Kobo Firmware 4.12.12111

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by please55

With this update I noticed that highlights were harder to make without errors and moving the cursor was less fluid than the previous firmware. Also after making a highlight, try drag one of the markers was impossible and I often had to start over and make sure I hit the spots just right.

Anyone else experience this or should I go through with an exchange for the device?

Kobo Clara HD

I'm sure it's the firmware. My Original H2O is sometimes up to 15 seconds delay for menu to appear or rest of highlight. Other times nearly as fast as when I got it.
Mitigating to improve highlight speed: Larger font, larger margins, larger line spacings and using SD card.
No effect: kepub vs epub vs an epub renamed to keypub.
No better on 50K book rather than 130K word book
No effect on books with or without footnotes.

It's disastrous to accidently change direction on same line rather than definitely move down by more than a line. That either kills touch or freezes the Kobo. Power off / sleep cover for LONG enough or a reset cures it.

Kobo can and does ignore email. Only publicly shaming them about long term issues (some bugs, some deliberate), poor firmware and testing will force a change in attitude.

There is also an intermittent bug regarding recognising publisher and series information of books loaded from Calibre. Sometimes a reset fixes it, or taking card out with powered down, powering up, power down, insert card and power up. Or copy books to a different card and swap cards while power off.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

There is also an intermittent bug regarding recognising publisher and series information of books loaded from Calibre. Sometimes a reset fixes it, or taking card out with powered down, powering up, power down, insert card and power up. Or copy books to a different card and swap cards while power off.

That's sort of expected. The KoboTouch driver is cheating. It is updating the database directly. Before the device can show this information, it has the read it from the database. The firmware has the details in memory and it has to have a reason to reread the database. Restarting the device is one of the times it does. Adding a book probably will, ejecting and reinserting the SD card almost definitely does. It might also do it when you next open the book.

None of that is a bug in the firmware. The driver is taking advantage of something and has no way to signal to the device there is a change.

[Quoth]

That fails to explain why publisher & series info is missing from newly added books.
The information later appearing seems to be at some random time after other books are added or card swapped. A reset rarely fixes it. Re-opening the book doesn't fix it. The book info has a long fake ISBN till the publisher appears at that position later.

If it's not a firmware bug, then something is wrong somewhere. We seem to have quite different ideas about what is reasonable behaviour for software and/or gadgets, whether it's really a bug, intended or stupidity.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by please55

With this update I noticed that highlights were harder to make without errors and moving the cursor was less fluid than the previous firmware. Also after making a highlight, try drag one of the markers was impossible and I often had to start over and make sure I hit the spots just right.

Anyone else experience this or should I go through with an exchange for the device?

Kobo Clara HD

I find that highlighting works better if you hold on the first word very briefly and begin sliding your finger to the end as soon as the line appears but before the markers show.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

That fails to explain why publisher & series info is missing from newly added books.
The information later appearing seems to be at some random time after other books are added or card swapped. A reset rarely fixes it. Re-opening the book doesn't fix it. The book info has a long fake ISBN till the publisher appears at that position later.

If it's not a firmware bug, then something is wrong somewhere. We seem to have quite different ideas about what is reasonable behaviour for software and/or gadgets, whether it's really a bug, intended or stupidity.

Are you adding books in the way supported by Kobo?
https://www.kobo.com/help/en-US/arti...r-kobo-ereader

No, you are doing something else, using non-supported software that is 'cheating' and directly updating the device's internal database. Which is not a supported way of adding books. So why blame Kobo if sometimes it doesn't work correctly?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

That fails to explain why publisher & series info is missing from newly added books.
The information later appearing seems to be at some random time after other books are added or card swapped. A reset rarely fixes it. Re-opening the book doesn't fix it. The book info has a long fake ISBN till the publisher appears at that position later.

Have you paid any attention to what is going on? Do you ever bother to read any manuals or details about the tools that you work? Everything above has been discussed here plenty of times before.

Firstly, the device DOES NOT read the series information. It doesn't do this because there is no standard for it in the DC metadata. No standard, no way to read it.

It doesn't read the publishing details. That is a Kobo decision. Why, I don't know why.

The ISBN is a bug. The device reads the first dc:identifier element and assumes it is the ISBN.

