Firmware 4.31.19086

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Based on what has been observed so far, could we make a list of best practices that will minimize the risk of database corruption when using the 4.31 firmware?

Close kepub before connecting to USB

Wait 5 minutes after putting your Kobo to sleep before connecting it to USB (5 is arbitrary but should be enough time for things to either end gracefully or be ended and also not so long that it’s a major burden on the user)

Reboot your Kobo before and after each USB connect, to make this quick you can use nickelmenu (I’m not sure which side of the connecting is the more important for this)

After ejecting your Kobo wait for its screen to go to the Home Screen before you unplug it (Just good practice in general, the screen should probably be the last thing to be told the Kobo has been safely ejected)

Use Calibre and Kobo Utilities to make a back up of your database (doesn’t minimize the risk of the DB becoming corrupt of course but it does minimize the potential loss if it does)

Use Sherman’s KoboUnCaged mod to wirelessly send everything from Calibre to your Kobo (I’m not sure if this would prevent it or not honestly, but I’d think a wireless connection would at least reduce the other device still reading the db. I might be wrong here if someone who understands that whole process better wants to correct me)

Obviously the waiting and rebooting are probably overkill together since a reboot should end everything but if you want to play it super safe do both. And I’m not sure if kobouncaged would prevent all these issues entirely.

This list is just from what I’ve recalled from reading here.

[JSWolf]

I don't see a need to reboot before connecting to the computer as long as you do so while at the home screen.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't see a need to reboot before connecting to the computer as long as you do so while at the home screen.

Here is what frostschutz said:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Umount always fails when you connect within KEPUB (nickel does not release KEPUB filehandle), and sometimes fails when you connect from Home menu (nickel does not release KoboReader.sqlite filehandle).

Umount failing at the home screen seems to happen more following an import process. As such, rebooting after an import should reduce the risk of a failed umount and subsequent db corruption.

My main practice prior to reverting was to keep a single book on the device as ePub (I used Overdrive library books) and open that immediately before connection. ePub is able to gracefully dismount.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Here is what frostschutz said:



Umount failing at the home screen seems to happen more following an import process. As such, rebooting after an import should reduce the risk of a failed umount and subsequent db corruption.

My main practice prior to reverting was to keep a single book on the device as ePub (I used Overdrive library books) and open that immediately before connection. ePub is able to gracefully dismount.

Another solution in this case is to read ePub and not KePub.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Here is what frostschutz said:



Umount failing at the home screen seems to happen more following an import process. As such, rebooting after an import should reduce the risk of a failed umount and subsequent db corruption.

My main practice prior to reverting was to keep a single book on the device as ePub (I used Overdrive library books) and open that immediately before connection. ePub is able to gracefully dismount.

Likewise rebooting before should ensure everything is ended. As with much on my list doing both before and after is probably more than is needed, however doing everything on my list doesn’t take much more time than what you’d normally do, especially if you use nickelmenu to assist with the reboot.

Close kepub to Home Screen, reboot using nickelmenu, put Kobo to sleep and wait 5 minutes, connect to computer transfer books, eject and wait to see the Home Screen, unplug, use nickelmenu to reboot. Repeat if you want/need to have Calibre manage the metadata immediately. Overall it’s maybe 15 minutes for two connections, and I’m being pretty generous with the reboot time in that estimate. Similarly you can cut out 10 minutes if you don’t do the wait 5 after putting the Kobo to sleep, and of course the last reboot doesn’t stop you from moving anywhere else with the Kobo so you’re able to use that time to get to a reading chair or wherever.

I’m not pretending 15 minutes is a great time for what should be considerably less. Just giving a reasonable amount of time to wait to connect. Instead of the first reboot you could power off your Kobo since plugging it in to your computer would just start it up and you’d get to the connect screen. Which would also shave those 5 minutes of waiting off at every connect.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another solution in this case is to read ePub and not KePub.

Except we’ve had reports of db corruption with this new bug with epub as well. The best practices list I provided doesn’t require the reader to change their preferred format and once Kobo has addressed this issue can simply be stopped and the user continues on as they had in 4.30 and before.

Your suggestion would require a format change for many and makes more work for the user if they want to keep their read books on the device in their preferred format once the issue is fixed.

[rashkae]

I could reproduce the dirty unmount 100% with epub as well as kepub, (I even factory reset between tests so the Kobo never even saw one of the other.)... it made no difference here.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another solution in this case is to read ePub and not KePub.

yeah but ePub renderer kinda stinks.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

yeah but ePub renderer kinda stinks.

There are differences between the two renderers but stinks is rather strong. The ePub renderer (RMSDK) does handle fonts better and lacks some of the oddities that the webkit based renderer has. Minor items such as ligatures without having to patch, ability to use narrow line spacing, ability to hyphenate without patching when the device is not set to justified, etc.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One of the things to do is to go back to the home screen before you load any eBooks be it side loading or syncing.

Yes. I always do this because you can watch the number of books change (as books are added or deleted) in the "My Books" tile. It gives some evidence that the process is moving forward.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

After ejecting your Kobo wait for its screen to go to the Home Screen before you unplug it (Just good practice in general, the screen should probably be the last thing to be told the Kobo has been safely ejected)

Yes. First it returns to the Home Screen. Then it displays the dark screen progress bar. Then it returns to the Home Screen AGAIN. After that, viewing "My Books," "Books," "Sort: Recent" will let you see if the books have been imported successfully. Often you can watch the cover thumbnails appear right before your eyes!

[Katsunami]

Yesterday I upgraded my KA1 from 4.20.x to this firmware and I'm noticing two things:

- Is the touchscreen much more accurate and with much less lag? I've always found it annoying that the KA1 sometimes didn't react, and using a slider was almost impossible due to the lag.
- Is flipping pages and going from screen to screen much faster?

The KA1 feels much snappier now; much more like my old KPW1 from 2012, which was a "fast" e-reader compared to the KA1. Maybe it's just a feeling because I've got something new and shiny installed... that's why I'd like it to be verified by someone else. Maybe this improvement was done in one of the intermediate firmwares.

Also: is there some way to redistribute the LED brightness?

For example: I never go higher than 20; inside, I never go higher than 10 or 12. If I do the light becomes way too bright. I would like it if there was a way to set 100% to the brightness that is now 25, and 0 to the brightness that is now 5... somewhere akin to what the "custom font side patch" does. Maybe there's even a patch for this and I missed it in my scan of the files yesterday?

[rashkae]

Deleted pls,, I was replying to an older message by accident.

[Quoth]

Definitely flaky. Sage with this FW.
Was at 11 %. Went to Home and book vanished along with 3 others.
Powered off and on, still missing.
Repaired Account in Settings: still missing, even on search.
Connected to Calibre, it said Database is OK and books installed. Tried update of metadata on 2, but it reported "Unchanged". Nothing else done.
Ejected and the books reappeared! But naturally the one I was reading showed Unread.

Never seen this before just like this.
I may try 4.29.18730 if it happens again as 4.30.18838 is fatally buggy on Advanced notebook on Elipsa.

[Quoth]

More Sage bugs on this FW:
1) Occasionally Page Forward and Page Back buttons stop working
a) Sometimes after swipe they re-activate.
b) If a swipe doesn't reactivate the buttons, then Home does.

2) On one occasion after going to "Home" screen the last read book (created/converted by Calibre & passing checks) wouldn't open. Error something like Adobe Digital Editions not authorised. Sleep/wake didn't help. Power off and on resulted in it being "fixed", but book position was earlier in the chapter.