Glo Android on Glo

[MarekGibek]

I have found the kernel on your github account.
It's the HWConfig v1.3 version, am I right ?
You have only modified drivers/input/touchscreen/zforce_i2c.c ?

Yes. I used kernel from your second link and modified zforce_i2c.c. And yes, HW CONFIG v1.6 is taken from Tolino image.

I wonder what's the difference between two kernels you've sent. Do you know? Maybe, I'll check it later, but with the kernel I am using everything works for me (including even multitouch, usb, sleep mode) so it's probably nothing important.

[dd366]

Originally Posted by haolin

wait front light off path

Do you mean shut-off Frontlight ?

This has been solved here.

Originally Posted by pbra

Hello,
As I said before in this thread : I find a good software which can switch off the screen light (in fact it low it down to 1%, it's enough on my kobo to turn it off ) :
Display brightness
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ightness&hl=en

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...9&postcount=71

Despite pbra message, it really turned OFF the backlight when set to min. (Confirmed in a black room)

It displays an ajustable bar (tranparence, position, size) on top of current screen .

And it work pretty well although it quite difficult to slide to 1% level.

The app Moon+ Reader can swith off the backlight too when ajusting ligtning to 0.
But it seems to badly lower contrast too...


----------

Previously, after some fiddling around I managed to swich off the backlight
with these commands (tested in a adb shell in su mode; Also on the device with a Terminal apk)

// backlight off
echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/mxc_msp430_fl.0/brightness

// backlight min
echo 1 > /sys/class/backlight/mxc_msp430_fl.0/brightness

// backlight max
echo 100 > /sys/class/backlight/mxc_msp430_fl.0/brightness

May be an apk with preset to 0, 1, 100, and prefered value would be usefull...

[dd366]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

I wonder what's the difference between two kernels you've sent.

I don't compared them thoroughly but examine mach-mx5 directory and I think they add support for others (future ?) Tolino hardware.
Cpu frequency, additionnal ram type, frontlight.

At the moment I noticed especially a frontlight enhancement (Glo related).
The hwconfig has provision for several TABLE setup to select different frontlight led progression settings (More dark at low level, etc)

1.3 const char * gszFrontLightA[]={"No","TABLE0"};// Front Light .
1.7 const char * gszFrontLightA[]={"No","TABLE0","TABLE0+","TABLE0a","TABLE1+","TABLE2+","TABLE3+","TABLE4+","TABLE5+","TABLE6+"};// Front Light .

but seems not yet implemented in code...


The table is declared in mx50_ntx_io.c There are two, for different harware.

static unsigned short FL_table0[100]= {
0x0001,0x0006,0x0007,0x0009,0x000C,0x000D,0x000E,0x000F,0x0011,0x0012,
...
HEX: 0100 0600 0700 0900

// Antony add 20130128 : patch from Taipei
static struct front_light_setting FL_table1[100]= {
{0,20000,  7 }, {0,20000,  7 }, {0,20000,  7 }, {0,20000,  7 }, {0,20000,  7 }, //  1%
...
HEX: 00000000 204E0000 02000000

The tables are in mx50_ntx_io.o and I tried to locate these tables in '.img' to patch them, because I would like experiment lower brigthness to read at night.
But I cannot find them... (stripped by linker ?)

In the .img file, the kernel image is raw data before the first partition or is it compressed ?

-----

Finally there is still two points I wish to fix or be fixed: (Glo related)
- 1 Ghz cpu (hwconfig 1.7 kernel has code for that)
- Hall sensor support (Smart cover, not sure for this kernel but the Kobo kernel has code for that)
.

[dd366]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

Yes. I used kernel from your second link and modified zforce_i2c.c. And yes, HW CONFIG v1.6 is taken from Tolino image.

In your Github source, what the purpose of turning AutoUpdate off ?

[dd366]

While searching how to make an app to refresh screen and reduce ghosting, I just found this Nook hack.
It uses black and white mode.

Could this be adapted to our Kobo Android ?
(Don't know yet if it is the same EInk controller...)


Links:

NoRefresh enabler
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1502723
https://github.com/marspeople/NoRefreshToggle Source

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/23/28...resh-eink-root
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDk8a0leP4U

eInk update modes
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1549331

--------

In Tolino android, EPDRefresh.apk seems to do nothing...
It's not loaded by default nor by Tolino reader app when refreshing screen...

