When's the Next Firmware Release??? - Page 2

wrenn1 · 08-28-2010, 01:21 AM

I too am frustrated with the power off for reasons mentioned. I have to prepare ahead to read because it takes so long to load and then I damned well better not get distracted before I pick it up or it will shut off. It is a nuisance. My computer boots much faster than the Kobo.

zoran · 08-28-2010, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrenn1

I too am frustrated with the power off for reasons mentioned. I have to prepare ahead to read because it takes so long to load and then I damned well better not get distracted before I pick it up or it will shut off. It is a nuisance. My computer boots much faster than the Kobo.

I'm just looking at the directory tree for the upgrade SD card.
Cannot see the file, that changes options you need. I will take
a better look after I come back from the beach (swim, tan...).

zoran · 08-28-2010, 12:23 PM

K, all relevant commands are in fact symlinks to busybox.
The manual for it is pretty informative:
http://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html
Links to sleep and halt might be something different and
called those names just for developing purpose. I assume
that /bin/poff is the binary to make power off. There is also
interesting "check" binary, which resembles nothing to give
a clue. My best bet is that binaries are compiled with hard
coded periods for sleep and power off. Only "show_pic"
makes me think it might show the book cover, but I'm not
sure. If something has to be added, there is no place to be
picky, since this is embedded system. Maybe /etc/init.d/rcS?
At first glance, seems that it has to be recompiled to get
some tweaks.

tpw · 08-28-2010, 08:25 PM

thanks for looking into it zoran.

danieljrp · 08-28-2010, 10:32 PM

I may be the odd one out but I am quite happy with v1.0 firmware. What I would like to know is: will I be able to update my firmware from 1.0 to 1.5 (or higher) without having to go through 1.4?

zoran · 08-29-2010, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danieljrp

I may be the odd one out but I am quite happy with v1.0 firmware. What I would like to know is: will I be able to update my firmware from 1.0 to 1.5 (or higher) without having to go through 1.4?

If you use SD card method, it doesn't matter. Cannot say if 1.0
suffices, since I upgraded as I got the device charged. To me 1.4
looks pretty "enough". I do not need book cover, nor margin
change, nor pdf reflow. And I like small numbers at margins.
Powering up is for those 35 seconds and I could stand it. Page
turn is fast to my taste. Blinking? Doesn't bother me. My only
issue is that I do not know how exactly battery lasts, reading
linear graph. Very things other users like to have immediately.

HamsterRage · 08-29-2010, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danieljrp

I may be the odd one out but I am quite happy with v1.0 firmware. What I would like to know is: will I be able to update my firmware from 1.0 to 1.5 (or higher) without having to go through 1.4?

That's a good question. Something I read here back a while leads me to believe that you'll have to do it in two stages. I think that a big part of 1.4 was to improve the mechanism to to upgrades, so that future upgrades are going to be less difficult to install. So 1.5 might need to be installed using the new mechanism included in 1.4.

Installing 1.4 seem to be a very big deal, to me.

SensualPoet · 08-29-2010, 09:21 PM

I'm not fussed about pdf reflow -- the whole point of pdf is to ensure contents DON'T reflow: the intent is to make contents appear exactly as the page designer intended. That sucks on a 6" screen but, well, it meets the specs.

Nor am I fussed about the boot time or lengthy page turns: I assume that has to do with the CPU which is more basic than other units and, presumably, helped keep costs down (an argument that plays better when Kindles and Nooks cost $259 than it does today).

But I would like to see a way to prune the free books or off-load them in toto to my Kobo Online Library so I can restore them individually at a future date. The free books are a nice perk and help me start to play with the unit right out of the box; they are less useful later on and get in the way, really. It makes it hard to find the books I have added, which have been "returned" to the on device library -- since I may not remember exactly what's on the device.

And please add a way to get easily to the end of a chapter or the end of a book. If I open a title to have a quick peek, the only way to "put it away" again is to locate the final chapter (in badly formatted books this might be a couple of hundred pages long) and page through to the end till I hit the message "one more click returns this book to the library". Annoying, to say the least.

wrenn1 · 08-30-2010, 12:22 AM

You could always use the display option to hide the 100 free books or delete them all together using Calibre. They are all easy enough to find on Gutenburg when you decide you need them again.

JCKobo · 08-31-2010, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danieljrp

I may be the odd one out but I am quite happy with v1.0 firmware. What I would like to know is: will I be able to update my firmware from 1.0 to 1.5 (or higher) without having to go through 1.4?

We're making sure you can skip 1.0 to the current version without needing 1.4 first.

digital_steve · 09-01-2010, 11:23 PM

I hope that something about the margins is included in the release; there's a lot of wasted real estate on the kobo screen

vatsuko · 09-02-2010, 01:47 AM

let it be jump pages feature please T.T
and pDf reflow T.T

need'em badly

in a way i'm a programmer too so i know this things take some time to do
so i'll wait

Pookeysgirl · 09-09-2010, 05:12 PM

So, why can Kindle get a firmware release after just a week and we can't get one after months of waiting? I don't mean to sound whiney, but we haven't even been told a proper release date yet.

bill_mchale · 09-09-2010, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

So, why can Kindle get a firmware release after just a week and we can't get one after months of waiting? I don't mean to sound whiney, but we haven't even been told a proper release date yet.

