Out of the Three New Readers we have gotten from B&N, Amazon and Kobo..

[Sirtel]

But your ramblings about various ereaders are always interesting.

I agree about the Kobo updates, from what I've read on MR. As to tweaking, I'm generally not the type who just keeps tweaking because s/he can. Once I've reached the perfect combination, I stop tweaking (except once in a while, to try new features or tricks). So I enjoy having lots of options, but am not really bothered by the "choice overload". I understand what you mean, though.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It kind of goes against consensus here, but I'm not a huge fan of Kobo's firmware... For me there's too many ways to tweak it — and, if it's tweakable I've got to tweak, and I can never quite "get it right."

I get what you're saying. But the stuff I like about Kobo's firmware is stuff that doesn't need patching. The patches are a bonus.

I don't like that half of the Nook home screen is links to their store. Kobo instead uses that space to list a collection and my books. And Kobo doesn't charge you an additional fee to remove ads from home and sleep screen

I like that Kobo recognizes books are part of a series and lists them as such in my library and a search on the series title brings up the books in the series.

I like that adding your own fonts is simple. You may not have advanced control without a patch, but (even though I do enable it) I rarely use the advanced font control.

I don't like that ligatures aren't enabled by default. (They aren't on Nook either, but still...)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't like that ligatures aren't enabled by default. (They aren't on Nook either, but still...)

Ligatures are enabled by default. You just have to read ePub.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I get what you're saying. But the stuff I like about Kobo's firmware is stuff that doesn't need patching. The patches are a bonus...
I like that adding your own fonts is simple. You may not have advanced control without a patch, but (even though I do enable it) I rarely use the advanced font control.

This is me, too. I like that it CAN be patched, even though out of the box (especially w/ the latest firmware), there's almost nothing that I feel the need to patch. I do have advanced font controls patched in, for the very rare times when I need them.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This is me, too. I like that it CAN be patched, even though out of the box (especially w/ the latest firmware), there's almost nothing that I feel the need to patch. I do have advanced font controls patched in, for the very rare times when I need them.

I couldn't manage without the advanced font controls patch, as I prefer custom fonts to the default ones, with at least some weight added. On Kindles the weight adjustment works with all custom fonts without any need for patching.

I also reduced the footer (don't use the header at all) via a patch, it's far too big otherwise. OTOH, I'm fine with the default margin and line-spacing options on my Libra.

And I definitely need the custom font sizes patch. My eyes aren't good and I like the font size to be just right. For the Nook I embedded the suitable font scale factor in the books, but it took a lot of time and experimenting to find the right size. I really don't feel like doing it again for the Kobo, when there's a patch for it. On my Kindles I installed the FONT_RAMP hack for custom sizes, one of the very few things you can install on a Kindle without jailbreaking.

Well, some people are just extremely OCD with their settings, others not so much.

As to the ads on Kindles, for me it's a non-issue, because I can't even buy a Kindle with ads. They only sell me ad-free models (admittedly, the price's a bit higher, but then I've never even looked how much the models with ads cost).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I get what you're saying. But the stuff I like about Kobo's firmware is stuff that doesn't need patching. The patches are a bonus.

It's not just patching. For example, I wanted to compare my Kobo Touch 2.0 with other readers on the latest book I was reading. So I hooked it up to my computer, opened Calibre and loaded the book. I didn't see it on the Kobo (my mistake there, forgot I had to go to my library) so I decided to delete the book and reload it. I got the message that read something like, "this version of the Kobo database is too new to be supported." So I updated Calibre to the newest version, reloaded Calibre and tried again... same message. Finally remembered how to set up the "do it anyway" option. But I run into this kind of thing with Kobo more than on my other readers. I think it's because they're updating all the time — I don't know for sure. It's not that huge, but it is a little frustrating.

EDIT: I also have issues with Obok. It will work on one book but not another, but I'm guessing that's probably something to do with Linux. Still, I use Linux and I don't have these issues with the Kindle DeDRM.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I think it's because they're updating all the time

I'm assuming you're making these comparisons with a Kindle the same vintage as the Kobo Touch 2.0, and of course Kindle hasn't updated its firmware at all in those 4 years?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I'm assuming you're making these comparisons with a Kindle the same vintage as the Kobo Touch 2.0, and of course Kindle hasn't updated its firmware at all in those 4 years?

I own (and still use) Kindle 3 Keyboards (2010), Kindle 4s (no touch, 2011), Kindle Touches (2011), a Kindle Basic 7th Generation (2014), a Kindle Paperwhite 2 (2013) and (now) a Kindle Voyage (2014). All are updated to the newest firmware available for each model. None of these have ever had trouble hooking up to Calibre. I have had trouble with Send to Kindle documents on my Kindle Basic (7th generation) and my Kindle Paperwhite 2.

