Aura HD A New Beginning - Predicament!!

[Ken Maltby]

The "zoom" and "contrast" defaults are probably in one of the .lua scripts, but I don't know which ones, off hand.

The "Default" folder, that the File Manager opens in, can be passed as an argument when calling "reader.lua".

I use the Kobo Start Menu, so Koreader is launched from ".\.kobo\kbmenu\onstart\koreader_kobo.sh". If you start it from Nickel using the png Icon, the koreader_kobo.sh found in the koreader folder would be the one to change.

My koreader_kobo.sh:

#!/bin/sh

export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"

# we're always starting from our working directory
cd /mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader/


# export trained OCR data directory
export TESSDATA_PREFIX="data"

# export dict directory
export STARDICT_DATA_DIR="data/dict"

# remount external SD as RW
mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd

# finally call reader
./reader.lua /mnt/sd/.Koreader/Books 2> crash.log

----------------------------

The last line sets /mnt/sd/.Koreader/Books as the folder File Manager will open in.

You may or may not want to set the external SD card to read/write, it could aggravate any issues with Nickel's database. (If you use it try a long press on an item listed in File Manager.)

Luck;
Ken

[embryo]

Originally Posted by xibalban

I've found that these default settings would best suit me:

• Zoom: 'zoom to fit'
• Contrast: 'darker'
• Default folder: 'external SD card'

Where/How do I set these as "global" values?

For the first two:
If you long press the values you like, you will be asked if you want to use them as defaults.

For the last, you can edit the settings.reader.lua found on the root of the Koreader's directory.
Change the

["lastdir"] = "/mnt/onboard",

to

["lastdir"] = "/mnt/sd",

or whatever else you like...

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The "zoom" and "contrast" defaults are probably in one of the .lua scripts, but I don't know which ones, off hand.

The "Default" folder, that the File Manager opens in, can be passed as an argument when calling "reader.lua".

I use the Kobo Start Menu, so Koreader is launched from ".\.kobo\kbmenu\onstart\koreader_kobo.sh". If you start it from Nickel using the png Icon, the koreader_kobo.sh found in the koreader folder would be the one to change.

My koreader_kobo.sh:

#!/bin/sh

export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"

# we're always starting from our working directory
cd /mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader/


# export trained OCR data directory
export TESSDATA_PREFIX="data"

# export dict directory
export STARDICT_DATA_DIR="data/dict"

# remount external SD as RW
mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd

# finally call reader
./reader.lua /mnt/sd/.Koreader/Books 2> crash.log

----------------------------

The last line sets /mnt/sd/.Koreader/Books as the folder File Manager will open in.

You may or may not want to set the external SD card to read/write, it could aggravate any issues with Nickel's database. (If you use it try a long press on an item listed in File Manager.)

Luck;
Ken

Thanks Ken. With your assistance, my Aura HD is being customised more and more with each fleeting post of yours. I found the 'lua' file to set those defaults. It is the .kobo/koreader/defaults.lua file.

Is the "remount external SD as RW" required if I set external SD as my default file manager folder? My koreader_kobo.sh misses that entirely. Also, will the file manager crash if it fails to read the SD card?

Excuse me for too many questions

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by embryo

It's here.

Originally Posted by embryo

For the first two:
If you long press the values you like, you will be asked if you want to use them as defaults.

For the last, you can edit the settings.reader.lua found on the root of the Koreader's directory.
Change the

["lastdir"] = "/mnt/onboard",

to

["lastdir"] = "/mnt/sd",

or whatever else you like...

Oh, I must have been composing responses to Ken's posts whilst you had updated the thread with your "easier" solutions

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Thanks Ken. With your assistance, my Aura HD is being customised more and more with each fleeting post of yours. I found the 'lua' file to set those defaults. It is the .kobo/koreader/defaults.lua file.

Is the "remount external SD as RW" required if I set external SD as my default file manager folder? My koreader_kobo.sh misses that entirely. Also, will the file manager crash if it fails to read the SD card?

Excuse me for too many questions

The "remount external SD as RW" is not required, most of the time. It just is needed if you wish to write, change or delete files on the external drive with the programs running on the device. Most of the programs are written to default to only write to the internal uSD card. On the rare occasions that these programs (like Nickel) wish to write to the external card they temporarily remount it RW.

With Koreader having OPDS and other new features where users might want to download files to the external uSD card, and with the file handling options that File Manager has had all along, I decided to add the remount to RW into the script I use.

It should make no difference if the external SD card is being mounted RO or RW, as far as the default folder setting is concerned. The File manager needs to be able to function with or with an external uSD card. In fact I have removed and replaced it while in the File Manager. (It can be a problem for Nickel though.)

Luck;
Ken

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

The "remount external SD as RW" is not required, most of the time. It just is needed if you wish to write, change or delete files on the external drive with the programs running on the device. Most of the programs are written to default to only write to the internal uSD card. On the rare occasions that these programs (like Nickel) wish to write to the external card they temporarily remount it RW.

Well, that explains why I was unable to remove (delete) files on the SD Card using the file manager's delete option.

Anyway, I have switched from advboot to Kobo Start Menu, as recommended by Ken. The choice was right, as it does provide some interesting customisation options apart from the usb support.

I've been trying hard to edit the "poweroff_info.html" to include a picture by using the supported "img" tag for my power off state. Perhaps, my file referencing is incorrect, or the file-type maybe.

