New Kobo Firmware "April 2019" v4.13.12638

[PhyrePhox]

Sorry if I'm thick but I have read this thread and I can't seem to get it clear: is there a workaround for Kobo devices with latest firmware not updating reading position in Calibre 3.40.1?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by PhyrePhox

Sorry if I'm thick but I have read this thread and I can't seem to get it clear: is there a workaround for Kobo devices with latest firmware not updating reading position in Calibre 3.40.1?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no issue with either fetching the reading position from the device or setting it on the device with calibre 3.40.1 and firmware v4.13.12638. The fetch is definitely working as I use it at least once a day. I don't do the setting as often, but, I have done it for a book or two in the last week.

The problems with the driver that exist are to do with the metadata update and only affect kepubs, and then only seem to affect hyphenation in the books.

If there is another problem that you are seeing, can you post details or point to an existing post?

[PhyrePhox]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If there is another problem that you are seeing, can you post details or point to an existing post?

Sorry, i thought what I am seeing was "the problem" with the metadata updates.

I have a Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2, firmware 4.13.12638. Reading progress on the book I am reading stopped updating in Calibre 3.40.1 right around the time of the firmware update. This has been working well in the past, on the Aura and on the Forma that's currently in the shop for a backlight repair. I have also tried sync with the beta of Calibre 3.40.5 but it also does not update reading progress.
The book is an ePub and has the extension .epub on the computer, but it has the extension .kepub.epub on the device.
I'm not sure what other information to give, or where to look for the solution.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by PhyrePhox

Sorry, i thought what I am seeing was "the problem" with the metadata updates.

I have a Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2, firmware 4.13.12638. Reading progress on the book I am reading stopped updating in Calibre 3.40.1 right around the time of the firmware update. This has been working well in the past, on the Aura and on the Forma that's currently in the shop for a backlight repair. I have also tried sync with the beta of Calibre 3.40.5 but it also does not update reading progress.
The book is an ePub and has the extension .epub on the computer, but it has the extension .kepub.epub on the device.
I'm not sure what other information to give, or where to look for the solution.

As stated above, I am having no issues with fetching the reading status for books from my devices. This function has not changed recently, and nothing in the firmware has changed that affects this.

This is a function of the Kobo Utilities plugin, so support for it should be in the thread dedicated to the plugin in the calibre forum. But, the simplest answer is that the plugins configuration has been changed to not automatically start the job to fetch the reading status. If you have a profile for each device, then it could be that the id used to match the device has changed. The id comes from the file "driveinfo.calibre" that calibre puts in the root directory of the device. If this file is removed, calibre will recreate it with a new id. If this is the case, the automatic job to fetch the reading positions won't be started.

The other common problem is that the book on the device hasn't matched to a book in the library. If this is the case, you will need to fix the metadata that is causing the book no to match, or do the manual match in the device list. In this case, the automatic job to fetch the book status will be started, it just won't find any changes.

[PhyrePhox]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If you have a profile for each device, then it could be that the id used to match the device has changed. The id comes from the file "driveinfo.calibre" that calibre puts in the root directory of the device. If this file is removed, calibre will recreate it with a new id. If this is the case, the automatic job to fetch the reading positions won't be started.

So, for instance, if your main reader gets sent in for repair, and you dust off your previous device that has synced with this Calibre library before, but has since been factory reset, and you copy over the couple books you are are currently reading while assuming the profile is correct, and this all happens coincidentally when a new firmware is shipped and there is talk of compatibility problems, so you conclude it's the device driver, and start bothering the wrong developer?

Thank you for your assistance, the bookmark is sync-ing properly now, and automatically.

[Quoth]

I can confirm that now on the last 3 books read that both the position % in annotations and the % in the footer, if chapter progress is selected, is definitely the entire book progress. The books do have every chapter indexed in the separate TOC, so it's not a case of books with no chapters in them?
H2O original.
I've not tested the N905C Kobo Touch yet.

[Quoth]

The Kobo Touch with this Firmware does the same.