[MarekGibek]

dd336, thank you for comprehensive review of kernel changes. As I have kobo touch without front light, there is nothing useful for me.

Originally Posted by dd366

In your Github source, what the purpose of turning AutoUpdate off ?

AutoUpdate is a method of detecting frame buffer changes (using MMU unit) and updating (sending to eINK controller) that parts. It was needed for running X11 under Debian Linux.

On Adroid there is that EPDRefresh app. Althrough the activity is not interesting at all, it registers native library that integrates with Android Surface Flinger. This app knows exactly which part of the screen changed and updates that region. It is needed for all application that are no eInk aware. Without it there would be no screen refreshes outside Tolino app. It works much better than AutoUpdate (the purpose is the same). AutoUpdate method is able only to detect which memory page changed which is much bigger region to update than necessary.

Having enabled both caused screen flickering. That's why I had to disable it. It happens even when I compiled original Tolino kernel sources without any changes. I think they left it enabled by mistake. It should be disabled to avoid flickering.

Also with the latest commit I reduced update buffers from 10 to 1. Each update buffer allocates about 1 MB of memory. With that change animation is less smooth but it doesn't really change much on eINK display and I have 8MB more memory. You can play with intermediate values.

I also installed "Autostarts" application and disabled autostarting of almost all services (except my Kobo Touch Rotation Service).

Both changes gave me about 20-30 MB more memory at startup. For example, Google Play service - 7MB. And I didn't loose anything - all the apps are still working like before. If I start them, they start their services. It's a huge waste to start so many not needed services every start. I am happy because of this Dolphin Mini browser stopped restarting device on huge web pages!! I recommend it!

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by dd366

While searching how to make an app to refresh screen and reduce ghosting, I just found this Nook hack.
It uses black and white mode.

Could this be adapted to our Kobo Android ?

Probably we can, but not without changes. It looks like it is wrapper for Nook system library we don't have.

What we have is libepd.so library and after decompilation of Tolino software I have found first usage of it. The app in the attachments shows how to do full area refresh from your app. If you want to write your app and have nice, smart refreshes and always clean display - you can use it We can also modify existing apps (like Moon+ Reader) and add needed calls to improve image quality (through decompiling, adding needed calls in smali). It's not s-f. It's doable. Someone did it for AlReader (you can find it on lesen.net Tolino forum, modified version is installed in my image posted here). It's easier for open source apps, of course. Generally it's fantastic that we can improve user experience on Kobo (and Tolino, hehe) devices. I'm now certain that Android is the best OS for Kobo readers

If you look closer into ScreenHelper class, there are screen refresh methods like A2, DU, GC16_PARTIAL, GC16_FULL etc. so we have the same update modes like Nook. A2 is for fast and no ghosting 1-bit black&white displays. We can turn on this mode for games and movies (but additional dithering implementation would be very desirable).

Have a good fun!

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by dd366

In the .img file, the kernel image is raw data before the first partition or is it compressed ?

Compressed, uImage format. Offset 1048576 in the image file. Size ~3.2 MB.

I think we can disable all the hardware support we don't need and gain additional 1MB of memory and faster startup.

[embryo]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

We can also modify existing apps (like Moon+ Reader) and add needed calls to improve image quality (through decompiling, adding needed calls in smali). It's not s-f. It's doable. Someone did it for AlReader (you can find it on lesen.net Tolino forum, modified version is installed in my image posted here). It's easier for open source apps, of course.

Is somebody interested in FBReader?
Its the only reader that supports tags and series well enough and its open source.
Moon+ Reader also supports them, but with great lags (for a lot of books) and not so intuitive ...

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

Generally it's fantastic that we can improve user experience on Kobo (and Tolino, hehe) devices. I'm now certain that Android is the best OS for Kobo readers

I second that!
I already setup my Glo, and I don't think I'll ever return to the Kobo's interface.

There are a few answers that I'm looking for though, like,
"How can I change the pic that is used for suspend (in what path can I find it)?"
"Why no ad-blocking program can write to the hosts file?"
but already we have enough.

If there is anything simple (not a programmer here ) you want me to test for you, just ask.

... and thanks, all you brave programmers ...

[commandante]

Hey, I am on linux and my kobo touch model is 905J. I have used unetbootin to write the image on the sd card and it didn't work. I have two questions:
(1) Is it mandatory to use Win32DiskImager? Should it work with softwares like unetbootin?
(2) What can I do to have android on my kobo touch?

