Offline Wikipedia on Kobo (Guide) - Page 2

MGlitch · 07-22-2016, 10:15 AM

I've managed to get my H2O to process the wiki files (I snagged the 5GB 0.8 zim), but opening them does nothing but give me a blank page. Searching yields no results.

pyroshroom · 07-22-2016, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compurandom

Am I missing something or did wikipedia remove the zim generator from the book manager?

Unfortunately they did that about a year ago, it wasn't working, and there is ticket that was opened about it. You can find out more here: http://www.openzim.org/wiki/Build_your_ZIM_file

MGlitch · 07-23-2016, 03:57 PM

Was able to get it to work, seems Mac users may be out of luck. I tried changing the file extension on my Mac and it didn't take. Repeated the whole process on my Windows box and presto it worked like a charm.

I find it odd since I recall Mac OS asking if I wanted to change extensions in the past, but this time it just kept ones which did not seem to trigger my H2O to scan them.

I've opted out of it for now since I underestimated what I would be able to do. This isn't any fault of the OP. And this is still a very nifty feature. I just wish things were a bit more polished.

tshering · 07-23-2016, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Was able to get it to work, seems Mac users may be out of luck. I tried changing the file extension on my Mac and it didn't take. Repeated the whole process on my Windows box and presto it worked like a charm.

Why are Mac users out of luck? One has simply to copy a file to the kobo device. Is this not possible on a Mac?

MGlitch · 07-24-2016, 10:00 AM

It's not the copying, it's that for some reason (at least for me) OS X wasn't properly reassigning the file extension, so my H2O never read it.

rtiangha · 08-06-2016, 04:16 PM

I tried this and it works great, thanks for the tip.

I also took the opportunity to copy over some of the other ZIM files that were available, stuff like Wikiquote, Wikivoyage, Wikitionary and others. The problem is, when you have more than one ZIM file on your device, when you go Reading Menu->Wikipedia when reading a regular book, it's a crapshoot which one it'll launch. For me, sometimes it's Wikipedia, but other times it's Wikiquote or something else.

I can't figure out how that menu item gets populated. I initially thought it was Alphabetical or last file copied over, but no. I think it changes every time you reboot the device.

That said, there's nothing stopping me from opening the ZIM file from the home page and using it normally, but it would be nice to call up Wikipedia specifically directly from a book if I wanted to look something up. The easy answer would be to delete all the other ZIM files and just leave Wikipedia by itself on there, but I do like having access to those other references too. Does anyone have an idea on how to set those Reading Menu options explicitly so I can permanently set that option to launch Wikipedia only?

rtiangha · 10-16-2016, 11:24 PM

This no longer seems to work with firmware 4.1 by default, although it used to in 3.19 (and also in 4.0). Does anyone know if there's a hidden .conf option to re-enable it?

oren64 · 10-17-2016, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtiangha

This no longer seems to work with firmware 4.1 by default, although it used to in 3.19 (and also in 4.0). Does anyone know if there's a hidden .conf option to re-enable it?

What do you mean it no work by default, is your device doesn't recognize the zim file or you don't get the "Wikipedia" search option in the setting?

rtiangha · 10-17-2016, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oren64

What do you mean it no work by default, is your device doesn't recognize the zim file or you don't get the "Wikipedia" search option in the setting?

The device recognises the ZIM file and you can open it. However, the "Wikipedia" search option no longer appears in any of the menus in firmware 4.1.

strico · 10-20-2016, 12:29 PM

Has anyone tried it with the full 54GB Wikipedia? I'd really like to have the whole wikipedia, and wondering if I should buy a 64GB MicroSD and give it a shot

rtiangha · 10-20-2016, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strico

Has anyone tried it with the full 54GB Wikipedia? I'd really like to have the whole wikipedia, and wondering if I should buy a 64GB MicroSD and give it a shot

It works (that is precisely how I do it). In fact, it'll work with any ZIM file that you can find on kiwix.org. Just make sure you're not running firmware 4.1 as the menu option to search zim files was removed in that version. Just make sure to grab the "portable" version as that has the ZIM file already broken into 2 GB chunks that'll work properly on the Kobo's FAT32 user partition.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

strico · 10-20-2016, 05:18 PM

Thanks for your help and for the head-up not to download firmware 4.1!

