Disassembling the kobo firmware

[geek1011]

reserved 7

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

I have found some interesting things in the FeatureSettings class.

FeatureSettings contains functions such as showLayoutRectangles, sketchNote, fullScreenBrowser, gestureKeyboardEnabled, bookSpecificStatsEnabled, invertScreen, myWords, and syncEmulatorPath. Some of these are known values for the config file. These enable or disable features. The main difference is that some of these functions check the config file, while some of the others have different checks such as device type. For reference, here is a partial list of some FeatureSettings which can be changed in the config file:

Epub2fxl bool
NewStore string (this looks kinda interesting)
ReaderBookmarkHistory bool
InvertScreen bool
MyWords bool
MaxWifiTimeout int
MaxDownload int (max number of books to download?)
ForceSingleBook bool
MediaOverlay bool
ExcludeEndMatterFromStats bool
OverDrive bool (I don't think this will enable overdrive by itself)
SyncEmuPath string (seems to be able to do fake syncs. may be useful for blocking upgrades)
FullScreenReading bool
SmartShelves bool
SketchNote bool
OptlyTest bool (what?)
ShowLayoutRectangles bool
FullScreenBrowser bool
GestureKeyboard bool
ExportHighlights bool
BookSpecificStats bool
PhraseTranslation bool

A lot of those have been discussed here. Some, like "SmartShelves", stopped working a while ago.

There have been a few threads on this over the years, and I notice that one was started by you just over a year ago.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

The user agent currently follows the following pattern:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.0; en-us;) AppleWebKit/%1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/%1 (Kobo Touch %2/%3)

%1 is the webkit version.
%2 is the last 4 digits of the device id (like 0375 for the KA2, which is the last 4 digits of 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000375)
%3 is the current firmware version

This is useful because this means that my firmware downloader will be able to detect the kobo firmware version and device id to support new devices easier. I will add this feature soon.

You are getting people visiting you firmware downloader from Kobo browser? But, I'm not sure that would help support new devices as the device has to actually be out before you will detect them. And of course, you can't actually download the firmware file using the browser as the firmware only downloads e-books.

And to get the support for new devices, there is usually evidence for any new devices in the firmware well before the device is released. Though they do tend to keep the name hidden.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You are getting people visiting you firmware downloader from Kobo browser? But, I'm not sure that would help support new devices as the device has to actually be out before you will detect them. And of course, you can't actually download the firmware file using the browser as the firmware only downloads e-books.

And to get the support for new devices, there is usually evidence for any new devices in the firmware well before the device is released. Though they do tend to keep the name hidden.

Yes, about 30 per day access it from the kobo browser. The most useful part will be the device id, which people seem to have trouble giving me. It took about 2 weeks to get ahold of the h2o2 id.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

A lot of those have been discussed here. Some, like "SmartShelves", stopped working a while ago.

There have been a few threads on this over the years, and I notice that one was started by you just over a year ago.

Yes. I am intending this thread to be the main compilation of my findings, and it will end up with quite a bit more info when I have enough time to type it all up.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Yes, about 30 per day access it from the kobo browser.

Really? I barely see the point as you can't download. And, frequent checking is fairly pointless as the releases are to far apart.

The most useful part will be the device id, which people seem to have trouble giving me. It took about 2 weeks to get ahold of the h2o2 id.

But, that assumes that a person who buys a "Clara HD" goes to your site quickly. But, you can already see in the firmware that it is going to be one of 376, 378, 379 or 380.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Really? I barely see the point as you can't download. And, frequent checking is fairly pointless as the releases are to far apart.


But, that assumes that a person who buys a "Clara HD" goes to your site quickly. But, you can already see in the firmware that it is going to be one of 376, 378, 379 or 380.

Yes, I actually get that many, even though it is a fraction of the desktop and mobile visitors.

I am pretty sure they will, as now looking back through my analytics, I see a h2o2 user visit only 2 days after it was released. And yes, you are right about the last point, but it's nice to be sure.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Yes, I actually get that many, even though it is a fraction of the desktop and mobile visitors.

I am pretty sure they will, as now looking back through my analytics, I see a h2o2 user visit only 2 days after it was released. And yes, you are right about the last point, but it's nice to be sure.

It is good to be sure. And this post on the KSM9 thread has just thrown some confusion in. That has someone with an Aura H2O2 with model 378.

And it seems to have CPU of "mx6sll". tshering raised a concern about this late last year, but at the time it looked like it was for the next device. But, maybe Kobo snuck out a hardware revision without anyone noticing. Or I'm completely misinterpreting this - very likely.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It is good to be sure. And this post on the KSM9 thread has just thrown some confusion in. That has someone with an Aura H2O2 with model 378.

And it seems to have CPU of "mx6sll". tshering raised a concern about this late last year, but at the time it looked like it was for the next device. But, maybe Kobo snuck out a hardware revision without anyone noticing. Or I'm completely misinterpreting this - very likely.

