New Kobo Firmware "April 2019" v4.13.12638

[Quoth]

I just installed this on my N905C Kobo Touch. Seems fine. I just noticed that the "sketch ink" is broad, maybe 4mm, was it that before? It's increased from font stroke weight approx on the H2O original to about 2mm on it. It's not important but curious.

The screen ghosting has reduced and "white" brightness has increased a little more on the N905C, but perhaps it's been improving since I bought it simply due to usage. It was "flat" in the local shop (CEX in Ireland) and might not have been used for a long time. The eink is sort of mechanical kind of nanotech, little black balls in a milky liquid, so it not impossible it might ghost more if inactive for a long time?

[rtiangha]

Does anyone else notice this behaviour?

When I'm viewing a book series using the search or shelf feature (with or without patches), the series numbers don't refresh when you swipe, unless there's new text (like a different series) on the next page. Then when you swipe back, you get the proper numbers, but those number persist until you hit something different in the other direction.

For example, I've got the Sword Art Online, Sword Art Online Alternative and Sword Art Online Progressive novel series. Doing a search for 'Sword Art Online' brings up all of them.

There's about 16 Sword Art Online books, 3 Sword art Online Alternative and 5 Sword Art Online Progressive books. This means the Alternative books appear first and then you get about 3 screens worth of Sword Art Online results before you hit the Progressive results.

For example, on the first screen of results, I have listed in order:

Sword Art Online Alternative 02
Sword Art Online Alternative 01
Sword Art Online Alternative 03
Sword Art Online 01
Sword Art Online 02

On the second screen of results, I have listed:

Sword Art Online 03
Sword Art Online 04
Sword Art Online 05
Sword Art Online 06
Sword Art Online 07

The third is
SAO 08
SAO 09
SAO 10
SAO 11
SAO 12

The fourth is:

SAO 13
SAO 14
SAO 15
SAO 16
SAO Progressive 01

Finally, the fifth screen has:

SAO Progressive 02
SAO Progressive 03
SAO Progressive 04
SAO Progressive 05

Swiping from first screen to second, the first three listings refresh properly, but the last two do not and still display 1 and 2 as the series numbers for those titles. So in terms of index numbers (the book titles are correct), the second screen looks like:

SAO 3
SAO 4
SAO 5
SAO 1
SAO 2

This persists until about screen 3 or 4 when the bottom two books refresh (the first three books are still listed as books 3-5). When I get to the last screen (screen 5), then everything refreshes to show the proper Progressive index numbers.

Then swiping backwards from screen five, yields:

SAO 13
SAO 14
SAO 15
SAO 16
SAO Progressive 1

on screen 4, and then screen three ends up looking like this:

SAO 13
SAO 14
SAO 15
SAO 11
SAO 12

And they hold those index numbers until you get to screen two or one when you hit the SAO Alternative results again.

The entries in the 'SeriesNumber' column in the database are correct for those books, which leads me to believe that this is a nickel problem, as the display problem persists with or without patches.

But just to be sure: Has anyone else noticed the same behaviour? I don't think I noticed this in 4.12. It's kind of annoying because you'll get confused in the middle pages of large results if you're looking for a particular book in a large series (think Hardy Boys' 190+ books) based on series index number because the number being displayed may not be the correct one.

[davidfor]

@rtiangha: Doing some testing, I only see the problem on the search results. In the main booklist, the authors list or a collection, the series info changes correctly.

It looks new to me, but none of my series have been long enough to see it. I had to create a couple of test cases to see what was happening.

[rtiangha]

Yeah, I never noticed it until today but I wasn't looking too hard so I can't say for sure if it also happened in 4.12 or earlier. Feels like it's new though.

But that it only happens in search and not in the main book list as well means it's probably a logic bug as it refreshes properly if there's new information on the next page. It has that "off-by-one" kind of feeling to me where a conditional isn't being hit as expected.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rtiangha

Yeah, I never noticed it until today but I wasn't looking too hard so I can't say for sure if it also happened in 4.12 or earlier. Feels like it's new though.

But that it only happens in search and not in the main book list as well means it's probably a logic bug as it refreshes properly if there's new information on the next page. It has that "off-by-one" kind of feeling to me where a conditional isn't being hit as expected.

It looks like they are only checking the series name before updating the screen. I can think of a few ways to mess it up, and, I have committed at least two when coding the metadata updates in the calibre driver.

And, my recommendation, as always, is to report the problem to Kobo so they know it needs to be fixed.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Can anyone else confirm this problem I'm seeing in 4.13.12638 ...

I'm no longer seeing hyphenation in any of my kepubs. I know I have
-webkit-hyphens:auto
in the body CSS selector of every kepub on my KA1, which is the only device I've installed the new fw on. The same kepubs on my Forma with 4.12.12111 are hyphenating OK.

Hyphenation in epubs still seems to be working OK in the new fw.

I've got quite a lot of patches installed, so it might just be me, but only patches which didn't cause any kepub hyphenation problems in previous fws.

