Firmware 3.19.5613 discussion

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Oh that looks nice. I never cared for Merriweather but might see how the Sans version looks.

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Merriweather+Sans

You can have a quick look at that link and see what you think and the first link has a download link.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Nick_1964

I think I found the reason why the Gothic or Ryumin fonts are removed by the way.
Not due to copyright reasons if I read it well.

Maybe there was something going on in the background with that caused them to decide to stop licensing Gothic, but it came direct from the Kobo developers mouth that they are no longer licensing Gothic for use in current firmware version. I would presume that it was Kobo's own decision to stop paying licensing fee's for Gothic and remove it from the firmware for whatever reason, not any copyright issue related to Gothic. The copyright issue only comes into play if someone is using Gothic in the current firmware which it isn't licensed for use in. The why it is no longer licensed doesn't come into play.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The post in question was unapproved while we discuss what is and isn't allowed here. Once a decision is made an official statement will be made. Some of our mod team is away for the Holidays. So please be patient.

We've decided to approve the post but removed the attached font. We do not allow licensed fonts to be downloaded on this forum without permission from the creator. So please everyone refrain from doing that in the future.

Any questionable posts in the future should be quietly reported so the Mod Team can handle it. So no more mini modding please.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me or any of our Mod Team. Thanks.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Nimbus Sans is a paid font. It isn't free.

You're right, I didn't try the download link to notice that they substituted another very similar font, Liberation Sans Regular, in place of Nimbus. But there a many free versions of fonts similar to Gothic, you just have to look around.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

You're right, I didn't try the download link to notice that they substituted another very similar font, Liberation Sans Regular, in place of Nimbus. But there a many free versions of fonts similar to Gothic, you just have to look around.

I posted a link in this thread to a font that's very very similar to Gothic.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Nick_1964

I think I found the reason why the Gothic or Ryumin fonts are removed by the way.
Not due to copyright reasons if I read it well.
Our friend (and admin) DR.Drib is fighting with it and have reported something about it.
Read this topic :
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=238981
It starts to be interesting at post 10,11 and 12 where problems occured with the same fonts.

You're using 18 month old posts as proof? And if you read post #15, you will see that the problem had been reported to Kobo and fixed.

As PeterT and robko have both said, and I stated in the first post of this thread, Kobo told us that there was a change in the licensing provider of the fonts and hence they moved from Gothic and Ryumin to the new fonts. Why they changed, I don't know. But I assume it was because the new provider was cheaper.

[Nick_1964]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You're using 18 month old posts as proof? And if you read post #15, you will see that the problem had been reported to Kobo and fixed.

As PeterT and robko have both said, and I stated in the first post of this thread, Kobo told us that there was a change in the licensing provider of the fonts and hence they moved from Gothic and Ryumin to the new fonts. Why they changed, I don't know. But I assume it was because the new provider was cheaper.

Nope, I didn't use it as proof, but I could have because some problems are older and still not fixed so time isn't always an issue.
Also I read the first post of this topic, it was edited later.
I had never read ,or overread, that it was due to changing to another font supplier, If I did I would not looking for a reason because it is given there.
Having said that,changing font supplier doesn't say that then the license is revoked, I mailed Kobo about it because they don't make any statement about it.
They did removed Delima, Fellbridge, Rockwell and Times New-Roman in the past to.

No one pointed out to me,like you do now,that it was given as a reason by Kobo itself, as I would have never questioned you. (it still doesn't make you a Kobo Spokesman)
It was also no part of the discussion,someone was asking where the font was, another person pointed out where to find it, not me.

My post where you are reacting onto now has nothing to do with the argue where this was all about about the "mini modding" where the admins make their decision, and how to find the font.
By the way,i had never seen that there was an attachment at all (dyslection.. I know..) and if you extract the font the way suggested,like i did, you will find out that the extracted font doesn't work at all, so I suppose the same would be for the attachment.
All the hussle for a non working thing.

I do feel a lot of "we come to the rescue" here,where none is needed.
There was already called in an admin,they make their decision and it was finished, and I was okay with that even before the "judgement" because that is a forum rule,an admin decision is always leading and I apply to that and now I have to defend myself again to you after it was finished.

Thats leads me to the decision to leave this forum,to many people are in some kind of attack modus here.
I am over 52 and a bit tired of all the "fighting" here.
Bye all, and thank to all the people who sended such nice words to me in private and in reputation, who agree with me.
I do unsubscribe from this topic now and leave the forum.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Nick_1964

Nope, I didn't use it as proof, but I could have because some problems are older and still not fixed so time isn't always an issue.

In what other way was your post supposed to be interpreted. You started it with:

I think I found the reason why the Gothic or Ryumin fonts are removed by the way.

The only way I can interpret that is that you thing the following statements, and what were in the linked post, were the reasons for something to happen. Apart from the age of the posts you referred to, my point was that you were being selective in your references and there was a later statement in the same thread that the problem was fixed.