Hmm. That's really interesting (about the 378). It does not seem to work with any of the existing affiliates in my downloader, so I have asked for the affiliate. That should tell me the hardware revision, and a few other details I want to know. I don't think you are misinterpreting, as I saw that post and interpreted it the same way. I also have not seen this model at all in my analytics.

BTW, I'm working on a rewrite of my firmware downloader. It will load faster, be a lot shorter, and be easier for me to maintain and extend. Most of the improvements will be behind the scenes, except for a new design (which will be easier to read), and the kobo detection.

[davidfor]

It looks like the Clara HD will be 380. The Aura H2O Edition 2 Edition 2 is 378 and the Aura Edition 2 Edition 2 is 379. And 376 is eliminated for other reasons. That might change when the official firmware is released, but that's what it looks like now..

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It looks like the Clara HD will be 380. The Aura H2O Edition 2 Edition 2 is 378 and the Aura Edition 2 Edition 2 is 379. And 376 is eliminated for other reasons. That might change when the official firmware is released, but that's what it looks like now..

OK. That's good to know. Because the update check does not work for any of those IDs, I have put a notice on my firmware downloader page noting the possible incompatibilities. I'll keep an eye on those IDs and post if anything changes. I'll also try to figure out what mark they are.

BTW, I just finished my rewrite and redesign of my firmware downloader page.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

OK. That's good to know. Because the update check does not work for any of those IDs, I have put a notice on my firmware downloader page noting the possible incompatibilities. I'll keep an eye on those IDs and post if anything changes. I'll also try to figure out what mark they are.

From my tests, the update check is working. But, there isn't an update available. Which is expected as Kobo haven't released an update for them.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

From my tests, the update check is working. But, there isn't an update available. Which is expected as Kobo haven't released an update for them.

But usually, it would return the firmware, even if there is not any update if I pass 0.0 as the current fw version. The Aura ONE Limited Edition is an example of this.

You can try by pasting the following js into the console in my firmware downloader page:

devices=devices.concat([378,379,380].map(id=>["00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000"+id.toString(),id.toString(),"unknown"]));getVersions()

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

But usually, it would return the firmware, even if there is not any update if I pass 0.0 as the current fw version. The Aura ONE Limited Edition is an example of this.

You can try by pasting the following js into the console in my firmware downloader page:

devices=devices.concat([378,379,380].map(id=>["00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000"+id.toString(),id.toString(),"unknown"]));getVersions()

I got an error for that. But,

If I use:

https://api.kobobooks.com/1.0/UpgradeCheck/Device/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000375/Kobo/3.2.1/N000000000000

I get result for firmware "4.7.10413". Change the firmware version to 4.7.10413, and I get the "no update available" result:

<UpgradeCheckResult>
<Data i:nil="true"/>
<ReleaseNoteURL i:nil="true"/>
<UpgradeType>None</UpgradeType>
<UpgradeURL i:nil="true"/>
</UpgradeCheckResult>

If I change the id to 378 or 379, I get the same result as the last no matter what firmware version I use. As Kobo told me last night that they haven't released a firmware update for these devices, that result makes sense.

Of course, Kobo has to define the rules for an update. That is made up of a combination of the id, the affiliate, the supplied version number and the serial number. Plus maybe some other things. The response indicates that for the supplied parameters, there is no update available. Maybe there is a combination for these devices that will give an update, but it will probably be for a specific serial number that Kobo is using for testing. The firmware that cvarrick has on his device, v4.6.10197, is almost definitely the factory supplied firmware and is what will be installed if you do a factory reset. These have never been available as a downloadable update.

And no update available for id 380 also makes sense as the device isn't available to anyone. These will probably come with a 4.7.x firmware that hasn't been released for download to anyone. Or it could be 4.6.10197. There will an update available for these devices on the day that people should be receiving them. It will probably be 4.8.x. It might be out earlier so that the reviewers get an update. But, in that case, Kobo might restrict the update to the serial numbers of the devices they send to the reviewers. If there is a release for the reviewers, I would expect that there would be another update for the release date.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The firmware that cvarrick has on his device, v4.6.10197, is almost definitely the factory supplied firmware and is what will be installed if you do a factory reset. These have never been available as a downloadable update.

How about for the Aura ONE Limited Edition:

https://api.kobobooks.com/1.0/Upgrad...381/kobo/0.0/N

<UpgradeCheckResult xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/WebAPI.APIModel">
<Data i:nil="true"/>
<ReleaseNoteURL>http://api.kobobooks.com/1.0/ReleaseNotes/1</ReleaseNoteURL>
<UpgradeType>UpgradeForced</UpgradeType>
<UpgradeURL>
http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwares/kobo6/Dec2017/kobo-limitededitionupdate-4.7.10364.zip
</UpgradeURL>
</UpgradeCheckResult>

It only comes with the factory, but it shows as an update. That's what made me think 378 and 379 would do the same.

BTW, my downloader shows an error if it cannot find any update (which is what happened), or if parsing the output failed.