Thanks

[embryo]

Originally Posted by commandante

(1) Is it mandatory to use Win32DiskImager? Should it work with softwares like unetbootin?

No, it isn't.
I used RMPrepUSB in winXP.
Has to work with raw images though ...

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by commandante

Hey, I am on linux and my kobo touch model is 905J. I have used unetbootin to write the image on the sd card and it didn't work. I have two questions:
(1) Is it mandatory to use Win32DiskImager? Should it work with softwares like unetbootin?

You cannot use unetbootin - it modifies image file and adds CD-ROM emulation boot block for x86. It has no right to work on ARM.

On linux just use "dd" command:

sudo dd if=Kobo_Android.img of=/dev/<your_sd_card_device>; sync

Please triple check that your <your_sd_card_device> is correct for your hardware (it can be sdN for USB card readers or mmcblkN for built-in one). Otherwise you will erase your hard disk including your partition table!! Do a backup first.

[MarekGibek]

Originally Posted by embryo

Is somebody interested in FBReader?

Indeed it's open source. I'll try soon. I'm looking for a good reader that I can tweak for my needs (I want control over margin between columns in landscape mode - in Moon+ Reader it is too large /twice as big as side margin/ and makes column mode unusable for me - columns are too narrow). It may be FBReader as a good start point. Adding better support for eINK can make it the best reader for me. Watch this forum

"How can I change the pic that is used for suspend (in what path can I find it)?"

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=172

"Why no ad-blocking program can write to the hosts file?"

I didn't try any of them yet, but I think it is a write permissions problem. You can try a few options here:
- install terminal emulator, enter: "su", "chmod a+rw /etc/hosts" - if it doesn't work after reboot you need to check init.rc/init-freescale.rc scripts to see if they change permissions for this file during boot
- you can use TotalCommander for Android to replace or edit this file with the already filled one from internet (it can elevate its rights)
- if none of the above works you can attach your SD card to Linux (PC) and edit it there (as a root) - it will work for 100%

here is a sample hosts file:
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

[commandante]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

You cannot use unetbootin - it modifies image file and adds CD-ROM emulation boot block for x86. It has no right to work on ARM.

On linux just use "dd" command:

sudo dd if=Kobo_Android.img of=/dev/<your_sd_card_device>; sync

Please triple check that your <your_sd_card_device> is correct for your hardware (it can be sdN for USB card readers or mmcblkN for built-in one). Otherwise you will erase your hard disk including your partition table!! Do a backup first.

It worked! Thanks a lot!

[embryo]

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

Indeed it's open source. I'll try soon. I'm looking for a good reader that I can tweak for my needs (I want control over margin between columns in landscape mode - in Moon+ Reader it is too large /twice as big as side margin/ and makes column mode unusable for me - columns are too narrow). It may be FBReader as a good start point. Adding better support for eINK can make it the best reader for me. Watch this forum

These are great news for me, as I use FBReader as my main reader.
I don't now about the settings you're looking for, but I thing its a good reader in many aspects.

As a side note, after many tests I found that the best PDF eReader for me was EBookDroid.
It could open DjVU, PDF, XPS (OpenXPS), FictionBook (fb2 and fb2.zip), Comics Book formats (cbr and cbz)
Starting with version 2.0 it can open also EPUB and RTF, BUT, its closed source now and only Android 4+ devices are supported.
The last version that I can run is 1.66 and it works very well on my phone (Android 2.3.7), but on the Glo I get an "Your device cannot support required GLES configuration" message.
Any hint? Can I do anything about it?

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

I didn't try any of them yet, but I think it is a write permissions problem. You can try a few options here:
- install terminal emulator, enter: "su", "chmod a+rw /etc/hosts" - if it doesn't work after reboot you need to check init.rc/init-freescale.rc scripts to see if they change permissions for this file during boot

Well this gave me a "Bad mode" answer.

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

- you can use TotalCommander for Android to replace or edit this file with the already filled one from internet (it can elevate its rights)

If I try to replace or rename the file, the program crashes.
I used also Root Explorer (tries and says "Not rooted") and ES Explorer ("Task failed")

Originally Posted by MarekGibek

- if none of the above works you can attach your SD card to Linux (PC) and edit it there (as a root) - it will work for 100%

I'm not used to linux, although I have a Xubuntu 12.04 installed on a partition.
I'll give it a try ...