Also I read the first post of this topic, it was edited later.
I had never read ,or overread, that it was due to changing to another font supplier, If I did I would not looking for a reason because it is given there.

You either read my original version that had a big red banner stating that I was working from memory and would update it later. Or you read the later version that had all the info and the I had removed the red statement. And if you read the first version, I would hope you reread the post later.

Having said that,changing font supplier doesn't say that then the license is revoked, I mailed Kobo about it because they don't make any statement about it.

OK, I didn't include the word "licence", just "supplier". I remember not thinking it was important. Especially as licences for things like this are usually between the supplier and the user (Kobo is the user in this case).

They did removed Delima, Fellbridge, Rockwell and Times New-Roman in the past to.

No one pointed out to me,like you do now,that it was given as a reason by Kobo itself, as I would have never questioned you. (it still doesn't make you a Kobo Spokesman)

It was stated at least twice earlier in the thread than the post I responded to. And no, I am not a Kobo spokesman, but the source was included in at least one of the posts.

It was also no part of the discussion,someone was asking where the font was, another person pointed out where to find it, not me.

My post where you are reacting onto now has nothing to do with the argue where this was all about about the "mini modding" where the admins make their decision, and how to find the font.
By the way,i had never seen that there was an attachment at all (dyslection.. I know..) and if you extract the font the way suggested,like i did, you will find out that the extracted font doesn't work at all, so I suppose the same would be for the attachment.
All the hussle for a non working thing.

I do feel a lot of "we come to the rescue" here,where none is needed.
There was already called in an admin,they make their decision and it was finished, and I was okay with that even before the "judgement" because that is a forum rule,an admin decision is always leading and I apply to that.

Thats leads me to the decision to leave this forum,to many people are in some kind of attack modus here.
Bye all, and thank to all the people who sended such nice words to me in private and in reputation, who agree with me.
I do unsubscribe from this topic now and leave the forum.

That's your right, so goodbye.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You're using 18 month old posts as proof? And if you read post #15, you will see that the problem had been reported to Kobo and fixed.

As PeterT and robko have both said, and I stated in the first post of this thread, Kobo told us that there was a change in the licensing provider of the fonts and hence they moved from Gothic and Ryumin to the new fonts. Why they changed, I don't know. But I assume it was because the new provider was cheaper.

Do they have proof this is why it has been removed? The two fonts removed seem to be Asian fonts which would say to me that Kobo might be dropping support for them for several reasons.

Not that it really matters if it can be reinstalled if the users wants it back by getting them from a previous firmware.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by dclauzel

Just updated to firmware v3.19 on my Aura HD (French language), and Chess is gone. RIP my favourite game

The game was not publicly listed in the apps in previous versions, but was still present and playable. Now the software is gone (clicking on the launch tile does nothing).

OK, the AI was crap, and the engine buggy (detecting pat when there was still playable moves), but nevertheless it was my favourite non-reading activity on the Kobo ereader.

Any hope to see it back, or do I really have to install third party software?

Chess was passively disabled in a 3.14 or 3.15 firmware update. Anything since that version has been taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't actually fully removed by Kobo. So if you're using the tile and it isn't launching I'd assume Kobo has finally removed the associated files for chess from the 3.19 firmware.

So short answer, yes it seems you'll need to go third party for chess.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Do they have proof this is why it has been removed? The two fonts removed seem to be Asian fonts which would say to me that Kobo might be dropping support for them for several reasons.

While those 2 fonts may have contained an Asian character set, they also worked for english (which is how I used them -- or at least tried them at one time or another). The two replacement fonts added are called "Kobo Tsukushi Mincho" and "Kobo UD Kakugo". From the names those both sound like they probably have Asian character support and that they are owned likely devoloped or owned by Kobo and thus they aren't paying licensing fees for their use. That combined with the fact that Kobo's parent company is Japanese would suggest aren't dropping support for them.
As to proof, we can only pass along what the Kobo developers have told us and I have no reason to think they are misleading us. And I'll point out that the question was asked and answered by Kobo well before this thread was started, so their answer was not influenced by anything that they may have read here.

[Blossom]

I have seen proof that they switched to a new provider for fonts which means any fonts could be removed at any time in the upcoming releases. It didn't say it was a licensing issue more likely all fonts are being revamped and in doing so better quality will be added and other fonts like the one in question removed. Why they switched could be anyone's guess.

Kindle has done this. Nook has too. So you might want to hang onto an old firmware in case your font is removed.

[PeterT]

The only fonts affected were the two added in for the initial Japanese release.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by PeterT

The only fonts affected were the two added in for the initial Japanese release.

So far but it could mean more changes ahead which could be good or bad. It's best to always be prepared.

[GERGE]

This is Gothic? This is Helvetica Neue Light. Almost a bit-perfect copy. There are bazillion of free copies of Helvetica, and you also probably have it licensed with your OS or office suite.

For a free copy, use TeX Gyre Heros: http://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-fo...tex-gyre/heros

If you like the style, it is called Neo-grotesque Sans-serif.