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

I can confirm that now on the last 3 books read that both the position % in annotations and the % in the footer, if chapter progress is selected, is definitely the entire book progress. The books do have every chapter indexed in the separate TOC, so it's not a case of books with no chapters in them?
H2O original.
I've not tested the N905C Kobo Touch yet.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

I can confirm that now on the last 3 books read that both the position % in annotations and the % in the footer, if chapter progress is selected, is definitely the entire book progress. The books do have every chapter indexed in the separate TOC, so it's not a case of books with no chapters in them?
H2O original.

Which is how it has always been for epubs. The chapter progress only works for kepubs. And the setting does have a note about this fact, though it doesn't explicitly state which formats the chapter progress does work for.

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

The Kobo Touch with this Firmware does the same.

I'd actually be much more worried if the Touch did something different. The firmware, at the same version, is the same across all the devices. The differences are in hardware specific things (lights, resolution, landscape...), plus one or two high-level function differences. And these are usually added to a new device and then added to others later. Overdrive borrowing support is the only thing that fits into this category at the moment.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Which is how it has always been for epubs. The chapter progress only works for kepubs. And the setting does have a note about this fact, though it doesn't explicitly state which formats the chapter progress does work for.

You are missing the point, I mention the chapter progress on GUI because I wondered was it related to the new more serious bug on the annotation. It used to give chapter progress for epubs, not just kepubs. It's now book progress.
I'm not interested in either page numbers or chapter progress % on the GUI when reading, only book % progress makes sense. The Slider on the navigator though uses page when % would be better. I am interested in chapter % progress in annotations. It used to do it. Then too, the GUI used to display how many annotations added and be able to ONLY display partially read/opened books on the Home screen.
There have been a couple of improvements and bug fixes since I bought the Kobo H2O, but overall it's going backwards in usability and I get the impression little testing/feedback on GUI, almost none on epubs or annotations.

I've found Kobo awkward to contact and in deep denial about bugs and negative GUI changes.

Yet a gain the tone of your post suggests anything rubbish about Kobo's software handling of epubs is fine because they do the management of the proprietary kepubs better. It's either malicious, careless or lazy, the aspects that don't work on epubs but do work on kepubs. Kobo are not Amazon and even how Amazon is building their monopoly using their proprietary format (a moving target), dishonest review system and Kindle Unlimited which devalues books and KDP Select which cheats content providers and insists on a monopoly. I don't understand why Kobo seems to have an ambition to copy all the worst aspects of Sony, Microsoft and Amazon behaviour.

The only way Kobo can stay relevant is to offer the best reading experience, best GUI, best library management, best Annotation. Also drop the spam / adverts and analytics and their own proprietary format. Complain to competition authorities about Amazon. The Lie on Amazon's ebook selling pages: "Read on any device", Amazon means ONLY general purpose mass market phones, tablets, PCs, BUT NOT anyone else's ereader.

I know Kobo has a shop. Look at how stupid B&N are making the Nook. Sony stupidly tied the existence of their ereaders to their shop, thus decided to ditch the entire product line because the shop was doing badly. Now they only have the high end PDF only Digital Paper.

Unless competitors to the eink Kindle do it far better and more open than Amazon there will only be the Kindle and maybe when eink competition is gone only the LCD Fire to save costs, a crippled cheap Android tablet, not a real ereader at all.

Despite the hope of Mirasol, the eink is the only tech surviving as a decent ereader tech. It's a pity Amazon was allowed to buy the Philips "eink" like tech, I think Sony owned it for a short while.

The future of eink based readers is fragile.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

You are missing the point, I mention the chapter progress on GUI because I wondered was it related to the new more serious bug on the annotation. It used to give chapter progress for epubs, not just kepubs. It's now book progress.

No, I got your point. It was clear. You were reporting that the progress in annotations was per-book and the progress in the footer was per-book. And this was the case even if you set the progress to per-chapter. You were clear about that. And, while you didn't explicitly state it, I took it that you were reporting that this had changed from a previous firmware version.

So, no, I don't think I missed the point.

But, you apparently missed my point, so I'll state it clearly: You are wrong.

The progress for epubs has always been shown for the whole book. This has not changed. This has NEVER changed. And it definitely hasn't changed in this firmware version. To be clear "this firmware version" refers to version 4.13.12638. On any Kobo device that it has been released for.

