It seems to work fine, but I never saw the icons on the main page for the library in nickel, where I expected to see them, despite repeating Step 1 (corrected) over and over again - I still don't. I did see them among the list of books though, so I carried on.

It seems the only way I can get the Kobo Start Menu back, after using Start Nickel, is to turn it off and back on again, often twice. Opening exit_nickel from within the library, in Nickel, just shows me the icon, blown up to fill the screen.

I'd previously installed fmon and Kobolauncher, following instructions in another thread in this forum for installing Koreader - that's the only reason I installed them. I was only interested in installing Koreader. I won't atttempt to give a link as it's my first post, and I'm not sure if that's allowed.

Suffice it to say, it all went a bit wrong. I couldn't leave koreader after installing it, even by restarting with a paperclip. I started a thread in the koreader list of issues on github, with roughly that title ("Can't exit File Manager - even with a paper clip", to be precise). I had to seek advice tof ind a way to stop it starting by itself. I mention this in case it's relevant to the fact that I can't get back into Kobo Start Menu, without using the power switch.

The problem is that when using "fmon" and the .png icons method of launching programs, you need to have the Kobo software process the added image .png files and add them to its database and listing in the "Library". You did not have Kobo properly perform that process. Or the process that makes the association of the .png file access to launching the program/action. This is done by having the correct KoboRoot.tgz in the .kobo directory, and disconnecting, after the .png files have been processed.

To fix your current situation you need to remove the Koreader.png file from your Kobo/device then connect to your PC and remove the Koreader.png file if it is still showing.

The directory that you first see after you connect your device to your PC is the "Root" for these procedures and is where the .png files and the kbmenupngs folder goes.

An install guide for use with The Kobo Start Menu

Luck;
Ken

[Andy2No]

Ken,

I understand the term root or root folder. The instructions were wrong. "Copy the folder" is not the same thing as "Copy the contents of the folder", which apparently is what was meant. I followed the instructions. When that didn't work, I followed what I assumed the instructions should have said. That didn't work either, presumably because I'd already done what they said, not what they meant.

Your guide that you've provided a link to has the same mistake, in step 9.

Okay, so I've deleted the .png files, ejected, unplugged, then searched the library for the word exit, to confirm that they were no longer there. I then copied the contents of that folder back to the root folder of the kobo, ejected and unplugged again.

They still didn't show up on the main screen, as recent files. I searched the library for exit again, and found the exit nickel icon. I opened it. It showed it to me, in glorious big-o-vision. It didn't exit nickel.

I assume the next step is to uninstall Kobo Start Menu and start again from the beginning?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Andy2No

Ken,

I understand the term root or root folder. The instructions were wrong. "Copy the folder" is not the same thing as "Copy the contents of the folder", which apparently is what was meant. I followed the instructions. When that didn't work, I followed what I assumed the instructions should have said. That didn't work either, presumably because I'd already done what they said, not what they meant.

Your guide that you've provided a link to has the same mistake, in step 9.

Okay, so I've deleted the .png files, ejected, unplugged, then searched the library for the word exit, to confirm that they were no longer there. I then copied the contents of that folder back to the root folder of the kobo, ejected and unplugged again.

They still didn't show up on the main screen, as recent files. I searched the library for exit again, and found the exit nickel icon. I opened it. It showed it to me, in glorious big-o-vision. It didn't exit nickel.

I assume the next step is to uninstall Kobo Start Menu and start again from the beginning?

No the "kbmenupngs" folder is what needs to be copied to the "root" not the folder contents. Then, as you are having problems with the process you should
safely eject The usb device and power off your device then power it back on and start Nickel using the options tab in the start menu. That should eventually show your device "Processing" the media files. Once that has happened you can try the "KoboRoot.tgz" file in the "reinstall" folder of the download.

If that doesn't work you should uninstall the mess you have made and start over clean, following the directions.

Luck;
Ken

PS, there are battery monitor scripts in the Start Menu supplied scripts, under "tests" I think.

[Andy2No]

I see. Thanks for the advice, Ken, but that's not working for me. I had to trick it into showing Processing by adding more PDFs, but that didn't actually work. The images are not listed in the library, and the tgz file from reinstall wasn't processed.

I'll try uninstalling tomorrow. It's late.

What confused me initially was this bit:

Originally Posted by tshering

Step 1

..
[*]check that the 3 images (exit_nickel.png, simulate_usb_connection.png, toggle_nightmode.png ) are listed in the library. Only then proceed to step two.

- seems simple enough, but after installing KoboLauncher, I assumed that meant the images would be shown the way the png for that was - i.e. on the first page of the library, among the recent files. Since they weren't, I assumed it had gone wrong, as so many other things have

This all seems a bit like witchcraft to me - rolling up the big floppy sleeves and mumbling incantations that I don't understand the meaning of. I might get further with it if I understood what was actually happening.

Nothing here is straightforward. I add a file; it ignores it. I try to follow instructions that were presumably intended for someone installing the software for the first time, and I fail to grasp what it is the author was trying to say.

[wickyman]

I just bought a Kobo Aura HD (firmware 3.3.0) and I am not happy with the way it renders pdf files (refresh of an eink display prevents a good panning experience). It would appear that Koreader offers a much better reading experience (eg reflow). On the forum I read about two ways to run Koreader on the Kobo Aura HD: fmon and startmenu. After reading the posts, I have the feeling that fmon is the least invasive (risky) one. The kobo startup remains as is. It just offers the means to launch the Koreader, which is exactly what I want (no more no less). However, fmon is always referred to as "the old way of doing this", which seems to imply that using the Start Menu is the better way (newer is better, right ). Therefore my questions:
- can fmon still be used on Kobo Aura HD to launch Koreader (or are there known issues) ?
- does fmon indeed has zero impact on standard Kobo behaviour (top and bottom menu, usb connectivity, ...)
- what would be the added value of using start menu instead (except of course the obvious ones, i.e. the functionality behind the actual menu items )?
- are the standard configuration items on the reader (i.e. the top bar items eg to set the backlight intensity) still available after installing start menu

I apologize already if these are questions are too obvious, but I am a complete novice in this area.