Bluetooth page turning for Kobo eReaders

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by Dra_w

So we should rebuild the kernel?

Yes, it works. I rebuild the uhid.ko and try it with my Logitech R500. It is perfect now!

https://github.com/tylpk1216/kobo-libra2-uhid-module

[Dra_w]

Originally Posted by tylpk

Yes, it works. I rebuild the uhid.ko and try it with my Logitech R500. It is perfect now!

https://github.com/tylpk1216/kobo-libra2-uhid-module

Great!

[CyberPaul]

I have my brand new Kobo Sage and I started testing btpt with 8bitdo zero 2.
It works with configuration provided in the read me document. Dpad up and down and buttons X and B. Nice.
Two issues:
1. when disconnected, it is really tedious to obtain a connection back. Need to visit Bluetooth option and click start on the controller but very often I need to tell to the device to forget the connection and do pairing again. Is that normal?
2. If I launch either koreader or Plato, the controller get disconnected and Bluetooth can’t be switched on again! Is this a fault of these two applications? I noticed that when I run them and exit immediately after, the wifi connection is lost and then acquired again. The problem is that after that their Bluetooth is off and there is no way to enable it! The only option I have to get BT back is rebooting. Have you experienced same issue? Have you tried using BT after launching KOreader or Plato? Is there a fix?

[CyberPaul]

Just to add a new element: if I disconnect the controller BEFORE launching koreader, when I go back to the home screen and connect again, bluetooth works.
So it looks like if I've bluetooth device connected AND I launch koreader, the bluetooth breaks: the controller keeps on showing the solid blue led like it is connected, but if I go in BT settings, it is off and I cannot turn it on anymore! Only way to fix it is to reboot the Kobo!

PS: Also tried to switch WiFi off/on with no success: bluetooth cannot switched on.

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

1. when disconnected, it is really tedious to obtain a connection back. Need to visit Bluetooth option and click start on the controller but very often I need to tell to the device to forget the connection and do pairing again. Is that normal?
2. If I launch either koreader or Plato, the controller get disconnected and Bluetooth can’t be switched on again! Is this a fault of these two applications? I noticed that when I run them and exit immediately after, the wifi connection is lost and then acquired again. The problem is that after that their Bluetooth is off and there is no way to enable it! The only option I have to get BT back is rebooting. Have you experienced same issue? Have you tried using BT after launching KOreader or Plato? Is there a fix?

1. I have the same issue on Libra 2. I must forget 8Bit2Do and pair again to use it.
2. Even my Logitech on Elipsa, When I use KOReader or Plato, my Bluetooth is closed. I think the Bluetooth is closed by launching third-party apps.

[MGlitch]

KOReader and I am guessing Plato aren’t going to utilize anything from Nickel, which is done by design otherwise battery life would be cut down considerably and you’d have a lot of potential bugs in how the two interact.

So yes you’ll need to disable Bluetooth before switching to KOReader or Plato. I would guess this could be done with nickelmenu so you have one button which first disabled Bluetooth then upon successfully disabling Bluetooth launches KOReader or Plato. From there you’ll have to enable Bluetooth if these apps don’t support auto pairing.

Note I’m assuming that turning off Bluetooth on the Kobo side also successfully tells whatever you’re using as a page turner that it’s disconnected.

As to getting the page turner to work with KOReader and Plato if it doesn’t do so out of the gate you’ll have to post over in the KOReader forums. There’s nothing this plugin can do to affect those apps since it’s built for nickel. Though I suspect you’ll find KOReader at least probably has some support for this already.

I’d offer more help but I don’t use KOReader because it drains the battery on my Sage rather faster than I like, I’ve never used Plato, and I have no use for a Bluetooth page turner so I’ve not used this plugin.

[CyberPaul]

Originally Posted by tylpk

1. I have the same issue on Libra 2. I must forget 8Bit2Do and pair again to use it.
2. Even my Logitech on Elipsa, When I use KOReader or Plato, my Bluetooth is closed. I think the Bluetooth is closed by launching third-party apps.

Thanks for confirming!
And have you encountered the same problem that prevents you from enabling it, with the switch stuck in the OFF state?

[NiLuJe]

We don't touch the bluetooth state on startup (much like we don't touch the Wi-Fi state on startup, unless it's detected as broken).

