Kobo future firmware feature request thread - Page 122

twowheels · 05-21-2020, 03:29 PM

One more datapoint. I have an epub (converted to kepub, don't remember kepubify or Calibre) that I purchased from LeanPub.com and it did the same thing, even after today's firmware update. It seems like doing anything with the book (such as changing the page from the cover image, closing and re-opening, etc) "fixes" the issue.

davidfor · 05-21-2020, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twowheels

Just happened again. I just opened a book that I bought on Amazon prior to receiving my Clara. It was originally an azw3 file, liberated, then converted to kepub via Calibre. When I opened the book (first time ever) and went to the TOC (via the button on the bottom left of the progress pop-up) it's on page 14 of 14.

Quote:

Originally Posted by twowheels

One more datapoint. I have an epub (converted to kepub, don't remember kepubify or Calibre) that I purchased from LeanPub.com and it did the same thing, even after today's firmware update. It seems like doing anything with the book (such as changing the page from the cover image, closing and re-opening, etc) "fixes" the issue.

Are you opening the book, the cover is displayed and then opening the ToC and it is on the last page of the ToC? Does this happen if you turn to another page before opening the ToC? And when it happens is there tick against any chapter in the ToC?

@jackie_w comments about the problems when there is not a one-to-one connection between the ToC and the internal files might be right. And some are constructed in a way that the cover is not the first file, but, will be opened. Between the spine, the guide and the NCX/NAV, different things will show a little different order. And if the cover is not in the ToC, I'm not sure what would happen.

I need to see an example. I haven't see this, and I fiddle to much with my books to have one in the state I think it needs to be in. And I'm not sure if I could create it. Anything you can point to that we can download? Or, you can use the ScrambleBook plugin to produce something that can be posted.

Smannesman · 05-30-2020, 05:11 AM

I'd love it if there was a 'Not Responding' popup that let me close the book when the reader freezes up. It's not a super common occurrence, but it'll still happen a few times a week.
And an option to 'Go to page: xxx' where you can just type in the number.
That slider is not very helpful or precise.

droopy · 06-01-2020, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smannesman

I'd love it if there was a 'Not Responding' popup that let me close the book when the reader freezes up. It's not a super common occurrence, but it'll still happen a few times a week.

This has has happened to me too. Why do Kobos freeze? We shouldn't be satisfied with getting a "Not Responding" alert. We should be satisfied only when our Kobo never ever freezes. Is there a way to figure out why our Kobos freeze so that we can minimize the occurrences, all the way down to zero occurrences?

compurandom · 06-02-2020, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smannesman

I'd love it if there was a 'Not Responding' popup that let me close the book when the reader freezes up.

That would indeed be amazing, at least for advanced users.
There's a background job that does do that, but without the dialog.
Its timeout was too short and it was killing things when they were slow but working, so now the timeout in it is so long that it rarely fires even when it should.

Quote:

And an option to 'Go to page: xxx' where you can just type in the number.

I may be mistaken, but this seems like a frequently requested feature.

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

Why do Kobos freeze?

poorly constructed or malformed epubs
epubs with crashy javascript in them (!!)
epubs with extremely large elements, like a huge TOC
other epub problems that might cause the kobo to run out of ram
crashing aging hardware
corrupted database, frequently caused by unplugging USB during a database update

I think the huge TOC issue may have been fixed or at least mostly mitigated in a firmware update within the last 4 months.

droopy · 06-02-2020, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

Why do Kobos freeze?

Quote:

Originally Posted by compurandom

poorly constructed or malformed epubs
epubs with crashy javascript in them (!!)
epubs with extremely large elements, like a huge TOC
other epub problems that might cause the kobo to run out of ram
crashing aging hardware
corrupted database, frequently caused by unplugging USB during a database update

I think the huge TOC issue may have been fixed or at least mostly mitigated in a firmware update within the last 4 months.

1a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs are poorly constructed or malformed?
1b. What's the easiest/fastest/best/automated way to fix a poorly constructed or malformed epub?

2. I assume that javascripts in epubs are useless, yes? Epubs are static documents and javascripts are dynamic stuff that are not supposed to be in epubs/ebooks in the first place, right? If these things are true:
2a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs have javascript in them?
2b. What's the fastest/best/easiest way of removing (automatically, preferably) javascripts from all epubs?

compurandom · 06-03-2020, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

1a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs are poorly constructed or malformed?

Idunno about best, but the easiest is to try to open it and worry when it takes more than 4 seconds.

[QUOTE]
1b. What's the easiest/fastest/best/automated way to fix a poorly constructed or malformed epub?
[/QUOTE

Except for javascript, the calibre conversion process seems to fix almost all of the problems that I've seen.

Quote:

2. I assume that javascripts in epubs are useless, yes? Epubs are static documents and javascripts are dynamic stuff that are not supposed to be in epubs/ebooks in the first place, right?

I don't know why javascript makes the kobo crash. It shoudln't be running it. It should just ignore it. Maybe the parser can't handle it or something, or maybe it is trying to execute it.

Quote:

2a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs have javascript in them?

