Remote Page Turning Controller

[frostschutz]

This is an experiment, cable based remote controller. Actually, it just uses the "unplug charger" event to flip the page. All you'd have to do is build a charger cable with a button that disconnects it for a short time.

[deleted vidme link]

It could also be done through WiFi, possibly using the GoPro remote controller so you'd have a hand-held, wireless device. It's a bit too expensive to just buy it on a lark. Also, it has a short battery life and keeping WiFi always on drains the Kobo rather quickly, too.

[surquizu]

Very interesting! It is ideal for reading in bed or a lectern. I want the final version! I will do my cable.

[surquizu]

Hi frostschutz,

Is there progress in the project? I want to make my cable with button to turn pages. Which is the code or the pach?

[JSWolf]

To be honest, I'm not sure this is all that good for the life of the battery.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by surquizu

Is there progress in the project?

Sorry, haven't found the time/motivation to make something usable out of it yet.

Although I ordered a USB cable with a push button for around 2€ from Ebay; which works nicely if you're careful not to push it all the way through (so you can get a short trigger instead of going a full on-off click cycle).

I'm not sure this is all that good for the life of the battery.

The battery might be fine if the device is smart enough to not charge it while already charged; even so I don't know how the rest of the electronics will handle these power events, so yeah.

I'm also looking for a way to read the magnet sensor somehow. If the magnet would trigger page flips instead of sleep, you could add a page flip button over the magnet sensor.

[cramoisi]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I'm also looking for a way to read the magnet sensor somehow. If the magnet would trigger page flips instead of sleep, you could add a page flip button over the magnet sensor.

That would be awesome. The only thing I'm missing from my sony ereader is the push button to switch pages ...

[frostschutz]

nickel grabs the /dev/input/event0 exclusively by default so events can't be read from the outside. (event0 is the "keyboard" that includes power button and magnet sensor keys). It's possible to patch nickel to drop the exclusive access though (change grab=1 to grab=0 - lucky this isn't hardcoded). At that point an external process can read the magnet event and effect a page flip by sending a touch event.

So the pieces are all there, not sure if/when I'll get around to make a useable remote control mod out of it.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

This is an experiment, cable based remote controller.

[deleted vidme link]

This mod is still on my to-do list.

What I have so far is not a useable mod but small hacks that do things like page flips using charging cable / magnet sensor / power button [only works in screenshot mode - unfortunately with a screenshot of every page along with it].

Here's a shared touchscreen between two identical devices: [deleted vidme link]

So you can use one reader to remote-control another reader using a wifi link. The controlling reader only needs an intact touchscreen, the display itself could be broken.

I also want to do a remote display/touchscreen/page flip controls in a web browser, with a webserver (i.e. my WebPortal mod) running on the reader itself, so it could be remote controlled using a PC or smartphone browser.

[Rizla]

Yes, I often thought of this. People would flip for this. You listening Kobo / Amazon? Nah, they're not.

[surquizu]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

This mod is still on my to-do list.

What I have so far is not a useable mod but small hacks that do things like page flips using charging cable / magnet sensor / power button [only works in screenshot mode - unfortunately with a screenshot of every page along with it].

Here's a shared touchscreen between two identical devices: [deleted vidme link]

So you can use one reader to remote-control another reader using a wifi link. The controlling reader only needs an intact touchscreen, the display itself could be broken.

I also want to do a remote display/touchscreen/page flip controls in a web browser, with a webserver (i.e. my WebPortal mod) running on the reader itself, so it could be remote controlled using a PC or smartphone browser.

I like this

[jscris]

I suggested this when I got the first kindle and have mentioned it a couple times since. No one seemed interested. Seems like a great idea to me!

[HerbD]

...at least for me, that's for sure. I'm looking exactly for that. When reading in bed I always lie on my belly, chin on the bed's edge and my ebook-reader on the floor below me. If I could only have a remote control to flip the pages on a button-press...

Your approach sounds very promising and I would like to experiment with it. Could you please help me with the following questions:
-how do you trigger the page flip event e.g. in your experiment with the power cable?
-how do you connect the ebook-readers in your second video? Are your "small hacks" that you mention above already accessible somehow?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HerbD

...at least for me, that's for sure. I'm looking exactly for that. When reading in bed I always lie on my belly, chin on the bed's edge and my ebook-reader on the floor below me. If I could only have a remote control to flip the pages on a button-press...

Your approach sounds very promising and I would like to experiment with it. Could you please help me with the following questions:
-how do you trigger the page flip event e.g. in your experiment with the power cable?
-how do you connect the ebook-readers in your second video? Are your "small hacks" that you mention above already accessible somehow?

By using the power power cable method, you could damage the battery. So that's not really a good idea because of the risk.

[HerbD]

The power cable method would not be the weapon of choice. What I'd like to try is to install a web server on the kobo and then try to build a small wifi client that would have nothing else to do than to connect to the Kobo and flip the page, when I press a button...
I've no concrete idea so far how to build this wifi client, but that would be the next step. The first one would be to prepare the Kobo...
Any help appreciated. I promise to also publish my wifi module solution if I find one...

[frostschutz]

If you want a web server on the Kobo you can use my WebPortal mod. It can run shell scripts as CGI, some examples included. Basically a web page with one big button that just sends an input event to /dev/input/<touchscreen> every time you press it... You'd probably need an additional hack that disables the Kobo's wifi auto off... also, wifi is a huge battery drain.

I'm not worried about the battery directly, assuming the charging electronics is smart enough... and even if the battery died, a new one is just $10... I'm more worried about the electronics in general. Basically no one has done this (as far as I'm aware) so there is no experience whether it could cause problems in the long run because some component in the chain doesn't like to be jolted for every pageflip. It might not be a problem at all or it might be a huge problem, no one knows. Also there is a chance the charger itself might misbehave...

I want to make a mod that can do all these things (charger switch, power switch, magnet switch, wifi control, ...) just can't make any promises as to when, sorry. I might not pick it up before the next firmware is out...