Kobo Start Menu 09

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Alan_S

I try to avoid nickel, don't want it, don't need it. Only reason why I would go there is if/when I buy new ebook reader. But, for now, I'm more than happy with KSM9.

It works, and I don't need more than that. And I don't have to see nickel at all. I'm happy.

Don't mind Jon, in the same breath he'll tell people to upgrade to the latest firmware and also say he's not upgrading to it. Anyone who doesn't use Nickel doesn't need to update barring updates which change the built in factory restore firmware, which I think has happened all of once and Kobo sent out emails to those who owned devices it affected.

[NiLuJe]

*cough* *cough* kernel updates!

Those are rather critical, especially on the most recent (and not so recent ;p) set of devices .

So, yeah, even if you barely use nickel, an up to date FW (often) matters .

[jberd]

Originally Posted by Alan_S

I try to avoid nickel, don't want it, don't need it.
...
But, for now, I'm more than happy with KSM9.

It works, and I don't need more than that. And I don't have to see nickel at all. I'm happy.

That's how I feel.

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

*cough* *cough* kernel updates!

Well, my ereader is fairly old and I'd be surprised if it gets any more updates, but if it does, I'll leave the cozy confines of KSM long enough to take care of the update and then scuttle back.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Don't mind Jon, in the same breath he'll tell people to upgrade to the latest firmware and also say he's not upgrading to it. Anyone who doesn't use Nickel doesn't need to update barring updates which change the built in factory restore firmware, which I think has happened all of once and Kobo sent out emails to those who owned devices it affected.

WRONG! I am running 4.32.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jberd

Well, my ereader is fairly old and I'd be surprised if it gets any more updates, but if it does, I'll leave the cozy confines of KSM long enough to take care of the update and then scuttle back.

Yes your H2O still gets updates and 4.32 is available for it. KSM09 may not work after you update the firmware. But KFMon does work.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

WRONG! I am running 4.32.

And we are completely and utterly shocked that you have done this. You clearly wait for everyone else to do the update while pestering us with questions about the changes and informing those who have not updated that they are running the latest firmware and should.

And I don't care about your reasons for doing it. You have very clear pattern of behaviour and posts like that from @MGlitch clearly show we have seen it. You need to stop telling people to do things you won't do. As well as stop "helping" people with topics you demonstrate no understanding of. And of course, actually read all of the posts before responding.

[cyberandrew]

Hi guys. I have Kobo Aura HD. I installed KSM 09 few years ago and everything was good. But after few years the book sitting in off state on the shelf being not using, I turned it on, and koreader starts normally from KSM, but Nickel is not starting. I see only 3 flashing dots for minute and after that book goes to KSM. The charge of battery is 100%. I tried started Nickel with and without SD card -- no effect. Please help.

[abanks]

Ive just installed KSM to my kobo and wanted to leave instructions because its a bit scattered in this thread and i bricked my kobo once because i missed the spoiler button in the first post.

Only thing that doesnt work is auto-rotation in koreader.


1. Go to the first post, click the spoiler button at the bottom of the post, read the second "News", install the relevant file. (KBStartMenu_09_forma_test.zip)

2. Go to the Mel-Kior patch referenced in the first post and download "KBStartMenu_09_forma_fw4.25_Fix_test"

3. With both files on your computer unzip "KBStartMenu_09_forma_test". From inside copy "kbmenupngs" to root of the kobo (eg : "E:\"). Copy "KoboRoot.tgz" to .kobo folder (eg : "E:\.kobo")

4. Eject your kobo and wait until it detects the new files. It should reboot and screen should flash without your intervention. Either kobo will proceed straight to Nickel or you will see the KSM screen but wont be able to interact with it (and you shouldnt yet). After 20 seconds KSM will proceed to nickel.


5. Unzip "KBStartMenu_09_forma_fw4.25_Fix_test", Copy "KoboRoot.tgz" to .kobo folder (eg : "E:\.kobo").

6. Eject your kobo and wait until it detects the new files. It should reboot and screen should flash without your intervention. After that you will boot in to the KSM.




From here you can install koreader by going to its github, downloading the kobo zip, and copying "koreader" to .adds folder.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by abanks

Ive just installed KSM to my kobo and wanted to leave instructions because its a bit scattered in this thread and i bricked my kobo once because i missed the spoiler button in the first post.

Only thing that doesnt work is auto-rotation in koreader.


1. Go to the first post, click the spoiler button at the bottom of the post, read the second "News", install the relevant file. (KBStartMenu_09_forma_test.zip)

2. Go to the Mel-Kior patch referenced in the first post and download "KBStartMenu_09_forma_fw4.25_Fix_test"

3. With both files on your computer unzip "KBStartMenu_09_forma_test". From inside copy "kbmenupngs" to root of the kobo (eg : "E:\"). Copy "KoboRoot.tgz" to .kobo folder (eg : "E:\.kobo")

4. Eject your kobo and wait until it detects the new files. It should reboot and screen should flash without your intervention. Either kobo will proceed straight to Nickel or you will see the KSM screen but wont be able to interact with it (and you shouldnt yet). After 20 seconds KSM will proceed to nickel.


5. Unzip "KBStartMenu_09_forma_fw4.25_Fix_test", Copy "KoboRoot.tgz" to .kobo folder (eg : "E:\.kobo").

6. Eject your kobo and wait until it detects the new files. It should reboot and screen should flash without your intervention. After that you will boot in to the KSM.




From here you can install koreader by going to its github, downloading the kobo zip, and copying "koreader" to .adds folder.

