Kobo Start Menu 07

[gontofe]

I keep mentioning this from time to time, but I still think preventfreeze should not be necessary. How can we determine what Nickel does that differs that makes it not freeze in the same way as KSM? It would be great to remove this workaround and have improved battery life and proper sleep functionality!

[Xen]

Originally Posted by tshering

Are you sure you selected "save and exit" rather than "cancel and exit"?

Posolutely. The setting is still correctly set to false after I go in to configure and make the change, if I go back in and check it.

Well, and now that I go check it again after a powerdown, it is still set correctly.

This is not the first time I've had settings become unsaved. It happened when I first registered the device. I set it to not display the cover, to have a plain screen, in the factory software settings. When I went to sleep, it was displaying a blank screen. When I woke up, it was displaying the book cover. When I went into settings to check that, the device totally reset itself and made me go through the registration process again from scratch.

I was told that was likely due to corrupted database. It is mostly because of the complicated slow processing and the potential for future corruption of that database that I started looking for a way to never boot the factory software up again. That, and the fact that the touch screen was so wonky and page turns were so slow.

I guess the power consumption of the timer is negligible (especially since it runs for 20 secs), and there is no shortage of resources at that point. The purpose that nickel is automatically started is that it already happened that after a new firmware release, KSM became unresponsive to any touch and needed a new touch driver, so that it was impossible to do any selections. In such a case it comes handy if nickel starts automatically so that you can connect to the pc and uninstall KSM or fix it. I would rather increase the value for KsmAutoselectafter. If you really want to disable it, remove ksmAutoselectoption via "configure". But be aware of the dangere!

I thought there was another way around such an eventuality, which hopefully would be rather unlikely to reoccur in the future.

Is this not the case?

Also, won't a factory reset take care of the problem?

Admittedly, I'll lose books and history - but since I keep EVERYTHING in Calibre anyway, its not like I've actually lost anything REALLY.

(re Koreader settings in KSM)
Try to select "add item".

Yes, I see various variables there. Its just I have no idea what they mean or do.

I never tried to set the sleep-after time myself (and I do not have my reader at hand), but Koreader has a huge configuration menu. Did you try it?

Of course I have. I'm sorry if you are losing patience with me - but that is precisely the problem. KoReader has a HUGE configuration menu, which is not documented anywhere I can find. In fact it has lots of menus and I'm not sure exactly what the "configuration menu" is or where it is to be found.

There are all those flags in Advanced Settings, for one thing, 6 pages of flags, most of which are mysterious to me and some of which (no idea which ones, either) can apparently crash the entire device if I set them incorrectly. I don't find anything in there that seems to relate to auto sleeping or auto power down, either one.

There is something called KOBO_SCREEN_SAVER but its set to an empty text string. I have no idea what that is supposed to do or how it should work.

KSM 07 does not have a sleep feature. As for drawing the power-off screen of course that needs power. No power is needed however to maintain the screen after it has been drawn.

I did not realize that. I assumed the screen has to draw some charge, if only a trickle, to maintain whatever is drawn on the display. I have no idea how e-ink works. I do know that my Kindle Keyboard lasted a lot longer on battery, for whatever reason, if I fully powered it down rather than leaving it sit with the sleep screen showing. I had attributed that to a need to keep the screen powered up at some level. Apparently that is not the case.

Thanks.

[Xen]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I still haven't added the update #2. Preventfreeze = false was the default for my AuraHD, but it could be otherwise for the H2O.

It was definitely defaulted to "true", and at one point even reset itself back to that.

However it is maintaining the "false" setting since I reselected that, so far at least.

This device has been glitchy since I got it, I was hoping it was software-glitchy but perhaps not.

I have mine set like this:
KsmAutoselectafter=10
ksmAutoselectoption=start_koreader

But if you didn't want to "Autoselect" at all you could change it to this:

#KsmAutoselectafter=20
#ksmAutoselectoption=start_nickel

So in the first case you autostart KoReader - but isn't the second case the default behavior that will auto-start the factory software, which I am hoping to avoid doing ever?

I guess autostartign KoReader would solve the problem, if I can make it wait longer than 20 seconds to do so on the off chance that I have something to do in KSM.

Hmm... I think you may not understand how this works.

You're right, I did not.

First with an e-Ink display, no power is used (by the display) while an unchanging image is displayed. So, having any image up makes no difference, a solid black or white image or an intricate grayscale masterpiece - no power is used to maintain the image. No CPU cycles, either.

As I mentioned in another post, my old Kindle Keyboard used to run the battery down a lot faster in sleep mode than it would when I completely shut it off. I just figured that was due to some trickle of power being used to maintain or refresh the image. Apparently not, LOL! Must have been something else.

