Kobo - We need to have a talk - Page 3

thp1017 · 10-12-2011, 10:27 AM

hah, yeah, my brother has a huge and ever-increasing paper book library, so I regularly "borrow" books by downloading a copy off of torrent sites

And absolutely, the formatting is often very screwy, even if the version you download is an epub (who knows what it was before the user uploaded it), let alone using calibre to convert from something else like lit or mobi. I got so frustrated with it early on (along with the Kobo1's double line spacing) that I wrote up a bash script that cleans up the html and gives me fairly consistent formatting.

With all of that, the only issue I've *ever* run in to is the double-tap, and that hasn't happened often enough for me to either really complain about it, or notice any kind of pattern.

moffattm · 10-12-2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baronrus

when I say dodgy I mean books that you download from some torrent site that may have been in a different format initially and converted who knows how.

Ah, yes, I see what you mean. Some conversion tools are very lax and can create files with errors in them, so if dodgy sources are full of books that have been converted from one format to another then I can see how that would cause problems.

Nigol · 10-13-2011, 09:55 AM

Being in the Beta group I can say that there needs to be a better follow up. The beta group is basically just a big thread where everyone posts there comments.

I think the biggest problem is bug tracking, when someone finds a bug we don't always have a follow up telling us if they can reproduce it and if it will fixed, if it is possible etc. Sure if everybody says that they have X problem then they will acknowledge it, but if 1 persons found a bug that nobody found it gets overwhelms by all the responses.

For example in the 1.9.11 firmware (at least in side-loaded epubs, haven't tested it in kepubs), do a search for a pretty generic word. Look where it tells the name of the chapter in the results, it will only show the name of the chapter you started your search in (for example chap 6). So there is no way of knowing in which chapter the words really is.

I told the devs about that bug, didn't have any feedback and they released the final version with the same problem. Their needs to have a answer to these, like will fix in the next version, can't reproduce or something like it.

But even with these problem I would highly recommend the Touch to anybody.

Joe563 · 10-13-2011, 12:16 PM

The lack of a visible problem tracking process was the main reason why I left the beta group. I felt that without a process that included feedback that a lot of effort by the beta testers was wasted.

Latch · 10-13-2011, 12:22 PM

Seriously?? Their idea of a beta group is a bunch of people all shouting randomly in a message thread??? Great Googley-Moogley.

moffattm · 10-13-2011, 05:28 PM

So there's no bug tracking system where you can search to see what's been reported before and add new bug reports, see who the bugs has been assigned to, see what the conclusion is (i.e. fixed, couldn't reproduce, intended behaviour, etc), get feedback from the developer working on the bug, etc?

Or maybe there is but it's internal and external beta testers can't see it, which is a shame when you've got beta testers willing to freely give their time to help you develop your product.

nesler · 10-15-2011, 09:02 PM

I'm happy to say, I'm now part of the beta testing group.

spindlegirl · 10-15-2011, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimwit

What I'd really like to see is a plain jane version that's archived somewhere. Lose a lot of the fripperies and extras. Just a solid working version. It would be nice to be able to go back and reset to a base and then upgrade or not.

What are everyone's "must haves" for their reading pleasure? Mine would be the ability to change fonts, sizing and leading and a library utility. That's it. No prizes/awards, Reading Life, browsing or even a dictionary or notepad if that upsets the stability.

I too, don't care much for the Reading Life - partly because it's an incomplete version, nothing like the demos i see videos of for iphones or other mobile devices which I don't have, (never have owned a cell ever), partly because my reading is mostly an introverted hobby and I rarely stick to just a few books to completion, always changing my mind. The reading Life app ONLY shows the status of the last book I breathed on, which isn't really useful to me.

Ironically enough I'd be a little bit interested in Reading Life IF the actual app on the KT itself *was* like the full version the other gadget owners get, but not a deal breaker for me, for the above reasons mentioned.

MY plain jane version of Kobo Touch: (all things being equal for side loaded books)

1. Sort Library as I choose
2. Fonts as I wish (which is nice, I like that feature already and have actually added some of my favorite fonts)
3. Searching within a book (ditto)
4. Use the search feature to locate a book in my library.
5. Hand select which 5 books go on the home page. (although not crucial)

3 of those 5 are already there, and item #4 is a good thing to have even with item #1 not being there yet.

novou · 10-16-2011, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thp1017

I got so frustrated with it early on (along with the Kobo1's double line spacing) that I wrote up a bash script that cleans up the html and gives me fairly consistent formatting.

Would you mind posting that script if possible?
I can never get epubFixer to work in WINE or a VM.

PS: Another Albuquerque Kobo user, hooray!

