Clara BW Wired page turners?

brothmage · 07-28-2025, 04:18 PM

Is there any way to connect a keyboard or similar device via USB-C (not bluetooth) to a Kobo (Clara BW in my case)? I'm experiencing the issue in these threads:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=147083

https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/1i8y0iu

And have not found any way to resolve it, including talking to Kobo support. I see that some people have had success getting around it with bluetooth page turners, but I'm not a fan of having to reconnect every time, even with NickelMenu shortcuts, or with the decreased battery life (however insignificant) of having bluetooth on.

I know that KOReader is an option and may help solve it but I'm really not a fan of the interface, especially the menu that you can open while reading. I love the simplicity of Nickel.

Since the USB-C port supports data transfer, not just power, I'm hoping this is feasible, but I'm not sure how.

Would love to hear from others who have attempted this and maybe succeeded...

wherahiko · 07-28-2025, 06:01 PM

The Kobowriter project (https://github.com/olup/kobowriter) seems to provide a way to do this. I haven't tried it, but have been intrigued by the project for a while. (Apparently it only supports the French azerty layout at the moment, though if you only want page up and down buttons that might not matter.) The documentation seems to assume a micro-USB Kobo, but surely it would also work a USB-C model?

brothmage · 07-28-2025, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wherahiko

The Kobowriter project (https://github.com/olup/kobowriter) seems to provide a way to do this. I haven't tried it, but have been intrigued by the project for a while. (Apparently it only supports the French azerty layout at the moment, though if you only want page up and down buttons that might not matter.) The documentation seems to assume a micro-USB Kobo, but surely it would also work a USB-C model?

Very nearly bricked it

really should've checked before just moving the file over.
https://github.com/XCSoar/XCSoar/discussions/1433
Manual reset brought it back to life.

wherahiko · 07-29-2025, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brothmage

Very nearly bricked it

really should've checked before just moving the file over.
https://github.com/XCSoar/XCSoar/discussions/1433
Manual reset brought it back to life.

Yikes! I'm glad you managed to bring it back to life.

07-28-2025, 04:18 PM	#1
brothmage Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2025 Device: Kobo Clara BW	Wired page turners? Is there any way to connect a keyboard or similar device via USB-C (not bluetooth) to a Kobo (Clara BW in my case)? I'm experiencing the issue in these threads: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=147083 https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/1i8y0iu And have not found any way to resolve it, including talking to Kobo support. I see that some people have had success getting around it with bluetooth page turners, but I'm not a fan of having to reconnect every time, even with NickelMenu shortcuts, or with the decreased battery life (however insignificant) of having bluetooth on. I know that KOReader is an option and may help solve it but I'm really not a fan of the interface, especially the menu that you can open while reading. I love the simplicity of Nickel. Since the USB-C port supports data transfer, not just power, I'm hoping this is feasible, but I'm not sure how. Would love to hear from others who have attempted this and maybe succeeded...

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07-28-2025, 06:01 PM	#2
wherahiko Connoisseur Posts: 65 Karma: 290 Join Date: May 2018 Device: Kobo Glo HD, Kindle PW 3	The Kobowriter project (https://github.com/olup/kobowriter) seems to provide a way to do this. I haven't tried it, but have been intrigued by the project for a while. (Apparently it only supports the French azerty layout at the moment, though if you only want page up and down buttons that might not matter.) The documentation seems to assume a micro-USB Kobo, but surely it would also work a USB-C model?