Kobo Start Menu

[tigran]

Aha! I got EIGHT "plug" processes now after putting it to sleep in vlasovsoft several times! And I did NOT connect to USB as storage since the last boot...

Actually, maybe the number of "plug" processes is proportional not to the number of sleep/wakeup events, but to the number of insmod/rmmod-ing driver modules executed by usbnet.sh script in vlasovsoft. I.e. maybe usbnet.sh should not just rmmod but also kill the "plug" process? Just a guess... I'll do a bit more testing now.

UPDATE: Ok, the above hypothesis is wrong. The number of "plug" processes is proportional to the number of USB plugin events. (Duh.... we could have guessed it from the name of the "plug" process

UPDATE2: The above result is confirmed. Moreover, by "USB plugin" here is meant not only those for USBNET but also plugin as USB mass storage via KSM.

So, the summary of all this: if you plugin your device to computer via USB either as a mass storage or for usbnet, then you must reboot the device after unplugging it. Or at least reboot every 10th or 15th unplug. Otherwise these "plug" processes will flood the system (each instance is using 2MB of memory, though some of it is shared by all instances) and you will run out of memory.

[tshering]

@tigran
You are right. the plug(s) should not be there. Thank you for the hint. However, I do not understand why all the plugs stays alive. My current approach is to kill them at strategical points.

Edit: The "plug(s)" are waiting until they can write to fifo, same with "sd". I think I should modify those to scripts, so that they only try to write if nickel is running.

[Markismus]

@Tshering I just got a new device: Kobo Aura H20 running a firmware 3.11.0.

I saw that your KSM goes up to firmware 3.8 and needs manual tweaking for the Aura H2O.

What is the work has to be done, to get KSM up an running again?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Markismus

@Tshering I just got a new device: Kobo Aura H20 running a firmware 3.11.0.

I saw that your KSM goes up to firmware 3.8 and needs manual tweaking for the Aura H2O.

What is the work has to be done, to get KSM up an running again?

I will try to upload the new version today or tomorrow.

[Markismus]

Great. I just followed Frenzies hints and although it is not bricked, it just reboots into Nickel. Guess I should have followed all the points in your spoiler. I saw it too late. So I'll wait for your Kbmenu_05. Thanks in advance!

[tshering]

This is NOT the most recent version, please go to the KSM 07 thread.
----------------

For FW 6.0.0 to 3.12.0; expected to run on H2O too.
Tested on Kobo Touch (mark 3, FW 6.2.0), Kobo Touch (mark 4, FW 3.8.0, 3.11.0 and 3.12.0), Kobo Glo (FW 3.8.0, 3.11.0 and 3.12.0), Mini, Aura HD, Aura, Aura H2O. On Kobo Aura H2O KSM shows some short-time disorder on the screen after an entry has been selected.

New features:

• slightly changed layout
• connect device as USB mass storage; enable USBnet (and dropbear if vlasovsoft is installed)
• handle wifi connections (rather limited; can currently handle only network names and passwords that contain only english letters and numbers)
• check for Kobo firmware updates and download them
  
  Spoiler:

  Note: After a firmware update, please run nickel at least once. Otherwise KSM cannot ascertain the current firmware version.[/SPOILER See for further information here.
• choose from several versions of koreader if available
  Spoiler:

  home: koreader additions > select koreader version
  If there are several versions of koreader on your device, you can select one of them. To have several versions of koreader, just rename the folders according to the pattern koreaderX (e.g, koreader_256). Do not use spaces in the name.
• user can define geometry (= screen position and size) of KSM applications
  
  Spoiler:

  Cf. this post
• auto start of nickel if there is no user input for 20 seconds (kind of safety net if KSM is unresponsive to touch input for some reason)
• execution of autoscript.sh as soon as it is detected on the external SD (for emergency cases)

I will provide more detailed information when I find some time.

First time installation (consists of 2 steps)

Spoiler:

Step 1

1. connect the Kobo to the PC
2. copy the folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)
3. eject safely and disconnect
4. check that the four images (exit_nickel.png, run_test_script.png, simulate_usb_connection.png, switchtokoreader.png) are listed in the library and their thumbnails are displayed. Only then proceed to step two.

Step 2

1. connect the Kobo to the PC
2. copy KoboRoot.tgz to .kobo of the device
3. eject safely and disconnect
4. wait until the update is finished

Consult also the helpful guide to Adding alternative readers using Kobo Start Menu by Ken Maltby.

Installation on devices that have or had already KSM installed (consists of 2 [and maybe a halve] steps)

Spoiler:

Step 1

1. uninstall the previous version of KSM (use KBStartMenu_04_udate01_un_re_install.zip of this post)
2. delete the folder .kobo/kbmenu (do not delete .kobo)

Check that the folder kbmenupngs contains the necessary images. If it does not, update the folder and verify that the images appear in the library view.

Step 2

1. same as Step 2 of "First time installation"

Be aware that you cannot easily downgrade the Kobo firmware without doing a factory reset. The reason for this is that the Kobo Start Menu tries to work with all FW versions starting with 2.6.0. In order to do this it determines the currently running FW version by looking whether specific files are available on the device. After downgrading (without factory reset), these version specific files are still living on the device, and this fact results in false identification.