As discussed in PMs, this is being triggered by metadata updates being done by the KoboTouch driver in calibre, and a change in language handling in the firmware. Previously, the firmware wasn't parsing the language from the database when opening the book. Now, it does. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, Kobo also changed the language code type being used. Before, it was usually the three letter code (ISO 639‑2 or ISO 639‑3). Now, they are using what is basically BCP 47 codes.

The change to fix this is fairly easy in the driver. I am testing it and it will be in the next calibre release. In the meantime, if you are affected by it, turn off the metadata update option in the driver.

[akiyamakazumi]

Add tradition Chinese is good for them, because there are so many Taiwan people buy the device and book from Rakuten japan and use the Japanese menu. Never use Facebook, is so scary, always so agressive to take users info, recently even heard they need the users email password...

[ma678]

I wish Kobo would add simplified Chinese support, too.

Edit: the new firmware does support simplified Chinese now.

Great job, Kobo!

Sent from my ONEPLUS 6T using Tapatalk

[JeanPierre]

I just noticed another difference. In the previous version of the firmware in "Device Information" I had 3.9GB of 6.7GB space remaining. In this version it says 3.9GB of 8GB remaining.

Hmm.

[Quoth]

Arrgh!
The bug regarding chapter and % progress of the location of annotation is back. Annotations seem to have chapter & progress last used at last sleep or power cycle?

"Annotations" in Digital Editions in the Root is still a file (the previous method to fix the bug).
Also the epub is on the SD card (Original H2O).
I did have this bug with previous firmware, but either of these two tips from davidfor cured it.

I'm trying again with a fresh copy of the book, (deleted it) and with "Update Metadata" now unticked... Except when I reconnect and restarted, the "Update Metadata" was ticked again!

Edit:
Unticked it and restarted Calibre AGAIN and the tick comes back.

Edit 2:
I'll try the epub on main memory as the Annotations folder doesn't exist, the firmware update didn't delete my empty file. Which is still an empty text file according to the Linux text editor.

[Quoth]

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=652

[rashkae]

It was not memtioned in the release notes, but this firmware has resolved the issue with the forma staying stuck in the wrong/upside down orientation on wake up.

[Leeward]

Bug found...

I have two, Aura H20 Edition 2 Version 2 (Mark 7)
Both have auto updated to 4.13.12638.

After update, both could no longer see the 2.5 mhz Wifi AP that they have been using for ages.
Other Wifi AP in the area are visible.
Manually adding the Wifi AP info (as if it had a hidden SSID) didn't allow it to connect.


After a Factory reset, both units see the Wifi AP and can connect.

But.. after Syncing to the latest software again... Wifi AP connection no longer works.

I spent some time with Kobo support tonight. They have escalated the issue and will let me know what they find with the bug.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Arrgh!
The bug regarding chapter and % progress of the location of annotation is back. Annotations seem to have chapter & progress last used at last sleep or power cycle?
"Annotations" in Digital Editions in the Root is still a file (the previous method to fix the bug).
Also the epub is on the SD card (Original H2O).
I did have this bug with previous firmware, but either of these two tips from davidfor cured it.

I don't have a device with an external card with me, so I can't test that. But, there is no change when the book is on the main memory of my Clara HD. Without the Annotations file, the annotations location gets changed to wherever the book is reopened to. With the file, they don't.

Also, your description of the bug doesn't match the known one. Firstly, it has never affected epubs on the SD card. Secondly, the percent read in the chapter is always set to zero. Lastly, it only kicks in when the book is closed and reopened. Maybe there is something new for epubs on the SD card, but, it probably isn't the same bug.

I'm trying again with a fresh copy of the book, (deleted it) and with "Update Metadata" now unticked... Except when I reconnect and restarted, the "Update Metadata" was ticked again!

I don't know what you are trying to achieve here. The metadata update has absolutely nothing to do with the annotations. And if you are adding a new book, this doesn't affect a new book being sent to the device. It only updates the metadata the next time you connect the device.

Edit:
Unticked it and restarted Calibre AGAIN and the tick comes back.

I'll fix it for the next release. In the meantime, you can uncheck the options inside the group to get the same affect.

Edit 2:
I'll try the epub on main memory as the Annotations folder doesn't exist, the firmware update didn't delete my empty file. Which is still an empty text file according to the Linux text editor.

As stated above, I am not seeing any change in behaviour for books in the main memory.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Leeward

After a Factory reset, both units see the Wifi AP and can connect.

But.. after Syncing to the latest software again... Wifi AP connection no longer works.

I spent some time with Kobo support tonight. They have escalated the issue and will let me know what they find with the bug.

It may be using the wrong country settings to determine the legal 2.4GHz channels. My AP uses channel 13, which is legal here in the Nerherlands, but not in the US. I have a TP-Link router/AP/repeater/bridge/WiFi client that can't see it after a factory reset until I manually tell it to use the 'Netherlands' country setting.

Very confusing if you don't twig to it