Instructions for patching firmware 3.15.0

[jim.1405]

Once I recovered from my stupidity everything installed fine.

Thanks for the patches Geoff.

I really like additional font sizing since I never could get it quite the right size before. The chapter reading stats that came with 3.15 are nice too. I probably shouldn't wait so long to update the firmware.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Siard

Further investigations reveal that, after switching on the device, the database is not read until something is altered in the DB, e.g. by moving some slider.
Without the line height patch, the line height is taken from the global configuration file. With one of the two patches applied, it is probably also taken from there, but the line height becomes a certain smaller proportion of that, say 75%.
After moving some slider, or connecting with USB and disconnecting, the values are taken from the database.

Until firmware version 2.8.1, a line height of 1.35 was common. But from 2.10 on, line heights were displayed much wider, so 0.88 became optimal. But 1.0 remained the minimum value that could be set with the slider, so that's why the patch became wanted.


These fields contain the correct line height values, 0.88 in my case.
But, as explained, these are only read after something in the database has been altered.

Which makes no sense. How does the device render the page using the settings for the book if it doesn't read the database? That is the point of the content_settings table; per book reading settings. When you make a change to the settings while reading a book, they are stored in the database and the config file. When you reopen that book, the settings used are from the database, not the config file. And, unless it has changed recently, the value used doesn't have to be one reachable on the slider.

The problem is probably in how the settings are matched against the values for the slider. If the value in the database, or config file for that matter, doesn't exactly match a choice on the slider, then it chooses a setting that is on the slider. From memory, it is one of the settings either side of the value, but I haven't played with that recently. Does your 0.88 setting match something that you put into the patch for the line heights?

[barobach_so]

Dear GeoffR
can you do something about this ?

[Siard]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The problem is probably in how the settings are matched against the values for the slider. If the value in the database, or config file for that matter, doesn't exactly match a choice on the slider, then it chooses a setting that is on the slider. From memory, it is one of the settings either side of the value, but I haven't played with that recently. Does your 0.88 setting match something that you put into the patch for the line heights?

Indeed, the 0.88 setting in the database comes from setting the slider and the value in the patch.

I did a lot of experimenting. I made a new discovery: the problem only arises with the Malabar font! It is my favorite font for reading books, I never used anything else.
So perhaps you can reproduce this:
Having one of the line spacing patches applied, set the Malabar font and a certain line spacing.
Switch the Glo off and on.
The line spacing will then have become smaller - until you move some slider (font size/line spacing/margins), which restores your setting.

Anyway, the problem has in fact been solved for the greater part now; it looks like there's some quirk in the Malabar font, and I just have to find myself another font.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Siard

I did a lot of experimenting. I made a new discovery: the problem only arises with the Malabar font! It is my favorite font for reading books, I never used anything else.
So perhaps you can reproduce this:
Having one of the line spacing patches applied, set the Malabar font and a certain line spacing.
Switch the Glo off and on.
The line spacing will then have become smaller - until you move some slider (font size/line spacing/margins), which restores your setting.

Yes it happens on my Glo too when I use Malabar. It also happens whether or not the line spacing patch is applied, although the small spacing that Malabar starts with after being powered on is different when the patch is not applied, it is still the wrong spacing compared to where the slider is positioned.

If it happens with Malabar then I guess it is possible it will happen with some other fonts too.

Edit: With the unpatched firmware, the line spacing after powering on seems to be set to 1.0, the same as what you get with the slider at the minimum position, so if you have the slider at minimum already then you will not notice any problem. To see the problem with the unpatched firmware: Select Malabar in an epub, move the line spacing slider a few positions to the right, close the book and power off. When the book is opened again the line spacing has gone back to the minimum but the slider hasn't changed.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Yes it happens on my Glo too when I use Malabar. It also happens whether or not the line spacing patch is applied, although the small spacing that Malabar starts with after being powered on is different when the patch is not applied, it is still the wrong spacing compared to where the slider is positioned.

If it happens with Malabar then I guess it is possible it will happen with some other fonts too.

