Kobo Bug thread

[doubleshuffle]

Muttly, the way you go about insulting people who are spending a lot of time trying to help you is rather unpleasant. Why don't you go fix your device yourself and tell us all about it when you're done?

I certainly have no claim to any expertise on how any of the stuff inside a reader works, but I can assure you from experience that making internal font names agree to a certain pattern (do a forum search for that, I'm not going to do that for you) can fix their behaviour on Kobo readers. No idea why, but it does. Though it probably won't fix what has been happening on your device, which is unique, as far as anybody here knows (and you have been told a dozen times.) This has nothing to do with folks being fanboys here. It's just a plain fact.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Muttly

This is where you show your almost complete ignorance of font technicalities.

Whether a font should work or not is irrelevant. The real world is different. I have seen fonts work on one system and not another because one system did not like some setting(s) in the font. ADE 1.7.2 would not display a font if a certain setting was used. ADE 2.0.1 fixed that. That is but one example.

If you don't want to listen to me, that's fine. You can continue to have font problems because you insist all font settings are irrelevant to all programs that display fonts.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Muttly, the way you go about insulting people who are spending a lot of time trying to help you is rather unpleasant.

A couple are not trying to help me, they are trying - entirely pointlessly, it's a very minor problem - to deflect the blame from the Kobo to somewhere else.

In fact, they are just wasting my time, their time, and anyone else who is daft enough to read all this drivel because they are missing one VITALLY important point.

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Anybody with a reasonable grasp of computer diagnostics would make the following inferences:

1) The font files are not formatted in a way in which the Kobo cannot use them because it did, indeed, use them to render two books.

2) It is not some odd interaction between the book and the font file because when the Kobo fails to use the font it fails on the two books which previously rendered correctly.

In fact, my guess is that the problem is not related to fonts per se, but to something else that has gone awry within my device.

I certainly have no claim to any expertise on how any of the stuff inside a reader works, but I can assure you from experience that making internal font names agree to a certain pattern (do a forum search for that, I'm not going to do that for you) can fix their behaviour on Kobo readers. No idea why, but it does. Though it probably won't fix what has been happening on your device, which is unique, as far as anybody here knows (and you have been told a dozen times.) This has nothing to do with folks being fanboys here. It's just a plain fact.

Except that:

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Sorry to repeat myself but this point has been made repeatedly and either people haven't bothered to read it or they are unable to make the logical inferences appropriate.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Whether a font should work or not is irrelevant. The real world is different. I have seen fonts work on one system and not another because one system did not like some setting(s) in the font. ADE 1.7.2 would not display a font if a certain setting was used. ADE 2.0.1 fixed that. That is but one example.

What you say above may well be true. However it is not relevant in this case because:

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Anybody with a reasonable grasp of computer diagnostics would make the following inferences:

1) The font files are not formatted in a way in which the Kobo cannot use them because it did, indeed, use them to render two books.

2) It is not some odd interaction between the book and the font file because when the Kobo fails to use the font it fails on the two books which previously rendered correctly.

If you don't want to listen to me, that's fine. You can continue to have font problems because you insist all font settings are irrelevant to all programs that display fonts.

Except that isn't what I said. I said that it was not going to make a difference in this case for the reasons stated above.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Muttly

A couple are not trying to help me, they are trying - entirely pointlessly, it's a very minor problem - to deflect the blame from the Kobo to somewhere else.

In fact, they are just wasting my time, their time, and anyone else who is daft enough to read all this drivel because they are missing one VITALLY important point.

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Anybody with a reasonable grasp of computer diagnostics would make the following inferences:

1) The font files are not formatted in a way in which the Kobo cannot use them because it did, indeed, use them to render two books.

2) It is not some odd interaction between the book and the font file because when the Kobo fails to use the font it fails on the two books which previously rendered correctly.

In fact, my guess is that the problem is not related to fonts per se, but to something else that has gone awry within my device.



Except that:

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Sorry to repeat myself but this point has been made repeatedly and either people haven't bothered to read it or they are unable to make the logical inferences appropriate.