The package contains materials provided by Sergey (Qt libraries), Cecell3000 (modified Qt mouse/touch driver), NiLuJe (FBGrab).


KBStartMenu_06_update01b.zip
Use this update package only if KSM 06 is already running on your device!

Spoiler:

How to install:

• extract KoboRoot.tgz from KBStartMenu_06_update01b.zip, and copy it to .kobo
• select in KSM "handle update > install update"

This upadate concerns the following points

• Some bug fixes; cf. this post
• Upside down power-off screen, cf. this post.
• Problems when switching between nickel and koreader, cf. this post.
• Bezel covering parts of the viewport, cf. part two of this post, and this post.
• (Re)enable optional password check
• Version of kobomessage, which is used for showing information texts and the power-off message, without frames and scrollbars
• activate side loaded dictionaries
• activate device (circumvent official device activation; "tools > kobo diverse.msh > activate device.sh")
• improvement of update script
• notification when there is an update file in .kobo

Further items (not included in KBStartMenu_06_update01b.zip):

• identify in the same way as nickel when connecting as usb storage
• show randomly images on power off screen

Uninstall KSM

Spoiler:

In KBStartMenu_04_udate01_un_re_install.zip, which you can find here, you find a folder uninstall, which has several subfolders who's name indicate to which FW version they belong (e.g., KoboRoot_2.10.0_3.1.1 belongs to the FW versions 2.10.0 to 3.1.1). Copy the file KoboRoot.tgz of the folder that corresponds to your FW to the folder .kobo of your device. Then select in KSM "handle update > install update".
You can use KoboRoot_3.3.1_3.4.1 for all FW versions from 3.3.1 to 3.12.0.

Note: Do not use reinstall of KBStartMenu_04_udate01_un_re_install.zip, since this is meant only to be used together with KSM 04.

USE THIS PACKAGE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

[Markismus]

Great! I'll test on H2O right now.

It's working!! You can add: Tested on Kobo Aura H2O (3.11.0)

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Markismus

Great! I'll test on H2O right now.

It's working!! You can add: Tested on Kobo Aura H2O (3.11.0)

Thank you for telling!

[PeterT]

I can't help but notice that all the scripts use Windows style line endings, as opposed to Unix style. Is this intentional, or an oversight or?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I can't help but notice that all the scripts use Windows style line endings, as opposed to Unix style. Is this intentional, or an oversight or?

I guess the scripts would not work, were there Windows style line endings.

Edit: Just did some random checks and could not detect Windows style line endings. Could please you tell me which scripts are concerned so that I can replace them?

[PeterT]

Weird. It might be the way I was interpreting the editor I was using. Notepad++ was showing each line as ending CR LF. I will admit I did not look at the line ending style at the bottom of the screen.

I probably goofed!

[kaznelson]

Originally Posted by tshering

Tested on Kobo Aura H2O (3.11.0) by Markismus.

Problems with libKoboTS.so on Aura H2O:
New Qt drivers for Kobo Aura H2O #19

[tshering]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Weird. It might be the way I was interpreting the editor I was using. Notepad++ was showing each line as ending CR LF. I will admit I did not look at the line ending style at the bottom of the screen.

I probably goofed!

I will admit that your warning gave me a shock. I am relieved that it was false alarm. I appreciate your concern. It is better to have some false alarms than missing to prevent possible danger.

[dr. ego]

Thank you for your work on KSM tshering! I've just installed it on my h20 and it seems to works great appart from nickel not booting anymore. Also if i choose from the koreader additions menu to start nickel with the koreader switch then it will reboot and show KSM upside down. Same thing happens when i choose to start koreader with nickel switch and then try to get in to nickel. It reboots into ksm upside down.

Anyway that i can generate logs or something to help sort this issue out?

[tshering]

Originally Posted by kaznelson

Problems with libKoboTS.so on Aura H2O:
New Qt drivers for Kobo Aura H2O #19

The post you refer to mentions two points, (1) failure to reset sleep timeout, (2) part of screen covered by the bezel.

To point 1, could you tell me in which context this happens? What application is running at that time? Which application sets the initial sleep timeout? I Guess it is KoboLauncher/CR?

Point 2 seems hardly related to the touch/mouse driver. You can try setting the geometry of the KSM applications. For H2O, add to the usersettings (.kobo\usersettings.txt) the line

ksmGeometryValuesN=1070x1420+5+5

The values are: <width>x<height>+<Xoffset>+<Yoffset>
(Just for information: the resolution of H20 is 1430 x 1080 according to the official web site)
Use a text editor that uses unix style end-of-line-markers.
Restart your device, check the results and modify the values as you see fit. This will only concern the appearance of KSM. It does not concern Koreader, KoboLauncher/CR.
If you find a convenient setting, please share the values here.

An example for Aura for all four orientations is

ksmGeometryValuesN=753x1007+1+3
ksmGeometryValuesS=753x1007+4+14
ksmGeometryValuesE=1007x753+14+1
ksmGeometryValuesW=1007x753+3+4