New Kobo user (Libra H2O), some questions

[gorman42]

Hi! I've received today my new Libra H2O, upgrading my e-reading experience from an ancient Kindle 2nd Edition (yes, that old).

I've spent the past couple of hours reading this forum and I have some questions, mainly because the majority of threads started many years ago and I'm not sure what still applies to my recently released Libra H2O.

1) Custom dictionaries. Is it still possible to sideload the Oxford Dictionary? What's a good set of instructions to follow? I noticed there is this Penelope converting tool, is that still relevant?

2) Custom fonts. I need to create a directory in the root folder, but then what sort of fonts can I use? Are there limitations, conversions, formats preferable?

3) Kepubs. I see there's two roads: one through Calibre plugins... but which ones? I see KoboTouchExtended being mentioned, but then there are Kepub Output, Kepub Metadata Writer, Kepub Medata Reader. Quite a mess for a newcomer. Most of all I don't know what still applies to Libra H2O.
Second road would be using Kepubify but if the same result is achievable through Calibre I'd probably prefer that. I see for instance that Calibre 4.5 now handles Collections "out of the box", with no need for plugins.

I know it's a lot to ask but I ensure you that I've tried my best in wrapping my head around all the information available... If there's a "Beginner's Guide" somewhere, I must have missed it.

Thanks in advance.

[davidfor]

Firstly, except where there are hardware differences, anything you see about one Kobo device works for the other Kobo devices. Kobo uses the same firmware across the whole range of device.

For fonts and dictionaries, there are threads discussing what to do in detail. The fonts thread is a sticky, and the dictionary thread is never far from the front page.

For kepubs, just use the KoboTouchExtended driver. The rest are for cases where you want to store the kepub in the calibre library. The most likely reason for that is that you don't want to use kepubs all the time, only for books that some of the extra functions in kepub are useful.

As to collections, I'm not sure what the comment about calibre 4.5 means. Collections, or bookshelves as they were called then, have been supported in calibre since about three months after Kobo added them to the firmware. That was firmware 2.0, so it's a long time.

[gorman42]

Thanks davidfor for you answers.

As there was a "lag" between when I posted and when the post was actually approved and displayed, I've managed to install some extra fonts and a dictionary. So thanks for the answers but you were right, those info where less hard to find than what I had gathered at the time of my post (but after a couple of hours of reading here, must be really getting old...).

The answer about kepubs is most useful. So I just need that KoboTouchExtended driver and Calibre will convert epubs into kepubs when copying to a Kobo device. Do I get this right?

Regarding collections, I was talking about the fact that Kepubify has a commandline program specifically dedicated to them but as Calibre handles them perfectly... probably there is no need for it anymore.

Again, thank you for taking the time to help me. I'm a good student and, in other communities, I try to give back what I learn to newcomers. Thank you!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by gorman42

The answer about kepubs is most useful. So I just need that KoboTouchExtended driver and Calibre will convert epubs into kepubs when copying to a Kobo device. Do I get this right?

Yes, that is correct.

Regarding collections, I was talking about the fact that Kepubify has a commandline program specifically dedicated to them but as Calibre handles them perfectly... probably there is no need for it anymore.

Kepubify was created by someone who doesn't use calibre. And he created other tools to replicate some of this function. But, the collection management from calibre is very flexible, so if you are already using it to manage your library, I would recommend trying this first.

[gorman42]

Ok, I've managed to do almost everything that I wanted to.

Another couple of questions from a newbie, for what maybe can become some sort of dummy guide to Kobo (yes, I'm trying to put some keywords for Google...).

1) Is it correct to have under Preferences/Plug-ins/Device interface plug-ins the Kobo TouchExtended plug-in active and the Kobo Touch plug-in disabled? I got this from the Wiki but I'm not sure.

2) I now have set up things for Collections to be generated according to the Series metadata. On copying the files from Calibre to Kobo, they are converted to kepubs and placed under a collection with the same name as the series metadata. This is good.
What I wanted to understand is if it's normal for me not to be able to manage Collections when on the Device tab, in Calibre. I right click on an e-book but I don't have any option to manage the collection metadata from there. Am I missing something or is this normal behaviour.

3) I read around that it should be possible to have the advanced settings for fonts one sideloads. How can I achieve this? I'll search for this and in case will report back if nobody answers.