With most "sleep"/standby functions, the CPU is put into a very low power mode that is just waiting to be called back to work. For some devices, other similar steps are taken to safely suspend critical background processes. For Koreader the WiFi transceiver turned off, as well. Most of the suspend function is a very low level hardware function supplied by the chip manufacturer, the low level routines to activate the function are included in Kobo's firmware. Both Koreader and Nickel have routines that prepare the device before they call the hardware function.

Well, yes, but I would think the un-suspend/wakeup would turn everything - including WiFi - back on, not?

Powering off is intended to be just that, there is a Poweroff menu option provided by KSM and also in Sergey's launcher, otherwise it is achieved by holding the "Power Switch" for 20sec or so. A quick flick of the power switch should be the hardware way to call the suspend function. (And how you return from it.) For your one non-sliding button H2O, it might be a quick press of the button, to suspend and hold down for 20sec. to poweroff.

I understand that - but it appears that in KoReader it IS actually going to sleep without refreshing the screen so that I know it has done so. Or is it? I would have expected more lag when I pick it up and go back to reading in that case.

In any case, my preference is for it to go to sleep after a reasonable amount of time, which I define as about 5 minutes, AND LET ME KNOW IT HAS DONE SO in some fashion - under the factory software I had it set so that it showed "sleeping" in text in the lower left corner.

Then after a slightly longer period of time - which I have decided is about an additional 10 minutes or so - it will automatically power down.

This would need to happen in KoReader and I don't know how to make it do that yet, IF it can be done.

I need it to do this because it is not unusual for me to fall asleep with the e-reader still on. My Kindle Keyboard had way more battery life when it was shut down as opposed to just sleeping; so I was really glad to see that there was an autoshutdown feature in the factory software, to extend battery life.

I have been assuming that the same would be true for the Kobo - but maybe it is not the same issue, if its not the screen draining the battery, and especially if the factory software has been bypassed via KSM etc.

I had thought that KSM was like a shell, with other software running inside it and somewhat under its control - which is not the case. So - for the sleep and autoshut down features, I need to figure out how to make that happen inside KoReader, if it is even possible.

Koreader has a sleep/suspend function and you can have it display your own image of choice (current discussion is working on how to have it provide a randomly selected image from a number in a folder, a different one each time the sleep function is activated, by a power switch flick). Most of us probably just have it set to use the current book's cover image. There is a way to set the image to be used when there is no cover or when koreader doesn't find one or when you don't want the cover used.

I had it set to use the book cover, but it has never ever displayed that. I really don't think it is sleeping, ever. It used more than 25% of the battery since last night. I left it with a file open in KoReader over night. It never displayed the book cover, it just continued to display the last page read.

I cannot find anywhere inside KoReader to change or set how long it should sit idle before it sleeps, let alone how to make it autopower down, if it will even do that. So I'm rather at a loss. This bodes ill for battery life given that I routinely fall asleep while reading, during the day as well as at night. I really do need it to sleep after say 5 minutes of idle time.

I have, btw, found the "NETWORK" option in KoReader. I'll try to connect to calibre again later today, to see if I can get that working. I thought the WiFi was on, but maybe it matters where it got turned on (KSM or KoReader). That was in the other thread, wherever that thing is, LOL!

Thanks for your help.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Xen

This is not the first time I've had settings become unsaved.

I did a lot of testing when I wrote the configure function, and this never happened to me. But of course, anything is possible.

Originally Posted by Xen

It happened when I first registered the device. I set it to not display the cover, to have a plain screen, in the factory software settings. When I went to sleep, it was displaying a blank screen. When I woke up, it was displaying the book cover. When I went into settings to check that, the device totally reset itself and made me go through the registration process again from scratch.

The settings of KSM and of nickel are two totally different things. Be aware that if nickel encounters some heavy problem, or sometimes if you force it to power off, it resets its configuration file.

Originally Posted by Xen

I thought there was another way around such an eventuality, which hopefully would be rather unlikely to reoccur in the future.

Is this not the case?

Also, won't a factory reset take care of the problem?

Your are right, I tried to provide several security nets and therefore you can dispense with one or the other. But be aware that not all models have a slot for an external sd, and on some models it is not so easy to factory reset without running the original software. From your profile, I cannot see which model you own. And to use telnet you must have prepared your device for it.

Originally Posted by Xen

KoReader has a HUGE configuration menu, which is not documented anywhere I can find. In fact it has lots of menus and I'm not sure exactly what the "configuration menu" is or where it is to be found.

