Aura H2O Kobo library vs file/directory system, wifi

[Xen]

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[meeera]

The wifi is good for over the air updates, browsing and Wikipedia lookups, and connecting to Calibre's content server to get books onto your device. Now that Rakuten has bought Overdrive, it may or may not be useful for library access in the future (speculative).

As far as file managers go, check out Koreader. Not something I use (having tried it) but plenty of people here do. Read the developer's subforum for more stuff you can do.

Paranoia^Wconcern over companies' access to ereaders is somewhat common, but relatively pointless if you ask me - just use a throwaway email address and never use it again, if you don't want to hack your device to bypass registration.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Xen

I keep having to change the sort order for the Library back to sort by author, from "most recent". Is there any way to make the sort order stick?

If you enter the library via the tile (called "New books added to library" or something similar) on the homescreen then it always shows recently added books. If you enter the library by the Library menu at the bottom of the homescreen, then it shows the books in whatever order you had last selected.

Is there any way to use wifi to connect to my PC, even through something like the ES File manager I run on my android phone?

One way is to use the browser to connect to a Calibre content server running on your PC. There are other ways, but I don't use them so someone else will know better.

The answer to the rest of the questions is Yes, but I don't do any of those things so I'll leave someone else to give details.

Originally Posted by Xen

Also, is there any sort of file manager ap I can use so I can have folders and directories instead of just a straight list of books?

Strictly speaking, no. KOReader does have a file browser, but it only works with KOReader and does not provide file management functionality.

is the wifi good for anything other than giving Kobo free entry to my device?

Kobo does provide an experimental web browser. You can also modify your Kobo to access it remotely via ssh. This should include sftp, though I haven't tried it.

Can I even run any kind of extra software or aps on a Kobo?

There are a couple of alternative readers for Kobo. One of them comes bundled with several games. Kobo's firmware is based upon Linux/ARM, so it is possible (albeit, non-trivial) to run Linux software on a lightly modified system.

If I do enable the wifi, can I stop it "logging in" to my kobo "account"?

Yes. You modify the hosts file to block access to Kobo servers.

[Xen]

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[Xen]

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[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Xen

It is sitting there saying "processing content" - which I assume means it is telling Kobo what I have loaded on my device - NONE of which was purchased through Kobo, and NONE of which I want in the cloud, and NONE of which Kobo needs to know about.

The processing content is your Kobo scanning through your added books and placing the information in the local database. No information is sent to Kobo during this step. And yes, it can take quite a while. With ~2700 ebooks on my external uSD card, I tend to do factory resets in the evening and leave the H20 to process overnight.

The only information (as far as I can tell) sent to Kobo about your sideloaded ebooks is that you have read one and your shelves/collections structure. Kobo does get much more information about your ebooks purchased from Kobo so you will get back your annotations, reading information, etc. for those ebooks after a reset.

[Xen]

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[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Xen

What is "pointless" is forcing me to login or have the wireless on for any reason. This is supposed to be the device you take to the beach - where there is unlikely to be any wifi or a PC to plug it into.

You're definitely not forced to have wi-fi on. I've had 4 Kobos and never configured/enabled wi-fi for any of them. USB is good enough for me.

[dordale]

as jackie_w said you don't need to have wi-fi on on your Kobo. When I initially got my Kobo Aura HD, I did register it through wi-fi. After doing that, I turned wi-fi off and haven't had it on since. I use Calibre to manage my library and send my books to my Kobo. I've never bought an actual book from Kobo--all my books are side-loaded ePubs that I convert to KePub while uploading to the Aura HD through the Calibre Kobo extended drivers.

But as David pointed out the "processing content" is normal and no information is being sent to Kobo while this is going on. It's simply the Kobo writing information about books you've added or deleted to the Kobo database. If you've made significant changes to what's on your Kobo, processing content can take quite a while.

[davidfor]

Xen: Based on what you have described, something is going wrong with your Kobo.

All my Kobo ereaders remember the sort sequence across reboots if I use the library link at the bottom of the home screen. If I press the library tile in the home screen, the sort is change to "recent" and remembered from then on.

The "forced to login" is almost definitely because the internal database on the device was corrupt. This is used to store details of all the books on the device, the annotations, the shelves and lots of other things including the Kobo user. If you powered off and on and was prompted for a login, then the database was in a very bad way. Because of this, a new database was created and you were prompted to login. After that, it had to reprocess all the books on the device plus download a few books you purchased from Kobo.

Neither of the above should happen. I haven't had to do a login for months except when I deliberately did something to trigger it.

The database corruption is a concern. Some people seem to see them a lot, some never. Unfortunately, we don't know what causes it. The only way we do know is not safely ejecting the device from the PC when using something that accesses the database on the device. This includes calibre and the Kobo desktop app. We have seen a few reports here where people have continuously had corrupt databases. It turned out to be a faulty device and they were able to exchange it. And everything worked fine afterwards.

As I and the others have said, you don't need the WiFi for normal operation. This is unless you want to buy books from Kobo and sync the status. That is very handy if you are using multiple devices to read. But, it isn't mandatory. As others have said, they do the setup and turn WiFi off. But, if you want to avoid that, you can update the database to have a fake id and skip the setup. The device will still work, and WiFi will still work, but it won't sync books or anything with Kobo. A search of this forum will find the instructions for doing this.

[Xen]

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[Xen]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Xen: Based on what you have described, something is going wrong with your Kobo.

Yeah, that's what scares me, LOL!