May I draw your attention to the fact that I wrote: "Though it probably won't fix what has been happening on your device, which is unique, as far as anybody here knows (and you have been told a dozen times.)" Seriously, we are all well aware that something about your device is very wonky in a very unusual fashion. Unlike you, we are all able to read. Bye.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

May I draw your attention to the fact that I wrote: "Though it probably won't fix what has been happening on your device, which is unique, as far as anybody here knows (and you have been told a dozen times.)" Seriously, we are all well aware that something about your device is very wonky in a very unusual fashion.

You should be aware of it, because I have said as much, and mentioned that I don't actually believe it is a font problem per se. Still, well done for telling me something I have already stated here.

Unlike you, we are all able to read.

That has to be the funniest 'shoot yourself in the foot' comment I have ever seen.

If you had actually taken the trouble to read and understand what you had read, you would see that what I wrote was in explanation as to why I was being less than normally courteous to some people here.

They are the ones who are wittering ion incessantly about font files when I stated way back that I was happy to wait for the new firmware, do a factory reset, and reload.

But, of course, you, as well as a couple of others, are too intent on being a know all so never read that and continue to make criticisms that are not actually relevant.

[Muttly]

Just to knock this "it's the font file, it's the font file, the Russians are coming, it's the font file" nonsense on the head once and for all:

1) I have now deleted all Bookerly files.
2) Done a hard restart
3) Copied the Bookerly back
4) Done a hard restart

Bookerly is now working correctly across all books I tried.

As I suspected, the problem was not related to the actual font files themselves. Some internal state in the Kobo was screwed.

[doubleshuffle]

.....

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Muttly

Just to knock this "it's the font file, it's the font file, the Russians are coming, it's the font file" nonsense on the head once and for all:

1) I have now deleted all Bookerly files.
2) Done a hard restart
3) Copied the Bookerly back
4) Done a hard restart

Bookerly is now working correctly across all books I tried.

As I suspected, the problem was not related to the actual font files themselves. Some internal state in the Kobo was screwed.

Given what you did, I would surmise that the fonts on the Kobo were in fact corrupted and replacing them with a good copy fixed the problem.

[doubleshuffle]

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by Muttly

As I suspected, the problem was not related to the actual font files themselves. Some internal state in the Kobo was screwed.

I think it's related to the font filenames. They have to follow a specific scheme, for me it looks like this, I use Linux Libertine font.

readingFontFamily=Linux Libertine
11d4fa539d6b57ce79865ebd9ee78b14  Linux Libertine-Bold.ttf
549224b54100debe150bf1d402ff842f  Linux Libertine-BoldItalic.ttf
70eb12d644ec36f58af4a396d0c973ee  Linux Libertine-Italic.ttf
d772b5b67a27a0c8b2602bdd3fe1dd9f  Linux Libertine.ttf

It does stop working when I change the filenames. That's when I randomly get all bold cursive. It still shows "Linux Libertine" in the font selection menu but it uses the wrong files.

This is what I changed them to and after a reboot, I got all bold-italic:

549224b54100debe150bf1d402ff842f  10920-23529.ttf
11d4fa539d6b57ce79865ebd9ee78b14  27130-30595.ttf
70eb12d644ec36f58af4a396d0c973ee  30454-28191.ttf
d772b5b67a27a0c8b2602bdd3fe1dd9f  9268-26437.ttf

And in this random file name example, the bold italic one was the one that happened to be first when sorting filenames in alphabetical order... changing the 9268 ... to 0009268 to make it alphabetical first, that's the one that got picked instead.

Using the correct filenames (AND a reboot), it uses the correct font and display italics, bolds, etc. correctly, if they should occur in the book.

This is also the naming scheme you find in the firmware itself

8117d00e10c3b33623aea3db654c8894  Amasis-Bold.ttf
6785c82cdcbc88916945660adc11a12c  Amasis-BoldItalic.ttf
f43f1fd3b566f0c149f5789480ee2798  Amasis-Italic.ttf
e184532d038cb3e0a33ff7c4c89f4747  Amasis.ttf
f4c75078b50625f0d3657df32583c593  Avenir-Bold.ttf
3771305c9d7694a0aee0d771ca27cfe7  Avenir-BoldItalic.ttf
a4a073da0e73588b3a42a8f0fff437bd  Avenir-Italic.ttf
ceb692a59bb69208cb5acce0e34096c3  Avenir.ttf

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Muttly

A couple are not trying to help me, they are trying - entirely pointlessly, it's a very minor problem - to deflect the blame from the Kobo to somewhere else.

