Aura Need help with Kobo Aura first use

[Lebowsky]

Hi community. New here as I just bought a Kobo Aura. And of course I am now seeking some advice...

First thing that bugged during the original setup phase: I live in Switzerland and set it up in french, as I speak french, but the virtual keyboard is in AZERTY, which is french from France I suppose, instead of the standard QWERTZ which we use in Switzerland. How is it possible to change this?

Also I've read on the web that you could buy books not only from the kobo website, but also from third party bookshops like fnac.com (which is the main book/cd/movies/multimedia store in France and Switzerland). However when I configure my accounts, the device only offers me the possibility to setup my kobo.com account. Do I need to download apps of some kind to access those stores?

If I have to buy the books from another computer, how does it work? I buy it on a website, and I can then download it to my computer, and need to transfer it from there? How do I do that? Do I need a specific application? I suppose the books are somehow protected, won't there be a problem if it first is on my home computer before transferring to the Kobo?

I realize these are probably very basic questions, but I found it hard to find resources online... so thanks in advance

[danicca]

Yep, the books can be bought everywhere except amazon and apple. You can't buy them directly from ereader, you need pc for that and the program is Adobe Digital Editions. Since books are protected, both your pc and ereader need to be authorized with the same adobe ID. It's pretty self explanatory once program is installed.
Of course, the book might not be protected in which case just do copy/paste. Congratulations on Aura!

[filmo]

To download epub books with DRM they should use Adobe DRM which is commonly available. Down load to your computer then use Adobe Digital Editions to load book onto your reader that is connected to your computer. If epub book is DRM free then you can copy and paste book to your reader from your computer. I have downloaded DRM free books directly from online ebook store source to my wifi connected Kobo Touch.

This is a free ebook library manager that most people here use.
http://calibre-ebook.com/

[Lebowsky]

thanks for the replies! ok so let me get this straight:

- I always need another computer?
- I cannot buy directly from ereader on Kobo website?
- I only need Adobe DRM?
- I absolutely don't need the Kobo desktop application (http://www.kobosetup.com)?

It's pretty silly, because there really is no user manual in the box...

Any Kobo Aura user has an idea about the virtual keyboard layout?

[filmo]

Yes you can buy directly from Kobo website with wifi connected Kobo. The book will have Kobo DRM that is a little different than regular Adoboe DRM. You can also buy books useing Kobo desk top program or from Kobo website with Kobo DRM. We call this a Kepub and a kepub have a few extra features.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Lebowsky

Any Kobo Aura user has an idea about the virtual keyboard layout?

Changing the locale in the config file might work. This can fix how the time and dates are displayed, but I don't know if it will have an affect on the keyboard. The config file is "Kobo eReader.conf" and is in the directory ".kobo/Kobo". Look for the line starting "CurrentLocale". You need to change the right hand side to the appropriate locale for you. And you might need to restart the device for it to take effect.

If you try this, you need to edit the file with a Unix line end aware editor. DO NOT use Windows Notepad. Something like Notepad++ will work.

[Ken Maltby]

The Kobo software appears to use different "affiliates" for the connection to which store it will use. Google "Kobo affiliate.conf". Some of the results are in French.

Luck;
Ken

[Lebowsky]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Changing the locale in the config file might work. This can fix how the time and dates are displayed, but I don't know if it will have an affect on the keyboard. The config file is "Kobo eReader.conf" and is in the directory ".kobo/Kobo". Look for the line starting "CurrentLocale". You need to change the right hand side to the appropriate locale for you. And you might need to restart the device for it to take effect.

If you try this, you need to edit the file with a Unix line end aware editor. DO NOT use Windows Notepad. Something like Notepad++ will work.

tried it, no go. guess it' just not possible tried fr_CH, which is what it's supposed to be, but it keeps the french layout. Even tried fr_DE but no change. I wrote to the Kobo support, we'll see what they say...

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The Kobo software appears to use different "affiliates" for the connection to which store it will use. Google "Kobo affiliate.conf". Some of the results are in French.

Luck;
Ken

thanks! yeah, this switches from the Kobo to the Fnac store, but apparently you can't use both at the same time. Oh well

[Lebowsky]

one more question, is it possible to install translation dictionaries? for example a french-spanish or spanish-french one, which could be used independently of reading?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Lebowsky

one more question, is it possible to install translation dictionaries? for example a french-spanish or spanish-french one, which could be used independently of reading?

There are a number of them for Koreader, there should be some for the stock readers as well. With the Stardict dictionaries in Koreader you do need to select a word in a book, to bring up the dictionary window/message -but- if you then long press the word in the dictionary window/message, you get a message box to lookup any word you want.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Lebowsky

one more question, is it possible to install translation dictionaries? for example a french-spanish or spanish-french one, which could be used independently of reading?

If you already have a french-spanish dictionary for kobo, you can try copying it to .kobo/dict. Look at the other dictionaries for the naming conventions. If this does not work (I am not sure, since things change sometimes with different firmware updates), chose the name of an already existing Kobo dictionary. Be aware that it depends on the name whether you are allowed to search the dictionary or not. You can for instance search the German dictionary, but not the French one.
You can find discussions on custom dictionaries in the developers' corner.

The more recent (or maybe only the most recent) version of KoboLauncher (you find it in the developers' corner) includes a standalone dictionary application.

[Lebowsky]

thank you for pointing me in the right search direction. apparently there is absolutely no spanish-french dictionary readily available. and since I'm about to leave on a 3 months trip, I won't have the time to look into creating my own one. seems like it would be possible to convert a babylon dictionnary though. until then I'll just use the built-in.. spanish-english dictionnary.