4) Is the user davidfor the author of the plug-ins I see under David Forrester?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by gorman42

1) Is it correct to have under Preferences/Plug-ins/Device interface plug-ins the Kobo TouchExtended plug-in active and the Kobo Touch plug-in disabled? I got this from the Wiki but I'm not sure.

Yes it's advisable to have one of the drivers enabled and the other disabled.

If you have the Kobo Utilities plugin installed (also advisable) there is a convenient option (on the 'Driver' submenu) to do the switch between the 2 calibre drivers if you need to. There's also an option to configure the current calibre driver.

Originally Posted by gorman42

2) I now have set up things for Collections to be generated according to the Series metadata. On copying the files from Calibre to Kobo, they are converted to kepubs and placed under a collection with the same name as the series metadata. This is good.
What I wanted to understand is if it's normal for me not to be able to manage Collections when on the Device tab, in Calibre. I right click on an e-book but I don't have any option to manage the collection metadata from there. Am I missing something or is this normal behaviour.

I don't think I understand the question. If you've set up the calibre driver to create Collections from Series (in the driver config 'Collections, covers & uploads tab) then all you need to do is put the correct Series value in calibre's Series column. Your Kobo should reflect any changes you make the next time you connect the Kobo to calibre via USB.

Originally Posted by gorman42

3) I read around that it should be possible to have the advanced settings for fonts one sideloads. How can I achieve this? I'll search for this and in case will report back if nobody answers.

This is what's known as a kobopatch. Here's a link to the kobopatch thread for the latest firmware (4.18.13737). You'll find a similar thread every time a new firmware is released. The patch you will need to enable is called Freedom to advanced fonts control (in libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml). It is only one of many patches you can enable to customise your Kobo. You'll probably need to set some time aside if you're new to patching.

Originally Posted by gorman42

4) Is the user davidfor the author of the plug-ins I see under David Forrester?

Yes, it is.

[gorman42]

Thanks a lot jackie_w you were quicker than I managed to be.

I found out about Kobopatch and I came here to report on it. I've managed to understand how to edit the different config files.

For newcomers reading this, you open them in Notepad++ or your text editor of choice, read them and decide which modifications you want. All the files are clearly documented with useful comments, you just need to read the comments and you'll understand what to do. For some modifications you just need to change "enabled=no" to "enabled=yes", for some others there's extra configurations which you need to decide but, again, it's all clearly explained in the files inside the "src" folder.

Regarding the Collections, yes if I put the correct value in the Series column it gets picked up and applied on file transfer. I was just asking whether it was normal not to be able to edit the Collections tag in the Device view. For files already on the device.

[gorman42]

Thanks a lot for all the info. Much appreciated. I managed to find the info on kobopatch but you were quicker than me.
Instructions are clear and configuration files are well documented/commented so I managed to do everything I wanted.

As far as Collections are concerned, I simply was asking if it's normal for files already on the device not to be editable as far as "collections/series" metadata are concerned.
I needed to copy existing files over, from PC to Libra, in order to update the Series tag. If this is normal behavior, no problem.

Now I just need to understand why the Bookerly font is turning italic text into bold/italic and I'll be content.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by gorman42

Now I just need to understand why the Bookerly font is turning italic text into bold/italic and I'll be content.

Today's your lucky day Posts #2 and #9 in this thread discuss solving the bold/italic font problem with Amazon's Ember font. Bookerly can be fixed the same way.

[gorman42]

Thank you! I'll go and read. Sorry for the double posts above. I tried retyping when the first one did not appear and only later thought it was antispam in action.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by gorman42

As far as Collections are concerned, I simply was asking if it's normal for files already on the device not to be editable as far as "collections/series" metadata are concerned.
I needed to copy existing files over, from PC to Libra, in order to update the Series tag. If this is normal behavior, no problem.

The driver will do collection management for books on the device that are matched to books in the library. It doesn't touch anything that isn't recognised. The device list has a way to edit the collections, but, these are not actually written to the device. It is something that I should revisit, as it used to annoy me that it didn't work. But, I make sure I have all my books in the calibre library, so it wouldn't be something I'd ever actually use.

And yes, I maintain the KoboTouch driver in calibre and the Kobo Utilities plugin and several others are mine. Plus I maintain a few others from an author who is no longer around. That's purely self-interest as they are plugins that I use all the time.

[gorman42]

Well, thanks a lot for all your hard work and help, David. Thanks to Jackie too. I'm pretty much set up as I wanted to be.