I did also state that the settings page where you make this choice does state that the per-chapter progress doesn't work for all books and, to quote it, "Book progress will be used instead".

If you think I am wrong, and that in a previous firmware version per-chapter progress was used for epubs, please tell me what firmware version it was.

I'm not interested in either page numbers or chapter progress % on the GUI when reading, only book % progress makes sense. The Slider on the navigator though uses page when % would be better. I am interested in chapter % progress in annotations. It used to do it.

Sorry, but, as I have said several times now, you are wrong. The epub reader has never shown per-chapter reading progress. It has never shown chapter progress for an annotation made in an epub. But, of course, there was that six months after you installed the KoboTouchExtended driver without making any sort of attempt to work out what it did. For those six months you were reading kepubs without realising it (and complaining about bugs that no-one else could reproduce because you stated that you were reading epubs). If you thought you were seeing per-chapter progress at that time when reading, it is because you weren't reading epubs.

Then too, the GUI used to display how many annotations added and be able to ONLY display partially read/opened books on the Home screen.

Yes, the home screen has changed. And I am on record here as stating that I don't like it and much preferred the older tiled screen. And I stated that here quite a few times. And I told Kobo what I thought of it. And I got the response I expected: There are a lot of people who found the tiled home screen ugly, confusing and hard to use. Why did I expect that? Because it exactly reflected my experience here. I spent a lot of time explaining to people how the tiled home screen worked. And when the current home screen started appearing, there were quite a few people here who stated they loved it. Because it was cleaner and easier to use.

There have been a couple of improvements and bug fixes since I bought the Kobo H2O, but overall it's going backwards in usability and I get the impression little testing/feedback on GUI, almost none on epubs or annotations.

I've found Kobo awkward to contact and in deep denial about bugs and negative GUI changes.

Well, I have found the opposite. I have reported bugs in different ways and I know they have been fixed. As to disagreement on how the GUI works, I have also expressed opinions to Kobo, but with much less success. In this case, I know they have people working on the UI experience and most of the things are a matter of disagreeing on the choice of how to do things.

And what is hard about clicking a button on a website labelled "Feedback"? Or is the problem that you then need to make a decision about what sort of feedback to provide?

Yet a gain the tone of your post suggests anything rubbish about Kobo's software handling of epubs is fine because they do the management of the proprietary kepubs better.

Please stop putting words in my mouth. Again. I am making no such suggestion. And I try to avoid expressing an opinion on this as I have no interest in getting into an argument about something I can have no real impact on.

What I will do is make a statement about how it currently works, or worked in the past. That is all that I have done here. There is absolutely no intention of saying whether one or the other way is better.

It's either malicious, careless or lazy, the aspects that don't work on epubs but do work on kepubs. Kobo are not Amazon and even how Amazon is building their monopoly using their proprietary format (a moving target), dishonest review system and Kindle Unlimited which devalues books and KDP Select which cheats content providers and insists on a monopoly. I don't understand why Kobo seems to have an ambition to copy all the worst aspects of Sony, Microsoft and Amazon behaviour.

OK, there is one statement I tend to make about what Kobo does: It is up to them. It is their software and hardware. There are things I would like them to do (for example, a series list). But, in the end it is their decision on what to implement. I don't pretend to like some of their decisions understand some of their decisions, but, will occasionally try to guess.

There is one issue with offering the same functions for epubs as they do for kepubs. To support the Adobe DRM, they have to use the Adobe RMSDK. Needing to use that limits them on some of the things they can do.

As to the rest, I am completely uninterested in going there. Especially in this thread. This thread is for discussion of a particular firmware version. If you want to express your opinion of Kobo, or what they should or shouldn't do, start a thread for it. Then those of us who are not interested, can easily ignore it. Or drop in when we want a good laugh.

[Quoth]

I don't care about the fact that it's always shown the the progress for the entire book on the GUI, that's fine.

It's annotations that are now wrong. They DID show chapter progress. It's called Chapter progress. There is no setting to change it. The so called Chapter Progress IN ANNOTATIONS is now book progress. So barely better than the Kindle PW3 which has far superior text selection.

