Kobo Firmware 3.11.0

[PeterT]

What stats are you hoping to see? Be aware that while books bought from Kobo and downloaded either by WiFi or Kobo Desktop will show different stats from those books that are sideloaded in either ePub or kEpub format.

[xtine]

Stats like how long to finish the current chapter, etc.

I saw a YouTube review (I think Nate's) showing this menu at the bottom of the book, together with font menus, etc but I don't see it on mine.

Update: I found the YouTube review and took a screenshot of the in-book reading stats I want to see. Nate does mention that this isn't available for sideloaded epubs (not sure if he also means kepubs?).

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by xtine

I just got my H2O today and can't see reading stats in-book (either for epubs/kepubs). I am using Calibre (with KePub Output & Kobo Touch Extended plugins installed) to sideload kepubs to my H2O.

I can only see reading stats when I go back to the main menu and go to "Extras." Is there a workaround for this?

No, sorry, stats aren't available for sideloaded kepubs (I think since 3.3.0 or something like that).

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you take backup over WiFi (Telnet)?

(Not really telnet, but ftp).

When I asked, I was directed to this post (ignore the repartitioning part, just install the telnet hack). Once enabled, you can connect to the reader to wifi, and connect to the reader through ftp to download or upload files.

[xtine]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

No, sorry, stats aren't available for sideloaded kepubs (I think since 3.3.0 or something like that).

That's too bad. Thanks anyway.

[arspr]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

No, sorry, stats aren't available for sideloaded kepubs (I think since 3.3.0 or something like that).

Yes, I would have said something like 2.8.0...

xtine, you've not been tuned for quite a long time.

Sometime in the past, jgoguen made a special version of his Kobo Touch Extended driver for Calibre which re-enabled stats for sideloaded kepubs with some kind of database trick. But it had nasty side-effects and therefore even jgoguen himself adviced against its use...

We fully depend on Kobo. They have to make changes in the FW to re-enable stats for all the kepubs not only the officially downloaded through the device/PC software...

(OTOH, IIRC, stats are a kepub-only feature. epubs don't, and didn't, ever include them. But maybe I'm wrong...)

[xtine]

Originally Posted by arspr

xtine, you've not been tuned for quite a long time.

This is my first Kobo, but you're right, I'm still trying to catch up on all my "homework".

[Rockin]

Horizontal tap regions - I've waited a long time for this, 3 or 4 years. A few years ago, I sent Sameer a note to explain the concept and reasoning. I wasn't sure I convinced him it was necessary so I had given up hope on it ever seeing the light of day.

I now see someone would like to have them reversed (top - forward, bottom - back) and I could see how some people would hold it one handed that way, but I held it one handed on the bottom. Maybe now that they included my style, the can simply add the reverse case. I actually thought it would be easy to add the style I desired but that included 3 steps, creating the regions, selecting which region does what, and adding an icon - now a new reverse option only needs two of those things done so hopefully these reverse folks won't have to wait 3 years.

[Anak]

BUG: Dutch hyphenation doesn't work (note: it also didn't work in 3.8.0).

Why:

1. The file (hyph_nl.dic) is saved as ANSI but this should be UTF8 w/o BOM;
2. The first line of the file states ISO8859-1 but should be UTF8.

Just like the other language hyphenation dictionaries that are supplied. Please, Kobo fix this with the next firmware release.

I attached two hyphenation dictionaries

1. Kobo hyphenation NL default
2. Kobo hyphenation NL Adobe

'Default' is a converted hyph_nl.dic file to UT8 w/o BOM and first line to UTF8.
'Adobe' is as default, but with the addition of LeftHyphenMin and RightHyphenMin. The user is able to modify the behaviour of hyphenation to her or his personal preferences. A lower value means a more aggressive hyphenation. Adobe default is 5.

UTF-8
LEFTHYPHENMIN 5
RIGHTHYPHENMIN 5

Reminder: When using Microsoft Windows to edit files, use a text editor like Notepad++ as files also need to be saved with Unix End Of Line Characters.

[aceflor]

So maybe it is here somewhere in this thread, but although I really think I read it all, could not find it...

We had a discussion about this on the kindle forum, but I think it is better to ask here. Am I right in saying that the advanced options for the fonts can make them bolder, but not darker ? It is especially visible for thinner fonts. Obviously, bolder will be darker, but darker alone, without changing the thickness of the font, does not work. Or is it my view that is registering it this way ?

And was it always like this ? Was there not a possibility to make fonts only darker, not bolder, in one of the previous FW ? (or am I dreaming this ???)

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by aceflor

We had a discussion about this on the kindle forum, but I think it is better to ask here. Am I right in saying that the advanced options for the fonts can make them bolder, but not darker ? It is especially visible for thinner fonts. Obviously, bolder will be darker, but darker alone, without changing the thickness of the font, does not work. Or is it my view that is registering it this way ?

Yes that is what I have observed. The font gets darker, but also much thicker, which is not necessarily what I want, especially on the regular Aura.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Yes that is what I have observed. The font gets darker, but also much thicker, which is not necessarily what I want, especially on the regular Aura.

That is how TypeGenius works. You can't make the fonts 'blacker'; that would entail enhancing the contrast of the screen, and that's fixed; you can't change it through software. All you can do is make them bolder.

[arspr]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

That is how TypeGenius works. You can't make the fonts 'blacker'; that would entail enhancing the contrast of the screen, and that's fixed; you can't change it through software. All you can do is make them bolder.

Completely true. You cannot get a darker/blacker black in any way. Each eink screen has a fixed contrast ratio (how much darker black is than white).

The only other possible related setting is the Refresh Screen ratio. eInk displays are quite prone to ghosting effects, so some pixels are not as black as they could be because they are affected by their previous position.

I don't know exactly why, eInk displays usually perform better if they go through a complete black/white flashing cycle. New displays (like Pearl or Carta) can avoid this step but the image quality is somehow reduced with each update, and therefore at last they perform a full refresh every xxx page turns (screen refreshes).

In Kobo, this frequency is fully adjustable so if you want the best possible quality you should set it to 1 page... (Reading Settings)

[GeoffR]

A contrary view:

Normally a font has grey pixels added to give the illusion of half-pixels, to make the curves smoother looking, etc. As the sharpness setting is reduced more of these grey pixels are used, and as sharpness increases fewer grey pixels are used.

The slider in the current firmware adjusts both weight and sharpness together, so as the font becomes heavier it also becomes darker, because there are fewer grey pixels used.

(In earlier firmware versions there were seperate weight and sharpness sliders, so it was possible to make the font darker without making it thicker by increasing the sharpness without increasing the weight. That is still possible in the current firmware, but it has to be done manually by editing the config file.)

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

A contrary view:

Normally a font has grey pixels added to give the illusion of half-pixels, to make the curves smoother looking, etc. As the sharpness setting is reduced more of these grey pixels are used, and as sharpness increases fewer grey pixels are used.

The slider in the current firmware adjusts both weight and sharpness together, so as the font becomes heavier it also becomes darker, because there are fewer grey pixels used.

(In earlier firmware versions there were seperate weight and sharpness sliders, so it was possible to make the font darker without making it thicker by increasing the sharpness without increasing the weight. That is still possible in the current firmware, but it has to be done manually by editing the config file.)

This is what I meant, thanks Geoff. I remember clearly the two sliders. And sharpness is really not the same as bodyweight... I will go and modify the config file. Thanks !