Kobo as a Linux tablet - sample image

[latepaul]

Thanks - I'll have a go at that later and let you know how I get on.

[parkher]

There is conveniently a separate directory for Aura and there is only one file there:
u-boot_mddr_512-E606C0-K4X2G323PC.bin

So, I guess, there is only one pcb and ram type so far for Aura.
But the number "512" is interesting, because in all the other cases it is "256"

[Paxerus]

Kobo Aura - 512 mb RAM

Spoiler:

Код
(none) login: root
[root@(none) ~]# uname -a
Linux (none) 2.6.35.3-850-gbc67621+ #1038 PREEMPT Thu Apr 25 15:48:22 CST 2013 armv7l GNU/Linux
[root@(none) ~]# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 166.57
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x2
CPU part : 0xc08
CPU revision : 5

Hardware : Freescale MX50 Reference Design Platform
Revision : 50011
Serial : 0000000000000000

[root@(none) ~]# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 513904 kB
MemFree: 332956 kB
Buffers: 4072 kB
Cached: 74864 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 56424 kB
Inactive: 51828 kB
Active(anon): 29324 kB
Inactive(anon): 536 kB
Active(file): 27100 kB
Inactive(file): 51292 kB
Unevictable: 0 kB
Mlocked: 0 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 513904 kB
LowFree: 332956 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
Dirty: 4 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 29340 kB
Mapped: 29032 kB
Shmem: 544 kB
Slab: 3412 kB
SReclaimable: 1608 kB
SUnreclaim: 1804 kB
KernelStack: 496 kB
PageTables: 512 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 256952 kB
Committed_AS: 108148 kB
VmallocTotal: 1376256 kB
VmallocUsed: 1724 kB
VmallocChunk: 1369496 kB
[root@(none) ~]#

[cortman]

This looks fantastic- I will have to try it out. I may give it a try on my Kobo Mini.

[byblo]

Very nice project

What about the power consumption ?

[Lucas Malor]

Is it possible to install Calibre on this OS? If so, I think we can use its ebook viewer.

[PeterT]

I fail to understand what the benefit would be of having calibre running on an eReader...

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I fail to understand what the benefit would be of having calibre running on an eReader...

A version without format conversion and just the ebook management and the reader, could be among the best things to have on a dedicated ebook reader. I wonder if a Linux portable version could work, like the Calibre XP Portable version? It might even be possible to have one version for the internal uSD card, which might replace Nickel altogether and another for an external uSD card that would just be an additional option, like Koreader.

Luck;
Ken

[WS64]

Originally Posted by dancol90

The last sector should be the Sector 139.

Thanks, works great!
Just one thing, the last sector is 279, not 139, or I did something wrong.
It is working, though.

Not sure if this is specific for the Mini, but is the green light supposed to blink all the time?

[KevinShort]

Originally Posted by WS64

Not sure if this is specific for the Mini, but is the green light supposed to blink all the time?

The green light blinks on my Glo too. I think you should be able to stop the blinking with the following command (but I haven't tested it):

echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/pmic_ledsg/brightness

[WS64]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

> This makes me wonder how I should use the "unallocated" space I have on this 16GB card? I could add a little to both, I guess.

Ken, you can write image to SD card and then resize KoboReader partition with resizing tool that supports Linux partitions (gparted for Linux or MiniTool Partition for Windows).

For those who (like me) had some trouble with this on Windows, after installing MiniTool Partition you will at first still not be able to resize the Debian or the Kobo partition.
The trick is to create a copy of the linux swap partition at the end of the card (there is a menu item for this in MiniTool Partition), then delete the (original) swap partition, and THEN you can resize the other partitions.

Like Don_Karnage earlier in this thread I ran into the problem that I could not use an 8GB SD card, it was too small, just curious, why is that? Does not really matter for me anymore since I now used a 16GB card, but I still wonder...

[dancol90]

Originally Posted by WS64

Not sure if this is specific for the Mini, but is the green light supposed to blink all the time?

I've solved this by adding these lines in /etc/init.d/rcS

# Turn off the blinking green led.
echo "ch 4" > /sys/devices/platform/pmic_light.1/lit
echo "cur 0" > /sys/devices/platform/pmic_light.1/lit
echo "dc 0" > /sys/devices/platform/pmic_light.1/lit

just before these lines:

eink_enable_autoupdate
./debian-startx
eink_disable_autoupdate

[Lucas Malor]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I fail to understand what the benefit would be of having calibre running on an eReader...

As I said, we could use its ebook viewer instead of Koreader.

[WS64]

A few questions...

How do I enable WLAN?
When I click on the WiFi button on the start screen a wifi symbol appears, that's all. When I try the Start(?) button, then Config/WiFi/Start a window pops up and does something until it gets stuck at 50% of "Getting IP". It never asks me for the WLAN to connect to or any password...

FBReader in fullscreen?
Any way to change FBReader to fullscreen? I do not have much space on my Mini, and way too much is wasted for the top and the bottom menu, how to make them go away?

How do I edit files, e.g. /etc/init.d/rcS ?
I was hoping to Telnet or anything like that, but since I can't get WLAN to start that does not work (so far).

And last (for now), is there no way to connect to my PC from Debian? Only way I see right now is to boot into the Kobo firmware and then connect to my PC.

[dancol90]

Originally Posted by WS64

A few questions...

How do I enable WLAN?

How do I edit files, e.g. /etc/init.d/rcS ?
I was hoping to Telnet or anything like that, but since I can't get WLAN to start that does not work (so far).

Try this: boot into nickel, setup WiFi in the configuration as usual and reboot. Now it should work.
Anyway, telnetd will start in nickel environment too when connecting to wifi.

For the fullscreen problem, on the Touch the home button is mapped to toggle fullscreen. On Mini we have to find another way to toggle.
I've thought about an icon near the keyboards ones but once in fullscreen it will not be reachable, so it will be impossible to exit from fullscreen...