The Kobo Touch (2015) is running 4.17.13651 software. (I think that's the newest available.)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the Kobo and Kindle don't need buttons on both sides as the screen can be rotated. And remember, Kobo has an 8" screen in the Forma.

Sure they do. They just don't know it...


YET

I've worn out (no longer consistent when tapped) the Right buttons on my K4NT.
I have selected the Inverted rotation on the 5-way and am using the left edge buttons (now on the right).

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Ligatures are enabled by default. You just have to read ePub.

Yeah, but I like the way kepub handles paging better. I'm not reading scholarly tomes. If the device says there are 15 pages, I want that to mean if I turn the page 15 times I will finish the chapter.

When I read an ePub on my Nook, the layout does look better (I'm assuming ePubs on Kobo display the same way they would on the Nook). But accurate paging is more important to me.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It's not just patching. For example, I wanted to compare my Kobo Touch 2.0 with other readers on the latest book I was reading. So I hooked it up to my computer, opened Calibre and loaded the book. I didn't see it on the Kobo (my mistake there, forgot I had to go to my library) so I decided to delete the book and reload it. I got the message that read something like, "this version of the Kobo database is too new to be supported." So I updated Calibre to the newest version, reloaded Calibre and tried again... same message. Finally remembered how to set up the "do it anyway" option. But I run into this kind of thing with Kobo more than on my other readers. I think it's because they're updating all the time — I don't know for sure. It's not that huge, but it is a little frustrating.

How did you get 4.17 on the Touch? Was it an over the air update or did you manually update? I don't think most Kobos are getting 4.17 yet, so if you jump the gun you have to expect you might be more on the ball than Calibre.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, but I like the way kepub handles paging better. I'm not reading scholarly tomes. If the device says there are 15 pages, I want that to mean if I turn the page 15 times I will finish the chapter.

When I read an ePub on my Nook, the layout does look better (I'm assuming ePubs on Kobo display the same way they would on the Nook). But accurate paging is more important to me.

I would hope an ePub on nook and Kobo would be similar.

I find paging to not be an issue at all on my H2O reading ePub. In fact, I prefer the ADE page numbers for the full book. Plus, I prefer the better layout. You now get chapter paging that works 1 page is one screen. so if it shows 1 OF 10, that's 10 screens.

ADE has better page numbering. This means that if you read on a nook or a Kobo you can have the exact same page numbers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

How did you get 4.17 on the Touch? Was it an over the air update or did you manually update? I don't think most Kobos are getting 4.17 yet, so if you jump the gun you have to expect you might be more on the ball than Calibre.

Yes, 4.17.13694 has been released. if your Kobo is using one of the affiliates that are now syncing and you sync, you'll get it. Or you can manually update to that version. See the thread on the new firmware. It includes links to download it if you want to manually update.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=323108

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

How did you get 4.17 on the Touch? Was it an over the air update or did you manually update? I don't think most Kobos are getting 4.17 yet, so if you jump the gun you have to expect you might be more on the ball than Calibre.

On the Touch 2.0 I did download and install the 4.17.13651 software. It's set to "Kobo" as an affiliate. My old Touch ("B") is set to the "beta" affiliate and automatically upgraded. (I haven't turned on the WiFi on the old Touch since then, so that's why it hasn't upgraded to the even newer 4.17.x firmware. At least I'm guessing it would update automatically.)

So both the old Touch ("B") and the new Touch 2.0 are using the same firmware. I'm using the newest version of Calibre (3.48). On the old Touch, no issues, no database errors. On the new Touch 2.0 I get the "Kobo database unsupported" message unless I click "use experimental settings." I guess I could try updating the 2.0 to the even newer 4.17.x firmware, but it looks like there has been some issues with it. It's not that huge of a deal, just an illustration of the "tweaking" and seemingly constant updates that I mentioned earlier.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

On the Touch 2.0 I did download and install the 4.17.13651 software. It's set to "Kobo" as an affiliate. My old Touch ("B") is set to the "beta" affiliate and automatically upgraded. (I haven't turned on the WiFi on the old Touch since then, so that's why it hasn't upgraded to the even newer 4.17.x firmware. At least I'm guessing it would update automatically.)

So both the old Touch ("B") and the new Touch 2.0 are using the same firmware. I'm using the newest version of Calibre (3.48). On the old Touch, no issues, no database errors. On the new Touch 2.0 I get the "Kobo database unsupported" message unless I click "use experimental settings." I guess I could try updating the 2.0 to the even newer 4.17.x firmware, but it looks like there has been some issues with it. It's not that huge of a deal, just an illustration of the "tweaking" and seemingly constant updates that I mentioned earlier.

It's the first version 4.17.x firmware that has the issues. That's why the second 4.17.x firmware was released so quickly.