Firmware 5.0.175773

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Does the move to Yocto mean Kobo is no longer using BusyBox for its CLI tools?

There's still a BusyBox binary present but it doesn't have as many functions

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Falkor

Could you compare how text in Kepubs is rendered on both devices? I find the letter spacing on the Shine 5 too narrow and have been wondering if it's the same on Kobo.

Book rendering on the 5.x fw is horrendous

[Falkor]

Originally Posted by Marek

Book rendering on the 5.x fw is horrendous

Exactly!
I've switched to RMSDK for now and it's a great improvement. The default renderer does have some nice ePub3 features and supports LCP DRM, so I hope the issues get fixed soon.

[sherman]

I have a theory that Kobo have probably switched to QtWebEngine from the old QtWebKit. It's a Chromium based renderer instead of the ancient webkit.

I can't say that for certain without investigating Nickel though.

[Aleron Ives]

Are there indications that Kobo is going to be switching to the 5.0 branch for all its devices at some point? IIRC only Tolino devices are currently afflicted with 5.0, right? The changes sound like a mixed bag.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Are there indications that Kobo is going to be switching to the 5.0 branch for all its devices at some point? IIRC only Tolino devices are currently afflicted with 5.0, right? The changes sound like a mixed bag.

I've been reading the last few posts of this thread with some alarm for similar reasons. I'm worried about what any such shift would mean for KOReader, especially since the verdict on the actual rendering in 5.x is indeed mixed

[Aleron Ives]

I don't think KOReader would be affected; the problems are with the new KEPUB renderer, whereas ye olde RMSDK seems to still work for regular EPUB. KOReader doesn't use either of them, since it has its own renderer.

The problem is that since Kobo has made major changes to the firmware and updated all the libraries, KOReader, NickelMenu, and other things won't run at all until they undergo major updates to add compatibility with the new firmware. That could end up taking a long time, since none of the people who work on this stuff get paid for it, and the amount of work necessary is large.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

The problem is that since Kobo has made major changes to the firmware and updated all the libraries, KOReader, NickelMenu, and other things won't run at all until they undergo major updates to add compatibility with the new firmware. That could end up taking a long time, since none of the people who work on this stuff get paid for it, and the amount of work necessary is large.

THIs is exactly what I was worried about - As soon as I read the posts about KFMon not working, I was It could mean the end of laternate readers on Kobos. Which might be at least a peripheral intent.

[sherman]

To be fair. Kobo firmware up to and including v4 is running some truly ancient software, and it was built with a custom toolchain.

FW 5.x has much newer software. It has Python, the latest Qt (the version of Qt in the older FW is truly ancient). And Yocto is basically the industry standard for building firmware these days.

Unfortunately, I do not have a Kobo which can run FW 5, nor do I have Yocto experience.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by sherman

To be fair. Kobo firmware up to and including v4 is running some truly ancient software, and it was built with a custom toolchain.

FW 5.x has much newer software. It has Python, the latest Qt (the version of Qt in the older FW is truly ancient). And Yocto is basically the industry standard for building firmware these days.

Unfortunately, I do not have a Kobo which can run FW 5, nor do I have Yocto experience.

All I know is that I'd happily pony up on Patreon or the like if that's what it took to keep KOReader alive if/when all Kobos are on 5.x

[Aleron Ives]

It's not like you have to update. Just keep Wi-Fi off (or block Kobo's update server in your router), and you can stay on 4.x until KOReader is working on 5.x, whenever that happens.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

It's not like you have to update. Just keep Wi-Fi off (or block Kobo's update server in your router), and you can stay on 4.x until KOReader is working on 5.x, whenever that happens.

Oh, I already am always offline on those rare occasions when I'm in Nickel. I'm thinking of what seems to be the likely future, and especially if/when I get a new Kobo

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

THIs is exactly what I was worried about - As soon as I read the posts about KFMon not working, I was It could mean the end of laternate readers on Kobos. Which might be at least a peripheral intent.

Both koreader and kfmon already work on 5.x firmware

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Marek

Both koreader and kfmon already work on 5.x firmware

That's great news - I saw someone post in this thread that kfmon wasn't working on their 5.x

[Marek]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

That's great news - I saw someone post in this thread that kfmon wasn't working on their 5.x

You can see some relevant issues and pull requests at the bottom of the readme here