You might get better help at the Koreader thread. I do not use the Koreader configuration menu a lot myself.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Xen

So in the first case you autostart KoReader - but isn't the second case the default behavior that will auto-start the factory software, which I am hoping to avoid doing ever?

The # at the start of the line, in a .sh script file, makes the line a comment, not code to be executed.

Originally Posted by Xen

I guess autostartign KoReader would solve the problem, if I can make it wait longer than 20 seconds to do so on the off chance that I have something to do in KSM.

It doesn't have to be 20seconds, just as I used 10seconds, in mine, you could use whatever you wanted (I would keep it to two digits, though).

Originally Posted by Xen

As I mentioned in another post, my old Kindle Keyboard used to run the battery down a lot faster in sleep mode than it would when I completely shut it off. I just figured that was due to some trickle of power being used to maintain or refresh the image. Apparently not, LOL! Must have been something else.

In another thread a user found that he got much better battery life, if not using a magnetic/sleep cover.

Originally Posted by Xen

- but it appears that in KoReader it IS actually going to sleep without refreshing the screen so that I know it has done so. Or is it? I would have expected more lag when I pick it up and go back to reading in that case.

There is no auto sleep in Koreader (at this time) If you didn't tap the power button on your H2O, Koreader would not be going into the suspend/sleep mode. If you do tap the power button, it should show the cover or a text message window. (This is assuming that the H2O function that way, as I do not have one.)

Originally Posted by Xen

I had it set to use the book cover, but it has never ever displayed that. I really don't think it is sleeping, ever. It used more than 25% of the battery since last night. I left it with a file open in KoReader over night. It never displayed the book cover, it just continued to display the last page read.

I cannot find anywhere inside KoReader to change or set how long it should sit idle before it sleeps, let alone how to make it autopower down, if it will even do that. So I'm rather at a loss. This bodes ill for battery life given that I routinely fall asleep while reading, during the day as well as at night. I really do need it to sleep after say 5 minutes of idle time.

See my last paragraph, you need to activate the sleep mode and return from it by a button, the H2O doesn't have a power slide button, like the others do, so it should be the power button that you do have.

With e-Ink, there is not much difference between power usage in sleep from the power usage (with the WiFi off) and a static page display.

Originally Posted by Xen

I have, btw, found the "NETWORK" option in KoReader. I'll try to connect to calibre again later today, to see if I can get that working. I thought the WiFi was on, but maybe it matters where it got turned on (KSM or KoReader). That was in the other thread, wherever that thing is, LOL!

Thanks for your help.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

In another thread a user found that he got much better battery life, if not using a magnetic/sleep cover.

The magnetic/sleep cover might have some effect. However, I would like to emphasise that you cannot trust the suspend of Koreader. Koreader uses basically the same suspend script as previous versions of KSM did. Because of the discussion in the Koreader thread, I reactivated the KSM sleep function on my device and added logging start and end of suspend, and the battery charge (I did the same for the koreader suspend script). Several days, everything went fine (the night of 16th to 17 my device slept while running Koreader), but today it spontaneously came back from suspend by itself. I add the log and mark the spontaneous wake up in red.

(I do not use a sleep cover.)

Spoiler:

capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150413_203203
back from suspend at: 20150413_203218
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150413_203317
back from suspend at: 20150414_151135
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150414_151257
back from suspend at: 20150414_184807
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150414_220534
back from suspend at: 20150415_191358
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150415_213456
back from suspend at: 20150416_192326
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 96
suspended at: 20150416_193214
back from suspend at: 20150416_193225
capacity: 96
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150417_181355
back from suspend at: 20150417_182458
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150417_182853
back from suspend at: 20150417_183621
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 97
suspended at: 20150417_192303
back from suspend at: 20150417_194946
capacity: 97
########

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by tshering

The magnetic/sleep cover might have some effect. However, I would like to emphasise that you cannot trust the suspend of Koreader. Koreader uses basically the same suspend script as previous versions of KSM did. Because of the discussion in the Koreader thread, I reactivated the KSM sleep function on my device and added logging start and end of suspend, and the battery charge (I did the same for the koreader suspend script). Several days, everything went fine (the night of 16th to 17 my device slept while running Koreader), but today it spontaneously came back from suspend by itself. I add the log and mark the spontaneous wake up in red.

(I do not use a sleep cover.)

