Koreader (latest install instructions) on H2O

[JSWolf]

I know the directions for installing Koreader on an H2O exist here in the forum. But it's all over the place and different versions of instructions.

What I would like are links to the latest instructions to install Koreader and whatever other software is needed on the H2O. I expect to get my H2O in 2 to 3 days and would eventually like to give Koreader a try. Thanks.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I know the directions for installing Koreader on an H2O exist here in the forum. But it's all over the place and different versions of instructions.

The installation instructions for KOReader are here:

https://github.com/koreader/koreader...n-Kobo-devices

I have followed these instructions to install the 2014-11-29 nightly build of KOReader with Kobo Start Menu 06, and it seems to work fine.

KSM 06: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=591
KOReader Nightly Builds: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/releases

[Oldu]

With Kobo H20, I confirm that you have to install at least the 2014-11-29 nightly build version of Koreader. The v2014-04 stable version doesn't work : you get the manager file and then it freezes.

[JSWolf]

What advantages does Koreader have vs using the ADE RMDSK to read ePub?

[hawhill]

Originally Posted by Oldu

With Kobo H20, I confirm that you have to install at least the 2014-11-29 nightly build version of Koreader. The v2014-04 stable version doesn't work : you get the manager file and then it freezes.

Hm, are you sure about that? I think we have had positive feedback for the H2O... Did you use the version from Github downloads or OTA update? Did you reboot and/or reinstall? Does it just freeze (not react to any input, I guess?) or reboot, too?

[duncann]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What advantages does Koreader have vs using the ADE RMDSK to read ePub?

This. But probably more importantly is how does it render epubs as compared to ADE? Is this another reader that casually ignores important things such as scene breaks, italics, font weights, centering, etc., because it somehow 'knows' better? In other words, how is its faithfulness to the css spec?

[Oldu]

Originally Posted by hawhill

Hm, are you sure about that? I think we have had positive feedback for the H2O... Did you use the version from Github downloads or OTA update? Did you reboot and/or reinstall? Does it just freeze (not react to any input, I guess?) or reboot, too?

Yes my lord ! . I did all that very carefully, step by step, with the explanations found here (start menu) and there in github. New installation mode. Freeze, can't reboot, so I have to reset. Two installations to be sure with the stable version. And then with the nightly version : it works. I find other people who have the same result (just google it).

But I just find out that there is a problem with the nightly version : pocket can't synchronize. I tried to unconnect, reconnect, reboot, check wi-fi, check pocket. No way. I tried earlier the Calibre Companion and active wi-fi with Koreader, but I didn't test pocket before that. The library synchronize well (it seems to), but not pocket. So I reinstalled the back-up version of .kobo, and pocket works well again : I can find my new articles.

New facts 19h26 : I find out in the back-up of .kobo after koreader installation that the file kobo eReader.conf was been modified while installing start menu and Koreader, and some text had disappeared, like the [pocket] section.

[hawhill]

My bad - I instinctively read v2014-11, since we just (as in, a few hours ago) released that. Yes, v2014-04 didn't even know that a H2O exists (did it at the time?) :-) The new stable, as well as current nightlies (well, those that are not broken during development) should work on H2O.

Hm, that thing about pocket is strange indeed. Koreader doesn't touch anything beside its own files, so I can pretty sure exclude a direct modification by Koreader here. Not so sure about KSM, though. And if we're unlucky, it's some bad interaction with nickel (the native framework). That certainly needs further investigation. Thanks for the report!

@JSWolf: Maybe a tad bit more configurability. It probably boils down to personal taste.

@duncann: This reader "casually ignores" quite a lot of stuff. If this matters at all, i.e. shows with your documents and bothers you, is dependent on the documents and personal taste. Some things are plain configuration things. That said - the reader does not implement ePub rendering on its own. It uses CREngine for that, which is the rendering engine behind CoolReader. So you can expect it to fail in the same places.

I guess the strength of it lies in other places as ePub rendering (though it does that well enough for quite a lot of people). Simple things, like built-in night mode, complex things, like page-layout optical recognition based PDF reflow (using k2pdfopt internally). Or djvu rendering. Or FB2 format, rudimentary DOC, HTML support. Inter-Reader synchronization. No full-text indexing (some people consider that a feature, especially those with some thousands of documents on their readers).

It's still actively developed. Open Source, and open to contributions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hawhill

My bad - I instinctively read v2014-11, since we just (as in, a few hours ago) released that. Yes, v2014-04 didn't even know that a H2O exists (did it at the time?) :-) The new stable, as well as current nightlies (well, those that are not broken during development) should work on H2O.

Hm, that thing about pocket is strange indeed. Koreader doesn't touch anything beside its own files, so I can pretty sure exclude a direct modification by Koreader here. Not so sure about KSM, though. And if we're unlucky, it's some bad interaction with nickel (the native framework). That certainly needs further investigation. Thanks for the report!

