Wish There Were Separate Kobo Reader and Kobo Reader Modified Forums

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So you went out and bought a nook based on false information and now you have a really awful Reader because the firmware is lousy.

Your bias against Nooks make anything you say about them completely unreliable and sometimes embarrassingly off base.

Honestly, without the ability to patch Kobo, I'd likely stick to the Nooks. Series and collections are nice, but for me the out of the box reading experience is lacking.

• Too much wasted space with the header/footer
• Lousy default hyphenation
• No ligatures and lackluster default layout

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by PeterT

The only time I'd agree with distinct threads / fora is for people who report bugs with the Kobo f/w without mentioning they've patched it.

That’s a good point.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Nightflyer

Don’t know if this has ever been discussed.

I’m a newbie with stock Clara HD for a few months and have no plans to modify. I don’t expect to be a big player/talker here in mobileread but who knows. I read almost daily.

I frequently get into a Kobo Reader forum thread and then realize it only applies to modified Kobo readers although I can sometimes know by thread title.

Really confusing early on here on mobileread until I realized so much talk in the Kobo Reader thread is not about my stock unmodified Kobo Reader. Still hard to tell about some threads until getting into it.

Anyway, would be nice for some, possibly a lot, of people, to have a dedicated Kobo Reader (unmodified) forum.

I know what you mean. Sometimes I'll see a thread with a topic that looks like it might be interesting, or maybe a newbie asking for help, but then I click on it and it turns out to actually be about patches or about Calibre and I don't use either of those.

Maybe there could be some kind of tag to indicate whether the thread is about a stock device or not.

Or maybe since so many here do modify their devices, the main Kobo forum could be for that with a subforum for stock devices.

[4691mls]

A current example is a thread titled "Noob questions for Libra H2O". I thought this would be someone asking basic questions about using a Kobo so I opened the thread in case I could help. It turned out to be a question about installing unofficial apps on a Kobo.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

A current example is a thread titled "Noob questions for Libra H2O". I thought this would be someone asking basic questions about using a Kobo so I opened the thread in case I could help. It turned out to be a question about installing unofficial apps on a Kobo.

That is a thread that was started by a brand new user. So obviously they are able to navigate the treacherous waters of this forum and figure things out.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Um... the 7.8'' Nook is certainly not "a really awful reader". Yes, it's slower than a Kindle or a Kobo and has relatively few customization options, but the reading experience is quite nice and I've encountered no bugs. Not everyone wants to heavily customize their devices.

But one thing that's really not good with the nook firmware is eBook organization. It's not good at all. Yes it has collections, but thay have to be sorted manually.

One thing I cannot say about the current nook firmware is how good (or not) is font rendering? In the nook STR, it's terrible. This wa sin comparison to the Sony PRS-650 which is much better. How does it compare to Kobo and Kindle?

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That is a thread that was started by a brand new user. So obviously they are able to navigate the treacherous waters of this forum and figure things out.

The OP's issue was that it's not obvious to people reading the forum whether a thread is about a stock device or a modified one so he/she wastes time opening up a bunch of threads that turn out not to be applicable to him/her. I assume the OP would prefer that the newbie thread about installing apps go in the Kobo developer forum.

Back when the Sony forum was more active the same thing happened there - there was a separate development subforum but people would post about their modified devices in the regular Sony forum. If things are going to be all jumbled up then why even have a developer forum?

Yes, I know it's not really that big of a deal, I certainly have bigger issues in my life right now....

[DevonHess]

Maybe I'm being naive, but would this forum even need to exist without the discussion of modifications?

I personally wouldn't come here if every discussion was about rare official updates with new features or troubleshooting.

It's the constant stream of new modifications that keeps knowledgeable users coming back. r/Kobo suffers from that exact issue.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by DevonHess

Maybe I'm being naive, but would this forum even need to exist without the discussion of modifications?

I personally wouldn't come here if every discussion was about rare official updates with new features or troubleshooting.

It's the constant stream of new modifications that keeps knowledgeable users coming back. r/Kobo suffers from that exact issue.

Maybe instead of a developer subforum, the main Kobo forum should be devoted to modifications and there could be a subforum for stock devices, since stock seems to be a smaller percentage of the discussions.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by DevonHess

Maybe I'm being naive, but would this forum even need to exist without the discussion of modifications?

I personally wouldn't come here if every discussion was about rare official updates with new features or troubleshooting.

It's the constant stream of new modifications that keeps knowledgeable users coming back. r/Kobo suffers from that exact issue.

personally i would. i'd be less inclined if it was only about modifications. i bought an ereader to read books, i didn't buy an ereader to constantly modify it. each to their own.


best wishes koboy

[cgsmom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But one thing that's really not good with the nook firmware is eBook organization. It's not good at all. Yes it has collections, but thay have to be sorted manually.

One thing I cannot say about the current nook firmware is how good (or not) is font rendering? In the nook STR, it's terrible. This wa sin comparison to the Sony PRS-650 which is much better. How does it compare to Kobo and Kindle?

So, let me get this straight. You are criticizing my choice of ereader based on the nook STR which was released in 2009. You don't really know anything about the current nook.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But one thing that's really not good with the nook firmware is eBook organization. It's not good at all. Yes it has collections, but thay have to be sorted manually.

I use the same method as with Kindles. Catalog + search. No problemo.

One thing I cannot say about the current nook firmware is how good (or not) is font rendering? In the nook STR, it's terrible. This wa sin comparison to the Sony PRS-650 which is much better. How does it compare to Kobo and Kindle?

Depends on the font, and depends on what you mean by terrible. I wouldn't say it's worse than Kindle or Kobo, but then I'm no expert on fonts.

Edit: Here's a photo of my Nook side-by-side with my Oasis 2. I didn't yet have a Kobo when I took that picture.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

The OP's issue was that it's not obvious to people reading the forum whether a thread is about a stock device or a modified one so he/she wastes time opening up a bunch of threads that turn out not to be applicable to him/her. I assume the OP would prefer that the newbie thread about installing apps go in the Kobo developer forum.

And my point was that the thread you are using as evidence was started by an absolute new user who seemed to have no problem using their device and was looking for help on making changes. Should someone start policing users on their thread titles? Should the new user be chided because their thread title might be misleading to other readers who aren't interested in modifying their Kobo?

It's ludicrous.

Back when the Sony forum was more active the same thing happened there - there was a separate development subforum but people would post about their modified devices in the regular Sony forum. If things are going to be all jumbled up then why even have a developer forum?

The development subforum seems to be geared towards those who actually write the patches. The rest of the forum is for joe schmoe users who may or may not modify their reader. Works for me anyway.

Read through a thread If it doesn't apply to you, stop reading it. Doesn't seem too difficult.

If enough people are concerned about only reading about unmodified devices, maybe they could start threads where the subject starts with Stock Kobo and see if it catches on.

It would be interesting to see how many of those threads become 'You can fix that issue with such and such a patch.'

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

So, let me get this straight. You are criticizing my choice of ereader based on the nook STR which was released in 2009. You don't really know anything about the current nook.

Pretty much.

He accused my 2015 Glowlight Plus of being rubbery, though it has a metal back. Must be that rubbery metal, I guess.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by koboy

personally i would. i'd be less inclined if it was only about modifications. i bought an ereader to read books, i didn't buy an ereader to constantly modify it. each to their own.

If you bought your reader only to read books, why go to a message board about ereaders at all?

I have a couple of Windows 10 devices. I run Windows 10 as is and don't mess with it. I also don't go to message boards where people talk about modifying Windows 10. It's just something I have no interest in.