Spoiler:

capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150413_203203
back from suspend at: 20150413_203218
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150413_203317
back from suspend at: 20150414_151135
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150414_151257
back from suspend at: 20150414_184807
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150414_220534
back from suspend at: 20150415_191358
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150415_213456
back from suspend at: 20150416_192326
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 96
suspended at: 20150416_193214
back from suspend at: 20150416_193225
capacity: 96
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150417_181355
back from suspend at: 20150417_182458
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 100
suspended at: 20150417_182853
back from suspend at: 20150417_183621
capacity: 100
########
capacity: 97
suspended at: 20150417_192303
back from suspend at: 20150417_194946
capacity: 97
########

I also notice that no loss is shown during the suspended periods. Perhaps, if the suspended periods were longer, the self discharge of Li-ion batteries might be reflected. It is of course of great interest what could be the cause/source of this wakeup from suspend.

The magnetic switch and the power switch are two sources, of a wake up signal, known to users. There should be no touchscreen events, while in suspend. What could have provided for the wake up? There wouldn't be a timing loop in the suspend code.

Luck;
Ken

[church mouse]

I reported the strange power loss when using a magnetic cover.

Without the cover, using the vlasovsoft version of suspend taken from the coolreader files, and preventfreeze set to false in KSM (plus the avoidPickel setting suggested by tshering) I have a stable Glo with battery use comparable to using Nickel.

Next week I will try the magnetic cover again and see what happens, now that I am certain I have a stable set up.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I also notice that no loss is shown during the suspended periods. Perhaps, if the suspended periods were longer, the self discharge of Li-ion batteries might be reflected.

I am pretty sure it would, but I need my reader for more than having it sleep all day and night.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by church mouse

Without the cover, using the vlasovsoft version of suspend taken from the coolreader files, and preventfreeze set to false in KSM (plus the avoidPickel setting suggested by tshering) I have a stable Glo with battery use comparable to using Nickel.

Are you sure? If you look at my log file, you will see that the malfunction occurred only after several days of testing. Up to that point it seemed to work fine.

[church mouse]

tshering - 5 days of stable use, no wifi but backlight at 25%, about 900 page turns and battery now at 70%. That is about what I would have got with Nickel on this 2 year old Glo. No large battery drops during overnight sleep, which is what I was seeing before, and I guess you are.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by church mouse

tshering - 5 days of stable use, no wifi but backlight at 25%, about 900 page turns and battery now at 70%. That is about what I would have got with Nickel on this 2 year old Glo.

I meant only to refer to the suspend state.

Originally Posted by church mouse

... and I guess you are.

I am not sure whether I understand what you are telling me.

[huuduc1kk2]

Hi tshering
I want a Qt App on my Glo like Note with "chex box" list...vvv
How can i do it? I try to Download Qt source from Sergey, but the link is die (404)

[tshering]

Originally Posted by huuduc1kk2

Hi tshering
I want a Qt App on my Glo like Note with "chex box" list...vvv
How can i do it? I try to Download Qt source from Sergey, but the link is die (404)

This link works for me.

[Markismus]

@Tshering
I found that the OTA update of koreader was broken after I moved koreader to /mnt/onboard/.apps. See issue #1387 at koreader on github.

Apparently KSM overwrites the koreader.sh script to adapt it to the new path with one slight oversight on line 12:

cd /mnt/onboard/.kobo && tar xf $NEWUPDATE && mv $NEWUPDATE $INSTALLED

should be changed to:

    cd $(dirname $KOREADER_DIR) && tar xf $NEWUPDATE && mv $NEWUPDATE $INSTALLED

Since the latest nightly (v187) those lines have been changed in the koreader distribution. So your update would only have to be done for the older (stable) revisions of koreader.

Now I can't find the string $(dirname $0) anywhere but in koreader_debug.sh, so I have no idea where I could change KSM to function properly. Could you help me with this, please?

EDIT:
I think I found your code in start_koreader.sh:

if [ $(grep -c  'KOREADER_DIR=/mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader' $koreadersh) -gt 0 ]; then
    sed -i "s:KOREADER_DIR=/mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader:KOREADER_DIR=\$(dirname \$0):" $koreadersh
fi

However, this shouldn't work on the new koreader.sh. So I am a bit at a loss, here.

EDIT EDIT:

I've changed koreader.sh back, changed your code to contain two sed expressions and now it updates:

if [ $(grep -c  'KOREADER_DIR=/mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader' $koreadersh) -gt 0 ]; then
    sed -i "s:KOREADER_DIR=/mnt/onboard/.kobo/koreader:KOREADER_DIR=\$(dirname \$0):" $koreadersh
    sed -i "s:cd /mnt/onboard/.kobo:cd \$(dirname \$KOREADER_DIR):" $koreadersh
fi

Still don't get what triggered the change of the new koreader.sh. Your grep command shouldn't have found that string anymore, right?