I would think quality check could do that, but I don't know if it does.
But it's almost faster to just run the tools to delete it.

Quote:

2b. What's the fastest/best/easiest way of removing (automatically, preferably) javascripts from all epubs?

I might be mistaken but I think both Polish Books and Modify Epub have options to remove it. But I seem to sometimes find embedded javascript even after running those and end up removing it by hand.

Most epub's don't have javascript in them. But if you build an epub from a web page, more than likely, it does.

Oolong · 06-06-2020, 06:13 AM

My big request would be to fix the brightness controls (mine's an H2O). It would be better if the dimmest setting was about a tenth as bright as it is now, even if that means using greyscale to dim it - and crucially, the next step up from that should not be twice as bright. It ought to be something like an exponential scale, to match how human perception works.

I actually strongly dislike needing to use two controls for the brightness, too - as far as I'm concerned, I always want it as yellow as it can be when it's dim, and basically white when it's bright. I'd be happy to have a second control to tune this, but I really think brightness and hue should be automatically coupled.

My other big request would be synching up epub rendering with kepub rendering, as far as things like font sizes go. These days I just convert absolutely all epub files to kepub before transferring them, since the epub renderer was slow and flaky last time I tried, as well as having a completely different size of fonts by default. But it would be nice not to have to.

JSWolf · 06-06-2020, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

1a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs are poorly constructed or malformed?
1b. What's the easiest/fastest/best/automated way to fix a poorly constructed or malformed epub?

2. I assume that javascripts in epubs are useless, yes? Epubs are static documents and javascripts are dynamic stuff that are not supposed to be in epubs/ebooks in the first place, right? If these things are true:
2a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs have javascript in them?
2b. What's the fastest/best/easiest way of removing (automatically, preferably) javascripts from all epubs?

Install the epubcheck plugin. Load the ePub in the Calibre editor. Use the editor's checker and epubcheck to check all the ePub. Then you can use the editor to fix the errors.

As for removing javascript, install the Modify ePub plugin to dump all javascript.

MGlitch · 06-06-2020, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oolong

I actually strongly dislike needing to use two controls for the brightness, too - as far as I'm concerned, I always want it as yellow as it can be when it's dim, and basically white when it's bright. I'd be happy to have a second control to tune this, but I really think brightness and hue should be automatically coupled.

Please no. Do not remove or reduce functionality when that reductions goal can already be achieved with the current features.

droopy · 06-06-2020, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

1a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs are poorly constructed or malformed?
1b. What's the easiest/fastest/best/automated way to fix a poorly constructed or malformed epub?

2. I assume that javascripts in epubs are useless, yes? Epubs are static documents and javascripts are dynamic stuff that are not supposed to be in epubs/ebooks in the first place, right? If these things are true:
2a. What's the fastest/easiest/recommended/best/automatic way of figuring out which epubs have javascript in them?
2b. What's the fastest/best/easiest way of removing (automatically, preferably) javascripts from all epubs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Install the epubcheck plugin. Load the ePub in the Calibre editor. Use the editor's checker and epubcheck to check all the ePub. Then you can use the editor to fix the errors.

As for removing javascript, install the Modify ePub plugin to dump all javascript.

Hi 🐺 wolf,
I have access to computer next week so I plan on doing what you have suggested. But in the meantime can you answer a quick question. would the e pub check plug in check all of the epubs in my library or do I have to check them one by one because that would be very tedious as I have 3,000 books

JSWolf · 06-06-2020, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopy

Hi �� wolf,
I have access to computer next week so I plan on doing what you have suggested. But in the meantime can you answer a quick question. would the e pub check plug in check all of the epubs in my library or do I have to check them one by one because that would be very tedious as I have 3,000 books

One at a time in the editor. There is no way to check all those books in one go.

DNSB · 06-06-2020, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One at a time in the editor. There is no way to check all those books in one go.

You can run epubcheck from the command prompt and with a little batch file work, you can check all those books in one go. One rather long go⁠—epubcheck is not a speedy program.

I have a directory called epubcheck on my desktop with the batch file and epubcheck.jar plus epubcheck's lib directory The for loop scans through the directory (in this case %USERPROFILE\calibre\Intake points to my calibre intake library) returning any .epub files. The batch file echos the path/filename for the epub and any messages from epubcheck to a file called epubcheck.txt. The echo is needed since otherwise all I would see for an error-free file would the 3 lines telling me no errors were found. The "s around the %%f keeps me from having issues with spaces in the filepath/name string.

I saved the below to a file called checkepub.cmd

Code:

for /R %USERPROFILE%\calibre\Intake %%f in (*.epub) do (
echo "%%f" 1>>%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\epubcheck\epubcheck.txt 2>&1
java -jar epubcheck.jar "%%f" 1>>%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\epubcheck\epubcheck.txt 2>&1
)
pause

A quick scan through epubcheck.txt looking for "Check finished with errors" locates the error files.

