Keeping features with move to KA1

[JulieV]

I've recently added the KA1 to my Nook Tab 4 readers. I'm loving the reader-specific features, particularly being able to read pool-side and actually see the text in sunlight, without worries of splashes. Not so much the (hopefully temporary) loss of library management features -- I'd been using Calibre Companion which synced up the "Date Read" and "Read" columns nicely (and allowed me to easily search my library with robust constraints on my Android devices).

99.9% of my library is sideloaded (epubs).

I see that the KA1 does mark books as "complete", so I would deduce there is something defined in the Kobo environ which should be able to sync up with Calibre to indicate if a book has been read. But I can not find it and have been searching this forum and other websites for hours to try and find the connection.

Is there a Calibre Companion equivalent for Kobo e-readers? And, as I fear not (yet), is there any way that I can have my KA1 update my Calibre library when I've read a book? And on the flip side, when sideloading my library have KA1 already recognize books flagged as Read or Completed?

Or alternatively, pull that information from Goodreads, which I also keep updated with my reading history, into Calibre and KA1?

Thanks.

[davidfor]

You want my Kobo Utilities plugin. It can pull the reading status from the Kobo devices when you connect the device and store it in the library. And if you want you can use the plugin to set the status.

For Goodreads, you can use the Goodreads Sync plugin to send or fetch status. And it integrates with the Kobo Utilities plugin to send the percent read to Goodreads.

[JulieV]

Thanks. So... Not sure if related because many variables have changed, but...

Waiting for my KA1, I did some housekeeping in Calibre, added the DeDRM plugin, imported all my books from the B&N bookstore, those from University Chicago Press (using ADE), and Amazon so I had one ebook library, cleaning out duplicates, correcting metadata for consistent author names and sorts, uploading metadata and covers when found to be necessary. Made sure I had epub versions where able, created mobi versions for kindle user sharing my library, and pdf's where not.

Took receipt of my KA1, connected to Calibre, uploaded all my library (approximately 4000 books.) All appeared well, opened and quickly read my current book club selection after noting that I needed to try and regain the features noted above. Posted this thread and got your reply, and researched other related topics here and around the web.

I then installed and configured the following plugins: Kobo Utilities, Kobo Books, Goodreads Sync, and Kobo TouchExtended. I then synced the goodreads and made sure I got bookshelves defined, date read, and Read indicator functioning.

All ready and excited to add this functionality to my KA1, I connected it, let it sync up to Calibre, added some newer books I'd collected during the housekeeping, and.....

Once I ejected the KA1 from Calibre, gave an error and asked for factory reset. After reset, looks like it may have updated to newer OS in the meantime as the layout looked a bit different when it booted back up.

Added back accounts/settings on the device, synced to Calibre and uploaded all my books again--except for 5 or so which gave error during import. I set those aside for the moment. Ejected it and it went thru processing time (very long!) and finally came to home screen. Noting around 500 books. Missing over 3500 books.

Connected back to Calibre, attempted to re-add missing books. Ran out of space on device.

Deleted books from device thru Calibre. Imported books to device. Ejected. KA1 hung with up to 2 flashing squares on blank screen. Would not respond to power off/on. Forced to do factory reset.

Went thru setup and Calibre sync again, barring the 5 problem books.... Out of space. Researched and found that books were only missing in Calibre and device UI. They ARE present on the KOBOreader if I look at the device thru Finder on my Macbook Pro. Deleted books thru Finder. Ejected device, processed. Confirmed no books in KA1 UI. Reconnected to Calibre, confirmed no books listing on device in Calibre as well as in Finder.

Uploaded all books, sans problematic books. Confirmed all list on the device in Caliber. Ejected. Processed forever. Confirmed all books on Device UI. Reconnected to Calibre, confirmed all books still showing on device in Calibre. Ejected device. All good.

Nope. Picked up KA1 to look for specific book to read, not found. Reconnected it to Calibre, only 900 or so books listing via Calibre. Confirmed book I was searching for is not listing as uploaded to device in Calibre. Confirmed book DOES exist (as well as the other missing 3100-ish books on the device when looking thru Mac Finder.

