A Wi-Fi remote control page turner for Kobo e-readers

[sublipri]

Hi all. I've been working on a wireless remote control for Kobos and just released the first version. In my experience it greatly improves comfort for long reading sessions when paired with a device mount such as this. Downloads are available on GitHub along with more information and installation instructions. I've also attached some screenshots to this post.

Compared to existing solutions it should be easier to set up and have broader device compatibility. I've only tested it on a Glo and Sage, but it should hopefully work with every model since the original Touch. If anyone is interested in testing it I'd be grateful for confirmation that it works. If there are any problems feel free to post here or open an issue on GitHub. The developer forum here has been a great resource so thanks for all the information.

[coolloser]

I love this! Just tried it on my kobo mini (running the latest Glo firmware) and it's working pretty well for page turns. The Remote control page just gives me a single green square.

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by coolloser

I love this! Just tried it on my kobo mini (running the latest Glo firmware) and it's working pretty well for page turns. The Remote control page just gives me a single green square.

Glad you like it! That's weird. The remote control page will look like that before you've recorded any actions, but if you've gone through the initial setup and the page turner is working then 'Next' and 'Prev' buttons should appear there (plus any custom actions). I haven't added debug logging yet so it might be hard to figure out what's going wrong until I do. What web browser and operating system are you using? Two things I can think of now:

1. If you visited the remote page before doing the setup your browser could be caching it and forcing a refresh might help.
2. Try using a different browser and see if that makes a difference (Firefox on a computer if possible since that's what I've mostly tested it with).

[coolloser]

Originally Posted by sublipri

Glad you like it! That's weird. The remote control page will look like that before you've recorded any actions, but if you've gone through the initial setup and the page turner is working then 'Next' and 'Prev' buttons should appear there (plus any custom actions). I haven't added debug logging yet so it might be hard to figure out what's going wrong until I do. What web browser and operating system are you using? Two things I can think of now:

1. If you visited the remote page before doing the setup your browser could be caching it and forcing a refresh might help.
2. Try using a different browser and see if that makes a difference (Firefox on a computer if possible since that's what I've mostly tested it with).

Yeah, I thought the same as your first point but it did it again on the second browser. Both browsers I tested were Chrome (mobile and desktop).

Is there a way to set the next/back up again? On my glo I ended up recording 2 swipes instead of just one

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by coolloser

Yeah, I thought the same as your first point but it did it again on the second browser. Both browsers I tested were Chrome (mobile and desktop).

Is there a way to set the next/back up again? On my glo I ended up recording 2 swipes instead of just one

You can just re-record the next/back on the initial setup page and it will overwrite any existing recording. I should have a new version with debug logging released in the next few days.

[jospalau]

I tried it and it works very well! Thanks! I won't be using it for the moment but I may be using it in the future.

The only problem I found is the kill command fails sometimes when stopping it because there is more than one httpd process spawned.

Sent from my 22081212UG using Tapatalk

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by jospalau

The only problem I found is the kill command fails sometimes when stopping it because there is more than one httpd process spawned.

Hmm there should be a check to prevent multiple httpds from spawning. Are you just using the NickelMenu toggle to stop it? I can't reproduce the issue with some brief testing. Which model Kobo are you using?

[jospalau]

Originally Posted by sublipri

Hmm there should be a check to prevent multiple httpds from spawning. Are you just using the NickelMenu toggle to stop it? I can't reproduce the issue with some brief testing. Which model Kobo are you using?

Libra2. Launching it from the NickelMenu toggle entry and manually via SSH.

The second httpd process is spawned after visiting the web page, just refreshing

Sent from my 22081212UG using Tapatalk

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by jospalau

The second httpd process is spawned after visiting the web page, just refreshing

Ah okay thanks I can see the problem. Should be fixed in the next version.

[jospalau]

Originally Posted by sublipri

Ah okay thanks I can see the problem. Should be fixed in the next version.

Nice! I use KOReader and it works very well

Sent from my 22081212UG using Tapatalk

[sublipri]

New version is up! The new troubleshooting page is located at the bottom of the homepage.

Originally Posted by coolloser

single green square.

If you're able to follow the instructions to generate a log file I'll hopefully be able to figure out the problem. It's possible another change I made will have helped but I think it's unlikely. It might show an error message instead of the green square now too.

[jospalau]

Originally Posted by sublipri

New version is up! The new troubleshooting page is located at the bottom of the homepage.





If you're able to follow the instructions to generate a log file I'll hopefully be able to figure out the problem. It's possible another change I made will have helped but I think it's unlikely. It might show an error message instead of the green square now too.

I installed it in my other Kobo device. This is working properly. Thanks!

Sent from my 22081212UG using Tapatalk

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by jospalau

I installed it in my other Kobo device. This is working properly. Thanks!

Great thanks for confirming it works :)

[CyberPaul]

@sublipri
This is very interesting. I noticed that tylpk1216 has also included an Hardware Implementation - ESP8266 (ESP-12S). Does it replace completely the need of a smartphone to trigger the http requests? Can you kindly provide more information about how to build it?
Thanks in advance

[sublipri]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

This is very interesting. I noticed that tylpk1216 has also included an Hardware Implementation - ESP8266 (ESP-12S). Does it replace completely the need of a smartphone to trigger the http requests? Can you kindly provide more information about how to build it?
Thanks in advance

A hardware implementation like that would indeed remove the need for a smartphone to trigger the requests. Unfortunately I can't provide much information about how to build one - it's not something I've done myself. It would require soldering and experience with DIY electronics. Probably only an option if you're open to doing lots of tinkering. I couldn't find any good tutorials, but this project looks promising if anyone wants to try building something similar:

https://github.com/mcer12/Hugo-ESP8266/

This looks simpler but only has one button:

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp8...-button-clone/

For hardware control, an easier option could be to use a bluetooth remote with the Android app from KoboPageTurner. I tried it with a bluetooth gamepad and it seemed to work well. I couldn't find anything similar that would work with iOS, but there might be something out there.

There are also some pre-made smart buttons such as Flic, but I'm not sure how good the latency/battery life would be for something like page turning.