Spoiler:

Code:

"C:\Users\David\calibre\Intake\Dave Heiland\Sigil User Guide (6734)\Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub" 
Validating using EPUB version 2.0.1 rules.
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(47,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(53,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(59,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(65,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(71,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(77,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(83,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"

Check finished with errors
Messages: 0 fatals / 7 errors / 0 warnings / 0 infos

EPUBCheck completed
"C:\Users\David\calibre\Intake\J. K. Rowling\The Ickabog (9199)\The Ickabog - J. K. Rowling.epub" 
Validating using EPUB version 2.0.1 rules.
No errors or warnings detected.
Messages: 0 fatals / 0 errors / 0 warnings / 0 infos

twowheels · 06-07-2020, 12:06 AM

Another firmware request came to mind the last few nights when reading in bed. The color temp is adjusted by time, I'd like for the brightness to do the same so that when I first open the reader in bed it's not blindingly bright -- I'd rather have to turn up the light now and then than be blinded every night.

JSWolf · 06-07-2020, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

You can run epubcheck from the command prompt and with a little batch file work, you can check all those books in one go. One rather long go⁠—epubcheck is not a speedy program.

I have a directory called epubcheck on my desktop with the batch file and epubcheck.jar plus epubcheck's lib directory The for loop scans through the directory (in this case %USERPROFILE\calibre\Intake points to my calibre intake library) returning any .epub files. The batch file echos the path/filename for the epub and any messages from epubcheck to a file called epubcheck.txt. The echo is needed since otherwise all I would see for an error-free file would the 3 lines telling me no errors were found. The "s around the %%f keeps me from having issues with spaces in the filepath/name string.

I saved the below to a file called checkepub.cmd

Code:

for /R %USERPROFILE%\calibre\Intake %%f in (*.epub) do (
echo "%%f" 1>>%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\epubcheck\epubcheck.txt 2>&1
java -jar epubcheck.jar "%%f" 1>>%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\epubcheck\epubcheck.txt 2>&1
)
pause

A quick scan through epubcheck.txt looking for "Check finished with errors" locates the error files.

Spoiler:

Code:

"C:\Users\David\calibre\Intake\Dave Heiland\Sigil User Guide (6734)\Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub" 
Validating using EPUB version 2.0.1 rules.
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(47,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(53,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(59,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(65,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(71,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(77,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"
ERROR(RSC-005): C:/Users/David/calibre/Intake/Dave Heiland/Sigil User Guide (6734)/Sigil User Guide - Dave Heiland.epub/OEBPS/Text/validation.html(83,9): Error while parsing file: element "ul" not allowed here; expected the element end-tag or element "li"

Check finished with errors
Messages: 0 fatals / 7 errors / 0 warnings / 0 infos

EPUBCheck completed
"C:\Users\David\calibre\Intake\J. K. Rowling\The Ickabog (9199)\The Ickabog - J. K. Rowling.epub" 
Validating using EPUB version 2.0.1 rules.
No errors or warnings detected.
Messages: 0 fatals / 0 errors / 0 warnings / 0 infos

That is a good way to do it. I was thinking of just doing it using Calibre.

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05-21-2020, 03:29 PM	#1816
twowheels Wizard Posts: 1,854 Karma: 13432974 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD, iPad Pro 10", iPhone 15 Pro, Boox Note Max	One more datapoint. I have an epub (converted to kepub, don't remember kepubify or Calibre) that I purchased from LeanPub.com and it did the same thing, even after today's firmware update. It seems like doing anything with the book (such as changing the page from the cover image, closing and re-opening, etc) "fixes" the issue.

05-30-2020, 05:11 AM	#1818
Smannesman Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 28490 Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: The Netherlands Device: Kobo H2O	I'd love it if there was a 'Not Responding' popup that let me close the book when the reader freezes up. It's not a super common occurrence, but it'll still happen a few times a week. And an option to 'Go to page: xxx' where you can just type in the number. That slider is not very helpful or precise.

06-06-2020, 06:13 AM	#1823
Oolong Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2017 Device: Kobo Aura H2O	My big request would be to fix the brightness controls (mine's an H2O). It would be better if the dimmest setting was about a tenth as bright as it is now, even if that means using greyscale to dim it - and crucially, the next step up from that should not be twice as bright. It ought to be something like an exponential scale, to match how human perception works. I actually strongly dislike needing to use two controls for the brightness, too - as far as I'm concerned, I always want it as yellow as it can be when it's dim, and basically white when it's bright. I'd be happy to have a second control to tune this, but I really think brightness and hue should be automatically coupled. My other big request would be synching up epub rendering with kepub rendering, as far as things like font sizes go. These days I just convert absolutely all epub files to kepub before transferring them, since the epub renderer was slow and flaky last time I tried, as well as having a completely different size of fonts by default. But it would be nice not to have to.

06-07-2020, 12:06 AM	#1829
twowheels Wizard Posts: 1,854 Karma: 13432974 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD, iPad Pro 10", iPhone 15 Pro, Boox Note Max	Another firmware request came to mind the last few nights when reading in bed. The color temp is adjusted by time, I'd like for the brightness to do the same so that when I first open the reader in bed it's not blindingly bright -- I'd rather have to turn up the light now and then than be blinded every night.