Nigol · 10-16-2011, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novou

Would you mind posting that script if possible?
I can never get epubFixer to work in WINE or a VM.

PS: Another Albuquerque Kobo user, hooray!

If you are talking my utility you can use it with Mono. If you are talking about the claibre one, I don't see why you need a VM or WINE since there is linux version.

ePubFIxer working in backtrack 5

make sure "mono-runtime" & "libmono-winforms2.0-cil" are installed
Also make sure that the libtidy.so library is installed (should be by default)

//Usage for Linux
mono /your path/ePubFixer.exe

novou · 10-17-2011, 04:19 AM

I was referring to your utility since it seems handy. I've tried it under mono as well, with proper dependencies (window.forms.dll, etc.) It launches fine & reaches the ToC editor. But using the 'fix margins' option triggers a crash :S
(I know I should've reported it, but I assume it must be some quirk with my system.)

Vague back-trace:

Spoiler:

thp1017 · 10-17-2011, 01:16 PM

Argh, well, I tried just attaching the files here, but the forum hated my bash script files for unknown reasons.

I just uploaded them to my google site, which was otherwise empty...

I think when I originally put this together, the ePubFixer from nigel was brand new, and didn't do everything that I needed it to do. It may now, for all I know - these do what I need them to do, so I've never checked again

That being said, they *can* totally ruin an epub! I assume the presence of paragraph tags, because thats my preference for formatting these things, and occasionally I find epubs that use just div tags, or br tags, etc., so I generally make a copy, then clean up the copy, just in case

So occasionally I have to go sed the dumb files to replace div/span/etc with paragraph, but thats pretty few and far between any more.

Hope you find them useful!

novou · 10-18-2011, 02:30 AM

Thanks for sharing them, and with documentation too :O
I haven't had the time to try them yet, but I will soon.
I'll make sure to report back!

Nigol · 10-18-2011, 12:56 PM

I haven't really fully tested it in Linux, but I installed mono devellop in my linux VM and found the error. It was so stupid, just the message box saying it was fixed that caused that problem, so even though it crashed the file was fixed. So I will put the fix in version 1.5.3 and check a little more in linux. But please note that it only changes the css, not the actual file like you talked about.

jago25_98 · 10-18-2011, 04:26 PM

I think my NookTouch rooted is the best now. But before I rooted I preferred the Kobo for it's simplicity; back then it was very simple and was just for reading books.

I still like the Kobo but after seeing this I now
think they should not do any software development and hand over to CyanogenMod7

10-17-2011, 04:19 AM	#41
novou Pointed Pontification. Posts: 64 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: Kobo Touch (Black)	I was referring to your utility since it seems handy. I've tried it under mono as well, with proper dependencies (window.forms.dll, etc.) It launches fine & reaches the ToC editor. But using the 'fix margins' option triggers a crash :S (I know I should've reported it, but I assume it must be some quirk with my system.) Vague back-trace: Spoiler: $ mono ./ePubFixer\ v1.5/ePubFixer.exe [After hitting Go for margin fix] System.ArgumentNullException: Argument cannot be null. Parameter name: rawAssembly at System.AppDomain.Load (System.Byte[] rawAssembly, System.Byte[] rawSymbolStore, System.Security.Policy.Evidence securityEvidence, Boolean refonly) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.AppDomain.Load (System.Byte[] rawAssembly, System.Byte[] rawSymbolStore, System.Security.Policy.Evidence securityEvidence) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.AppDomain:Load (byte[],byte[],System.Security.Policy.Evidence) at System.AppDomain.Load (System.Byte[] rawAssembly) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.AppDomain:Load (byte[]) at System.Reflection.Assembly.Load (System.Byte[] rawAssembly) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ePubFixer.Program.Resolver (System.Object sender, System.ResolveEventArgs args) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.AppDomain.DoAssemblyResolve (System.String name, Boolean refonly) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ePubFixer.frmMain.<UpdateFiles>b__0 (ePubFixer.Document x) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[ePubFixer.Document].ForEach (System.Action`1 action) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ePubFixer.frmMain.UpdateFiles () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ePubFixer.frmMain.btnGo_Click (System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick (System.EventArgs e) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick (System.EventArgs e) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.OnMouseUp (System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs mevent) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp (System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs mevent) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmLButtonUp (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlWindowTarget.O nMessage (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc (System.Windows.Forms.Message& m) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.WndProc (IntPtr hWnd, Msg msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

10-17-2011, 01:16 PM	#42
thp1017 Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 13557 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Kobo, KT, KGlo, H2O, Libra	scripts Argh, well, I tried just attaching the files here, but the forum hated my bash script files for unknown reasons. I just uploaded them to my google site, which was otherwise empty... I think when I originally put this together, the ePubFixer from nigel was brand new, and didn't do everything that I needed it to do. It may now, for all I know - these do what I need them to do, so I've never checked again That being said, they can totally ruin an epub! I assume the presence of paragraph tags, because thats my preference for formatting these things, and occasionally I find epubs that use just div tags, or br tags, etc., so I generally make a copy, then clean up the copy, just in case So occasionally I have to go sed the dumb files to replace div/span/etc with paragraph, but thats pretty few and far between any more. Hope you find them useful!

