Kobo Touch Extended Plugin

[GalaxianUK]

Hi,

I have sideloaded some epubs to my Kobo Aura running firmware 2.9.0 and Calibre 1.4. I'm using the Kobo extended plugin 2.2.9 that converts the epub to kepub (verified when looking in the Kobo library on the device).

At the foot I see page x of chapter y (a feature of kepub).

I have the following problems:

1 When reopening an ebook (from home or library) the page sometimes remains blank except for the header (which displays the book's title) and the footer (which displays 'loading page...). A soft reset or factory reset does not make any difference to the outcome when attempting again. However, closing the sleep cover and then pressing the centre makes the page display.. odd

2. Kobo sometimes forgets the page last read when navigating away, say to the home page. If the book tile is selected from the home page I'm taken to the very beginning of the book or the page fails to load - however sometimes it works as it should and I'm returned to where I left off.

Kobo always remembers where I left off if I simply put the device to sleep by closing my sleep cover.

I've sideloaded a 'problem' book as an epub and have no problems.

Thanks for your help.

[taming]

You may want to look down at the thread on this driver that Joel, the developer, has created.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=211135

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

Hi,

I have sideloaded some epubs to my Kobo Aura running firmware 2.9.0 and Calibre 1.4. I'm using the Kobo extended plugin 2.2.9 that converts the epub to kepub (verified when looking in the Kobo library on the device).

At the foot I see page x of chapter y (a feature of kepub).

I have the following problems:

1 When reopening an ebook (from home or library) the page sometimes remains blank except for the header (which displays the book's title) and the footer (which displays 'loading page...). A soft reset or factory reset does not make any difference to the outcome when attempting again. However, closing the sleep cover and then pressing the centre makes the page display.. odd

This sounds like a known bug with kepubs that have embedded fonts. Usually, tapping the centre of the screen brings up the menu bars and when they are dismissed, the text is displayed, but I have seen one other report like yours. If this is the problem, changing the font on the device to something other than "Document default" will solve the problem.

2. Kobo sometimes forgets the page last read when navigating away, say to the home page. If the book tile is selected from the home page I'm taken to the very beginning of the book or the page fails to load - however sometimes it works as it should and I'm returned to where I left off.

Kobo always remembers where I left off if I simply put the device to sleep by closing my sleep cover.

I've sideloaded a 'problem' book as an epub and have no problems.

You didn't happen to edit these books and resend them to the device? The behaviour you are describe suggests the TOC that the device has stored doesn't match that in the book. When the device first sees a book, it is processed and added to the internal database. The info stored is the metadata and the TOC. Replacing the book file using calibre does not get the book reprocessed. If you edit the book and the structure changes, the TOC will change and will not match what is in the device database. After that, you can open the book and read it, but will not be able to use any of the navigation features.

[GalaxianUK]

Hi

Tapping the centre of the screen does not bring up the header and footer - they are already there but with a blank screen. A single tap does not necessarily bring up the text. The way this is done is that I have to long press on a blank screen so that it brings up a dictionary definition (so I suppose it is a bit hit and miss as you have to be selecting an 'invisible' word). Once the dictionary window appears and is then dismissed, the book text appears.

As regards your possible solution re embedded fonts, I have already side loaded in a font which is being used.

I have not edited the books as far as I am aware. Shouldn't a factory reset and reload from Calbre have avoided the potential metadata/toc issue? However something strange is going on because at the end of a chapter last night the device opened the previous rather than the next chapter!

Additionally after loading a font for a particular book I was surprised to learn that the original Georgia font was still being used for another. Is this how it should work i.e on a book by book basis rather than globally?

Many thanks for your assistance with my issues.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

Hi

Tapping the centre of the screen does not bring up the header and footer - they are already there but with a blank screen.

No, I said "menu bars". By these I mean the bars at the top and bottom that cover the title bar and page number. They have the various options on them.

A single tap does not necessarily bring up the text. The way this is done is that I have to long press on a blank screen so that it brings up a dictionary definition (so I suppose it is a bit hit and miss as you have to be selecting an 'invisible' word). Once the dictionary window appears and is then dismissed, the book text appears.

I'd forgotten about the dictionary lookup method of getting out of this. That tells me it is the problem I mentioned. Try setting the font to one of the supplied fonts.

As regards your possible solution re embedded fonts, I have already side loaded in a font which is being used.

You sideloaded a font and have selected this as your font? What happens if you use one of the supplied fonts?

I have not edited the books as far as I am aware. Shouldn't a factory reset and reload from Calbre have avoided the potential metadata/toc issue? However something strange is going on because at the end of a chapter last night the device opened the previous rather than the next chapter!

The factory reset and reload would have cleared all the info and reprocessed all the books. That means it isn't that possibility. If it is only one or two books, it might be an error in the book. You could see it ePubCheck reports any errors for them.

Additionally after loading a font for a particular book I was surprised to learn that the original Georgia font was still being used for another. Is this how it should work i.e on a book by book basis rather than globally?

When you make the changes to the reader settings, two things happen. The settings are stored for that book and the settings are stored to be used as the default for reading other books. That means that if you change the settings for a book and then change them for another book, when you reopen the first book, it will use the settings for that book. My Kobo Utilities plugin has a way of removing the settings or changing them for one or more books at a time.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You sideloaded a font and have selected this as your font? What happens if you use one of the supplied fonts?

David, I can confirm that it doesn't just happen when using the 'Document Default' font, as I never do that; I always use a sideloaded font (JSWolfs' modified Charis SIL) amd it still happens for some books.

I'll try switching to one of the standard fonts when I hit another book that does it, but I think I already tried that earlier (when I was trying to figure out what was happening).

[GalaxianUK]

Thanks for the reply.

I have been playing around with two books which I have both processed through epubCheck. The book which Kobo has trouble remembering has errors (see attached - how can these be fixed???).

The blank text bug appears to have been resolved by using the inbuilt Georgia font, but I will continue testing. Is this a bug in the plugin?

I was using the JSWolf's Charis SIL Compact font.

EDIT: I've converted a mobi which has no errors - will see how I get on.

[jgoguen]

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

The blank text bug appears to have been resolved by using the inbuilt Georgia font, but I will continue testing. Is this a bug in the plugin?

Nope. This is a known issue with the KePub renderer. It will also happen if you purchase a KePub from Kobo that has embedded fonts.

[GalaxianUK]

1. The error free epub has no table of contents but the pages are remembered and also the reading progress % works as expected (previously it was stuck at 1%)
2. I've reloaded one with errors and got the blank text bug (access dictionary to get out) using the inbuilt Georgia font.

[GalaxianUK]

Originally Posted by jgoguen

Nope. This is a known issue with the KePub renderer. It will also happen if you purchase a KePub from Kobo that has embedded fonts.

So these are 'custom' fonts that have overwritten the original and so cannot be reversed?

So this is a firmware issue that Kobo are aware about?

[jgoguen]

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

So these are 'custom' fonts that have overwritten the original and so cannot be reversed?

These are fonts the publisher had included in the books part of the book's presentation. You can choose to force a different font, but the embedded font is used if you select Document Default.

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

So this is a firmware issue

Yes.

Originally Posted by GalaxianUK

that Kobo are aware about?

Well, they've been told about it anyway