Android on Kobo: "Tips and Apps"

[embryo]

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

I think I am not able to get r/w access through either adb or ssh

You can try the ES file manager (with the root option in settings turned on) to copy files to system.

The light button is used as a "Back" button.

You can try the 'root adb' command.

[lekofraggle]

Thank you. I have tried all of the above options to no avail.
I will try the root adb command again and let you know. I tried root explorer which says it has rw access, but does not really so that failed. I was able to get it to write but it only partially updated the qwerty.kl so now it is corrupted (I will start over).

I also tried some of the different sdcard images at the start of this thread, and the more recent one did have the working back button, but I still could not mount the system r/w. I did try es file explorer too. Perhaps I have an older version installed. I will look.

[embryo]

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Thank you. I have tried all of the above options to no avail.
I will try the root adb command again and let you know. I tried root explorer which says it has rw access, but does not really so that failed. I was able to get it to write but it only partially updated the qwerty.kl so now it is corrupted (I will start over).

I also tried some of the different sdcard images at the start of this thread, and the more recent one did have the working back button, but I still could not mount the system r/w. I did try es file explorer too. Perhaps I have an older version installed. I will look.

Since I'm still away from computers, I can't check the specifics, but I do remember that rw worked.
I'll check in a week.

As for the back button, there are instructions somewhere in this thread about the needed changes.

[fanoI]

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

That is how it works. You open the app drawer (the little dots) and then you select your app by pressing on it and not releasing. The device senses this and switches from app drawer to desktop. Then you drag out to the window you want.

OK I'll try to do it! It is my first "serious" Android device, so...

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Alternatively if you switch launchers, many, like launcher pro, allow you to choose apps from the desktop.

Long click on the desktop
choose shortcuts
Wait a bit for it to load your list of apps
Select your app

Yes, if I'm not wrong, the Android image has already "Launcher Pro" pre installed, so I'll try this way if the first not work it seems more easy.

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

I use automatic without any other app to manage time, however, I had to switch it to manual and change my time zone first. Then I reselected Automatic and it just worked.

But the automatic setting doesn't use WI-FI to sync time? If it is so you don't risk to draw your battery too much?

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Try using launcher pro. Some launchers allow you to adjust the size of the icons. I thought launcher pro was one, but maybe only with the plus add-on.

I cannot find where, really... but this possibility should exists, it would be strange if it is not

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Good luck,
Leko

Thanks!
Another question there is a good Comics Reader app? A one that permits to resize only the vignette or the balloon text instead of all image? There is "Mobi Comic Reader" but is it is not free (the video shows that zooming the text is cut so it doesn't seem worth 3 $), my colleague shown to me the official "Topolino App" and well it seems really fantastic it was on a IPad so the quality was better but a free Android alternative should exists or I promise to make it

[lekofraggle]

[QUOTE=fanoI;2878529]OK I'll try to do it! It is my first "serious" Android device, so...



Yes, if I'm not wrong, the Android image has already "Launcher Pro" pre installed, so I'll try this way if the first not work it seems more easy... I cannot find where, really... but this possibility should exists, it would be strange if it is not [/Qoute]

If that does not work, look in the play store for an app called Giganticon. It should do the trick. It creates widgets of larger sizes. you add widgets to older Android versions (like ours) by long pressing on the desktop and selecting add widget.

But the automatic setting doesn't use WI-FI to sync time? If it is so you don't risk to draw your battery too much?

Not to my knowledge, but I am messing with so many changes, battery life is not on my radar yet. I am just getting my glo set up.

Thanks!
Another question there is a good Comics Reader app? A one that permits to resize only the vignette or the balloon text instead of all image? There is "Mobi Comic Reader" but is it is not free (the video shows that zooming the text is cut so it doesn't seem worth 3 $), my colleague shown to me the official "Topolino App" and well it seems really fantastic it was on a IPad so the quality was better but a free Android alternative should exists or I promise to make it

I am not sure about that one, but it is a good point. I will look into it at some point, because I would be interested as well.

~Leko

[lekofraggle]

So, I got my Glo set up to flip pages with a hardware button. Thanks Embryo and Jim.

If anyone else is trying, here is how I got it running.

Spoiler:

The system is very difficult to get R/W access to (for me at least).
I did try to flash the adb unsecure file, but I do not know if it flashed (it did not seem to) or was working. It is on this board somewhere, but i do not think it is necessary, because it did not help directly.

I did get adb working. That is a topic for another thread and has been covered ad nauseum elsewhere.

Then I did the following in terminal.
adb shell
#mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/root / <-Notice the root hash
#Exit
That worked. Thank you so much Jim McLaren. It is on post #242 of this thread.
So, then I edited /system/usr/keylayout/mxckpd.kl (This could be done thorugh adb, but I was lazy and used es file explorer at that point editing it on the device. Know that this is bad practice and could corrupt the system)
I changed the first line
"Key 90 HOME WAKE"
to
"KEY 90 SEARCH WAKE"

Then, in Mantano I changed the function of the search button.

I rebooted, and presto.

Thanks again everyone.
~Leko

[lizardboy]

Hi, thanks to the excellent developers that have made it relatively easy to setup Android on the kobo touch, I was inspired to try and setup a low-cost "field" data collection device (for an example of a system using a Nook see https://sites.google.com/a/epiconcept.fr/odk/afritablet ).

