If you need help with your Literati come here!

[klu529]

If Altivo is correct and the devices are the same, I have the firmware if you still want to try updating it. Let me know and I'll provide a link.

[arun sekar]

Very basic question with literati ereader. After I load the sd card it shows up in the memory details but I do not know how to access the books on the card? Should I use a shift key?

When I connect to a laptop with windows xp it says not recognized.

The problem with OS is still there but I do not worry if I can use the reader without wifi connection. Please help.

Arun Sekar

[DoctorClu]

Hello, 2019 calling! Yes, I recently saw a Literati in a Thrift Town here in Dallas. The device had been in the electronics glass case for about a year. Today the pink $12.99 tag was good for the 50% off pink tag day, so got the thing for $7 and some change after tax.

Some quick observations I thought I would share here in this thread.

Got the Literati, the device had no books on it. I believe the internal storage was corrupted. I formatted the internal space. Luckily the 1.6 version of the Literati seem to be rom based so that didn't get wiped out and left me with 100 mb of space.

I did a factory reset (something I picked up on reading this thread) and the built in 25 books came back.

I tried to put the 1.9 and 2.0 update files on a SD card. That didn't work. What DID work was connecting my Mac to the USB connection. After the factory reset the virtual drives called itself "literati". I was able to go to the finder (as in the instructions below) and go to the .kobo folder. I then put the koboroot.tgz file in that folder directly. When I brought the literati back up it spent the advertised ten minutes to update and now my device has version 2.0 on it.

The SD card slot is VERY particular on the SD card I've worked with and I've played with the following:
* 256 mb Sandisk - Did not work. Fat16 and 32 format.
* 2 gb Patriot - Did work for both Fat16 and Fat 32, not ExFat.
* 8 Gb Unirex SDHC - Did not work for Fat32 or ExFat
* 8 Gb Gigastone MicroSD - Did not work.

When I did find the one 2 Gb SD card that worked, the device became flakey, always rebooting and re-reading the SD card. I ejected the SD card after a while. What I did instead is with the device in factory setting you get 262 mb of internal storage. After updating I was left with 230 mb of storage space. So I have 5 comic (CBR/CBZ) files of Fireball XL5 and a Bible (5.5 mb). I have 38 mb left over. This has turned out to be the most reliable choice.

Thoughts on reading:
pdf - This is amazing. I am reading in night mode which turned the background from white to black with the text in white. Add to that you can read in portrait or landscape mode. At 200% I can read the text without reading glasses just fine.

cbr/cbz - Pretty cool, doesn't zoom or hardly anything, without readers or a magnifying glass this is difficult.

Built in books - only portrait mode, you get night mode.

Summary:
Got the device because I like a device with buttons. The Literati is a cool device that was in that time frame before touch screens, when devices experimented with buttons, and when the screen tech was not as thin as it is now. I think for the time it was released the keyboard is ... alright. The buttons are spaced apart to not be uncomfortable or awkward, the keys don't stick when you type on them (See the Intellivision ECS keyboard as the worst example of this) and the screen is nice.

A more regular use of the landscape mode of the long screen on documents other than pdf would have been better. But in my case I have pdfs to read, and at least that has that ability.

Five to six hours of battery life? I know smart phones that are almost that bad, so really no shock there.

Took me three days to get the information below to hook up the Literati and find out how to upgrade it. Overall a cute enough device. If I had to whine a little I wish the device had the ability to enter notes. With the keyboard the device would be a great note taker.

In the end I have a device for $6 that has 25 books, some great classic titles BTW. I would have liked a bible and while considered classic literature Sharper Image probably didn't want to be associated with a religious preference. Fair. The device reads pdfs after the upgrade so really not bad. SD port is flakey, but the internal memory allows for nearly 230 mb pdf. I generally read a book at a time anyway so not bad. A text search function on the books is something that would have been great but haven't found yet. And ultimately I feel I have a device with books I need to read. 25 classic books. On the classic books you get book marks. What is fun is the pdf where it shows the percentage read of the file.

The device looks like what I pictured back the in 80's the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would have been. Need to get HHGTTG on my Literati sometime.