Problem with KOBO OS upgrade? Problem with any of these plug-ins or their configuration? Faulty KA1 hard drive? -- My concern about having a faulty hard drive in my KA1 is only allayed by the fact that they do list thru Finder, so the harddrive seems to be holding onto the books. Corrupted file somewhere?

[SIDE NOTES:

I did check the library in Calibre (no problems found), as well as rebuild the library early on in the process to rule out any problem with data being imported to device.

And, except for 1, those 5-ish problematic books were able to be imported after I ran Calibre's Edit and fixed all problems that could be automatically fixed or had a solution provided. Pretty cool feature I learned about during this painful, time consuming process.

Faith in reliability of Kobo's functionality is weak having encountered glitches/design flaws in the new "Rakutan Overdrive" when having to reset up my account, as well as issues with the Kobo Bookstore website AND their chat function/support ticket process. (Makes me lean toward faulty OS update, but....).]

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'd really like to get my libary on this device and if I need to return it, to be able to do so before warranty/return period expires.

Thanks.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JulieV

Took receipt of my KA1, connected to Calibre, uploaded all my library (approximately 4000 books.) All appeared well, opened and quickly read my current book club selection after noting that I needed to try and regain the features noted above. Posted this thread and got your reply, and researched other related topics here and around the web.

The calibre viewer is good and I use it all the time if I want to look at something while using my PC. But, it is very forgiving of errors in books. Whereas the epub renderer on the Kobo devices, and many other devices, is not. An error in a stylesheet an mean all of the stylesheet will be ignored. An error in the nesting of tags will mean the rest of that chapter will not be shown.

I then installed and configured the following plugins: Kobo Utilities, Kobo Books, Goodreads Sync, and Kobo TouchExtended. I then synced the goodreads and made sure I got bookshelves defined, date read, and Read indicator functioning.

All ready and excited to add this functionality to my KA1, I connected it, let it sync up to Calibre, added some newer books I'd collected during the housekeeping, and.....

Once I ejected the KA1 from Calibre, gave an error and asked for factory reset. After reset, looks like it may have updated to newer OS in the meantime as the layout looked a bit different when it booted back up.

Sorry, can't comment on the factory reset. It shouldn't happen, but occasionally it does. The updated firmware was just timing. Or, if during the initial setup there were network problems, it might have missed updating the first time.

Added back accounts/settings on the device, synced to Calibre and uploaded all my books again--except for 5 or so which gave error during import. I set those aside for the moment. Ejected it and it went thru processing time (very long!) and finally came to home screen. Noting around 500 books. Missing over 3500 books.

When you sideload books and eject the device, the device processes the books. It adds details from the books to an internal database. The database is used for the library listings and to store things like the reading status and bookmarks.

If processing a book fails, then the device stops processing the rest of the books. Anything added before it will be in the library, the rest won't. For this reason, I usually advice sideloading in smaller batches. Or at least doing that until you are happy with the device and confident the books won't cause problems. Once you get to this state, the only fix is to remove the bad books and try again. Unfortunately, finding the bad books is the problem. There isn't any logging to tell you which failed, so the simplest thing is to remove all non-processed books and add them in smaller batches.

Connected back to Calibre, attempted to re-add missing books. Ran out of space on device.

That's strange. If the books are already on the device calibre should just be replacing the files. Of course, if you were very close to full and copying a particularly big book, it might the disk on that book before it removed the original copy.

Deleted books from device thru Calibre. Imported books to device. Ejected. KA1 hung with up to 2 flashing squares on blank screen. Would not respond to power off/on. Forced to do factory reset.

Went thru setup and Calibre sync again, barring the 5 problem books.... Out of space. Researched and found that books were only missing in Calibre and device UI. They ARE present on the KOBOreader if I look at the device thru Finder on my Macbook Pro. Deleted books thru Finder. Ejected device, processed. Confirmed no books in KA1 UI. Reconnected to Calibre, confirmed no books listing on device in Calibre as well as in Finder.

