Libra 2 Alternatives to calibre?

[grogu]

Originally Posted by rcentros

If you've got some extra hard drive space you can install Linux now along side of your Windows 7 (dual boot) and try it out. Whether your computer supports 32-bit or 64-bit Linux, either will work with the newest Calibre. Your computer specifications would determine what your best choice would be. I like Linux Mint and Debian and either can be installed from a live USB drive (which is how I install Debian on "ancient", 32-bit laptops). That would be a short term solution at least.

I don't want to mess with dual booting, at least not on this machine as it's not very reliable, but the live USB sounds like it's worth trying out. I don't want to mess with the OS or partitions.

It turns out it does supports 64 bit Win 7. Maybe it isn't that old? It hasn't aged well. It's someone else's old laptop from the closet that's always been problematic, they had to reinstall the os a few times before they got it running and it crashes constantly. They offered it when my old laptop died in the midst of the first lockdown. But hopefully I'll be able to replace it soon.

[grogu]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I should have done this when @RobertJSawyer asked, but, attached is a driver for calibre 3.48 that adds the basic support for the Nia, Elipsa, Libra 2 and Sage. All it does is to add recognition of these devices and the latest firmware version. It does not implement any of the changes that have been made to the driver since calibre 3.48 was released.

The testing of this is extremely basic. I do not have access to one of the newer devices (my wife traded the Sage for her Forma). I have loaded it in the portable version of calibre 3.48, and it works with the Libra H2O. Beyond that, it, I can't say.

It should work with the Kobo Utilities plugin. But, again, I have done very little testing.

It does not support the KoboTouchExtended driver. I did a very quick test for this, but, it didn't work. I think I know why, but I do not see any way around that reason.

It should also work with calibre 4.23. But, I can't remember why people don't upgrade from that to calibre 5.

Installation and Use
To use the driver:

1. Download the zip file.
2. Follow the instructions under "How do I install a plugin manually?" in Introduction to plugins.
3. Disable the KoboTouch and KoboToucExtended driver. This is done on the Plugin page of the preference and can be done when installing the driver.
4. Configure the plugin. You will probably want to copy the configuration from the driver that you are using. Again, this can be done from the Plugin page of the preferences.

Support
For support, it will be very basic. This is intended just to let people stuck on these older versions of calibre to be able to use the newer Kobo devices. That means I will not be supporting any versions of calibre other than 3.48 and possibly 4.23. And I will not be supporting these versions if the OS version being used supports the latest version of calibre. If you can update calibre do so. I also do not intend to add features added in later versions of the KoboTouch driver to this. Most of those changes are interwoven with the rest of the code and would mean duplicating the driver rather than a simple extension like this.

If there are problems using this driver, please run calibre in debug mode and post the complete debug log, or upload it somewhere and PM me a link.

Once the driver has been confirmed to be working, I will start a thread to hold it for the future.

Thanks David! I was able to install the plugin without any trouble!

I only had the kobotouch plugin, whcih I disabled, the extended one required a newer version of calibre. I have kobo utilities installed but haven't used it yet, so I don't know yet if there are any issues.

I did have some trouble when I attempted to remove books from my device, got an error "local variable 'cover_endings' referenced before assignment". I changed "cover_endings" to "_cover_file_endings" in driver.py and that seemed to work. So now I can add and remove books via calibre no problem!

I will look at how to back up annotations and notes later.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by grogu

I don't want to mess with dual booting, at least not on this machine as it's not very reliable, but the live USB sounds like it's worth trying out. I don't want to mess with the OS or partitions.

It turns out it does supports 64 bit Win 7. Maybe it isn't that old? It hasn't aged well. It's someone else's old laptop from the closet that's always been problematic, they had to reinstall the os a few times before they got it running and it crashes constantly. They offered it when my old laptop died in the midst of the first lockdown. But hopefully I'll be able to replace it soon.

It sounds like your laptop's RAM might have issues. At any rate it looks like davidfor has provided a Calibre workaround, so that's good. And I'm a huge fan of dual booting either. It always seems like you need to be on the other side.

