Instructions for patching firmware 3.2.0

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by forster01

what are the main differences between metazoa's patch and one created by this forum developers?

The major difference is Metazoa's version supports adding a Cyrillic keyboard while GeoffR added 15 levels of line spacing, synopsis size, etc. You can add the features from either by merging the entries in the kpg.conf file and running the patch generator against that file.

Either one will give you the smaller footer, font size selection and line spacing selection which seem to be the most used patches.

Regards,
David

[GeoffR]

This is a patch for firmware 3.2.0 to fix a longstanding problem with the way the epub reader sets the line spacing. See this thread for a test epub and screenshots that demonstrate the problem.

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Unitless ePub line height`
patch_enable = `yes`
replace_bytes = 1181F3C, 65 6D, 20 20
</Patch>

[SHunter101]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

This is a patch for firmware 3.2.0 to fix a longstanding problem with the way the epub reader sets the line spacing. See this thread for a test epub and screenshots that demonstrate the problem.

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Unitless ePub line height`
patch_enable = `yes`
# Note that the replacement string contains exactly two spaces.
replace_string = 1181F3C, `em`, `  `
</Patch>

Hi GeoffR:

Thank you, but I have a few issues with the above patch. When I load it on my Aura HD, I loose control over line spacing, justification etc. It uses only the defaults from whatever ebook I am reading. I have attached my kpg.conf file, but I think all is fine. I hope we can get this working, I use a low line height of around 80 to 85 and this patch will fix the issues with the titles.


Tried it on my Kobo Glo and them same results as above. Control over the line spacing slider and justification are lost. Font size, and margin sliders work though.

Thanks
SHunter

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by SHunter101

Thank you, but I have a few issues with the above patch. When I load it on my Aura HD, I loose control over line spacing, justification etc. It uses only the defaults from whatever ebook I am reading.

Sorry I didn't test it with kpg.exe, and again kpg.exe's replace_string didn't work the way I expected. I've edited post #47 to fix the patch, it should work with both kpg.exe and patch32lsb now, please try it again.

Thanks!

[SHunter101]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Sorry I didn't test it with kpg.exe, and again kpg.exe's replace_string didn't work the way I expected. I've edited post #47 to fix the patch, it should work with both kpg.exe and patch32lsb now, please try it again.

Thanks!

Thank you!! Works great on both units!! Your work is really appreciated.

Best,
Shunter

[Jack Melvin]

Hello everyone, first I want to thank you developers for sharing your work and making the world a better place.

Second, a question; I recently purchased a Kobo Aura 6" model# N514 firmware#3.2.0.

--Will this patch work with the Aura 6" model? It seems like it will as long as the firmware is right but I wanted to check before go off and brick my device.

My main reason for using this is to be able to adjust the margins on the screen. It is pretty awful when I pull up a PDF and there is half an inch of unused space at the bottom of the page.
I have already edited the said PDF to have virtually 0 margins in the file but there remains a ton of space when the aura is displaying it.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Jack Melvin

Second, a question; I recently purchased a Kobo Aura 6" model# N514 firmware#3.2.0.

--Will this patch work with the Aura 6" model? It seems like it will as long as the firmware is right but I wanted to check before go off and brick my device.

Generally speaking, this is correct. However, it already happenend once or twice that Kobo did changes to the firmware without changing the version number. So it can happen that the version on your device is actually different from the version you use for patching. This can (but does not necessary) have bad effects. I am not aware that 3.2.0 has be changed at any time. To be on the save side you could re-install it, before patching. But then, why not upgrading to 3.3.0? And the worst thing that can happen with applying a wrong patch is that you have to factory reset the device.

Originally Posted by Jack Melvin

My main reason for using this is to be able to adjust the margins on the screen. It is pretty awful when I pull up a PDF and there is half an inch of unused space at the bottom of the page.
I have already edited the said PDF to have virtually 0 margins in the file but there remains a ton of space when the aura is displaying it.

I don't use the patches myself and I try to avoid reading pdfs with nickel, so I don't know for sure, but I think the margins patch does not effect pdfs.

[Jack Melvin]

The OTA update put me at f/w 3.2.0.
I assumed that this meant 3.2.0 was the most recent f/w.

If there isn't a patch for the PDF margins then I guess I'm out of luck for now. I don't have any issues with the ebook margins.

[GeoffR]

This patch allows the Reading Settings "Refresh the page every:" menu options to be changed, so you can set the screen to refresh less frequently than once every 6 pages without the need to edit the device's .conf file.

