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gummihuhn · 01-19-2016, 05:48 AM

I still hope to eventually try to get Syncthing working natively on the Kobo for true automatic wireless syncing. (Though if someone gets to this sooner than I let us know!) For now, though, I thought I'd point out that it is relatively easy to use Syncthing to automatically sync a Kobo with the books (and news, pdfs, etc) on a computer whenever they are connected via a USB cable.

[As I side note, I use a simple script to automatically download to my laptop (from http://fivefilters.org) an epub of news stories and other web pages that I want to read. I know Calibre has similar functionality but I prefer to have the stories/pages in individual epubs rather than all of them together in one document. These downloaded epubs get synced in the same way as my books, to a separate folder, using Syncthing. The end result is that I get a feature similar to Pocket (which is built in to the stock Kobo software) synced to all devices, but I never have to leave Koreader to use it.]

The key to getting Syncthing set up for the Kobo is to run two separate sync profiles on the same computer, one for your computer (in my case my laptop) and one for your Kobo. Simply install Syncthing for your operating system and generate the two configurations from the command line:

Code:

syncthing -generate=<dir>

where <dir> is the path to the directory you want to use for each profile.
for example on BSD or Linux:

Code:

syncthing -generate /home/username/.config/syncthing-laptop
syncthing -generate /home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo

Now add the two instances of syncthing to your startup items (still using example profile locations above):

Code:

syncthing -no-browser -home="/home/username/.config/syncthing-laptop" 
syncthing -no-browser -home="/home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo"

See http://docs.syncthing.net/users/syncthing.html for further documentation.

Now you can configure what should be synced via a web browser interface. You just need to know the GUI interface port. The default is 8384, so if you open your web browser to http://127.0.0.1:8384 or http://localhost:8384 you should see the first profile that you generated above. To find the other port, look in the folder you specified above and look at the second config.xml file that was generated, eg, /home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo/config.xml

In the browser, for each of the profiles, add the directories you'd like to sync between your computer and your Kobo. If you've set it up properly, when you connect your computer to the Kobo via a USB cable, the specified directories will sync automatically-- no manual intervention required. It just works.

As mentioned, I'd eventually like to get Syncthing working directly on the Kobo so that this can be done wirelessly, but the above approach has made life much simpler for me. I just connect the Kobo to my computer once a day, and all my news (and books, pdfs, etc) are there for me without me having to leave Koreader or mess with a third-party service like Pocket.

I have only tried this approach with my Kobo Glo, but it should work with any device that supports file transfers via USB. Of course Android devices can just use the Syncthing app and sync wirelessly.

01-19-2016, 05:48 AM	#15
gummihuhn Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 28904 Join Date: Aug 2015 Device: none	I still hope to eventually try to get Syncthing working natively on the Kobo for true automatic wireless syncing. (Though if someone gets to this sooner than I let us know!) For now, though, I thought I'd point out that it is relatively easy to use Syncthing to automatically sync a Kobo with the books (and news, pdfs, etc) on a computer whenever they are connected via a USB cable. [As I side note, I use a simple script to automatically download to my laptop (from http://fivefilters.org) an epub of news stories and other web pages that I want to read. I know Calibre has similar functionality but I prefer to have the stories/pages in individual epubs rather than all of them together in one document. These downloaded epubs get synced in the same way as my books, to a separate folder, using Syncthing. The end result is that I get a feature similar to Pocket (which is built in to the stock Kobo software) synced to all devices, but I never have to leave Koreader to use it.] The key to getting Syncthing set up for the Kobo is to run two separate sync profiles on the same computer, one for your computer (in my case my laptop) and one for your Kobo. Simply install Syncthing for your operating system and generate the two configurations from the command line: Code: syncthing -generate=<dir> where <dir> is the path to the directory you want to use for each profile. for example on BSD or Linux: Code: syncthing -generate /home/username/.config/syncthing-laptop syncthing -generate /home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo Now add the two instances of syncthing to your startup items (still using example profile locations above): Code: syncthing -no-browser -home="/home/username/.config/syncthing-laptop" syncthing -no-browser -home="/home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo" See http://docs.syncthing.net/users/syncthing.html for further documentation. Now you can configure what should be synced via a web browser interface. You just need to know the GUI interface port. The default is 8384, so if you open your web browser to http://127.0.0.1:8384 or http://localhost:8384 you should see the first profile that you generated above. To find the other port, look in the folder you specified above and look at the second config.xml file that was generated, eg, /home/username/.config/syncthing-kobo/config.xml In the browser, for each of the profiles, add the directories you'd like to sync between your computer and your Kobo. If you've set it up properly, when you connect your computer to the Kobo via a USB cable, the specified directories will sync automatically-- no manual intervention required. It just works. As mentioned, I'd eventually like to get Syncthing working directly on the Kobo so that this can be done wirelessly, but the above approach has made life much simpler for me. I just connect the Kobo to my computer once a day, and all my news (and books, pdfs, etc) are there for me without me having to leave Koreader or mess with a third-party service like Pocket. I have only tried this approach with my Kobo Glo, but it should work with any device that supports file transfers via USB. Of course Android devices can just use the Syncthing app and sync wirelessly.