Where to start for developing in Kobo?

[AlgusDark]

Hi, first time poster here but I'm amazed by the amount of good quality engagement here. So excited to start playing with my new Kobo.

I want to ask if there is a mega thread or guide on how to start developing for the Kobo. I want to do some baby steps, so I'm not aiming on UI. I see that for UI, QT is the way (or maybe there is more).

My first idea is to send my highlights with a script to my server, so I don't need to connect my Kobo to the computer. For that, I was thinking that bash code could do the trick, but I do wonder if cURL is included in Kobo.

Also, something I noticed is that some people are using Lua, Rust(?), Golang, c/c++ and/or python. Are there some SDK out there?

Thank you 🙏
I hope I can learn and help the community.

[elinkser]

I'm not a developer, but my impression is it's more of a do-it-yourself environment.

The most up-to-date "tutorials" are all the free and open-source projects you can discover as you go back through the forums. If you go really far back, I think there are a couple of attempts at beginners guides (using Qt4, so, not even sure if they still work.).

The two main projects are KOReader (which spun off a neat libEink API - EDIT: FBInk, not libEink, sorry about that NiLuJe!Although "libEink" does have a nice ring to it...) and Plato (which sombody recently piggybacked off of to create a vnc client in Rust, for example). Vlasovsoft and XCSoar are other huge ones but I don't know how active they are.

Edit: Newer ones which don't yet support all devices are Inkbox and rmkit:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=337972
http://rmkit.dev/rmkit-comes-to-kobo/

There are also various small projects you can build off of.
Basically start browsing, and you'll get an idea, I'm sure.

[Aleron Ives]

I'd say the first thing you'll want to do is install NickelMenu, so you have access to SSH and FTP. Most Kobo projects are hosted on GitHub, so you can see exactly how they work.

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by elinkser

KOReader (which spun off a neat libEink API)

Err, were you perhaps thinking of FBInk?

Because if you weren't, that would be news to me ;p.

And if you were, it wasn't exactly spun off KOReader (or, at all, really). I do often use FBInk as a sandbox to poke at stuff that may end up in the KOReader backend (e.g., the sunxi stuff was written/tested in FBInk first), and being familiar with said backend certainly helped kickstart development on FBInk, but that's it . It's all admittedly a rather boring technicality, though .

[NiLuJe]

But to answer the actual question, @elinkser was pretty spot on.

Qt can "work", but it isn't for the faint of heart (like, at all), and the QPA you'll have to go through (the one used by UMR) currently has, to various degrees, compatibility issues with a fair amount of boards (for good reason: doing this right is a massive PITA, especially when you don't have access to most of the devices); so if that's a concern to you, I'd keep to Plato & KOReader, *especially* if you're just looking at code to see how stuff works.

(I... wouldn't necessarily recommend looking at FBInk's code without first a basic understanding how how "interestingly" weird this shit can be ;p. But you'll certainly get to experience my numerous rants about that across the comments if you do ;p).

[AlgusDark]

Hey, thank you so much

I'll start poking around with ssh and the code of several github projects.

I see that @NiLuJe compiled some binaries (cURL is one I was looking for).

Thank you, everyone

[qkqw]

[QUOTE=AlgusDark;4310485]
My first idea is to send my highlights with a script to my server, so I don't need to connect my Kobo to the computer. For that, I was thinking that bash code could do the trick, but I do wonder if cURL is included in Kobo./QUOTE]

Check this out: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=349637

[AlgusDark]

Originally Posted by qkqw

Check this out: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=349637

Thanks, this is a lot of what I was trying to do. This really helps me to start with Kobo tinkering.

[elinkser]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I'd say the first thing you'll want to do is install NickelMenu, so you have access to SSH and FTP. Most Kobo projects are hosted on GitHub, so you can see exactly how they work.

Absolutely, NickelMenu to launch your program and other services...

And NickelDBus lets you do user input (as well as other "duct-tapey" things I believe, though I'm not too versed on that).

*Edit: I have tried to address some of the security hazard of accepting user input in shell scripts here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=21

[iJi]

Hi everyone! So happy to have found this thread! I'm new here, but not to programming... though I've never coded for the Kobo. I recently got a Kobo Libra H2O and I want to make a simple weather app for it that can be opened and closed from within it without having to restart the kobo... is that possible? I know there are tons of weather apps out there, but I wanted to have fun making my own... I downloaded NickelMenu, but I am not sure on how to program a (python app probably unless recommended otherwise) that is launched from the NickelMenu...

any tips, guidance, other projects that are done and can help as guidance/motivation/inspiration are super welcome!

Thank you!

[elinkser]

Originally Posted by iJi

any tips, guidance..

Yes, see above! (welcome to kobo developer forum)

[iJi]

thank you for replying I had read everything before and didn't find much guidance in the posts above so I asked... anyways I figured out how to add things to NickelMenu and how to run scripts from there.

I need to be able to install some new packages, any ideas on how to do this in the Kobo using telnet or a package manager? If possible could a clear example be provided please? I learn best that way

[elinkser]

Originally Posted by iJi

I need to be able to install some new packages, any ideas on how to do this in the Kobo using telnet or a package manager?

No package manager!

Originally Posted by iJi

anyways I figured out how to add things to NickelMenu and how to run scripts from there.

That means you now know how to "install" in Kobo - basically go to each project's page on mobileread.com and follow instructions!


I think most of us learned like that - bit by bit.
It's fun to browse through all the projects because the Kobo and Kobo Developer's forums have saved everything for you in a nice linear order,.

It's like going down a yellow brick road, except there is no fake wizard at the end - just the magic of Free and Open Source Software for you to browse and learn from.

So get going, and have fun!

[iJi]

thank you for your reply! It is exciting, but at times frustrating when nothing works haha

[iJi]

Originally Posted by elinkser

No package manager!





That means you now know how to "install" in Kobo - basically go to each project's page on mobileread.com and follow instructions!


I think most of us learned like that - bit by bit.
It's fun to browse through all the projects because the Kobo and Kobo Developer's forums have saved everything for you in a nice linear order,.

It's like going down a yellow brick road, except there is no fake wizard at the end - just the magic of Free and Open Source Software for you to browse and learn from.

So get going, and have fun!

I have tried working only with python and kivy, but I can't seem to be able to install kivy nor do I know how to make Kobo apps with QT...

is there a way to make the kobo sleep and wake-up periodically? I'm searching for an answer, but I have found nothing yet...