@JSWolf: Maybe a tad bit more configurability. It probably boils down to personal taste.

@duncann: This reader "casually ignores" quite a lot of stuff. If this matters at all, i.e. shows with your documents and bothers you, is dependent on the documents and personal taste. Some things are plain configuration things. That said - the reader does not implement ePub rendering on its own. It uses CREngine for that, which is the rendering engine behind CoolReader. So you can expect it to fail in the same places.

I guess the strength of it lies in other places as ePub rendering (though it does that well enough for quite a lot of people). Simple things, like built-in night mode, complex things, like page-layout optical recognition based PDF reflow (using k2pdfopt internally). Or djvu rendering. Or FB2 format, rudimentary DOC, HTML support. Inter-Reader synchronization. No full-text indexing (some people consider that a feature, especially those with some thousands of documents on their readers).

It's still actively developed. Open Source, and open to contributions.

What sort of bugs/flaws are there due to using the CREngine? What advantages does it have in terms of rendering correctly? Does it hyphenate? Can I customize the font sizes and line height? Does it work with Kobo's font optimization so once I have used it to tweak a font, it will render the same?

[jackie_w]

@JSWolf, These are just personal opinions/observations ...

CoolReader is very configurable and can bring some kind of respectability to a library full of horribly formatted epubs. If you have an Android device you can easily try it for free. However, I'm guessing that your library isn't like this because you've already fixed the source epubs to suit your tastes. If rendering an epub like your Sony would have rendered it is important I think the Kobo standard ADE renderer is likely to suit you better - fixing the epub css predictably fixes the epub rendering for me. BTW I don't believe the Kobo font thickening would be used inside KOReader, but I'm happy to be told otherwise.

On the other hand, KOReader is much better for PDFs than the standard Kobo app is, but still not as good as a medium-sized tablet with a decent PDF app would be. The Kobo standard PDF reader trails a long way behind what I experienced on my Sony eink devices.

Full disclosure, it's about 18 months since I tried KOReader and things may have changed a lot since then. At that time I did get problems with my Kobo database getting corrupted. It happened each time I loaded/configured KOReader then connected to calibre. It's possible that my problem arose because I didn't take the precaution of storing all my KOReader books in a 'hidden directory' so that the Kobo apps couldn't see them. In the end I decided not to pursue it because I preferred the Kobo apps for epub and I didn't read enough PDFs to make further experiments worthwhile - I haven't had a database corruption since.

Despite the problems I had, I still enjoyed the experiment and wouldn't want to discourage anyone from trying for themselves. That's half the fun in buying new readers

[hawhill]

It does hyphenate (or not, configurable), and yes, font size and height are customizable. Font size via UI, line height, paragraph spacing and whatnot via editing CSS files and disabling embedded ePub styles. As for font optimization - no idea, as I don't really know it. It uses any fonts you install, so if that's what it's about, it would work, I guess.

I guess you need to hear more about user perspective, though the thread's title probably won't invite them. While I'm a user too, my own needs are ridiculously simple (koreader surpassed them long ago), and I talk more from a developer's point of view. So I can't really advertise it well, I'm afraid.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by Oldu

New facts 19h26 : I find out in the back-up of .kobo after koreader installation that the file kobo eReader.conf was been modified while installing start menu and Koreader, and some text had disappeared, like the [pocket] section.

Originally Posted by hawhill

Hm, that thing about pocket is strange indeed. Koreader doesn't touch anything beside its own files, so I can pretty sure exclude a direct modification by Koreader here. Not so sure about KSM, though. And if we're unlucky, it's some bad interaction with nickel (the native framework). That certainly needs further investigation. Thanks for the report!

KSM does not (yet) modify Kobo eReader.conf. KSM can make back-ups of this file, and restore it again, but this needs user interaction, KSM does not do it on its own.

@Oldu
Sometimes when one does a soft reset (or forces a power down, or the device reboots on its own), the Kobo eReader.conf is also reset. Is it possible that this happened at some point?

[sherman]

I have found that of the three renderers (ACCESS, RMSDK, Koreader), RMSDK still seems--to me--to justify text the nicest with full justification. It just seems to handle word spacing better than the others.

Which is a shame, because RMSDK also seems the be the renderer with the least number of features (smallcaps for example...)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sherman

I have found that of the three renderers (ACCESS, RMSDK, Koreader), RMSDK still seems--to me--to justify text the nicest with full justification. It just seems to handle word spacing better than the others.

Which is a shame, because RMSDK also seems the be the renderer with the least number of features (smallcaps for example...)

I fix the smallcap issue if there are enough of them to bother with but converting to lower case and using a real smallcap font.

[sherman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I fix the smallcap issue if there are enough of them to bother with but converting to lower case and using a real smallcap font.

I've done that before, but usually it is more hassle than it is worth.