NickelMenu: An integrated launcher for Kobo eReaders

[Rid]

Originally Posted by sherman

That's what NickelDBus was made for. Because, no, you cannot do it directly with NickelMenu.

Would I be able to get an example of the syntax please?

I have only scripted in Windows before and I really don't where I should be looking for cmd's that work with Kobo. I have used linux cmd's to move and delete files etc but when it comes to the wifi there seems to be a lot of different ways it can be done and I am unable to get it to work.

I am making a huge guess here that there might be different versions of linux out there that have different cmd's or I am just barking up the wrong tree on all of this?

[sherman]

Originally Posted by Rid

Would I be able to get an example of the syntax please?

I have only scripted in Windows before and I really don't where I should be looking for cmd's that work with Kobo. I have used linux cmd's to move and delete files etc but when it comes to the wifi there seems to be a lot of different ways it can be done and I am unable to get it to work.

I am making a huge guess here that there might be different versions of linux out there that have different cmd's or I am just barking up the wrong tree on all of this?

You can use NDB to call most of the same actions as NickelMenu, including stuff like Wifi management.

Documentation is here, specifically, look at the qndb portion of that page. Then look at the API documentation to find out what methods to call.

For Wifi, there is currently wfmConnectWireless wfmConnectWirelessSilently wfmSetAirplaneMode methods available. You'll probably also want to listen for the wmNetworkConnected and wmNetworkFailedToConnect signals as well.

This is completely untested, but the following might work:

#!/bin/sh

signal=$(qndb -s wmNetworkConnected -s wmNetworkFailedToConnect -t 60 -m wfmConnectWireless)

# Note, It's been a while, this may be wrong, I'll double check later
if [ "$signal" = "wmNetworkConnected" ]; then
    # connected, do stuff here
elif [ "$signal" = "wmNetworkFailedToConnect" ]; then
    # did not connect, do cleanup here
else
    # timeout happened
fi

If you search for help on creating/running linux shell scripts, search for 'POSIX shell', or 'busybox'. Avoid answers that are considered "bash specific".

[Rid]

@sherman awsome thanks very much for that!!

Got some research to do now that I will be headed in the right direction

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by Rid

I am making a huge guess here that there might be different versions of linux out there that have different cmd's or I am just barking up the wrong tree on all of this?

sherman gave a good short answer. Here's a longer one.

Unix and Linux are really a collection of 10-20 languages all available at once with a good number of utilities on the side. A lot of the languages are domain specific languages that are good at some narrow purpose. The unifying language of all of them is Bourne shell, sometimes called just "shell" or "sh", and standardized by POSIX, including the side utilities. Of course, standards are never good enough, so linux has included several variations of sh.

Of the myriad languages and variations of sh available, bash is one of the more popular, and has lots of things added beyond plain sh. Busybox is a lobotomized version of sh intended for embedded systems that embeds a great many of the side utilities into itself, and then varies from the standard where it's not convenient or efficient to stick with it.

Kobo includes busybox and a handful of other things. Busybox makes at least a faint attempt at looking like Bourne shell but it is missing some things and probably includes some critical non-standard utilities as built in commands.

[Rid]

@compurandom Thanks that was interesting

[sherman]

Just as a warning, I've never actually tested the wifi stuff. It should work, but since I need to have Wifi connected to easily test stuff, I never quite got around to testing it...

[Rid]

Originally Posted by sherman

Just as a warning, I've never actually tested the wifi stuff. It should work, but since I need to have Wifi connected to easily test stuff, I never quite got around to testing it...

All good. It will help me get on the right path

[Rid]

Originally Posted by sherman

Just as a warning, I've never actually tested the wifi stuff. It should work, but since I need to have Wifi connected to easily test stuff, I never quite got around to testing it...

Got it working Had to add a bit at the start. It turns on the wifi and then turns it off again after a certain amount of time. To help me save the battery dying while I am reading (some dummy forgets to turn it off).

Is a way to start the Kobo sync? Had a look but could not find any thing, might have missed it though on the terminology I used...

qndb -m wfmSetAirplaneMode "enable"

signal=$(qndb -s wmNetworkConnected -s wmNetworkFailedToConnect -t 60000 -m wfmConnectWirelessSilently)