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10-12-2011, 10:27 AM	#31
thp1017 Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 13557 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Kobo, KT, KGlo, H2O, Libra	hah, yeah, my brother has a huge and ever-increasing paper book library, so I regularly "borrow" books by downloading a copy off of torrent sites And absolutely, the formatting is often very screwy, even if the version you download is an epub (who knows what it was before the user uploaded it), let alone using calibre to convert from something else like lit or mobi. I got so frustrated with it early on (along with the Kobo1's double line spacing) that I wrote up a bash script that cleans up the html and gives me fairly consistent formatting. With all of that, the only issue I've ever run in to is the double-tap, and that hasn't happened often enough for me to either really complain about it, or notice any kind of pattern.

10-13-2011, 09:55 AM	#33
Nigol Groupie Posts: 185 Karma: 363616 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Montreal, Canada Device: Kobo Original, Kobo Touch	Being in the Beta group I can say that there needs to be a better follow up. The beta group is basically just a big thread where everyone posts there comments. I think the biggest problem is bug tracking, when someone finds a bug we don't always have a follow up telling us if they can reproduce it and if it will fixed, if it is possible etc. Sure if everybody says that they have X problem then they will acknowledge it, but if 1 persons found a bug that nobody found it gets overwhelms by all the responses. For example in the 1.9.11 firmware (at least in side-loaded epubs, haven't tested it in kepubs), do a search for a pretty generic word. Look where it tells the name of the chapter in the results, it will only show the name of the chapter you started your search in (for example chap 6). So there is no way of knowing in which chapter the words really is. I told the devs about that bug, didn't have any feedback and they released the final version with the same problem. Their needs to have a answer to these, like will fix in the next version, can't reproduce or something like it. But even with these problem I would highly recommend the Touch to anybody.

10-13-2011, 12:16 PM	#34
Joe563 Never spit into the wind. Posts: 328 Karma: 23499 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: New Westminster, BC Device: Kobo Original, Kobo Touch, Kobo Android(smartphone & tablet)	The lack of a visible problem tracking process was the main reason why I left the beta group. I felt that without a process that included feedback that a lot of effort by the beta testers was wasted.

10-13-2011, 12:22 PM	#35
Latch Porcupine Tree fan Posts: 139 Karma: 357322 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ottawa, Canada Device: Kobo Touch	Seriously?? Their idea of a beta group is a bunch of people all shouting randomly in a message thread??? Great Googley-Moogley.

10-13-2011, 05:28 PM	#36
moffattm Addict Posts: 333 Karma: 1440670 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Device: Kobo Original, Kobo Glo	So there's no bug tracking system where you can search to see what's been reported before and add new bug reports, see who the bugs has been assigned to, see what the conclusion is (i.e. fixed, couldn't reproduce, intended behaviour, etc), get feedback from the developer working on the bug, etc? Or maybe there is but it's internal and external beta testers can't see it, which is a shame when you've got beta testers willing to freely give their time to help you develop your product.

10-15-2011, 09:02 PM	#37
nesler Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 548458 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: California Device: Too many to list	I'm happy to say, I'm now part of the beta testing group.

10-18-2011, 02:30 AM	#43
novou Pointed Pontification. Posts: 64 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: Kobo Touch (Black)	Thanks for sharing them, and with documentation too :O I haven't had the time to try them yet, but I will soon. I'll make sure to report back!

10-18-2011, 12:56 PM	#44
Nigol Groupie Posts: 185 Karma: 363616 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Montreal, Canada Device: Kobo Original, Kobo Touch	I haven't really fully tested it in Linux, but I installed mono devellop in my linux VM and found the error. It was so stupid, just the message box saying it was fixed that caused that problem, so even though it crashed the file was fixed. So I will put the fix in version 1.5.3 and check a little more in linux. But please note that it only changes the css, not the actual file like you talked about.

10-18-2011, 04:26 PM	#45
jago25_98 Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 3200000 Join Date: Dec 2005 Device: n35 p800 n30	I think my NookTouch rooted is the best now. But before I rooted I preferred the Kobo for it's simplicity; back then it was very simple and was just for reading books. I still like the Kobo but after seeing this I now think they should not do any software development and hand over to CyanogenMod7

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