Kobo Remote Confirmed

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I hope that coin cell powered devices with hard to remove battery covers get enormous pushback. Devices with convenient and easy coin cell replacement have been available for decades. I've had a number of recent devices with hard to remove battery covers and it is extremely frustrating.

Also very bad form to release a device before software support is deployed, especially in this case where the only thing missing should be a bluetooth HID kernel module, which could have been silently done years ago.

Pretty sure the Kobo remote uses a AAA battery, everything I've seen so far says that.


Also they have released the firmware to support it, and it's not officially available yet so...

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Mnementh

Also they have released the firmware to support it, and it's not officially available yet so...

Only for some models, not all the models they list on the remote's web page!

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Mnementh

Pretty sure the Kobo remote uses a AAA battery, everything I've seen so far says that.

Even less excuse for hard to open cover, though those also now exist.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Coin devices should though have a screw on the cover. Some classic coin powered calculators have been updated to have that. It's deemed to reduce chance of a small child swallowing the cell.

Sadly most of the devices I have that use a screw to secure the battery cover just use the device's plastic to hold the screw. After removing and replacing the screw a couple of times, it can be removed with a fingernail or just by tapping the device on a hard surface.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sadly most of the devices I have that use a screw to secure the battery cover just use the device's plastic to hold the screw.

I really hate that. Every time you remove the screw you see how much plastic it took with it.

Since I got my new (to me) 3D printer I print plastic enclosures for all my little electronic projects.
I put in heat-set brass thread inserts with a soldering iron.
It's a joy to be able open these up without considering how much lifespan I'm using up.
M3 3 mm screws are my "go-to".
I should pick up some smaller sizes for commercial things that I own.

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Even less excuse for hard to open cover, though those also now exist.

I've had mine delivered this morning and can confirm that it is a AAA battery and that the cover is nigh on impossible to remove...


Unfortunately I can also confirm that it doesn't currently work with koreader, hopefully that will be patched in once some of the developers get their hands on one.

[OG-Booksmith]

Originally Posted by Mnementh

Unfortunately I can also confirm that it doesn't currently work with koreader, hopefully that will be patched in once some of the developers get their hands on one.

According to: https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/co...mment/nryelox/ it should work. Have you tried this as well?

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by OG-Booksmith

According to: https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/co...mment/nryelox/ it should work. Have you tried this as well?

No I haven't had time to look in to plugins yet, I'm currently at work so will be looking for workarounds later on as I do prefer koreader.


It doesn't work out of the box but if this plugin allows for a workaround I'll be happy.

[Renate]

That's crazy. It should be like any other BT device on the planet.
You hit a key on the remote, it wakes up and connects.
Ok, the first click is "lost" but there's no new pairing or anything required.

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by Renate

That's crazy. It should be like any other BT device on the planet.
You hit a key on the remote, it wakes up and connects.
Ok, the first click is "lost" but there's no new pairing or anything required.

Just in case I wasn't clear enough, it works perfectly in the normal Nickel reader, it's koreader where it doesn't work.


I have been playing around with the kobo.plugin for the last 30 minutes and to say it's flaky would be an understatement.


I've managed to get it to work once but I had to forget the remote in Nickel then pair it in koreader, that worked until I closed the sleep cover. As soon as I woke it up koreader reverted to the remote paired from Nickel again where it doesn't read the key presses. I had to close koreader, forget the remote in kobo settings and attach it in koreader again. That's not sustainable so for now I'm gonna just use Nickel instead of koreader until and unless they add support natively.

[OG-Booksmith]

Your experience doesn’t sound right. You mind opening a GitHub issue?
Explaining your experience and provide crash.log with debug logs?

There should be no difference between the devices that nickel sees and what koreader sees. As they both use the same dbus command to get the devices.

Or you’re potentially running into: https://github.com/OGKevin/kobo.koplugin/issues/44 if this device auto connects.

But also: https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/s/EvnwTCSlyJ

[Renate]

Mmm, doesn't anybody dislike the "presenter" style remote?
That looks like it was thinking of laser pointers.
(Yes, I know it doesn't have a laser.)
The bigger size does allow bigger batteries.
I guess that I replace my CR2032 every 9 months or so.

I know that I've harped on about my own keyfob plenty of times.
The "organic" shape (that I first thought weird) fits comfortably in your hand.
Even though it's biased for right hand usage it's not awkward in your left hand.
It has a little ring on the end for a lanyard that I had the choice of omitting.
But I like that it makes just enough noise when you can't find it and you poke the blankets.

[OG-Booksmith]

Originally Posted by Mnementh

I have been playing around with the kobo.plugin for the last 30 minutes and to say it's flaky would be an understatement.


I've managed to get it to work once but I had to forget the remote in Nickel then pair it in koreader, that worked until I closed the sleep cover. As soon as I woke it up koreader reverted to the remote paired from Nickel again where it doesn't read the key presses. I had to close koreader, forget the remote in kobo settings and attach it in koreader again. That's not sustainable so for now I'm gonna just use Nickel instead of koreader until and unless they add support natively.

This doesn't sound right. If you could open a GitHub Issue for further debugging with logs would be great. I would not expect KOReader to support this natively. I believe it goes against their mission.

What you could be suffering from might already be in the works to get fixed with the auto-connect Github issues, there are numerous reason for such behavior, and figuring it out would be nice.

A reliable way that seems to work, at least for me, is to put the device in pairing mode before attempting to connect to it.

edit: I thought my previous comment didn't go through