Following the instructions in this thread, I have managed to get Android working ok, install ODK collect (http://opendatakit.org/use/collect/) and connect to the ODK test server https://opendatakit.appspot.com, download a test form and open it for editting.

Unfortunately, the first ODK data collection screen involves "swiping the screen" to move through the questions. This does not appear to function.

My question is are there any tweaks for the touch-screen abilities in the kobo Android instance?

An alternative would be to use www.formhub.org (ODK in a browser) however this requires a "modern" browser (that can cache data), I tryed installing the latest version of firefox but this does not seem to work on my device. Any tips on a lightweight modern browser to try out?

Any tips or ideas on this project would be very much appreciated.

Specifications:
kobo touch N905C
kobo update 3.2.0
Android_Kobo_Touch
fix-udev-tgz
dualboot-android-glo-touch
ODK Collect v1.4.3 rev 1042

Update: I solved the issues, sorry nothing to do with the Android dist, but in case anyone is interested. ODK has an option to change the navigation type, For back/next, see 'Change Settings' / 'Navigation'. For a modern light weight browser Opera mini (http://www.opera.com/mobile) seems to do the job. Now on to to add a GPS unit... aka http://max.kellermann.name/projects/xcsoar/kobo.html

[ScottAA]

Is there any way yet to run Android on the (non-HD) Aura?

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by ScottAA

Is there any way yet to run Android on the (non-HD) Aura?

Scott

There is a large practical issue here... recovery

How on earth do you expect to replace the o/s and other s/w on the flash storage in the device? The other devices at least one can remove the SD card, insert into another device and reimage.

[ScottAA]

Originally Posted by PeterT

There is a large practical issue here... recovery

How on earth do you expect to replace the o/s and other s/w on the flash storage in the device? The other devices at least one can remove the SD card, insert into another device and reimage.

I don't own any of the other Kobo devices, so I'm not sure how they're different from the Aura.

I think you're saying that the other devices ship with the OS on an internal SD card that can be removed, changed, and replaced. And that the Aura ships with the OS on non-removable memory, so there's no way to change it. Is that what you're saying?

[fanoI]

I've noticed some battery problems:

1. It last less, 1 week instead of 4
2. If battery is at 10-5% level the touch screen behavior become "strange", sometimes he doesn't do nothing, sometimes he move 10 pages forwards other times simply wind moves pages... as a real book would do The same behavior is seen in AllReader and FBReader so it should an OS problem...

So there's some daemon that sucks battery and that should be stopped? I don't pretend the same uptime of Kobo's firmware but at least little more...
There is an App that gives a clear alert when battery is low? The bar on the upper right one could forgot to see... and in any case the device simply could not die suddenly without warnings...

[GustavoB]

I've done the mentioned procedure but my Kobo Glo won't turn on. The blue light gets on for some time and then it turns off again. Any clue?

I've copied the android to a SD card and inserted it in the kobo. But the blue light turns on and the turns off. (Without booting the Android).

[lekofraggle]

Originally Posted by GustavoB

I've done the mentioned procedure but my Kobo Glo won't turn on. The blue light gets on for some time and then it turns off again. Any clue?

I've copied the android to a SD card and inserted it in the kobo. But the blue light turns on and the turns off. (Without booting the Android).

Gustavo,
Did you copy the dual boot file to the .kobo directory?

Did you just copy the files of the .img? Or did you use the mentioned app (I used winimage)? You need to unpack the zip file, and then write the .img file directly to the sd card or else it will not boot.

Good luck,
~Leko

[GustavoB]

Originally Posted by lekofraggle

Gustavo,
Did you copy the dual boot file to the .kobo directory?

Did you just copy the files of the .img? Or did you use the mentioned app (I used winimage)? You need to unpack the zip file, and then write the .img file directly to the sd card or else it will not boot.

Good luck,
~Leko

I just downloaded the image file and copied it to the card (I used the program to make the card with an identical image to the one given with the android).

I've done the following steps:

Download the working Android image from this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=151

Get image writer from here: http://www.vconsole.com/client/?page=page&id=29

Insert blank SD card into card reader and put Android image to your card. If your card is bigger than 2GB, you can expand partition which is Fat32 to fill all your card space with this program: http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-...n-manager.html

Switch off your Kobo Glo and open it as per instructions from here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...48&postcount=2

Remove SD card from KoboGlo and put it into safe place. Insert there your SD card with Android image into KoboGlo.

Switch on your Kobo Glo.

I am a little confused: Am I supposed to install the android in the Kobo card (the one that comes with it)? I thought I had to install it on the extra card and then keep the factory card safe.

[lekofraggle]

Gustavo,
You seem to be on the right track. There may be a few steps missing.

In order to boot from the ad card, you need to make the Kobo acknowledge its existence before boot, and you need the boot loader.

First, just to check if you have those two things, boot the Kobo while holding the light button. Be sure you are holding the light button before the led on the top starts blinking.

If you do that a few times and do not get a boot, you have two more steps.

I do not have a link to the required files, but they are in the first post on this thread.

You need to modify your Kobo just a bit.

Grab the file that allows you to boot from an ad card, unzip it directly to the .Kobo directory on the actual device (you need to enable hidden files to find the folder on Windows Explorer).

Then, do the same as above with the boot loader. Better directions and the files are on the first post of this thread. Let me know if you are still confused or if it did not work.

~Leko