[mortimer7]

hello, i have installed it but NickelMenu is empty:


why?
I use old Kobo Aura with firmware 4.30.18838

EDIT:
i have created this KOBOeReader/.adds/nm/config:

   menu_item :main    :Show an Error      :dbg_error          :This is an error message!
   menu_item :main    :Do Nothing         :cmd_spawn          :sleep 60
   menu_item :main    :Dump Syslog        :cmd_spawn          :logread > /mnt/onboard/.adds/syslog.log
   menu_item :main    :Kernel Version     :cmd_output         :500:uname -a
   menu_item :main    :Sketch Pad         :nickel_extras      :sketch_pad
   menu_item :main    :Plato              :kfmon              :plato.png
   generator :main    :kfmon
   menu_item :reader  :Invert Screen      :nickel_setting     :toggle :invert
   menu_item :reader  :Invert Orientation :nickel_orientation :invert
   menu_item :main    :IP Address         :cmd_output         :500:/sbin/ifconfig | /usr/bin/awk '/inet addr/{print substr($2,6)}'
   menu_item :main    :Telnet             :cmd_spawn          :quiet:/bin/mount -t devpts | /bin/grep -q /dev/pts || { /bin/mkdir -p /dev/pts && /bin/mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts; }
     chain_success                        :cmd_spawn          :quiet:/usr/bin/pkill -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1023" || true && exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1023 /usr/sbin/telnetd -i -l /bin/login
     chain_success                        :dbg_toast          :Started Telnet server on port 1023.
   menu_item :main    :FTP                :cmd_spawn          :quiet:/usr/bin/pkill -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021" || true && exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021 /usr/sbin/ftpd -w -t 30 /mnt/onboard
     chain_success                        :dbg_toast          :Started FTP server for KOBOeReader partition on port 1021.
   menu_item :main    :Telnet (toggle)    :cmd_output         :500:quiet :/usr/bin/pkill -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023"
     chain_success:skip:5
       chain_failure                      :cmd_spawn          :quiet :/bin/mount -t devpts | /bin/grep -q /dev/pts || { /bin/mkdir -p /dev/pts && /bin/mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts; }
       chain_success                      :cmd_spawn          :quiet :exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023 /usr/sbin/telnetd -i -l /bin/login
       chain_success                      :dbg_toast          :Started Telnet server on port 2023
       chain_failure                      :dbg_toast          :Error starting Telnet server on port 2023
       chain_always:skip:-1
     chain_success                        :dbg_toast          :Stopped Telnet server on port 2023
   menu_item :library :Import books       :nickel_misc        :rescan_books_full
   menu_item :browser :Invert Screen      :nickel_setting     :toggle :invert
   menu_item :browser :Open Pop-Up        :nickel_browser     :modal

Now it shows menu, but i can't connect to FTP. What is user/password?

[MGlitch]

Because you need to add the commands you want to have access to which is detailed in the read me

[mortimer7]

i add this menu:

menu_item:main:Dark Mode:nickel_setting:dark_mode
menu_item:main:Screenshot:nickel_setting:screenshots

But it doesn't work: when i press it says "could not find a : in argument"

p.s.
How can i set user/password for FTP?

[mortimer7]

Originally Posted by mortimer7

i add this menu:

menu_item:main:Dark Mode:nickel_setting:dark_mode
menu_item:main:Screenshot:nickel_setting:screenshots

But it doesn't work: when i press it says "could not find a : in argument"

p.s.
How can i set user/password for FTP?

i SOLVED:

menu_item:main:Dark Mode:nickel_setting:toggle:dark_mode
menu_item:main:Screenshot:nickel_setting:toggle:screenshots

FTP user/password is root:user

[mortimer7]

Hello, i have a big problem:
I set dark mode on main menu, but now my home screen is always dark, i can't disable it.
I have tried to uninstall NickelMenu and reboot but home screen is still dark! How can i solve?

EDIT:
I SOLVED:

menu_item:main:Dark Mode ON:nickel_setting:enable:dark_mode
menu_item:main:Dark Mode OFF:nickel_setting:disable:dark_mode

[RobertJSawyer]

Dark mode and invert mode are not the same thing. The former only inverts black-and-white in actual books (while leaving pictures correct) but does not invert the user interface or home screen; the latter inverts everything including pictures. This Nickel menu code when let you control both modes independently (note that switching invert mode on/off requires a rebook, with this code will call for automatically).

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :main      :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :main      :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :reader    :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :reader    :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :library   :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :library   :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Deobulakenyo]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Dark mode and invert mode are not the same thing. The former only inverts black-and-white in actual books (while leaving pictures correct) but does not invert the user interface or home screen; the latter inverts everything including pictures. This Nickel menu code when let you control both modes independently (note that switching invert mode on/off requires a rebook, with this code will call for automatically).

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :main      :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :main      :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :reader    :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :reader    :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
menu_item :library   :Dark Mode       :nickel_setting :toggle :dark_mode
menu_item :library   :Invert & Reboot :nickel_setting :toggle: invert
    chain_success                     :power          :reboot
menu_item :library   :My Articles     :nickel_open: library: pocket
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why is it that Kobo has not figured out yet to invert the screen 'properly with images not inverting' like what kindle does.