I have "avatar.png" file in the .kobo/kbmenu/images directory and the html tag used to reference the image is:

<img src="../images/avatar.png"></img>

Anything awry?

[embryo]

Originally Posted by xibalban

I've been trying hard to edit the "poweroff_info.html" to include a picture by using the supported "img" tag for my power off state. Perhaps, my file referencing is incorrect, or the file-type maybe.

I have "avatar.png" file in the .kobo/kbmenu/images directory and the html tag used to reference the image is:

<img src="../images/avatar.png"></img>

You can use

<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/images/avatar.png" width="516" height="310" align="middle">

Replace your width-height-align values.

[Ken Maltby]

What I used on my AuraHD:

<html>
<head>
<title>kobo menu info</title>
<style type="image/png">
p {
margin-top: 0.5em; }
</style>
</head>

<body>
<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/txt/poweroff.png">
</body>
</html>
--------------------------------------

The Poweroff.png I made is 1040x1387.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

As Embryo and Ken already communicated, the application needs the absolute path to the image. As for image attributes, it dependents on the device.
On my Kobo Touch, I have:

<html>
<body>
<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/images/test01.png" width="566">
</body>
</html>

On the Aura HD, you could try width="1040", or height="1384". If doing so, there is no need to change the dimension of the image. Any of the two settings should work, if the image has the same ratio as the screen, otherwise it matters which one you take. That is, when you want something similar to full screen.
The next version of KSM will probably have the ability to auto-size images.

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by embryo

You can use

<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/images/avatar.png" width="516" height="310" align="middle">

Replace your width-height-align values.

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

What I used on my AuraHD:

...
<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/txt/poweroff.png">

Thank you both, that worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by tshering

As Embryo and Ken already communicated, the application needs the absolute path to the image. As for image attributes, it dependents on the device.
On my Kobo Touch, I have:

<html>
<body>
<img src="/mnt/onboard/.kobo/kbmenu/images/test01.png" width="566">
</body>
</html>

On the Aura HD, you could try width="1040", or height="1384". If doing so, there is no need to change the dimension of the image. Any of the two settings should work, if the image has the same ratio as the screen, otherwise it matters which one you take. That is, when you want something similar to full screen.
The next version of KSM will probably have the ability to auto-size images.

Greetings Tshering!!

Thank you for your work on the Kobo Start Menu, without which my Aura HD would become miserable. Is there a way to enable landscape mode for the start menu?

Coming back to KoReader, I am a bit annoyed by the page overlaps (I mean, part of the contents of the preceding page being duplicated on the next page), which is quite significant in landscape mode. Why does that even happen, and is there a way to disable it somewhere? My page scroll is set to "off", if that matters.
Further, the progress bar at the bottom obstructs the page content. Can I disable that bar, or perhaps replace it with an unobtrusive clock?
Lastly, I like to load my PDFs in landscape, and KoReader's file manager doesn't seem to obey the laws of rotation while the top menu does.

That's a lot in a single post, I'm sure. Thanks for being patient

[Ken Maltby]

Have you tried the "Show page overlap" menu setting? It will dim the part of the page that was shown on the previous screen(s). The overlap exists because the original page has to be displayed over more than one screen, at the settings you have chosen. And the last screen full will have only some new material to display for the bottom of the original page.

If you poke the bottom right corner you should cycle through the mini-progress bar options, including to dismiss the bar.

As far as I know the File Manager is always in portrait mode.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by xibalban

Is there a way to enable landscape mode for the start menu?

Yes there is. If you have installed KBStartMenu_04_update01a.zip (you can find it here), you can change in .kobo\usersettings.txt

# whether to insert the rotation option into the Home menu
#enablerotation=true

to

# whether to insert the rotation option into the Home menu
enablerotation=true

I hope I can upload a new version of KSM this week. So maybe it is not worth spending much time in configuring the current version.

[xibalban]

Originally Posted by tshering

I hope I can upload a new version of KSM this week. So maybe it is not worth spending much time in configuring the current version.

We look forward to the new version, and thank you for selflessly developing & improving the Start Menu.

Folks, I still don't get the "page overlap" logic, and I blame my poor comprehension rather than Ken's explanation.

Anyway, so having customised the KoReader for PDF viewing, almost perfectly (for me i.e.), I moved on to CBZ files. Having learnt the "neat trick" of changing extension of CBR to CBZ (thanks Ken), I hoped that the sailing would be smooth.

Until, I discovered an issue of KoReader with CBZ file handling. Instead of registering my page turn tap, it simply refreshes the same page with my first tap. On the second tap, the next/previous page is rendered. Hence, two taps required for page turns. Is this normal?

[xibalban]

It appears that all you Goodfellas must have been bugged by my incessant device related questions & issues

Anyway, I think I have discovered why I had to tap two times to trigger page turn in CBZ files. I appears that it is, once again, due to the page overlap. The problem disappeared when I changed my zoom mode to "fit page height".

Regards!!

[xibalban]

Hey folks,

I'd been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales, using nickel and in the process of customisation, added a few custom fonts. The ability of Kobo devices to sideload custom fonts is a big boon.

I have, meanwhile, downloaded some ePubs from MR and loaded them onto a hidden directory on the µSD Card (you guys know why). So, my preferred reader becomes KoReader for these sideloaded ePubs.

How do I enable custom fonts in KoReader and change the font face to my liking within the application?