Adding alternative readers to Kobo devices

This guide is so clear and concise, even an idiot like me - who is completely new to all of this - can follow it!

KOReader has saved me from having to buy a tablet for university. With reflow I can read journal articles perfectly fine (so far at least).

Thanks again!

[yayo]

Will pbchess and Korerader work with KOBO firmware 3.2 or am I better off postponing the firware update?

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by yayo

Will pbchess and Korerader work with KOBO firmware 3.2 or am I better off postponing the firware update?

Don't know, but I am keeping aware of the posting at GitHub and the original threads in the "Developer's Corner". I guess I am in the wait for a while crowd, this time. Things are working very good as they are, not in a hurry to risk what I have now.

It looks like at least the Touches are having trouble running them with the 3.2 firmware.

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Now with these installed you might want to consider "tshering's" "Kobo Start Menu"

I would like to mention that with the Kobo Start Menu it is not absolutely necessary to "install" these two packages.

KoboLauncher: It is sufficent to copy the vlasovsoft folder (decompress KoboRoot.tgz, and find the vlavasoft folder in \mnt\onboard\.kobo) to the .kobo folder of your device. You must however do a proper install, if you want to be able to start the KoboLauncher by opening an image in nickel. You must also do a proper install if you plan to use the USBNet on Touch.

KOReader: It is sufficent to copy the koreader folder to the .kobo folder of your device. You must however do a proper install, if you want to start the KOReader by opening an image in nickel.

[Ken Maltby]

Right for those of us who don't use nickel at all, I am just using your menu, haven't seen the Kobo/Nickel home page in a long time. Your menu provides more of the functionality that I can use than Nickel does.

As I understand it no matter which way the alternative readers are installed, your Menu will start them without having to start Nickel. I do that all the time. When I start them, using your menu, fmon is not started nor is any of the Nickel overhead like "Hindenberg" running in the background. So the install process of the guide also works fine with your Kobo Start Menu, without causing any negative impact. (At least it has so far, that is one of the reasons I mentioned it in the guide.)

Luck;
Ken

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

So the install process of the guide also works fine with your Kobo Start Menu, without causing any negative impact.

Ken, I didn't mean to cast doubt on this. I just wanted to point out that under certain conditions one can skip some parts in order to save time.

[enotar]

Hello
I have a touch and install as described.
It install well but cannot select anything as it looks screen is not adjust and it is very difficult to exit, had to reboot all the time. Cannot pass the license screen for all games.
It looks it should be in portrait mode but I get the landscape mode. All buttons are misplaced.
Any idea?
thank you

[tshering]

Originally Posted by enotar

Hello
I have a touch and install as described.
It install well but cannot select anything as it looks screen is not adjust and it is very difficult to exit, had to reboot all the time. Cannot pass the license screen for all games.
It looks it should be in portrait mode but I get the landscape mode. All buttons are misplaced.
Any idea?
thank you

If you are running firmware 3.2.0, you might have a look at this post.

[Marcy]

I'm giving the Aura HD a try as I'm desperately looking for the replacement for my Nook ST in case anything happens to it.

When I start it, it insists on updating the firmware to 3.2.0 so I can't install the third party readers on it, or use the .folder to keep my library from being cataloged by the Kobo (which would take weeks based on how long it took it to catalog just 20 books).

Is there a way to register a new Kobo and not have the firmware updated?

[yayo]

I'm no expert but I'd say just go with the 3.2 upgrade and wait for the third party readers to be "fixed" for this firmware build. You can downgrade the firmware to 3.1 if you want (I don't think preventing the update while registering is possible), but personally I experienced database corruption after re-sideloading some books while on downgraded firmware. Sure, it wasn't necessarily the downgrading that caused corruption (I suspect some Calibre plugins) but fact is I haven't had any issue since I re-upgraded to 3.2. I think it's just a matter of days till we'll be able to install both Coolreader and Koreader on 3.2. In the interim I prefer to spend my time reading, rather than doing repeated factory resets and reinstalls.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by yayo

I'm no expert but I'd say just go with the 3.2 upgrade and wait for the third party readers to be "fixed" for this firmware build. You can downgrade the firmware to 3.1 if you want (I don't think preventing the update while registering is possible), but personally I experienced database corruption after re-sideloading some books while on downgraded firmware. Sure, it wasn't necessarily the downgrading that caused corruption (I suspect some Calibre plugins) but fact is I haven't had any issue since I re-upgraded to 3.2. I think it's just a matter of days till we'll be able to install both Coolreader and Koreader on 3.2. In the interim I prefer to spend my time reading, rather than doing repeated factory resets and reinstalls.