[Quoth]

VMs are better now than dual boot if you have the RAM.

Could be faulty RAM, internal PSU or HDD on the laptop. There are Windows utilities available to test RAM. Look at HDD SMART log via utility. Maybe even reseat the RAM modules.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by grogu

Thanks David! I was able to install the plugin without any trouble!

I only had the kobotouch plugin, whcih I disabled, the extended one required a newer version of calibre. I have kobo utilities installed but haven't used it yet, so I don't know yet if there are any issues.

I did have some trouble when I attempted to remove books from my device, got an error "local variable 'cover_endings' referenced before assignment". I changed "cover_endings" to "_cover_file_endings" in driver.py and that seemed to work. So now I can add and remove books via calibre no problem!

I will look at how to back up annotations and notes later.

See what I mean about how little I tested it? I have fixed this, and tested it and updated the post with the fixed version.

[RobertJSawyer]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I should have done this when @RobertJSawyer asked, but, attached is a driver for calibre 3.48 that adds the basic support for the Nia, Elipsa, Libra 2 and Sage.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, David! I'm delighted! This plugin is working fine with my Libra 2 on Calibre 4.23 under Windows 7 32-bit. YAY!

Thanks again, my friend!

Rob

[grogu]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It sounds like your laptop's RAM might have issues. At any rate it looks like davidfor has provided a Calibre workaround, so that's good. And I'm a huge fan of dual booting either. It always seems like you need to be on the other side.

True. I think also I had an issue with needing to access the same files in different operating systems and they would save them differently.

Originally Posted by Quoth

VMs are better now than dual boot if you have the RAM.

Could be faulty RAM, internal PSU or HDD on the laptop. There are Windows utilities available to test RAM. Look at HDD SMART log via utility. Maybe even reseat the RAM modules.

It's probably everything at this point. It overheats, blue screens, or freezes with some weird colored lines on a regular basis. I get different error messages each time it blue screens, but it seems mostly memory related. For a while it complained that the system fan wasn't working, but it seems to be working again. I keep a desk fan blowing on it, which helps it crash less. And that was before I dropped it a few times.

I tried reseating the ram. I think there's also a problem with the video card. But the way it's designed it's kinda hard to take apart. It has panels that you can remove to access the ram and hard drive, otherwise it's confusing to take apart and I'm not sure I'd get it back together. I wasn't able to look at the video card. It's kinda half apart now.

I haven't checked the drive in a while, it was ok enough when I last checked. I almost don't want to know.

It has a cd-rom drive in it, so fairly old.

I'm kinda hard on machines, I killed a thinkpad once. I think it was because I bought a counterfeit adapter (I tried to be careful) and it basically shorted out the motherboard. I don't have much confidence in the thin and light kinda fragile seeming laptops these days. Especially given how I forget they're in my backpack and sit on them (my thinkpad wasn't phased), or trip over the powercord and send them flying.

I've thought about getting a s7fe tablet with keyboard to replace the laptop so I have something portable that's not too expensive, and I could keep it in a protective case in case it falls, like I do with my phone (which has been dropped on concrete more times than I can count and knocked off tables or furniture on a regular basis). And then I have some old parts for a desktop (needs a processor and a monitor) that I could use for stuff the tablet can't do. I don't know how well the desktop idea will work and I'm pretty much done with old machines that have problems for the time being. I guess the best thing would be to use a cheap tablet for surfing etc, and then if I kill it I won't be sad. It would probably save wear and tear on my actual computer.

I rambled, sorry about that.

[grogu]

Originally Posted by davidfor

See what I mean about how little I tested it? I have fixed this, and tested it and updated the post with the fixed version.

I figure it's kinda hard when you don't have the actual device to test it on!

Thanks for the plugin, I think a lot of people are going to be glad to have it!

And thanks for being supportive, most people seem to shame the win 7 users.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by grogu

And thanks for being supportive, most people seem to shame the win 7 users.

I'm less particular, I shame all Windows users.

