Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 1.9.16

[meeera]

Originally Posted by l_macd

The recommended list is a good idea in theory and one plenty of people will like, but if you can't opt-out of it, I'd find that pretty irritating.

I opted out of the Recommended list on my home screen. It took around seven seconds to switch it to Shortlist instead of Recommended, if you count the time I spent finding that option.

I don't know if the person complaining about this has some sort of bug, and hasn't bothered to (or doesn't want to) do a factory reset, or something? (I've only skimmed their previous posts about it.) There are no reversions for me here with wifi connection; my shortlist happily sits at the bottom of the screen keeping my Read-This-Month books at hand. Any complaints about "NO ONE CAN OPT OUT" doesn't seem to be particularly reality-based, as plenty of us opted out just fine.

(I confess to personally caring not a jot about the Recommended list on the Kobo desktop app, because I've opened that app maybe three times total since I got my Kobo. Your mileage may vary.)

This and what therealjoeblow posted about the social integration tools puts me off buying a Kobo Touch more than any firmware issues.

Goodreads integration can only happens if you say yes to it. Email address cross-checking can only happen if you specifically give it permission and your password (which is a bad idea on principle, so I'd recommend not doing it).

[ltr]

I opted out of the Recommended list on my home screen. It took around seven seconds to switch it to Shortlist instead of Recommended, if you count the time I spent finding that option.

Except for those of us that updated the 1.9.16 firmware on the first day. It always reverts to Recommended list, regardless if you changed it to Shortlist.

ltr

[meeera]

Originally Posted by ltr

Except for those of us that updated the 1.9.16 firmware on the first day. It always reverts to Recommended list, regardless if you changed it to Shortlist.

ltr

And after a factory reset?

[ltr]

And after a factory reset?

I'm not too comfortable doing a factory reset. I'd rather Kobo issue a firmware update to correct their problem.

ltr

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by ltr

Except for those of us that updated the 1.9.16 firmware on the first day. It always reverts to Recommended list, regardless if you changed it to Shortlist.

ltr

Hi ltr,

We don't have an exact time nailed down for the release of it, but I can confirm that this issue is fixed in our next firmware upgrade. I'm sorry you had to deal with this annoyance, it should not have gotten through to the production release. I believe you will be happy with our fix and I look forward to your feedback on it.

Sameer.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by ltr

I'm not too comfortable doing a factory reset. I'd rather Kobo issue a firmware update to correct their problem.

ltr

Right. You've got a minor zero-day bug that you could easily fix (a factory reset is a non-drama), and you choose not to fix it. So why give others the idea that Kobo has deliberately done this as a marketing choice?

You say that you don't understand why Kobo won't allow you to opt out.You are allowed to opt out, and you have decided not to.

[FJames]

Maybe doing a factory reset and starting over wouldn't be so intimidating to people if they had a specific list of what would be lost and how to restore it. Remember that on many other devices restoring from a factory reset is long and involved chore, and people may not necessarily be aware of exactly what is involved on the Kobo.

So, what needs to be restored after a factory reset?

Settings? Which ones typically?

WiFi network info?

Kobo account info? How?

Adobe device ID/account link-up? How?

Library contents in internal memory obviously. Sync to Kobo + re-download from Calibre or direct USB copy for non-Kobo books? How long would that take typically?

Re-index books on microSD card? How? Any problems with that?

Is it possible to do any kind of backup and restore in case things go wrong and you want to return to where you started?

[Thra11]

Originally Posted by meeera

I opted out of the Recommended list on my home screen. It took around seven seconds to switch it to Shortlist instead of Recommended, if you count the time I spent finding that option.

I don't know if the person complaining about this has some sort of bug, and hasn't bothered to (or doesn't want to) do a factory reset, or something? (I've only skimmed their previous posts about it.) There are no reversions for me here with wifi connection; my shortlist happily sits at the bottom of the screen keeping my Read-This-Month books at hand. Any complaints about "NO ONE CAN OPT OUT" doesn't seem to be particularly reality-based, as plenty of us opted out just fine.

Getting rid of the recommended reads from the home page is easy enough. However, I find they still pop up when using "Search Library". Does anyone know how to wipe them out completely? Annoying garbage is annoying.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by FJames

Maybe doing a factory reset and starting over wouldn't be so intimidating to people if they had a specific list of what would be lost and how to restore it. Remember that on many other devices restoring from a factory reset is long and involved chore, and people may not necessarily be aware of exactly what is involved on the Kobo.

So, what needs to be restored after a factory reset?

A factory reset restores the device to as-new. So you set everything up just as you set it up in the first place. The exception is that the reset doesn't touch the SD card, so if you keep all your books there (I always do this), your books will all be exactly where you left them. Then you just go through the settings in order and set up the same way you did before.

If you're not remotely tech-savvy (and none of this is particularly tricky stuff IMO), find your instruction booklet and follow that. Or find a handy thread at mobileread, like this one

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82265

Or follow the user guides at the Kobo website:

http://www.kobobooks.com/touch_user_guides

Or you could just skip to the meat of things, and follow Kobo's specific instructions on factory resetting, which they provide here, question 10:

http://kobo.intelliresponse.com/index.jsp

[therealjoeblow]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Hi ltr,

We don't have an exact time nailed down for the release of it, but I can confirm that this issue is fixed in our next firmware upgrade. I'm sorry you had to deal with this annoyance, it should not have gotten through to the production release. I believe you will be happy with our fix and I look forward to your feedback on it.