Now, as I said before the KoboTouch driver cheats. It does a direct database update of these details. It cannot update the database if the book hasn't already been imported by the device into the database. That means it does these updates the next time you connect the device. So, put a book on the device, no series info, possibly incorrect ISBN, no publishing details when you look at it. Reconnect and let calibre do its stuff, all that gets updated. Fix/update the details in calibre, reconnect and the metadata gets updated again.

All of this is well documented here.

If it's not a firmware bug, then something is wrong somewhere. We seem to have quite different ideas about what is reasonable behaviour for software and/or gadgets, whether it's really a bug, intended or stupidity.

Yes we do. But, at least I try to work out what is actually happening before jumping to conclusions. And I do understand that not all people have the same opinion on how things work.

[rodenti]

Has anyone figured out how to patch the firmware to enable Overdrive integration for the Glo HD? It uses the same Mark 6 firmware as the other readers with it integrated.

[Csokis]

The new firmware does not display the low battery warning at any energy level (Kobo Glo HD)! If I don't look at myself, it would battery runs low completely. :/ It's a bug? Trying a factory reset? It is help?

[koboy]

has anyone else noticed with this firmware that if you are reading a txt file when you go out of the file and then open it again it always goes back to page 1? regardless of what page you were on when you went back to the home screen.

best wishes koboy

[Owl_]

Originally Posted by koboy

has anyone else noticed with this firmware that if you are reading a txt file when you go out of the file and then open it again it always goes back to page 1? regardless of what page you were on when you went back to the home screen.

best wishes koboy

Yes, I met the same problem. Other problems:
- big html in some kebus go slow (I had to split them with Sigil)
- The buttons < > at the bottom of the dictionay's windows, take more space then before (turning page only swiping, was better)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Have you paid any attention to what is going on? Do you ever bother to read any manuals or details about the tools that you work? Everything above has been discussed here plenty of times before.

Do stop with the stupid insults and defence of Kobo.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Firstly, the device DOES NOT read the series information. It doesn't do this because there is no standard for it in the DC metadata. No standard, no way to read it.

It obviously does. It offers to sort a collection by series. It displays it in two places eventually.

Originally Posted by davidfor

It doesn't read the publishing details. That is a Kobo decision. Why, I don't know why.

It does display it, but as to how it decides to eventually, I don't know. First line in the tab

Originally Posted by davidfor

The ISBN is a bug. The device reads the first dc:identifier element and assumes it is the ISBN.

Yes the FW is full of bugs. The fake ISBN eventually gets replaced by language or Publisher followed by language.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Now, as I said before the KoboTouch driver cheats. It does a direct database update of these details. It cannot update the database if the book hasn't already been imported by the device into the database. That means it does these updates the next time you connect the device. So, put a book on the device, no series info, possibly incorrect ISBN, no publishing details when you look at it. Reconnect and let calibre do its stuff, all that gets updated. Fix/update the details in calibre, reconnect and the metadata gets updated again.

No, that isn't exactly what happens.

You can be helpful, but too often you just defend kobo and rubbish what people say as ill-informed. Unless you work for Kobo most of what you say about it's working as intended, or stuff not supported is purely your opinion.

The Kobo GUI and FW obviously does support Series and Publisher in some erratic fashion. It actually sometimes works and sorts by Series. The series info and publisher is displayed and labelled as such. But not in any consistent fashion.

Erratic and inconsistent behaviour is a bug. No matter what explanation there is for it.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Erratic and inconsistent behaviour is a bug. No matter what explanation there is for it.

Can you find any example of this? Because, for me, series and publisher are never erratic. I mean: they appear always the second time I connect the ereader and I always can see them in the details. And the series appear always in the library view. And all my books are epub sideloaded as kepub. And yes, it sorts by series not only collections but books and authors, and it does it right.

I've never have found that erratic behavior, so I'm curious about which exactly the problem is.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

No, that isn't exactly what happens.

It is for me. Like Terisa, I have never seen any of my Kobo's not do exactly what David says they do, and how and why they do it. And I have owned 4 of them, back to the Aura HD.

I'm with David on this one. Whatever you think is happening at your end, it's not happening for the rest of us.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Do stop with the stupid insults

What insult? You have demonstrated many times you can't be bothered to read instructions, posts and details of your tools. I was asking a question.