In fact, they are just wasting my time, their time, and anyone else who is daft enough to read all this drivel because they are missing one VITALLY important point.

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Anybody with a reasonable grasp of computer diagnostics would make the following inferences:

1) The font files are not formatted in a way in which the Kobo cannot use them because it did, indeed, use them to render two books.

2) It is not some odd interaction between the book and the font file because when the Kobo fails to use the font it fails on the two books which previously rendered correctly.

In fact, my guess is that the problem is not related to fonts per se, but to something else that has gone awry within my device.



Except that:

The font files worked correctly whilst I read two books. They then stopped working. At this point they no longer worked on the two books for which they previous had worked.

Sorry to repeat myself but this point has been made repeatedly and either people haven't bothered to read it or they are unable to make the logical inferences appropriate.

You are probably referring to me. Please go back and reread my posts. At no time have I said there is not a bug. At no time have I said that what you are seeing isn't happening. Hell, I haven't even denied that Kobo firmware probably has more bugs than the Kindle firmware. I can't judge that because I have never used a Kindle device outside a shop. Also, I'm pretty sure that I have only been rude are insulting in only one post. And that was in direct response to your rude and very insulting statements.

What I have been trying to work out is what actually is happening. That is, what is happening beyond the obvious statement that the font is not being used properly. And why it is happening. And can you get it working again. And, most importantly of all, get detailed information so that when you report the problem to Kobo, you will be able to make it clear what is happening and hopefully make it easier for them to fix. That is important as since you are the only person who has so far reported the problem, it will probably be hard for them to reproduce.

All this is why I asked the questions about the font files. I wanted to know if they were put onto the device in the manner the firmware expects. I wanted to know if they were still there. And all you can do is state that they worked before, they work under Windows, that you know more about fonts the rest of us (I'm perfectly willing to concede that), that you know more about software development than the rest of us, and in particular me (I've expressed my opinion on that) and that because things work in a particular way elsewhere, they must work the same on the Kobo devices. What you have not done is to is try and work out what is actually going on.

Lets look at one of those claims: The work in Windows. Great. But, that doesn't mean the fonts have to work in the Kobo devices. The two things use different font engines. Windows has the benefit of large amounts of disk, RAM and CPU to do the rendering. The Kobo devices have a lot less. Because of that, the developers have to make choices. They take shortcuts such as using common file names. They might choose not to support particular font types or options. And the bugs will be different.

Now, while I have been slowly typing this, I see that you have finally tried replacing the font files, and, no surprise to me, things are working properly. Of course, you have decided that it's something in the software and not a fault in the font files. I have no idea. But, did you check the files on the device just in case something had happened to them? Or kept a copy so you cold put them back and see if they still don't work?


Yes, I know this post is a complete waste of my time. You are just going to call me a fanboy. That I am being unhelpful, have no idea what I am talking about, don't know what is going on and have no interest in actually helping. Or something like that. We'll just have to disagree on that.

But, I'll repeat my earlier plea: Please do not use calibre with your Kobo device.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

But, I'll repeat my earlier plea: Please do not use calibre with you Kobo device.

I've got it now, sorry, I'm slow...

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Using the correct filenames (AND a reboot), it uses the correct font and display italics, bolds, etc. correctly, if they should occur in the book.

This is true but in addition, for kepubs, you also need to make sure the Panose Weight settings have values the Kobo software will accept. Otherwise, as you already noted for Bookerly normal Italic renders as BoldItalic. This has also proved to be true for some of the Windows fonts I've transferred to various Kobos. So far, fixing the panose has always solved the kepub problem for me.

I don't think the panose info matters if you're only reading standard epubs. There is a post about it somewhere on the Kobo forum. It was probably at least a year ago.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given what you did, I would surmise that the fonts on the Kobo were in fact corrupted and replacing them with a good copy fixed the problem.

Agreed.

And/or some helper file was corrupt and got rebuilt.