Sameer.

Hopefully the 'fix' is to delete this 'feature' in its entirety :-)

/TRJB

[voom]

This is one thing I am not worried about due to the magic of the Tweaks-Plugin that let's me opt-put of the bottom-list completely with ease...

However, I hope very much that the developers don't try to make plugin-development more difficult by constantly changing or even inhibiting the way, these tweaks can be applied... (Other companies do that and in one case have driven me mad to the point, where I would never buy anything from them again...)

The point is that the masses who are potential customers of the content hardly ever will install a plugin like that; those few geeks who do however mostly will have their own mind about what they want and what not so if they decide to opt-out of a specific function, they would not use it anyway or may even be driven back from the decision to buy something due to too much advertising.

On the other hand the official developers can derive a lot of potential from the "rogue-developers" and should not drive them back; whoever spends his free time to enhance a product like this for the community for free initially must be very fond of the product, also what is implemented (or attempted to) this way probably adresses the most common needs of the community, thus giving inspiration also for where the official branch should go.

I think the magic word for any development is "give me options". At least keep the way clear and easy for developing plugins - and easily maintaining their function through firmware-updates. (Unless a function becomes obsolete due to being implemented officially)

TL;DR Give us options instead of trying to "fix" everything for everyone the same way; treat plugin developers as valued rogue assets and don't block their efforts

[tsb1]

Originally Posted by psy65

done.

Back to 9.14 that means i'll never buy another kobo book as i don't want my kobo to update itself.

Now my kobo can turn off properly.

I buy them on my desktop, download them and load by ADE. This way you don't need to have the Kobo Desktop open to load books and the Kobo doesn't update itself.

[kyriu]

Originally Posted by voom

This is one thing I am not worried about due to the magic of the Tweaks-Plugin that let's me opt-put of the bottom-list completely with ease...

However, I hope very much that the developers don't try to make plugin-development more difficult by constantly changing or even inhibiting the way, these tweaks can be applied... (Other companies do that and in one case have driven me mad to the point, where I would never buy anything from them again...)

The point is that the masses who are potential customers of the content hardly ever will install a plugin like that; those few geeks who do however mostly will have their own mind about what they want and what not so if they decide to opt-out of a specific function, they would not use it anyway or may even be driven back from the decision to buy something due to too much advertising.

On the other hand the official developers can derive a lot of potential from the "rogue-developers" and should not drive them back; whoever spends his free time to enhance a product like this for the community for free initially must be very fond of the product, also what is implemented (or attempted to) this way probably adresses the most common needs of the community, thus giving inspiration also for where the official branch should go.

I think the magic word for any development is "give me options". At least keep the way clear and easy for developing plugins - and easily maintaining their function through firmware-updates. (Unless a function becomes obsolete due to being implemented officially)

TL;DR Give us options instead of trying to "fix" everything for everyone the same way; treat plugin developers as valued rogue assets and don't block their efforts

thats the intelligent business approach, I think.

[MrBook69]

I searched everywhere but can't find url to download this firmware, where is it?

[dioioib]

i just received a replacement unit today. Charged it. Loaded the new firmware from the Mac version of the desktop app. Reset device. It loaded the 1.9.16 firmware. Restarted. Then processed content. The device after processing content was not responsive to touches. Restarted, froze on startup. Reset, freezes again, so reset again. Finally loads into the home screen, then processes content more quickly. Reader completes processing and loads the home screen, I am able to press home, then the device freezes. Attempt to reset again with the same result. Then again, then again. Again I attempt to reset this time it freezes on the smily face screen with 3 solid blocks to the right side of the row of squares. Repeated process 2 more times. Attempted hardware reset, unit ends up flashing with a blue led repeatedly. Attempt using a paperclip to reset with no success. Attempted to do a hardware reset 3 more times, with no success. Tried one more time, led flashes red, and finally starts the hard reset. The unit loads version 1.9.5(r2967x July 2011). Insert 16gb Class 10 (SDXC A-DATA microSD card). Waited for over 10 minutes before the unit detected the card and started processing the content. I am currently waiting for my content to process on the device again.

New recommendations:

- Give me the ability to sync with my sd card when I want to not when the device thinks it should.
- Give me the ability to use multiple sd cards in the device. This will require you to change the SQL structure and change the way your device thumbnails images for each cover.
- keep the covers on each sd card. but also give me the option to use cover images.
- in your sql file don't use a "device:/dir/file.extension." Do something like "device:volume label:/dir/file.extension"
- let me sort my library into collections.
- let me use the device without connecting to your desktop application, because in all honesty its a completely useless program unless you buy your books directly from the kobo store which I don't. I primarily use my device to read journal articles, datasheets, white papers and other technical documents. I have no interest in using this device to read novels.

I am quite confident that my problems would be eliminated if you did away with the SQL database and used a file tree structure that I could manage myself. Restrict the DRM literature to the SQL database you are using for managing encryption keys etc.

In the mean time I will be happily waiting for a working version of 1.9.17.