Edit: With the unpatched firmware, the line spacing after powering on seems to be set to 1.0, the same as what you get with the slider at the minimum position, so if you have the slider at minimum already then you will not notice any problem. To see the problem with the unpatched firmware: Select Malabar in an epub, move the line spacing slider a few positions to the right, close the book and power off. When the book is opened again the line spacing has gone back to the minimum but the slider hasn't changed.

That isn't happening here on my Glo HD running unpatched 3.15.0. When I choose Malabar and set the line spacing and power off, the line spacing is set correctly when I repoen the book. I tried with a couple of epubs and a couple different spacings.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That isn't happening here on my Glo HD running unpatched 3.15.0. When I choose Malabar and set the line spacing and power off, the line spacing is set correctly when I repoen the book. I tried with a couple of epubs and a couple different spacings.

I double checked, I even removed all sideloaded fonts and non-standard stuff from [FeatureSettings], but the problem still occurs with Malabar using the stock firmware 3.15.0 on my Glo. It could still depend on device type, book, or other settings I guess.

[Maida]

Does anybody know where the kepub hyphenations are and what their syntax is.
There ought to be a way to place better hyphenation dictionaries as it can be done with the Adobe mobile reader. Unfortunately I know neither their location nor their syntsx, so that I can create a hyphenation koboroot. For readers other than English this is definitely an important issue.

[jackie_w]

You can drag out the existing hyphenation dictionaries from any of the latest firmware zip files. The .dic files are buried quite deep inside directory
kobo-update-3.15.0\KoboRoot.tgz\KoboRoot.tar\.\usr\local\Kobo\ hyphenDicts\

If you know what you're doing (not me) I believe you can you can edit them in a good text editor and replace them on the Kobo fairly easily.

If you search this forum a bit you should be able to find better versions for English and German (and possibly Dutch ???).

ETA: There's also a Russian one.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You can drag out the existing hyphenation dictionaries from any of the latest firmware zip files. The .dic files are buried quite deep inside directory
kobo-update-3.15.0\KoboRoot.tgz\KoboRoot.tar\.\usr\local\Kobo\ hyphenDicts\

If you know what you're doing (not me) I believe you can you can edit them in a good text editor and replace them on the Kobo fairly easily.

If you search this forum a bit you should be able to find better versions for English and German (and possibly Dutch ???).

ETA: There's also a Russian one.

I've posted a better English hyphenation dictionary and a French one at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=252405.

I can say that the English hyphenation dictionary I posted is much better than the default dictionary that's supplied by Kobo (and/or Adobe).

The dictionaries I've posted are ready to be dropped into .kobo to be installed.

[barobach_so]

no idea about my problem ? post #78

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by barobach_so

can you do something about this ?

I've had a bit of a look, I haven't been able to figure out how to add Chess back to the Beta features menu. I'm not familliar with that part of the code at all.

Originally Posted by Maida

Does anybody know where the kepub hyphenations are and what their syntax is.
There ought to be a way to place better hyphenation dictionaries as it can be done with the Adobe mobile reader. Unfortunately I know neither their location nor their syntsx, so that I can create a hyphenation koboroot. For readers other than English this is definitely an important issue.

The KEPUB reader uses the same hyphenation dictionaries as the EPUB reader, the problems with KEPUB automatic hyphenation is not just the dictionaries but bugs in the KEPUB reader itself. If you want good hyphenation in kepubs I think the only option at the moment is to add soft hyphens to the book before sideloading.

[barobach_so]

hi

thank you

[Maida]

Thanks a lot. Now I can give up my seeking for better hyphenation.

[Maida]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You can drag out the existing hyphenation dictionaries from any of the latest firmware zip files. The .dic files are buried quite deep inside directory
kobo-update-3.15.0\KoboRoot.tgz\KoboRoot.tar\.\usr\local\Kobo\ hyphenDicts\

If you know what you're doing (not me) I believe you can you can edit them in a good text editor and replace them on the Kobo fairly easily.

If you search this forum a bit you should be able to find better versions for English and German (and possibly Dutch ???).

ETA: There's also a Russian one.

Thanks. I already changed the Kobo dicts with my own which lead to better epub hyphenation. Unfortunately kepubs remain untouched from this patch.