The patch has three replacement values: Base, Increment, and Maximum. Base is the value of the first menu option, Increment is the value that is added to get each successive menu option, and the menu will end when the value of Maximum is exceeded.

For example: Base=2, Increment=2, Maximum=20 will give a menu that allows you to select any of the following values: 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20. The values in the original firmware are Base=1, Increment=1, Maximum=6 which gives the menu options 1,2,3,4,5,6.

There is also a second alternative which gives the menu options 1,2,4,8,16,32,64.

This patch hasn't been tested at all with this firmware version, so treat with caution and let me know if you discover any problems.

Firmware 3.2.0:

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Custom page refresh options`
patch_enable = `yes`
# cmp r5, #7; bne.w; --> cmp r5, #6; bls.w;
replace_bytes = 9E0A96, 07 2D 7F F4 7E AF, 06 2D 7F F6 7E AF
#
# Values for replacement: (Alternative 1, arithmetic sequence e.g. 1,2,3,...,12)
# Base (use this value for the first menu option):
replace_int = 9E0988, 1, 1
# Increment, Alternative 1 (add this value to get each successive menu option):
replace_int = 9E0A94, 1, 1
# Maxmium (stop adding options when this value is exceeded):
replace_int = 9E0A96, 6, 12
#
# Values for replacement: (Alternative 2, geometric sequence 1,2,4,8,16,32,64)
# Base (use this value for the first menu option):
#replace_int = 9E0988, 1, 1
# Double to get each successive menu option:
#replace_bytes = 9E0A94, 01 35, 6D 00
# Maxmium (stop adding options when this value is exceeded):
#replace_int = 9E0A96, 6, 64
</Patch>

[erikssenmar867]

Thank you very much!

EDIT: i have tested the refresh option patch with my Glo and Aura HD, and it works perfectly!

[GeoffR]

Here is the `Custom kepub default margins` patch for firmware 3.2.0. It should set the base left/right margin for kepubs, i.e. the margin that remains when all margins have been removed from the book and the adjustment slider is at the far left. It won't affect the top/bottom margins. (In firmware 3.3.0 and later it affects the top/bottom margins in full-screen reading mode though.)

I haven't tested this patch with this firmware version, so let me know if there are problems.

firmware 3.2.0:

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Custom kepub default margins`
patch_enable = `yes`
# Device = Glo/Aura, Type = pocket article or non-Japanese kepub
replace_int = 6FAF9A, 25, 5
# Device = Glo/Aura, Type = Japanese kepub
replace_int = 6FAF9C, 45, 5
# Device = Other, Type = Any
replace_int = 6FB004, 20, 5
</Patch>

[ayush]

Hi Friends,

Recently I mistakenly upgraded my Kobo Aura HD from 3.2 to 3.3 as i was connectd to WIFI and after that i experienced severe lag in its opening sites Web browser. I am totally disappointed after this upgrade.

Now I would like to revert to 3.2 firmware, but not sure from where will i get it.
Is it possible to downgrade it from higher to lower version, Although I tried doing by resetting it to Factory Reset but as it restarts the device asks for internet connection to get itself configured and checks for the latest update, again it picked up 3.3 firmware, i though probably after factory reset it would come back to 3.2 but unfortunately it didnt happen.

Please help and suggest.

Thanks
Ayush

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ayush

Hi Friends,

Recently I mistakenly upgraded my Kobo Aura HD from 3.2 to 3.3 as i was connectd to WIFI and after that i experienced severe lag in its opening sites Web browser. I am totally disappointed after this upgrade.

Now I would like to revert to 3.2 firmware, but not sure from where will i get it.
Is it possible to downgrade it from higher to lower version, Although I tried doing by resetting it to Factory Reset but as it restarts the device asks for internet connection to get itself configured and checks for the latest update, again it picked up 3.3 firmware, i though probably after factory reset it would come back to 3.2 but unfortunately it didnt happen.

Please help and suggest.

Thanks
Ayush

Personally, I would recommend going to firmware 3.8.0 instead. If you prefer to use 3.2.0, choose the setup with computer option, allow the Kobo desktop app to do it's setup stuff. When it is finished, do not eject your Aura HD. Instead open your favourite file browser and delete the upgrades directory, the KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files from the .kobo directory in the root of it's internal storage. If you are on a Mac or Linux box, you will have to enable showing directories whose name starts with a ".". After deleting those items, open the 3.2.0 firmware .zip file and copy the contents to the .kobo directory.

If you go with 3.8.0, the directions are the same save for using the 3.8.0 firmware file.