We also don't do anything with bluetooth *at all*, so, yeah, I would expect the connection to drop due to inactivity rather soon . And then to be cut-off entirely whenever KOReader kills the Wi-Fi, as the power states for those two are unfortunately paired in the kernel.

Sidebar about the Sage: current nightlies now feature an optional (i.e., opt-in) autostandby feature, which should allow one to achieve similar power efficiency than nickel (as in, still terrible, but slightly less so ^^).

Fun fact: a PW5 drains less power while *idling* at standard frontlight levels than a Sage/Elipsa in suspend (!!). That means there won't be any miracle cure happening any time soon, because suspend is the lowest power state we can achieve.

[CyberPaul]

@MGlitch
As far as I know it is not possible to disable Bluetooth only from nickel menu. I tried to disable Wi-Fi, as I was expecting to have BT disconnected as a consequence. No success: I discovered that BT connection stays up even with Wi-Fi disabled! Therefore if I disable Wi-Fi and then launch KOReader, BT gets blocked again! The only way to avoid that is to go in the options and explicitly disable BT manually
Also, I think KOReader does not manage Bluetooth (according to NiLuJe if got it right) so no page turner within this ice app.

@NiLuJe
So, do you confirm BT is not usable within KOReader? Not even with audio devices? Any plan to manage it in the future? Wi-Fi SHOULD be tightly coupled with BT, however as I said above, you can disable Wi-Fi and keep using BT. It is really working (within nickel): I'm able to turn pages from within the standard reader. That's why disabling Wi-Fi before launching KOReader is not sufficient. The issue is that KOReader is doing something different than simply disabling Wi-Fi, with translates in blocking Bluetooth. Can you please explain why after that, Bluetooth gets blocked forever and one can't switch it on, unless don't reboot the kobo? And, is there at least a mechanism to disable BT on launching the app?

Thank you all for your kind responses

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

Thanks for confirming!
And have you encountered the same problem that prevents you from enabling it, with the switch stuck in the OFF state?

Yes, I have the same issue. The icon of Bluetooth is always off. However, I tried to telnet to my Elipsa. I used bluetoothctl show and bluetoothctl info to check bluetooth status. The controller and device are all at on and paired state. Then, I tried to check bluetoothd daemon. The /libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd was running so I tried to kill it. When I killed it, the system rebooted.

I think the Bluetooth of Kobo is not good enough. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are combined closely, and Kobo software does not handle it perfectly. This is why Kobo does not say their device can support for Bluetooth devices (mouse, keyboard, page turner).

[CyberPaul]

You analysis on BT is very interesting. Thanks!
Can you describe a method to disable Bluetooth gracefully from command line (and script)? I'd like to do that just before launching KOReader. It would be nice to prevent blocking BT.

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

You analysis on BT is very interesting. Thanks!
Can you describe a method to disable Bluetooth gracefully from command line (and script)? I'd like to do that just before launching KOReader. It would be nice to prevent blocking BT.

You could try it. However, I haven't tried it.

#!/bin/sh

# for connected BT device.
bluetoothctl disconnect

# for BT controller
bluetoothctl agent off
bluetoothctl power off

# for BT daemon
id=$(ps | grep '/bluetoothd' | awk '{print $1}'); kill $id

https://www.linux-magazine.com/Issue...e-bluetoothctl

[CyberPaul]

Great! I will test.
Is it easy to invoke a .sh script from within nickelmenu? I'm a novice in that.

[tylpk]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

Great! I will test.
Is it easy to invoke a .sh script from within nickelmenu? I'm a novice in that.

Fix grep issue and kill more processes.

#!/bin/sh

# for connected BT device.
bluetoothctl disconnect

# for BT controller
bluetoothctl agent off
bluetoothctl power off

# for BT daemon
id=$(ps | grep '[/]libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd' | awk '{print $1}'); kill $id

# for BT audio
id=$(ps | grep '[/]bin/bluealsa' | awk '{print $1}'); kill $id

It is easy to invoke script from NickelMenu. Unfortunately, my script can't work. The Bluetooth issue is not solved. I think maybe we lack something when we exit third-party and launch Kobo nickel again?

[CyberPaul]

your script seems to disconnect the BT device and disable Bluetooth. The problem is how to enable it back once out of KOReader...
I found that on Linux it should be done with "systemctl enable bluetooth". Unfortunately there is no systemctl command within Kobo Linux.