Not an initially easy device to work with, but workable once you get it working. For $6 I feel if I lost it I would be briefly sad, but not the end of the world. :P

-------------------------------------------------------------------

What follows is how I finally upgraded my Literari, reposed here with link to give original credit, and re-posted here in case that website goes down or this is deleted.



http://www.fixya.com/support/t10336161-problem


Solution: Use the Literati USB connection and the following steps
1. Plug the eReader into a charger
2. Download v2.0 of the Literati or Lookbook firmware from - http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...0/KoboRoot.tgz , and save the file somewhere you will remember

NOTE: Some browsers will download the file and rename it to KoboRoot.tar. The upgrade will not work with the .tar extension. If this happened with your download, please rename the downloaded file to KoboRoot.tgz

3. Keeping the charger connected, connect the Literati or Lookbook to your computer through the provided USB cable
4. The eReader will appear on your computer as a mass storage device
ON A MAC:

1. Open mass storage device in Finder

2 . Click GO from the top menu

3. Click Go to folder

4. Type in .kobo (include the period).

5. .kobo folder will open

6. Transfer the KoboRoot.tgz file you downloaded to the .kobo folder

7. Once the file has transferred, safely eject the eReader

8. Turn off the eReader

9. Turn on the eReader

10. The eReader will take up to 10 minutes to start up, please be patient and do not reset or power off the eReader in any way.

11. Once the eReader restarts, it will have the latest version (v2.0) installed. You can verify this by pressing the menu button, selecting Settings and looking at the Version number.
ON A PC:

1. Open mass storage device in Windows Explorer

2. Ensure hidden folders are visible (different for different Windows versions)

XP: Go to My Computer > Tools menu > Folder Options > View Tab > Advanced Settings > Hidden Files and Folders > Show hidden files and folders. Press OK all the way out.

Vista and Windows 7: Start > Control Panel > Folder Options > View Tab > Click Show Hidden files and folders > OK

3. Open .kobo folder in the mass storage window

4. Transfer the KoboRoot.tgz file you downloaded to the .kobo folder

5. Once file has transferred, safely eject the eReader

6. Turn the eReader off

7. Turn the eReader on

8. The eReader will take up to 10 minutes to start up, please be patient and do not reset or power off the eReader in any way.

9. Once the eReader restarts, it will have the latest version (v2.0) installed. You can verify this by pressing the menu button, selecting Settings and looking at the Version number.

[Gotnoteeth]

Originally Posted by DoctorClu

Hello, 2019 calling! Yes, I recently saw a Literati in a Thrift Town here in Dallas. The device had been in the electronics glass case for about a year. Today the pink $12.99 tag was good for the 50% off pink tag day, so got the thing for $7 and some change after tax.

Some quick observations I thought I would share here in this thread.

Got the Literati, the device had no books on it. I believe the internal storage was corrupted. I formatted the internal space. Luckily the 1.6 version of the Literati seem to be rom based so that didn't get wiped out and left me with 100 mb of space.

I did a factory reset (something I picked up on reading this thread) and the built in 25 books came back.

I tried to put the 1.9 and 2.0 update files on a SD card. That didn't work. What DID work was connecting my Mac to the USB connection. After the factory reset the virtual drives called itself "literati". I was able to go to the finder (as in the instructions below) and go to the .kobo folder. I then put the koboroot.tgz file in that folder directly. When I brought the literati back up it spent the advertised ten minutes to update and now my device has version 2.0 on it.

The SD card slot is VERY particular on the SD card I've worked with and I've played with the following:
* 256 mb Sandisk - Did not work. Fat16 and 32 format.
* 2 gb Patriot - Did work for both Fat16 and Fat 32, not ExFat.
* 8 Gb Unirex SDHC - Did not work for Fat32 or ExFat
* 8 Gb Gigastone MicroSD - Did not work.

When I did find the one 2 Gb SD card that worked, the device became flakey, always rebooting and re-reading the SD card. I ejected the SD card after a while. What I did instead is with the device in factory setting you get 262 mb of internal storage. After updating I was left with 230 mb of storage space. So I have 5 comic (CBR/CBZ) files of Fireball XL5 and a Bible (5.5 mb). I have 38 mb left over. This has turned out to be the most reliable choice.

Thoughts on reading:
pdf - This is amazing. I am reading in night mode which turned the background from white to black with the text in white. Add to that you can read in portrait or landscape mode. At 200% I can read the text without reading glasses just fine.

cbr/cbz - Pretty cool, doesn't zoom or hardly anything, without readers or a magnifying glass this is difficult.

Built in books - only portrait mode, you get night mode.

Summary:
Got the device because I like a device with buttons. The Literati is a cool device that was in that time frame before touch screens, when devices experimented with buttons, and when the screen tech was not as thin as it is now. I think for the time it was released the keyboard is ... alright. The buttons are spaced apart to not be uncomfortable or awkward, the keys don't stick when you type on them (See the Intellivision ECS keyboard as the worst example of this) and the screen is nice.