Uploaded all books, sans problematic books. Confirmed all list on the device in Caliber. Ejected. Processed forever. Confirmed all books on Device UI. Reconnected to Calibre, confirmed all books still showing on device in Calibre. Ejected device. All good.

So, when you looked at the library list on the device is listed enough pages to contain all the books. I'm not sure how many books per page are listed on the Aura ONE, but assuming there were 10 per page, it should have shown a page count of about 400. Or you could look in the "Manage downloads" page of the settings to see the exact counts of books.

Nope. Picked up KA1 to look for specific book to read, not found. Reconnected it to Calibre, only 900 or so books listing via Calibre. Confirmed book I was searching for is not listing as uploaded to device in Calibre. Confirmed book DOES exist (as well as the other missing 3100-ish books on the device when looking thru Mac Finder.

My first reaction to that is "impossible". I can't think of a way for that to happen without something else happening. For this to happen, those 3100 books would need to be removed from the internal database somehow. Calibre won't do that unless you tell it to. The device can't do that as you can only delete one book at a time. And in both cases, the file would have been removed. The only way I can come up with is if the database on the device became corrupted. But, if that was the case, you would have gotten an error when connecting to calibre. Some corrupt database problems don't get picked up during the calibre processing, but I doubt a problem were 3100 books were missing would not show up.

In any case, you can check the database using the Kobo Utilities plugin. Under the "Database" menu is an option to do this. It will either return "OK", or list the errors. If there are errors, there isn't anyway to fix them except signing out of the Kobo account on the device and signing back in.

Problem with KOBO OS upgrade? Problem with any of these plug-ins or their configuration? Faulty KA1 hard drive? -- My concern about having a faulty hard drive in my KA1 is only allayed by the fact that they do list thru Finder, so the harddrive seems to be holding onto the books. Corrupted file somewhere?

There is pretty much no way to configure the driver that will prevent the books getting onto the device and processed. The processing might fail if there is a problem with a book. When you reconnect the device to calibre, it will show what books are on the device and correctly processed into the device database. It does not look for books not processed into the database. You can see these books in the Device List.

Calibre will also show which books on the device match those in the calibre library. In either the library list or device list, there will be a green tick if the book matches. As you sent the book from calibre, strictly, all the books should match. But, there are some problems. Any book with multiple authors will probably not match. The way calibre writes the authors to the metadata doesn't agree with the way the device reads the metadata. Both are right, but the Kobo device is taking the minimum it can and only sees the first author. To fix this, you need to use the device list and the "match books" function. This can explain why sometimes it seems books have disappeared from the device when connected to calibre. But, all the books should be in the device list.

Some of what you describe does make me wonder if the device is faulty. The unexpected triggering of factory resets make this likely. The issues with books disappearing from the database is strange but doesn't directly point to a problem with the device. It's more likely to be a side-effect of something else.

Something missing in your report is if at any time you powered the device off. If there are problems, such as a corrupt database, then powering off and on will mean the database is reread. And that will usually mean older data that is missing new books and any changes in reading status. That could explain the missing books. But, I'd still expect an error when connecting to calibre.

[JulieV]

To provide that missing info, I couldn't get the device to power off/on.

Well, the firmware update is a problem. But not the only one.

I went thru the configuration of the added plugins, and noted that I prefer epub to kepub features and so disabled the KoboTouchExtended plugin and enabled the KoboTouch plugin.

I readded my library one alphabet at a time (All the A titles, then the B titles, etc.) and hit one which caused the device to run out of room. Apparently the device doesn't have a protective buffer and allows itself to run COMPLETELY out of room such that it won't function at all until a factory reset is done.

Reimported the books taking care to stop before I max out the space. All ran well for a couple of days and then Kobo pushed the newest firmware update. The home screen changed to the horror that everyone is buzzing about, but the second time you touched the screen if froze, resetting, same thing. Basically turns the device in to a brick.