Regards,
David

[ayush]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Personally, I would recommend going to firmware 3.8.0 instead. If you prefer to use 3.2.0, choose the setup with computer option, allow the Kobo desktop app to do it's setup stuff. When it is finished, do not eject your Aura HD. Instead open your favourite file browser and delete the upgrades directory, the KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files from the .kobo directory in the root of it's internal storage. If you are on a Mac or Linux box, you will have to enable showing directories whose name starts with a ".". After deleting those items, open the 3.2.0 firmware .zip file and copy the contents to the .kobo directory.

If you go with 3.8.0, the directions are the same save for using the 3.8.0 firmware file.

Regards,
David

Hi David,

Thanks a ton for your reply, your advice sounds like a ray of hope as i am in utter despair.
I am shattered and been looking for workarounds since the time my Kobo has got upgraded to 3.3.
Based on your suggestion I could try what you said in your last post, But I have few doubts

1. As you recommended to go for firmware 3.8, do you think in 3.8 there is no flickering of web broswer, I mean like in 3.3 when i browse web pages its very flickery and as you move the page holding with your finger it keeps on flickering untill then, which is quite annoying. So I believe as you must be using 3.8 do you also find such issue or is it quite stable.

2. As I wish to downgrade it to firmware 3.2 (but currently it has got upgraded to 3.3), I just want to confirm are you really sure that I will be able to find "3.2.0 firmware .zip" file in my Kobo. In which file location will I find "3.2.0 firmware .zip", dont you think it must have got removed or replaced by "3.3 firmware" file. It would be a great help to me if you confirm this and if this can really happen.
Can you provide me the exact file location where I can find "3.2.0 firmware .zip" file.

Please reply to above queries, as this would immensely help me.

Thanks
Ayush

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ayush

Hi David,

Thanks a ton for your reply, your advice sounds like a ray of hope as i am in utter despair.
I am shattered and been looking for workarounds since the time my Kobo has got upgraded to 3.3.
Based on your suggestion I could try what you said in your last post, But I have few doubts

1. As you recommended to go for firmware 3.8, do you think in 3.8 there is no flickering of web broswer, I mean like in 3.3 when i browse web pages its very flickery and as you move the page holding with your finger it keeps on flickering untill then, which is quite annoying. So I believe as you must be using 3.8 do you also find such issue or is it quite stable.

2. As I wish to downgrade it to firmware 3.2 (but currently it has got upgraded to 3.3), I just want to confirm are you really sure that I will be able to find "3.2.0 firmware .zip" file in my Kobo. In which file location will I find "3.2.0 firmware .zip", dont you think it must have got removed or replaced by "3.3 firmware" file. It would be a great help to me if you confirm this and if this can really happen.
Can you provide me the exact file location where I can find "3.2.0 firmware .zip" file.

1. I don't make much use of the web browser on my Aura HD but I haven't noticed that much flickering. A caution is that I use the web browser to connect for downloading ebooks from a few sites. I do not hit sites that have much in the line of images, animation, videos, etc.

2. You have to download the .zip file from Kobo's site. There is no firmware.zip file on your ereader. The Aura HD uses the Mark 4 firmware packages so to download the 3.2.0 firmware release, you would use:

http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...date-3.2.0.zip

to download the 3.8.0 firmware release, you would use:

http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...date-3.8.0.zip.

If you are upgrading to a newer firmwware version, once you have the firmware package downloaded, connect your Aura HD to your computer, open the downloaded firmware package and copy the upgrades directory and the KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files from the update file into the .kobo directory. Once the copy has finished, safely disconnect your Aura HD from the computer. Shortly after the disconnection, the firmware update procedure should start.

To downgrade, the procedure is a bit more complicated. The first step is to do a factory reset. After the reset is finished, connect your Aura HD to your computer and run the Kobo desktop application. Do the setup which will be likely to include downloading a new firmware version. Once the Kobo app has finished it's setup, do not eject your Aura HD. Instead close the Kobo app, locate the .kobo directory on your Aura HD and delete the existing upgrades directory and the KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files. You then copy the directory/files from the file for the firmware version you want to install, safely disconnect your Aura HD from the computer and let the firmware update procedure run.

In either case, the end of the update on your Kobo ereader deletes the upgrades directory and the KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum files from it's file system.


You will then have to avoid syncing over WiFi. If you use the Kobo desktop app to sync, before ejecting, locate the .kobo directory on your Aura HD and delete the directory and files as in the downgrading firmware procedure before ejecting your Aura HD.

Regards,
David