That's a lot more convoluted then installing KOReader from the One-Click install package and using NickelMenu to run the .sh to start KOReader. It's much neater, much cleaner and works on the current firmware.

[abanks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's a lot more convoluted then installing KOReader from the One-Click install package and using NickelMenu to run the .sh to start KOReader. It's much neater, much cleaner and works on the current firmware.

This one works on the current firmware too. And never claimed otherwise for the rest. Please stop pushing one method in another methods thread. One Click method is already the top method in thread list, this method already has a huge disclaimer in the first post of the thread, and anyone who still has questions about which one they should do can ask.

[rtiangha]

Wow, I didn't know that Mel-kior figured out the issue with fw 4.25. Good work!

Pre-pandemic, I was trying to unify all the disparate KSM09 versions into a single file (leaving out backwards compatibility with older firmware versions if need be). I had the Forma version working with Night Mode on my Glo HD, and it was all working quite well. Then 4.25 hit, I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and I moved on to using NickelMenu as my main launcher.

Anyway, for anyone interested, I've got two versions here for people to play with, untested, so make sure you have a way to roll back if something goes wrong (ex. separate SD card reader and maybe a system image backup), ESPECIALLY if you lose touch.

KBStartMenu_09_fw4.25_test.zip takes that unified branch I was working on back in the day and adds Mel-kior's changes. I also updated the QT bits using the 2022.5.19 version of pbchess. I haven't tested it, but since the current vlasovsoft launcher works on my Glo HD, I assume its QT touch bits will still work in KSM09 too. I could be wrong, though.

Spoiler:

KBStartMenu_09_fw4.33_test.zip is my attempt to update the rc.S and usb scripts to use those in fw 4.33. Unless I made some typos, I think it should work, but I haven't tested it myself so this version is definitely not for the faint of heart. Obviously, make sure you're running 4.33 first if you want to try it.

<-- 4.33 version temporarily pulled due to a report that it wasn't working correctly.

I believe these will work for every Kobo up to Nia. The three devices that may not work are Sage, Elipsa, and Libra 2.

There is actually a Libra 2 driver in the pbchess package, so I set KSM09 to use it, but I have no idea what'll happen if you try to run it. Sage and Elipsa don't have entries in pbchess, so I'm not sure if they'll work with one of the existing four drivers or if it'll need something new (clearly out of my skill set to figure out, and obviously, I don't have access to those devices to test things).

For now, Sage and Elipsa will use the Libra 2 driver if people to try to install it there, but if people want to experiment, they can change the *) entry in this case statement in the rcS file:

case $MODEL_NUMBER in
  310|320|330|340|350|360|381)
    export mousedriver=libKoboTS.so
    export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KoboTS
    ;;
  370|371|372|373|375|379)
    export mousedriver=libKoboTS_h2o.so
    export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KoboTS_h2o
  374|376|377|378|382|384)
    export mousedriver=libKoboTS_h2o2.so
    export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KoboTS_h2o2
    ;;
  388)
    export mousedriver=libKoboTS_libra2.so
    export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KoboTS_libra2:mirrorx # copied from pbchess
    ;;
  *) # Change this entry for new devices
    export mousedriver=libKoboTS_libra2.so
    export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KoboTS_libra2
    ;;
esac

to use one of the other three drivers instead of libra2. Also, no idea if the rotation values for those devices will need to be tweaked either.

As a fallback option, these two versions are set to alternate between launching KSM and nickel, just in case you need to revert. If it works well, you can edit .adds/kbmenu_user/runsettings.txt to always have KSM launch by default.

If people want to inspect the work, I've got up to the fw 4.33 changes up on GitHub on this branch:
https://github.com/rtiangha/kobo-sta.../updatedrivers

[PennyDred]

Thank you for this! I'm already running KSM09 but appreciate the refresh as it gets more difficult to recover after each firmware upgrade. I would appreciate some instruction though. Do I just extract that zip file and drop the .tgz into the root of the kobo? Or something else? I mean will the existing ksm recognise and handle the update?

[rtiangha]

They are meant as full installers for install on firmware 4.25 or greater, but they really only change a few files compared to what Mel-kior changed, mainly /etc/init.d/rcS, /adds/kbmenu/onstart/ksmhome.sh, /usr/local/Kobo/udev/usb, and the QT drivers listed in /adds/kbmenu/Qt/plugins and /mnt/onboard/.adds/kbmenu_user/copyrepos/. It may reset settings to alternate booting between KSM and nickel as a safety feature (so you can still access things under nickel if things don't work) but you change it back to 'always' boot KSM by editing .adds/kbmenu_user/runsettings.txt.

Yes to unzipping and placing the .tgz file into .kobo. You can manage it the same way as any Kobo firmware upgrade, but if you're using KSM to install it, you'll probably want to use the full upgrade option.

But again, don't flash unless you have a way to revert. They both should work, but aren't heavily tested, especially the 4.33 version. But do chime in if they work or not so others can know too (especially with things like touch).

[PennyDred]

The 4.33 version didn't work for me on the Aura H2O, unfortunately. Despite the fact that I was already running ksm09 'restored' successfully on 4.33, it got trapped in some kind of a boot loop which required a complete, corner-tapping, device reset to rescue it. I should have perhaps removed the external sd card first. Or perhaps it didn't agree with a nightmode script.
Anyway I have managed to install NickleMenu instead. Thank you to everyone working on ksm though. I especially liked changing the font on the main menu to something flamboyant- got great looks from people over my shoulder on public transport.

[kocoman]

how to check the battery status/level/charing or not etc
kobo hd glo

thx