All my Kobo ereaders remember the sort sequence across reboots if I use the library link at the bottom of the home screen. If I press the library tile in the home screen, the sort is change to "recent" and remembered from then on.

I just checked, and as of now, it is working. I don't have that "library" tile on the home screen, I got rid of that and several other useless tiles off the home page first thing. Of course, I had to do that all over again when the Kobo decided to restart itself from scratch this morning ... but I do use the link at the bottom. For now it seems to be working.

The "forced to login" is almost definitely because the internal database on the device was corrupt. This is used to store details of all the books on the device, the annotations, the shelves and lots of other things including the Kobo user. If you powered off and on and was prompted for a login, then the database was in a very bad way. Because of this, a new database was created and you were prompted to login. After that, it had to reprocess all the books on the device plus download a few books you purchased from Kobo.

OK, I see how that is working - although I think taking nearly an hour to build a DB of only about 170 books or so is an inordinately long amount of time ... It wouldn't have anything to download from Kobo because I have made no purchases from them, and don't intend to make any.

Neither of the above should happen. I haven't had to do a login for months except when I deliberately did something to trigger it.

The database corruption is a concern. Some people seem to see them a lot, some never. Unfortunately, we don't know what causes it. The only way we do know is not safely ejecting the device from the PC when using something that accesses the database on the device. This includes calibre and the Kobo desktop app. We have seen a few reports here where people have continuously had corrupt databases. It turned out to be a faulty device and they were able to exchange it. And everything worked fine afterwards.

So far it is behaving and some of the other weirdness (like not keeping my sort order) has not yet recurred. I will hope it was a one-time thing.

I did have it connected to Calibre, and used the Calibre control to eject the device. I checked and the device didn't show up in windows explorer as still attached - seemed to be gone - and I read like 2 books after that and fiddled with sudoku and the word game thing for awhile after that, all seemed copasetic. Shut it off - powered it down.

Then when I got up this morning it was showing the cover of my current book - which it hadn't been doing last night as I had shut that off in settings (to not display cover when off). Which is when I went into settings, to turn that off again, and that is when it logged itself out and made me start all over again.

As I and the others have said, you don't need the WiFi for normal operation. This is unless you want to buy books from Kobo and sync the status. That is very handy if you are using multiple devices to read. But, it isn't mandatory. As others have said, they do the setup and turn WiFi off. But, if you want to avoid that, you can update the database to have a fake id and skip the setup. The device will still work, and WiFi will still work, but it won't sync books or anything with Kobo. A search of this forum will find the instructions for doing this.

I'll try to find that. The only thing I've found so far requires installation of old firmware.

I don't need sync, I don't have anything in the Kobo store and don't intend to, and if I did, I'd download to the PC, put it in Calibre, and sideload it anyway.

The only thing I was thinking of getting were magazine subscriptions - and it appears they won't let you read those in e-ink anyway. So - I'll have to get those from Amazon after all. Unless there's a way to move the file off your android phone (I have ES File Manager), onto the PC, into Calibre, and then sideload it up to the Kobo - but I posted a question about that and no bites, so perhaps that isn't possible.

Thanks for the help and ESPECIALLY the explanations. It helps to know what its actually supposed to be doing and what might have gone wrong.

[Ken Maltby]

You can avoid the processing of your library of ebooks/documents by not using the stock readers and placing the library behind a hidden folder. Koreader and CoolReader can both be set to read such "hidden" files and folders.

The File Manager in Koreader is simple but does include Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete - as well as, a "Sort order" and "Reverse sorting" options. There is now also a search "Find a file" function for the File Manager. Also, you can search "Find a book in calibre catalog" function of the catalog calibre places and maintains on your reader, if you send books to your device using calibre. So Koreader's File Manager is not without its interesting capabilities.

With the Wifi on you can access OPDS catalogs and download books off a number of sites on the net, as well as local ones like calibre's builtin server. There is also a "Calibre wireless connection" that used to be called a caliber companion plugin (but that name is in commercial use), with that you can send books from your PC calibre library to your device. Other WiFi functions in Koreader include ZSync, and Evernote plugins, and a new "Progress sync" between Koreader devices. These uses of the WiFi do not contact Kobo.

The alternative readers are not slave to a database like the stock readers and user interface are, so there is no lengthy "processing" of the "hidden" books, that you can read with them. No "Sync" required either.

If you use The Kobo Start Menu (KSM7) or Advboot to launch Koreader you need not start the stock software at all, avoiding the issues you mention.

Luck;
Ken

Since you're highly concerned about privacy, turn off your Wi-Fi and keep it turned off. After that, perform a factory reset then bypass the registration using SQLite3. (To the person who called concern about privacy paranoid, some people have much higher expectations for privacy. In many cases, there's nothing paranoid about that. It is simply how they choose to live their lives.)

Avoiding the database rebuild or database corruption pretty much means avoiding Kobo's reader software. The great news is that a few developers have created alternative reading software for Kobo, and that it has features that go above and beyond what Kobo's software provides. KSM + KOReader is my preferred choice, but you also have PBChess from vlasovsoft.

On the File Manager in KOReader, I was in error earlier. It has rudimentary file management functionality. You can delete files and move them. As far as I can tell, you cannot create directories or rename files. I just reinstalled PBChess. It has a more comprehensive file manager. PBChess also includes a few useful utilities and games, some of which are free and some of which are shareware.

There are plenty of options available for your Kobo even if you don't like how Kobo does things themselves. They also work well alongside each other, in case you want to pick and choose or experiment to see which you like best.