RobertoOG · 10-24-2016, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Was able to get it to work, seems Mac users may be out of luck. I tried changing the file extension on my Mac and it didn't take. Repeated the whole process on my Windows box and presto it worked like a charm.

Quote:

Has anyone tried it with the full 54GB Wikipedia? I'd really like to have the whole wikipedia, and wondering if I should buy a 64GB MicroSD and give it a shot

I've just successfuly on H2O 3.19. current, I've downloaded the wikipedia_en_all.zip (54G), then I copied all the data/content/*.zim* files to a Sony micro SD 64G that I've formated as Fat32 in a mac (El Capitan)

So I didn't need to break a big file, the compressed zip I've downloaded came with a lot of *.zimaa, *.zimab, etc. files

mkeles84 · 03-20-2017, 07:02 AM

Hello, the "Wikipedia" search option no longer appears in any of the menus in firmware 4.1. Is there any patch for this?

davidfor · 03-20-2017, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkeles84

Hello, the "Wikipedia" search option no longer appears in any of the menus in firmware 4.1. Is there any patch for this?

It does on my devices. Select something in a book, when the toolbar pops up, tap the magnifying glass and Wikipedia is on the menu.

08-06-2016, 04:16 PM	#21
rtiangha Evangelist Posts: 496 Karma: 356531 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: 'burta, Canada Device: Kobo Glo HD	I tried this and it works great, thanks for the tip. I also took the opportunity to copy over some of the other ZIM files that were available, stuff like Wikiquote, Wikivoyage, Wikitionary and others. The problem is, when you have more than one ZIM file on your device, when you go Reading Menu->Wikipedia when reading a regular book, it's a crapshoot which one it'll launch. For me, sometimes it's Wikipedia, but other times it's Wikiquote or something else. I can't figure out how that menu item gets populated. I initially thought it was Alphabetical or last file copied over, but no. I think it changes every time you reboot the device. That said, there's nothing stopping me from opening the ZIM file from the home page and using it normally, but it would be nice to call up Wikipedia specifically directly from a book if I wanted to look something up. The easy answer would be to delete all the other ZIM files and just leave Wikipedia by itself on there, but I do like having access to those other references too. Does anyone have an idea on how to set those Reading Menu options explicitly so I can permanently set that option to launch Wikipedia only? Last edited by rtiangha; 08-06-2016 at 04:19 PM.

10-16-2016, 11:24 PM	#22
rtiangha Evangelist Posts: 496 Karma: 356531 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: 'burta, Canada Device: Kobo Glo HD	This no longer seems to work with firmware 4.1 by default, although it used to in 3.19 (and also in 4.0). Does anyone know if there's a hidden .conf option to re-enable it? Last edited by rtiangha; 10-17-2016 at 12:23 AM.

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07-22-2016, 10:15 AM	#16
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,841 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	I've managed to get my H2O to process the wiki files (I snagged the 5GB 0.8 zim), but opening them does nothing but give me a blank page. Searching yields no results.

07-23-2016, 03:57 PM	#18
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,841 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	Was able to get it to work, seems Mac users may be out of luck. I tried changing the file extension on my Mac and it didn't take. Repeated the whole process on my Windows box and presto it worked like a charm. I find it odd since I recall Mac OS asking if I wanted to change extensions in the past, but this time it just kept ones which did not seem to trigger my H2O to scan them. I've opted out of it for now since I underestimated what I would be able to do. This isn't any fault of the OP. And this is still a very nifty feature. I just wish things were a bit more polished.

07-24-2016, 10:00 AM	#20
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,841 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	It's not the copying, it's that for some reason (at least for me) OS X wasn't properly reassigning the file extension, so my H2O never read it.

10-20-2016, 12:29 PM	#25
strico Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 13264 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: Sony PRS-600	Has anyone tried it with the full 54GB Wikipedia? I'd really like to have the whole wikipedia, and wondering if I should buy a 64GB MicroSD and give it a shot

10-20-2016, 05:18 PM	#27
strico Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 13264 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: Sony PRS-600	Thanks for your help and for the head-up not to download firmware 4.1!

03-20-2017, 07:02 AM	#29
mkeles84 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 20 Join Date: Apr 2015 Device: Kobo Aura/Glo/Kindle PW2	Hello, the "Wikipedia" search option no longer appears in any of the menus in firmware 4.1. Is there any patch for this?

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