Leaf 2: Some questions

[downeaster59]

The page turn buttons (hardware buttons) on my Leaf 2 turn pages for NeoReader and some other apps, such as Moon Reader. However, these buttons do not turn pages on a couple of other apps. I'd like to remap the buttons so that they will do so. Key Mapper does not detect the hardware buttons. Some of you have been working on a similar thing with other Onyx devices. My Leaf 2 is not rooted. Do I need root to do this remapping? If not, how could I go about it?

If I need root, the next question becomes how to get root. The Leaf 2 is rather new, so Boox does not have firmware updates posted on their site for it yet. There's the edl route, but I'd need to find a loader for this CPU. I haven't found any so far. I'm not familiar with any other method that might work on my Leaf 2. Any suggestions?

One more question! When the Leaf 2 formats a microSD card, it doesn't give the option of formatting it as additional internal storage. The only option is portable storage. Portable will work for storing books but not as storage space for installed apps. This isn't really important to me. It's more of a nice-to-have thing. This is one way of saying that I don't feel the need to go through a convoluted process to make this happen. However, if it could be done without lots of hassle, I'd be interested in finding out how.

[ottischwenk]

Unfortunately I can't answer any of your questions, but...

Originally Posted by downeaster59

One more question! When the Leaf 2 formats a microSD card, it doesn't give the option of formatting it as additional internal storage. The only option is portable storage. Portable will work for storing books but not as storage space for installed apps.

The internal flash is much faster than an SD card.
So it makes sense if programs are stored there and not on SD - for data it doesn't matter so much.
Interestingly, I can't use the SD card as "internal" on my Meebook P78 Pro with Android 11 either.

[Garret]

Since I am considering this device may I ask some questions myself?

1) Which apps have you noticed that the page buttons work and don't work?
2) Can you confirm the screen is an e-ink carta 1200? Still not really a totally official confirmation from onyx.
3) I have read that Leaf2 has downgraded cpu than previous version. Do you know if it is true? What is your experience as "sluggishness"? Does it run well android apps?
4) Are the page buttons comfortable at touch?
5) What do you think of the flush screen? Personally I like more such type of screen but many are writing that there is a big difference in cripsness with sunken screen? Do you think is it something that looks so evident?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Garret

3) I have read that Leaf2 has downgraded cpu than previous version. Do you know if it is true? What is your experience as "sluggishness"? Does it run well android apps?

I can't imagine it making a huge difference

5) What do you think of the flush screen? Personally I like more such type of screen but many are writing that there is a big difference in cripsness with sunken screen? Do you think is it something that looks so evident?

The difference depends on the quality of the glass and only marginally worsens the contrast.
I have Leaf1(flush) and Tolino Vision6=Kobo Libra2 (Carta 1200) and I don't notice any difference in quality

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by Garret

Since I am considering this device may I ask some questions myself?

1) Which apps have you noticed that the page buttons work and don't work?
2) Can you confirm the screen is an e-ink carta 1200? Still not really a totally official confirmation from onyx.
3) I have read that Leaf2 has downgraded cpu than previous version. Do you know if it is true? What is your experience as "sluggishness"? Does it run well android apps?
4) Are the page buttons comfortable at touch?
5) What do you think of the flush screen? Personally I like more such type of screen but many are writing that there is a big difference in cripsness with sunken screen? Do you think is it something that looks so evident?

1) The page buttons work on Moon Reader, KOReader and Librera. They do not work on Instapaper and on Logos, which is a Bible study app with many books included.

2) Nothing in the Leaf 2's documentation mentions Carta 1200. I can't confirm or deny it.

3) As a rule, I don't see any unusual sluggishness compared to other Onyx devices I have had. Every now and then, the Leaf 2 seems a bit slower booting up or loading a certain app, but that is uncommon and random. Page turns happen after a very brief delay.

4) Yes. They don't protrude very far and are comfortable to the touch.

