Firmware 3.19.5613 discussion

[chrisridd]

It would seem that however I "self-registered" my Aura before wasn't quite correct, as my Aura has reported a "Critical Error" and done some sort of reset.

There's no real harm done, but it is slightly annoying. All my books and fonts are still there, so it isn't a full factory reset.

Can someone post how to correctly self register their device, or is that verboten by the mods?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

It would seem that however I "self-registered" my Aura before wasn't quite correct, as my Aura has reported a "Critical Error" and done some sort of reset.

There's no real harm done, but it is slightly annoying. All my books and fonts are still there, so it isn't a full factory reset.

Can someone post how to correctly self register their device, or is that verboten by the mods?

You have to sign-out and do a proper registration.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You have to sign-out and do a proper registration.

However according to post #19 it is still possible to avoid registration.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

However according to post #19 it is still possible to avoid registration.

There's also really no harm in registering. I get coupon offers from Kobo, and suggestions based on my purchases, which I presume I wouldn't get if I had not purchased anything from them. At the bottom there is an unsubscribe link.

Kobo doesn't require you add a credit card, and I'm pretty sure you could put fake information for any personal fields they may happen to require.

I get why people may be adverse to registering, but why not just set up an email account for all your registering needs?

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

There's also really no harm in registering. I get coupon offers from Kobo, and suggestions based on my purchases, which I presume I wouldn't get if I had not purchased anything from them. At the bottom there is an unsubscribe link.

Kobo doesn't require you add a credit card, and I'm pretty sure you could put fake information for any personal fields they may happen to require.

I get why people may be adverse to registering, but why not just set up an email account for all your registering needs?

I have bought some books from Kobo, but I prefer to remove the DRM and side load them via Calibre. While I'm not averse to registering my device, if my device is registered these books appear twice, and/or I get irritating recommendations on the home screen. I can't remember. I do remember it was less messy when I was able to self-register.

I've made it forget my wireless network's password so that ought to stop the thing from trying to talk to the mothership...

[Nick_1964]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I have bought some books from Kobo, but I prefer to remove the DRM and side load them via Calibre. While I'm not averse to registering my device, if my device is registered these books appear twice, and/or I get irritating recommendations on the home screen. I can't remember. I do remember it was less messy when I was able to self-register.

I've made it forget my wireless network's password so that ought to stop the thing from trying to talk to the mothership...

Never had this from Kobo and if you put your book in the recyclebin (that is not delete it) on the site it will never send it at all.
I never got any advertising from them and it never tried to sync or contact without me asking it, and it never prompted for my wifi password either.
Because I sideload my books, I never sync so there are also no irritating recommendations send.
I think IMHO that the not registering thing is a bit overdone..
If you don't sync,it will not go online by itself to try to "call the mothership" and no such things as forgetting the password are needed to prevent it from doing.
If I do sync,there are no books send that I bought before,there is a whole section on the site that explain how to prevent that it will send you books you have ever bought (put it in your recycle bin in the site on your account.)
It doesn't ask for a homeaddress and while i put an existing mail address by registration,in 2,5 years I never got one mail from them..
So there is really no reason for not registering at all.

[GeoffR]

There is some funky stuff happening when I change the line spacing and margins from the Aa menu in an ePub book. A picture briefly flashes on the screen, it is too fast to say exactly what it is a picture of, but it is not a picture from the current book and I don't recognise it. I think it is a photo of a person, but I can only see the top of the head as the rest is obscured by the menu.

It doesn't seem to cause any problem, but it is a bit weird.

Edit: Actually after looking at it a few more times I think the picture could be a section of the book's cover, so maybe it is just something to do with the re-rendering of the book after the settings have changed.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Desdinova

Isn't this the same behaviour as a Kindle? You have to register them?

Kindles do not need to be registered to use them, only if you want to use the native UI for managing collections (which is slower than using the two hacks available for manipulating the database directly).

Also, AFAIK the registration hack on a Kindle still works fine. (As always, pinging Amazon's servers resets it. There is a firewall hack for that.)

Originally Posted by GERGE

Kobo readers require a Kobo account. Any other ways to use the features that require that are hacks.

And you are bashing Kobo for not supporting an unofficial hack. There is a problem here.

Well, perhaps it isn't bashing Kobo so much as saying the firmware does not allow for a hack that rashkae clearly feels is necessary for personal enjoyment of the Kobo.

There may be a problem here, if people cannot acknowledge that as a valid opinion.

However much I may personally feel that going to such lengths to avoid registration on either a Kindle or a Kobo is silly, given how easy it is to create a throwaway email address.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You are using a hack to bypass the registration. You cannot expect Kobo to comply with a hack they didn't authorize. I've registered my H2O and I see nothing at all wrong with that.

As for Kindle, you HAVE to register in order to be able to use collections. This is no different than registering your Kobo.

Except for the part where you could just not use collections... for some odd reason, there are many people who don't seem to feel the need for them.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, perhaps it isn't bashing Kobo so much as saying the firmware does not allow for a hack that rashkae clearly feels is necessary for personal enjoyment of the Kobo.

There may be a problem here, if people cannot acknowledge that as a valid opinion.

Wanting to use third-party "hacks" on a device you own is fine. Complaining that those "hacks" are not officially supported is not.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I have bought some books from Kobo, but I prefer to remove the DRM and side load them via Calibre. While I'm not averse to registering my device, if my device is registered these books appear twice, and/or I get irritating recommendations on the home screen. I can't remember. I do remember it was less messy when I was able to self-register.

I've made it forget my wireless network's password so that ought to stop the thing from trying to talk to the mothership...

You might want to delete the books from your Kobo account after downloading them. They are still available unless you select them in the trash view and click on delete forever so if you ever want to redownload the ebook, you can undelete them. This prevents them from syncing to your ereader and giving you the two copies in Calibre. The recommendations are a bit annoying but a simple long press/dismiss tile gets rid of them. I can't remember if that is one of the tiles that DavidFor's Kobo Utilities automates the removal of.

[eenk]

In the Aa font settings the list of fonts now contains at its top a "publisher's default" item. Is this new or did I overlook it all the time?

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by eenk

In the Aa font settings the list of fonts now contains at its top a "publisher's default" item. Is this new or did I overlook it all the time?

I remember that from previous firmware versions. It lets the book use any fonts embedded inside, for example.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by eenk

In the Aa font settings the list of fonts now contains at its top a "publisher's default" item. Is this new or did I overlook it all the time?

It has been that way for a while now. It is just a name change, it used to be "Document Default" and then it changed to "Publisher Default".

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You might want to delete the books from your Kobo account after downloading them. They are still available unless you select them in the trash view and click on delete forever so if you ever want to redownload the ebook, you can undelete them. This prevents them from syncing to your ereader and giving you the two copies in Calibre. The recommendations are a bit annoying but a simple long press/dismiss tile gets rid of them. I can't remember if that is one of the tiles that DavidFor's Kobo Utilities automates the removal of.

Yes, I dismiss those tiles via David's plugin. I've seen them come back though.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I have bought some books from Kobo, but I prefer to remove the DRM and side load them via Calibre. While I'm not averse to registering my device, if my device is registered these books appear twice, and/or I get irritating recommendations on the home screen. I can't remember. I do remember it was less messy when I was able to self-register.

I always let the books download then delete them, I then set my library display to only show books on the device so I never see them again. I then add the book via Calibre. When I do sync I simply delete the recommendations from the home screen and if kobo add previews I delete them (I always check in the settings after a sync) I keep wifi off unless I buy books.