Actually I don't. I figure whatever works for you, use it.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by grogu

It's probably everything at this point. It overheats, blue screens, or freezes with some weird colored lines on a regular basis. I get different error messages each time it blue screens, but it seems mostly memory related. For a while it complained that the system fan wasn't working, but it seems to be working again. I keep a desk fan blowing on it, which helps it crash less. And that was before I dropped it a few times.

Can you get at the fan to clean it? I have had issues like that because the fan outlet became blocked with accumulated fluff (mainly cat hair I think). The fan would run full-time but the laptop was still running hot. Once I cleaned the fan, it was suddenly quiet and cool.

Of course, ignore this if you are in the midst of justifying the upgrade to the newest and latest laptop. It's obvious that you current laptop is to old and is rubbish and needs to be replaced

Originally Posted by grogu

I figure it's kinda hard when you don't have the actual device to test it on!

I could have tested that with one of my devices. I tested sending a book, but, not replacing or removing one. Either of the latter would have shown the problem. The main thing I could do was prove it recognised the newer devices.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm less particular, I shame all Windows users.

Actually I don't. I figure whatever works for you, use it.

I'm actually running Calibre in Linux on an Asus EEE netbook (circa 2007). I converted it to Linux when Vista (Windows 7's predecessor) was released to replace XP. I just keep my library on a flash drive as my library is bigger than the entire capacity of the netbook .

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I should have done this when @RobertJSawyer asked, but, attached is a driver for calibre 3.48 that adds the basic support for the Nia, Elipsa, Libra 2 and Sage. All it does is to add recognition of these devices and the latest firmware version. It does not implement any of the changes that have been made to the driver since calibre 3.48 was

I just wanted to pop in and say a very big thank you to @davidfor for doing this. I’ve got Windows 7 too and haven’t been able to use Calibre the way I used to for quite a while. I set it up and can now get my series order showing how I like it to; book 1, book 2 etc on my Libra H2O so I’m thrilled. I’m getting the Libra 2 next week so this is just great.

[Shopaholic]

Me again, I just got my Libra 2 and it’s not putting the series order under the title of the book.

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter - 2

With that new zip file it now works like that in the Libra 1 but not the Libra 2. Anybody have any ideas? I know the Harry Potter series order but not all the other ones I’m reading. The ones I bought from Kobo show that series order info - only as long as the book is still available on their site but nothing imported from Calibre. (some books I bought through Kobo years ago are no longer on the site so yay to Calibre for allowing me to keep the books I bought!)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Me again, I just got my Libra 2 and it’s not putting the series order under the title of the book.

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter - 2

With that new zip file it now works like that in the Libra 1 but not the Libra 2. Anybody have any ideas? I know the Harry Potter series order but not all the other ones I’m reading. The ones I bought from Kobo show that series order info - only as long as the book is still available on their site but nothing imported from Calibre. (some books I bought through Kobo years ago are no longer on the site so yay to Calibre for allowing me to keep the books I bought!)

If it works for one supported Kobo device, then it should work for all of them. Is calibre seeing Libra 2? Do you have the KoboTouch348 driver enabled and configured? Is calibre showing the books on the device when it is connected? Are you reconnecting the device to update the series info after the device has imported them?

If you check the above, and it isn't working, run calibre in debug mode, connect the device and post the debug log. I can look through it and hopefully see what is wrong.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If it works for one supported Kobo device, then it should work for all of them.

I kinda figured as much.

Is calibre seeing Libra 2?

Yes

Do you have the KoboTouch348 driver enabled and configured? Is calibre showing the books on the device when it is connected? Are you reconnecting the device to update the series info after the device has imported them?

Yes to all.

If you check the above, and it isn't working, run calibre in debug mode, connect the device and post the debug log. I can look through it and hopefully see what is wrong.

I will as soon as I figure out how to do that. Haha BUT I think I realized what I did but don’t know why I did it or how to undo it. For some bizarre reason, which I’ll attribute to being sick and sleep deprivation, instead of disabling the Kobo Touch Extended I hit the delete button on my keyboard. And now of course if I try to reinstall it it needs the latest version of Calibre which I can’t get with Win 7. I need the version that works with 3.48. *sigh*