I did one more factory reset, imported the books, and turned off auto updating. Then learned that doesn't actually block updates as the next day it started updating. So had to turn off wifi. Which means I can't actually use the features for which I bought the KA1 rather than another eReader (direct library access, pocket articles). But that new home screen is awful. And it's really nice to, you know, read a book on the device.

Thanks for the help!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JulieV

To provide that missing info, I couldn't get the device to power off/on.

Holding the power button down for about 5 seconds doesn't turn it off? That should display a "powered off" message, but you can configure the device not to show it. Holding it for 10-20 seconds should force the device off but doesn't change whatever is on the screen.

Does the switch work to put the device to sleep and wake it?

Well, the firmware update is a problem. But not the only one.

I went thru the configuration of the added plugins, and noted that I prefer epub to kepub features and so disabled the KoboTouchExtended plugin and enabled the KoboTouch plugin.

I readded my library one alphabet at a time (All the A titles, then the B titles, etc.) and hit one which caused the device to run out of room. Apparently the device doesn't have a protective buffer and allows itself to run COMPLETELY out of room such that it won't function at all until a factory reset is done.

How much space did you actually use? But, the device doesn't protect any space. If you add enough books in one batch that it doesn't have space to update the internal database or generate cover images, it will give an error. It's been a long time since I saw it, that I don't know exactly what happens.

From the calibre point of view, the device is a drive and just adds files to the device. But, it's probably possible for the KoboTouch driver to reserve some space. I'll have to look into it

Reimported the books taking care to stop before I max out the space. All ran well for a couple of days and then Kobo pushed the newest firmware update. The home screen changed to the horror that everyone is buzzing about, but the second time you touched the screen if froze, resetting, same thing. Basically turns the device in to a brick.

I haven't heard anyone report a freeze and reset with the new firmware. But, if something appears to hang, the device can restart itself. The only time I've seen that happen recently is with a large kepub that had a big ToC. So, it might depend on what you tapped on the screen.

I did one more factory reset, imported the books, and turned off auto updating. Then learned that doesn't actually block updates as the next day it started updating. So had to turn off wifi. Which means I can't actually use the features for which I bought the KA1 rather than another eReader (direct library access, pocket articles). But that new home screen is awful. And it's really nice to, you know, read a book on the device.

The device checks for an a firmware update whenever a sync is done. Kobo expects you to be running the latest firmware available to you when connecting to their servers. You are using their service, so you are stuck with it. You can download books or update Pocket without a sync, but, it's not perfect. And there is probably a patch for the firmware you want to use to block updates.

[JulieV]

Gahh, re-entering because my login timed out before I posted and it doesn't store your text for after you log in (and I didn't copy it either).

At the time of the problem, the power button would not power off/on or sleep/wake. No response unless I held it down until my fingers cramped (longer than 30 seconds indicated for rest) and then all it would do was go to blank screen with up to 2 of the 4 to 5 squares lit and flashing and then just hang there.

Since resolving, power button logs off/on and sleep/wakes as it should.

I don't recall exactly which letter I hit the limit on space, but it was near the end of the alphabet (W's maybe?). Realizing I could not fit my entire library, after the reset I imported all my unread books, then my read books by year read starting with most recent. I got to 2011 or 2010 before maxing out. I didn't go book by book to hone in on exact limit. Stopping with last successful "chunk", I have 1.96 GB available on the device -- that's including downloaded Pocket articles and I'm able to download at least one library book.

Researching problems with the firmware, I did run across several posts, like this one:

http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...kobo-ereaders/

where many commenters report issues with the device(s) freezing and hanging, so I don't appear to be the exception.

If there is such a patch to keep from receiving pushed firmware updates, I'd love to find it. One of the commenters on the above post noted they were able to enable the wifi without fear of receiving update by adding a new Kobo.com account without billing information. I've done that, but I fear that simply adds you to the Push queue further down and that eventually I will again receive the unwanted update.