It's wrong. Stop telling me I'm stupid and excusing Kobo's sloppy testing. There is a huge difference between explaining how it works and implying "it's always been like that and it's your fault for not using Kobo feedback. So you're stupid for daring to complain."

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

It's annotations that are now wrong. They DID show chapter progress. It's called Chapter progress. There is no setting to change it. The so called Chapter Progress IN ANNOTATIONS is now book progress.

Which firmware are you talking about when you state the bit I bolded above was true? It certainly isn't the previous one (4.12.12111) because I just tested it myself on a Forma.

As far as I'm aware, progress within a chapter has never worked anywhere for epubs, only kepubs - no matter what your Settings are. Nobody is required to be happy that kepubs get more TLC from Kobo, but your complaint is irrelevant to this thread which is supposed to be about things specific to 4.13.12638.

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

So barely better than the Kindle PW3 which has far superior text selection.

That may be true, but if ease of text selection and chapter progress is so important to you it surprises me that you're so dismissive of kepubs which are noticeably better at those things.

[JeanPierre]

I suspect I may regret wading into... whatever this is that's going on right now, but I am curious about something.

I make a lot of annotations when I read. If I hold my finger on a book on the home screen to bring up the menu, and then select annotations, I can see my annotations (highlighted text, bookmarks and notes) for the book I selected. It shows me a location for the annotation as a percentage into the chapter (I exclusively use kepubs).

@FrustratedReader, is this what you're referring to that has changed for epubs between firmware releases?
Does it now show the location as a percentage into the book?
Does it still show the chapter name at all?
Does it still refer to a percentage into the chapter even though the percentage is now actually the percentage into the whole book?
Does this impact how you export annotations via Calibre?

Is this annotations list the same thing that everyone else is saying has not changed?
Could there be something about a particular epub that makes this location percentage unreliable and is causing all this confusion?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

I don't care about the fact that it's always shown the the progress for the entire book on the GUI, that's fine.

Then why did you make a fuss about this in your posts?

It's annotations that are now wrong. They DID show chapter progress. It's called Chapter progress. There is no setting to change it. The so called Chapter Progress IN ANNOTATIONS is now book progress. So barely better than the Kindle PW3 which has far superior text selection.

And here you are wrong. I'll repeat is loudly so you can here:

NO FIRMWARE HAS EVER SHOWED PER-CHAPTER PROGRESS FOR WHERE ANNOTATIONS ARE MADE IN EPUBS. NONE. NEVER.

Yes, Kobo displays the word "Chapter" in that place. But, it has NEVER been the percentage in chapter for an epub.

If you truly believe it was different, tell me what firmware version it was, I'll install it on one of my devices and test it. And, as it is so important to you, you can downgrade to that version, and takes some screenshots to show it.

It's wrong.

What's wrong? Other than your report of a change in behaviour in this firmware?

Stop telling me I'm stupid and excusing Kobo's sloppy testing.

I have made this statement to you far to many times, and so far, you have never even tried to do this: If you are going to accuse me of something, please post proof. Post where I have excused Kobo's testing processes.

There is a huge difference between explaining how it works and implying "it's always been like that and it's your fault for not using Kobo feedback. So you're stupid for daring to complain."

Well that one is a mix of true and BS. Yes, I think if you don't report a problem to Kobo, and expect it to be fixed, then you are being stupid. Especially if it is important to you.

As to complaining, I think I've expressed more displeasure when people don't complain. I want people to report problems. But, I also want the report to include enough detail to understand what the problem is. And be accurate. That way others can reproduce it, and, if possible, come up with a workaround until it does get fixed. I do get a bit tired of the same problem being reported as a newly discovered problem. Especially when it is has already been heavily discussed earlier in the same thread the problem is being reported in.

Of course, the other problem with this statement, is that, in this case, it "always has been like that".

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by davidfor

NO FIRMWARE HAS EVER SHOWED PER-CHAPTER PROGRESS FOR WHERE ANNOTATIONS ARE MADE IN EPUBS. NONE. NEVER.

showed

Previously (all firmware up to this) showed the number and name of the current chapter (epub), it's not about %, it's about the fact that the current chapter was previously displayed, and now ALWAYS is the first.

The same goes for the content, previously the CURRENT chapter was noted, now ALWAYS the first.