If you downgrade without a factory reset, then the result is unpredictable. And some downgrades definitely don't work. While I have done a 3.2.0 to 3.1.1 downgrade successfully, I wouldn't recommend it. I didn't use it on 3.1.1 for long as I was mainly testing something with the upgrading.

As to calibre plugins causing database corruptions, it is always possible. But, there are no differences in how the Kobo device related plugins treat the last few firmware versions. That makes it unlikely that it is calibre related. If you have some evidence, or simply a list of steps that caused the corruption, please tell me so I an look into it.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Marcy

I'm giving the Aura HD a try as I'm desperately looking for the replacement for my Nook ST in case anything happens to it.

When I start it, it insists on updating the firmware to 3.2.0 so I can't install the third party readers on it, or use the .folder to keep my library from being cataloged by the Kobo (which would take weeks based on how long it took it to catalog just 20 books).

Is there a way to register a new Kobo and not have the firmware updated?

If you just want to read your ebooks and do not want to use any of the sync features then you can use your Kobo device without registering. [This is what I have done all along. My memory may not be the greatest anymore but even I can find my place in a book I am reading on multiple devices. Sync is not of much use if you read a book from a single device.]

1). I agree with David that you should do a "factory reset" before this kind of change in firmware.

2). The tool you need.

3). Download the FW Kobo-update-3.1.1.zip file and copy the contents to your devices .kobo folder. When you safely disconnect your USB cable you should see the updating on your AuraHD.

4). After the update it will ask if you want to register using WiFi or your computer - connect your USB cable and select computer. This should let you use the sqlitebrowser File>Open database function to find the "KoboReader.sqlite" file in the .kobo folder of your device.

3). Tshering's original description of the procedure:

"there are several explanations at this forum. I cannot find them myself right now. Anyway, in order to initialize the reader without registering you can add a new line to the "user" table of the database. Fill in any fitting values. Depending on your reset firmware version, the number of values varies.
Example for FW 1.9.12:

Code:
INSERT INTO user VALUES ("0", "0", "0", "0", "0");Example for FW 2.5.0:

Code:
INSERT INTO user VALUES ("0", "0", "0", "0", "0", "0","false")

I think you use the SQLite Database Browser. Right? Open the database file "KoboReader.sqlite". Select "Browse Data" and choose the table "user". Look at line 1 and try to establish whether the values of one of the two examples might fit or whether you have to make some modifications. I guess the second example might be correct for the Mini. Choose Execute SQL, enter the command "INSERT INTO user VALUES ..." and press "Execute query".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tshering"

For my user for AuraHD 3.1.1:

INSERT INTO user VALUES ("0", "0", "0", "0", "0", "0","false","false","false")

You can just paste the above string into the "SQL string:" box in the "Execute SQL" tab.
Then click on the "Execute query" button.

4). After you have a zeroed out user and have saved the file, just restart your device and you should be good to go.

Luck;
Ken

[Ken Maltby]

Current builds are now working with FW 3.2.0

The "Kobo Start Menu" will work (except for starting Nickel) https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=91

Luck;
Ken

[yayo]

Hi Ken,
By current build do you mean pbchess-1.2.6.36? I never ment to upgrade to 3.2 but I managed by mistake and downgrading caused some errors, so ...

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by yayo

Hi Ken,
By current build do you mean pbchess-1.2.6.36? I never ment to upgrade to 3.2 but I managed by mistake and downgrading caused some errors, so ...

Right, pbchess is currently up to 1.2.6.36. KOreader is at 971.

You will have to remove the launching .png files from your device and reinstall them, after the "update" to FW 3.2.0, to have the programs launch within Nickel. Just follow the guide from the beginning.

Luck;
Ken