Side notes: I did find upon closer inspection that the one book I could not fix with Calibre edits in order to import to device was, in fact, a Nook Sample which mistakenly entered my Calibre library. I just deleted it.

And I think I have confirmed that the reason I don't see this device listed in Overdrive.com under Linked Devices, even though it is recognized by ADE and I have authorized it, is because it does not use ADE to download books from the library because of the built-in feature of the KA1. At least that's how I'm interpreting based on info about the Nook Glowlight Plus and some Sony readers here:

https://help.overdrive.com/customer/...gital-editions

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JulieV

Gahh, re-entering because my login timed out before I posted and it doesn't store your text for after you log in (and I didn't copy it either).

At the time of the problem, the power button would not power off/on or sleep/wake. No response unless I held it down until my fingers cramped (longer than 30 seconds indicated for rest) and then all it would do was go to blank screen with up to 2 of the 4 to 5 squares lit and flashing and then just hang there.

Since resolving, power button logs off/on and sleep/wakes as it should.

How did you fix the problem with the button?

I don't recall exactly which letter I hit the limit on space, but it was near the end of the alphabet (W's maybe?). Realizing I could not fit my entire library, after the reset I imported all my unread books, then my read books by year read starting with most recent. I got to 2011 or 2010 before maxing out. I didn't go book by book to hone in on exact limit. Stopping with last successful "chunk", I have 1.96 GB available on the device -- that's including downloaded Pocket articles and I'm able to download at least one library book.

Researching problems with the firmware, I did run across several posts, like this one:

http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...kobo-ereaders/

where many commenters report issues with the device(s) freezing and hanging, so I don't appear to be the exception.

I've looked through that, and I don't think "many" is a good description. For the number of replies, there are hardly any that I would cause hang. Plus none of them match what you said is happening. You said all you needed to do was touch the screen and it reset. I can't see that. And of course, that post is not talking about the same firmware version you are talking about. You haven't actually said what firmware versions you are seeing, but it is possibly talking about the firmware version you are upgrading from.

If there is such a patch to keep from receiving pushed firmware updates, I'd love to find it. One of the commenters on the above post noted they were able to enable the wifi without fear of receiving update by adding a new Kobo.com account without billing information. I've done that, but I fear that simply adds you to the Push queue further down and that eventually I will again receive the unwanted update.

There should be a patch to block the firmware updates, but I don't use them, so don't pay that much attention to them. Go to the Kobo forum here to find the info.

As to changing the account, that won't help. At the most, it will be as you suspect and change when in the update queue you are.

Side notes: I did find upon closer inspection that the one book I could not fix with Calibre edits in order to import to device was, in fact, a Nook Sample which mistakenly entered my Calibre library. I just deleted it.

And I think I have confirmed that the reason I don't see this device listed in Overdrive.com under Linked Devices, even though it is recognized by ADE and I have authorized it, is because it does not use ADE to download books from the library because of the built-in feature of the KA1. At least that's how I'm interpreting based on info about the Nook Glowlight Plus and some Sony readers here:

https://help.overdrive.com/customer/...gital-editions

The Aura ONE is still supported by ADE and you need it for Adobe DRM protected books from other sources. And you can still use if for books borrowed from an OD library. And as you can only connect the Aura ONE to one library, you need to use ADE if you use more than one library.

Overall, the problems you are seeing have nothing to do with calibre. You should move this discussion to the Kobo forum.

[DNSB]

One possibility is that you may simply be running out of space on your Kobo Aura One. I have about 2800 epubs on my KA1 and I have about 1.2GB left free of the original 6.7GB making me wonder if your 4000 epub collection is too large for the available space. Calibre is not helping since I've noticed that quite a few epubs do not correctly identify the cover image according to Calibre's standards and so an extra cover image is added to chew up even more space. Add the space required for processing the file, the generated cover images, the size of the database and disk space is becoming a scarce resource.

Given the very specific to Kobo nature of this discussion, perhaps starting a new thread in the Kobo forum should be the way to continue.