Instructions for patching firmware 3.15.0

[GeoffR]

Before starting:

1. Make sure your Kobo ereader is already running firmware version 3.15.0 (d60578c5e1).

2. Check that your battery is well charged.

3. Note that in Windows 8 the instructions below might require the batch file to be run in admistrator mode.


Patching from Windows, Linux (i386/x86_64), or Mac (OS X 10.8-10.9, i386/x86_64):

1. Download and extract patch_kobo_3150.zip (attached). [WARNING: If using Windows, make sure the path to the extracted files does not contain any '&' characters.]

2. Download the Kobo firmware archive version 3.15.0 for your device (See this thread) into the 3.15.0_source/ subdirectory. (Don't extract.)

3. Read and edit all the *.patch files in the 3.15.0_source/ subdirectory in order to: choose which patches to enable (patch_enable=`yes`) or disable (patch_enable=`no`); and to change some of the replacement values to suit your device and preferences.

4. In Windows double-click 3.15.0.bat; For Linux/Mac open a terminal, change to the patch_kobo_3150/ directory, and run ./3.15.0.sh from the command line.

5. If there were no errors, copy the resulting KoboRoot.tgz from the 3.15.0_target/ subdirectory to the .kobo directory on your ereader.

6. Safely eject and unplug the device, which will then update and restart.


To return your ereader to its original unpatched state:

1. Edit all the 3.15.0_source/*.patch files to disable all patches (set patch_enable = `no` for every patch).

2. Repeat steps 4-6 of the procedure above.

[GeoffR]

Notes:

The Glo homescreen layout has changed slightly, a bit of extra space at the bottom of the screen in this version, I had to squish up the `Compact homescreen layout` patch for Glo and Aura even more to compensate. I don't know how good it will look on the Aura now.

WARNING: Don't enable the `Compact homescreen layout` patches on devices other than the Glo/Aura! These patches won't work properly on other devices, can cause the cover images used for the tiles to be resized and remain the wrong size even after the patch is removed.

WARNING: There has been a report that the `Block WiFi firmware upgrade` patch interferes with the Factory reset option invoked from the Settings > Device information menu, resulting in a boot loop. This problem could also happen if you Sign out of your Kobo account from the Settings > Accounts menu. To avoid this happening, remove the `Block WiFi firmware upgrade` patch before using these options.


Working around problems with reading kepubs in full-screen mode:

To enable the full-screen reading option, add the following to the device's configuration file ./kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf using a unix-aware text editor (don't use Windows' Notepad or Wordpad, use an editor such as Notepad++ instead.)

[FeatureSettings]
FullScreenReading=true

Then it will be possible to switch between normal and full-screen mode by ticking the new "Show header and footer" box in the Reading Settings menu.

Full-screen mode works well with epubs, but there are two problems that affect kepubs:

1. If the book's stylesheet has non-zero margin or padding on the body element, then the text can be shifted to the right resulting in text being cut off at the right hand side.

For sideloaded kepubs this should be able to be fixed by adding the following to the book's stylesheet, or to kobo_extra.css if that option is enabled in Calibre:

body { margin: 0 0 0 0 !important; padding: 0 0 0 0 !important; }

For kepubs synced from Kobo, enabling the `KePub zero body margin/padding` patch will modify the device's built-in KePub stylesheet instead.


2. For some fonts, characters with a large side-bearing value (such as Georgia f, J, etc.) get cut off if they appear at the end of a line.

For sideloaded kepubs created by recent versions of Calibre's KoboTouchExtended driver, this can be fixed by adding the following to the book's stylesheet or to kobo_extra.css:

div#book-columns { padding: 0.2em !important; }

For kepubs synced from Kobo or created with older versions of the KoboTouchExtended driver, enabling the `Fix kepub side bearing font cut-off bug` patch will add the appropriate padding to the device's built-in stylesheet instead.


Advanced font options for sideloaded fonts.

The `Freedom to advanced fonts control` patch enables the weight/sharpness adjustment menu for sideloaded fonts. It works for both OTF and TTF fonts in the KePub reader, but usually only for TTF fonts in the epub reader.

To enable kepub kerning for sideloaded fonts, the font must be in TTF format with "Old style kern" tables. You can generate these tables with Fontforge by converting the font to TTF with the "Old style kern" option ticked. See this thread.


Ghosting on older Pearl screen devices

If you are bothered by ghosting from menu selections and when highlighting or panning with this firmware version, you can try adding the following feature setting to the device configuration file:

[FeatureSettings]
LeanAndMean=false

More patches:

`Re-enable LeanAndMean touch gestures` if LeanAndMean feature has been disabled in the configuration file: post #31

`Disable pinch-to-zoom font resizing` for the Aura: post #111

`Force user line spacing in ePubs` (A stronger replacement for the `Enforce user line spacing in ePubs` patch.)


If you know of any other patches for firmware 3.15.0 post them in this thread and I'll add them to this post.

[icallaci]

Thank you!

[booklover6]

Thank you!

[boriar]

Patchman attack again!!!
Many thanks for your patchs,geoffR!

Are some old patch "lost in translations" (mainly from 3.12/3.12.1's patchs)?

[treadlightly]

Thank you GeoffR!

There was a wonderful post showing what the footer spacing values mapped to (complete with coloured lines). Does anyone have that post bookmarked? I can't find it.

[Nick_1964]

I gonna puzzle with it tomorrow, thank you !

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by boriar

Are some old patch "lost in translations" (mainly from 3.12/3.12.1's patchs)?

The `Custom reading footer style` patch has changed a lot since 3.12.1, and I haven't updated the `Custom header style`patches since then.

I think the only other patch that is missing is the one to change the book titles from italic to normal. It is just proving very time consuming to update that patch, more than all the other patches put together, as there are so many other bits of CSS that look very similar.

If there is anything else I've missed then let me know.

[Martina Schein]

Thank you very much for the new patcher, GeoffR.

[Lyn2012]

Thank you so much for updating these patches GeoffR.

[truemarine]

Thank you so much again GeoffR!

[micky75]

NOW I can update my H2O.

[indyglow]

Thank you so very much GeoffR for making these patches available.

[xtine]

Thank you!

[pickyaxe]

Thanks a lot.