Firmware 4.17.13651

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Even though Amazon ports some newer features to some older Kindles, it seems Kobo ports everything back as far as they possibly can.

Well, Amazon actually does exactly the same. My 5-year-old Basic Kindle got the newest firmware update only recently. So there's no difference between Amazon and Kobo in that regard.

[NiLuJe]

I haven't tried it on the Forma, but I can definitely confirm that it's pulling stuff from hidden folders on my H2O .

It actually did it in a fairly strange way (I'm assuming because of the terrible I/O perf of the H2O, and the massive amount of crap I happen to have on my H2O behind dot folders ^^): instead of picking it up in the usual "Importing content" screen after an unplug, the screen showed up almost a minute later, while I was browsing the Library...

Sidebar: While I can understand showing the path, opting for an absolute path (custom Linux mountpoints and all) seems a bit of a weird decision? Probably ought to be relative to /mnt/onboard or /mn/sd, with something else (an icon?) used to differentiate internal from external storage...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I've installed this firmware, and as of yet, it seems everything is working, at least for KEPUBs. I like the knew progress options, even though I think the "Reading Progress" menu could have had its own button, and the header and footer could have a bigger font in the space provided.

I like the fact that my three year old KA1 still gets the features of the newer readers such as the Forma and Libra. Even though Amazon ports some newer features to some older Kindles, it seems Kobo ports everything back as far as they possibly can.

Kindles prior to the PW (or is it PW2), Kindles are frozen in features. There's noting new happening with them.

Every Kobo minus the Mini has the new firmware officially available.

[anacreon]

All in all, I like the new top/bottom of the pages. Yes I'd prefer the title at the top and the chapters at the bottom, but their sizes are small enough to not disturb from the page. And I like that the windows for the fonts and the chapters graph are more compact.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, Amazon actually does exactly the same. My 5-year-old Basic Kindle got the newest firmware update only recently. So there's no difference between Amazon and Kobo in that regard.

Then it has changed. I only saw one feature update for my KPW1 (from 2012) since the day I bought it, and it's stuck there. Not that it's a problem; apart from customizing the reading experience (book display, dictionaries and reading progress) I don't use any of the features; not with Kindle, or Kobo.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

I haven't tried it on the Forma, but I can definitely confirm that it's pulling stuff from hidden folders on my H2O .

I asked. This change is deliberate. Apparently there have been complaints over the years that they don't import books from these directories. At the moment, only the .kobo, and probably the .kobo-images, are not searched.

It actually did it in a fairly strange way (I'm assuming because of the terrible I/O perf of the H2O, and the massive amount of crap I happen to have on my H2O behind dot folders ^^): instead of picking it up in the usual "Importing content" screen after an unplug, the screen showed up almost a minute later, while I was browsing the Library...

The timing of the importing contents changed a while ago. It used to be before the home screen was displayed. Now it is after the home screen is displayed. And while I'd never thought about it, how it takes probably dependent on the number of files on the disk.

[NiLuJe]

@davidfor: Thanks for asking!

I'll double-check if that blacklist is hard-coded, or if we can get away with using .kobo-adds or something .

EDIT: Yup, hard-coded. .kobo/addons it is, then (which does work, and is properly ignored).
Off to fix my rpaths, then .

----

Yep, makes sense, that's what the behavior implied, but good to know it's by design .

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I asked. This change is deliberate. Apparently there have been complaints over the years that they don't import books from these directories.

I can't believe anyone would like it, much less need such a change... For what?

Let's ask here, are there those who complained and asked?

It's a trash change and the best option is to return it all back

[IanScuffling]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

I encountered this as well. It pulled in a bunch of images from an old install of the Plato reader that I thought I had deleted.

It pulled in screensaver images as books for me. Weird.

[NiLuJe]

@davidfor: Another question, since I've just remembered why we weren't putting stuff inside .kobo to begin with: it used to get (recursively) deleted in some circumstances (account reset? Database crash? I don't exactly recall, unfortunately :/).

Does that ring a bell? Is it still relevant?

[Frenzie]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

I haven't tried it on the Forma, but I can definitely confirm that it's pulling stuff from hidden folders on my H2O .

Ick, I explicitly have all my stuff in hidden folders so that Nickel doesn't take half an hour (or more!) if I should happen to use USB on it. This idiotic scanning business is horrifically broken by design.

Edit
Unless something has rather significantly improved since 4.5, which took ~25 minutes to scan a mere 500 MB of content. But frankly the fact that it takes 20-30 seconds for just a few documents doesn't lead me to believe it has…

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Okay, now I don't know whether to laugh or cry.. I thought I would try searching in a Epub book that does not have 1 Toc entry per file, (the bug supposedly fixed in 4.15.),, the Kobo can not go to the search result... it spits out a DRM error!

If that wasn't enough, the bug that causes the Kobo to forget what page your on when you exit the epub is still there.. so now *both* Epub bugs are in effect!

I can't address the first bug, but the second bug does not appear to manifest itself on my Aura. I opened several epub files in succession, and it "remembered" the previous page number every time.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Thargor

This is crazy and the reason I can't update unless we get a patch to fix them, what was the thinking here? I have never seen any book do this so why would Kobo think their users would want it this way?

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that it is due to the new progress bar being at the bottom. The Progress bar tracks total pages in the book, so I suppose they thought it would make sense to keep it together.

I'd prefer the chapter info remain at the bottom myself. But I can understand why they changed it, if my guess is correct.

I haven't updated yet because I'm waiting on the patches. But when I do I'm planning on leaving the header and progress bar on and turning off the footer.

[RichSz]

Noob question: Is there a downside to manually updating your reader? Any advantages to just waiting for the OTA update?

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by RichSz

Noob question: Is there a downside to manually updating your reader? Any advantages to just waiting for the OTA update?

The only advantage to waiting is that there’s a slight chance you can brick your device by manually updating incorrectly. I can’t recall the last time this happened to anyone on the forums, and I’ve manually updated my Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Aura One, and my Kobo Forma numerous times each, and have never had an issue.

I suppose if you use the patches waiting for the OTA update might push you past the point where they’re done so you’d be able to update and patch right away. But I don’t think the reading experience on 4.17 is at a point that it needs patches to be enjoyable. The patches just improve the experience.