5) When I ordered the Leaf 2, the Ereader Store site said that they had the white, recessed display Leaf 2 and said nothing about the black. So I assumed I'd get the white one. The black one actually came. I find that I prefer the look of the flush screen. I've compared the screen to my Nova 2 and can see no difference.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

Unfortunately I can't answer any of your questions, but...The internal flash is much faster than an SD card.
So it makes sense if programs are stored there and not on SD - for data it doesn't matter so much.
Interestingly, I can't use the SD card as "internal" on my Meebook P78 Pro with Android 11 either.

As I decide what apps I want on the Leaf 2 and see what storage they'll need, I doubt that I'll actually need the SD card as internal storage. I was asking about that as a possibility. That said, I appreciate your response.

[Renate]

For the buttons, the first step is to figure out what KeyEvents they are generating.
Download http://www.temblast.com/usbmode.htm
What do the buttons do, VolUp/Dn or PgUp/Dn?
Push a button for half a second. Does the down triangle appear immediately or just a quick down/up when you release the button?

You could use some solution that remaps the buttons in a context sensitive manner. So for one app it's PgUp/Dn, for another it's VolUp/Dn. I think that's a stupid idea.

Me? It's an ereader. I'd have the buttons be PgUp/Dn period. If there is an app that is a problem I'd fix the app. The Onyx ecosystem might not allow easy modding as it uses sharedUserId. But you can take a lone 3rd party app, mod it and resign it without creating too much trouble.

On the EDL front, I would presume that the EDL loader is the same as the Poke3 (SDM636) for the Leaf2 (SDM630).

[CrazyCoder]

It has been already discussed and patched for Leaf 2 at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=349950. The patch is confirmed to work, here is the patched framework for these keys:

Onyx/Leaf2/Leaf2:11/2022-10-29_19-11_3.3.1_8c9d49397/1583:user/dev-keys

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/...-framework.jar

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by CrazyCoder

It has been already discussed and patched for Leaf 2 at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=349950. The patch is confirmed to work, here is the patched framework for these keys:

Onyx/Leaf2/Leaf2:11/2022-10-29_19-11_3.3.1_8c9d49397/1583:user/dev-keys

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/...-framework.jar

So, what I do is simply replace my framework.jar with this one, correct?

[CrazyCoder]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

So, what I do is simply replace my framework.jar with this one, correct?

Read the linked thread, it's not that easy. You need to create a Magisk module with this file placed as

/data/adb/modules/MyModule/system/framework/framework.jar

See https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/g...magisk-modules.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by CrazyCoder

Read the linked thread, it's not that easy. You need to create a Magisk module with this file placed as

/data/adb/modules/MyModule/system/framework/framework.jar

See https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/g...magisk-modules.

Gotcha. I'll read up on this and see what happens.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by CrazyCoder

It has been already discussed and patched for Leaf 2...

I read this and said, "Huh?"
Oh, wait. I did that. I just didn't realize that it was for the Leaf2!

[CrazyCoder]

Originally Posted by Renate

I read this and said, "Huh?"
Oh, wait. I did that. I just didn't realize that it was for the Leaf2!

Yeah, I was surprised you were going through all the same steps again in another thread =)

It would be great if you could elaborate how one can do this patch. This would help people when future updates are released and we have to do it again.

Thanks!

[mergen3107]

Yeah, that would be great actually and a fun exercise as well I guess

[Renate]

Originally Posted by CrazyCoder

It would be great if you could elaborate how one can do this patch. This would help people when future updates are released and we have to do it again.

Eventually it will be possible using my mergesmali.exe and smali patches.
Right now baksmali (in apktool) is not up to speed so that I have to use my (recently updated) dexdump.exe to figure out offsets inside classes.dex
Then I have to hexedit it by hand.

At this very moment I'm working on "kpatch.exe".
It's a utility for patching kernels where all the addresses have changed.
It works in tandem with "kallsyms.exe".