I am not an expert, but I suspect that it depends on two or three different factors.

1. How extensive the revisions are between one version and the other. Minor bug fixes can probably be rolled out pretty quickly.

2. How large a team you have working on the firmware. Lets be honest, Amazon can spend a lot more money on the Kindle than almost anyone else can on their readers. At least look at it this way, You have already had several firmware revisions since the Kobo was released earlier this year, in contrast, the Sony PRS-300 and 600 have not seen a single one.. and are likely to never see one.

3. How much testing is done on the firmware. I have seen plenty of software fixes in my day that broke as much as they fixed.

--
Bill

taming · 09-09-2010, 07:11 PM

IMO, if Kindle had a release a week after launch it speaks more to the difficulty they may have had getting the work done prior to it being released to the manufacturer than it does to their ability to quickly improve upon a product already out there.

1.4 fixed a number of important issues and we have been told fairly recently that another release is coming in a month or so. The new desktop software that was released yesterday has, apparently, taken care of one of the biggest glitches--how bookmarked and finished books were handled when syncing.

Please keep in mind that this is a new device AND a new company--with the first reader only being sold in May and the company spun off from Chapters-Indigo only six months before that.

09-02-2010, 01:47 AM	#27
vatsuko Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: kobo reader	2 upgrades ?? let it be jump pages feature please T.T and pDf reflow T.T need'em badly in a way i'm a programmer too so i know this things take some time to do so i'll wait

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08-28-2010, 01:21 AM	#16
wrenn1 Addict Posts: 259 Karma: 48576 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kobo	I too am frustrated with the power off for reasons mentioned. I have to prepare ahead to read because it takes so long to load and then I damned well better not get distracted before I pick it up or it will shut off. It is a nuisance. My computer boots much faster than the Kobo.

08-28-2010, 12:23 PM	#18
zoran himself Posts: 577 Karma: 11226 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	K, all relevant commands are in fact symlinks to busybox. The manual for it is pretty informative: http://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html Links to sleep and halt might be something different and called those names just for developing purpose. I assume that /bin/poff is the binary to make power off. There is also interesting "check" binary, which resembles nothing to give a clue. My best bet is that binaries are compiled with hard coded periods for sleep and power off. Only "show_pic" makes me think it might show the book cover, but I'm not sure. If something has to be added, there is no place to be picky, since this is embedded system. Maybe /etc/init.d/rcS? At first glance, seems that it has to be recompiled to get some tweaks.

08-28-2010, 08:25 PM	#19
tpw Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 250 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Brisbane, Australia Device: Kobo, Sony PRS650	thanks for looking into it zoran.

08-28-2010, 10:32 PM	#20
danieljrp Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: kobo reader	I may be the odd one out but I am quite happy with v1.0 firmware. What I would like to know is: will I be able to update my firmware from 1.0 to 1.5 (or higher) without having to go through 1.4?

08-29-2010, 09:21 PM	#23
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	I'm not fussed about pdf reflow -- the whole point of pdf is to ensure contents DON'T reflow: the intent is to make contents appear exactly as the page designer intended. That sucks on a 6" screen but, well, it meets the specs. Nor am I fussed about the boot time or lengthy page turns: I assume that has to do with the CPU which is more basic than other units and, presumably, helped keep costs down (an argument that plays better when Kindles and Nooks cost $259 than it does today). But I would like to see a way to prune the free books or off-load them in toto to my Kobo Online Library so I can restore them individually at a future date. The free books are a nice perk and help me start to play with the unit right out of the box; they are less useful later on and get in the way, really. It makes it hard to find the books I have added, which have been "returned" to the on device library -- since I may not remember exactly what's on the device. And please add a way to get easily to the end of a chapter or the end of a book. If I open a title to have a quick peek, the only way to "put it away" again is to locate the final chapter (in badly formatted books this might be a couple of hundred pages long) and page through to the end till I hit the message "one more click returns this book to the library". Annoying, to say the least.

08-30-2010, 12:22 AM	#24
wrenn1 Addict Posts: 259 Karma: 48576 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kobo	You could always use the display option to hide the 100 free books or delete them all together using Calibre. They are all easy enough to find on Gutenburg when you decide you need them again.

09-01-2010, 11:23 PM	#26
digital_steve Muppet Posts: 240 Karma: 442 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Tasmania Device: Kobo Aura HD, Sony PRS-650	I hope that something about the margins is included in the release; there's a lot of wasted real estate on the kobo screen

09-09-2010, 05:12 PM	#28
Pookeysgirl Wizard Posts: 1,705 Karma: 12696746 Join Date: May 2010 Device: K3, Kobo Mini	So, why can Kindle get a firmware release after just a week and we can't get one after months of waiting? I don't mean to sound whiney, but we haven't even been told a proper release date yet.

09-09-2010, 07:11 PM	#30
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	IMO, if Kindle had a release a week after launch it speaks more to the difficulty they may have had getting the work done prior to it being released to the manufacturer than it does to their ability to quickly improve upon a product already out there. 1.4 fixed a number of important issues and we have been told fairly recently that another release is coming in a month or so. The new desktop software that was released yesterday has, apparently, taken care of one of the biggest glitches--how bookmarked and finished books were handled when syncing. Please keep in mind that this is a new device AND a new company--with the first reader only being sold in May and the company spun off from Chapters-Indigo only six months before that.