Yeah, OK, there is some sarcasm involved here.

and defence of Kobo.

Please stop accusing me of doing something I am not doing. Or demonstrate where I am doing it.

And to be clear, there is no sarcasm intended there.

It obviously does. It offers to sort a collection by series. It displays it in two places eventually.

Yes, it is displayed and you can sort by it. But, I said "read", not "displayed". As you were complaining about how the firmware doesn't read metadata properly from books, I thought it was obvious that that is what I was talking about.

So to be clear: The firmware does not read series information from the books. The KoboTouch driver can populate this information directly into the database for books already on the device.

It does display it, but as to how it decides to eventually, I don't know. First line in the tab

As I stated clearly in my post above, and above in this post, and many, many times in this forum, the driver sets the series information directly in the database when it is next connected. It checks for any differences between the device and the calibre library, and makes the changes needed.

Yes the FW is full of bugs.

And I have never claimed that the firmware doesn't have bugs. I might disagree about whether something is a bug, or exactly what the bug is. But, I've never denied they exist.

The fake ISBN eventually gets replaced by language or Publisher followed by language.

Sorry, but before you said the fake ISBN gets replaced by the real ISBN. Are you now saying it disappear and is replaced by the language? If there is an ISBN, the language should already be there on the second line. The language is something the device reads from the book, so it should be there.

In any case, the ISBN and other metadata being updated is again, due to the driver. And is done at exactly the same time and in the same way as the series info is updated; compare the current values and update as necessary. The "fake" ISBN will be removed if the book in the calibre library doesn't have one. Assuming you have the appropriate options set.

No, that isn't exactly what happens.

Well, it is. The paragraph you put that against is a description of how the KoboTouch driver works. Your suggestion that I can't describe how the driver works is an insult. Or demonstrates my point about how little you pay attention to what is put in front of you.

You can be helpful, but too often you just defend kobo

Again, as I have asked many times, please point to where I have done this.

and rubbish what people say as ill-informed.

Again, apart from possibly the post you are quoting, point to where I am doing this. Yes, I will tell people if they are wrong, but, I object to the suggestion that I do what you are claiming.

Of course, you should practice what you preach. Your constant insistence that I am defending Kobo is a good example of your doing this. It is a tactic to try and put me down and make people not take my posts into consideration. And most of your responses in the discussion about syncing included a dig at me.

Unless you work for Kobo

I do not.

most of what you say about it's working as intended, or stuff not supported is purely your opinion.

I generally include a disclaimer like, "as far as I can tell" when I make statements like that. But, sometimes I forget. Or think it is obvious in the context. But...

Sometimes I am describing the behaviour as I see it.

And sometimes, I have explicitly asked Kobo how something works and have been told.

And sometimes, without prompting, Kobo have told me how something works.

In this particular case, it is a combination of all of these. Kobo informed me about the series info. I asked about some of the other metadata. I have done copious experiments to work out how the rest of the metadata handling currently works. That is on top of all the day-to-day usage for the last few years. Then I used all this information to code and test the driver. And inform whoever asked here.

The Kobo GUI and FW obviously does support Series and Publisher in some erratic fashion. It actually sometimes works and sorts by Series. The series info and publisher is displayed and labelled as such. But not in any consistent fashion.

Erratic and inconsistent behaviour is a bug. No matter what explanation there is for it.

And I can tell you, that it is extremely consistent here: Send some books, disconnect and let them be imported, connect again and let calibre do its stuff and disconnect again. Series info and all the other metadata is updated. Sorry, to be specific: all the metadata that the driver can update is updated.

And based on the number of reports about this here, it is obviously not any issue for other people.

And are you sure it is inconsistent? Is it possible that they get updated the next time you use calibre to send a book to the device? And, again to be explicit: the books already on the device when you send new books using calibre, get the metadata such as series info, ISBN and publishing details updated.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by koboy

has anyone else noticed with this firmware that if you are reading a txt file when you go out of the file and then open it again it always goes back to page 1? regardless of what page you were on when you went back to the home screen.

I tested and I see the same. I don't even know why I had a TXT file on the device to be able to do that, so I have no idea when it was broken. But, I can say it should be fixed in the next release.