A more regular use of the landscape mode of the long screen on documents other than pdf would have been better. But in my case I have pdfs to read, and at least that has that ability.

Five to six hours of battery life? I know smart phones that are almost that bad, so really no shock there.

Took me three days to get the information below to hook up the Literati and find out how to upgrade it. Overall a cute enough device. If I had to whine a little I wish the device had the ability to enter notes. With the keyboard the device would be a great note taker.

In the end I have a device for $6 that has 25 books, some great classic titles BTW. I would have liked a bible and while considered classic literature Sharper Image probably didn't want to be associated with a religious preference. Fair. The device reads pdfs after the upgrade so really not bad. SD port is flakey, but the internal memory allows for nearly 230 mb pdf. I generally read a book at a time anyway so not bad. A text search function on the books is something that would have been great but haven't found yet. And ultimately I feel I have a device with books I need to read. 25 classic books. On the classic books you get book marks. What is fun is the pdf where it shows the percentage read of the file.

The device looks like what I pictured back the in 80's the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would have been. Need to get HHGTTG on my Literati sometime.

Not an initially easy device to work with, but workable once you get it working. For $6 I feel if I lost it I would be briefly sad, but not the end of the world. :P

-------------------------------------------------------------------

What follows is how I finally upgraded my Literari, reposed here with link to give original credit, and re-posted here in case that website goes down or this is deleted.



http://www.fixya.com/support/t10336161-problem


Solution: Use the Literati USB connection and the following steps
1. Plug the eReader into a charger
2. Download v2.0 of the Literati or Lookbook firmware from - http://download.kobobooks.com/firmwa...0/KoboRoot.tgz , and save the file somewhere you will remember

NOTE: Some browsers will download the file and rename it to KoboRoot.tar. The upgrade will not work with the .tar extension. If this happened with your download, please rename the downloaded file to KoboRoot.tgz

3. Keeping the charger connected, connect the Literati or Lookbook to your computer through the provided USB cable
4. The eReader will appear on your computer as a mass storage device
ON A MAC:

1. Open mass storage device in Finder

2 . Click GO from the top menu

3. Click Go to folder

4. Type in .kobo (include the period).

5. .kobo folder will open

6. Transfer the KoboRoot.tgz file you downloaded to the .kobo folder

7. Once the file has transferred, safely eject the eReader

8. Turn off the eReader

9. Turn on the eReader

10. The eReader will take up to 10 minutes to start up, please be patient and do not reset or power off the eReader in any way.

11. Once the eReader restarts, it will have the latest version (v2.0) installed. You can verify this by pressing the menu button, selecting Settings and looking at the Version number.
ON A PC:

1. Open mass storage device in Windows Explorer

2. Ensure hidden folders are visible (different for different Windows versions)

XP: Go to My Computer > Tools menu > Folder Options > View Tab > Advanced Settings > Hidden Files and Folders > Show hidden files and folders. Press OK all the way out.

Vista and Windows 7: Start > Control Panel > Folder Options > View Tab > Click Show Hidden files and folders > OK

3. Open .kobo folder in the mass storage window

4. Transfer the KoboRoot.tgz file you downloaded to the .kobo folder

5. Once file has transferred, safely eject the eReader

6. Turn the eReader off

7. Turn the eReader on

8. The eReader will take up to 10 minutes to start up, please be patient and do not reset or power off the eReader in any way.

9. Once the eReader restarts, it will have the latest version (v2.0) installed. You can verify this by pressing the menu button, selecting Settings and looking at the Version number.

WOW - I was so surprised to see an update here. I still have mine but haven't used or thought about it in a couple years except occasionally to think - I should really get rid of that thing. But this is really, really helpful and I'll be taking it out again and working on it to get it going again. Thanks so much for posting!

[bizzybody]

I just got one for $4.95 at a thrift store. Bought a USB charger cable and got it working with a Samsung phone charger. Already updated to latest software.

The battery seems to be defekt. Charge for hours, runs for minutes unplugged. To repair or not to repair, that is the question.

[DoctorClu]

Originally Posted by Gotnoteeth

WOW - I was so surprised to see an update here. I still have mine but haven't used or thought about it in a couple years except occasionally to think - I should really get rid of that thing. But this is really, really helpful and I'll be taking it out again and working on it to get it going again. Thanks so much for posting!

Oh it was great to post. I still have the Literati. Plugged it up, and it is a OK device. I still wonder why this device had a full keyboard if you can't take notes? Makes no sense.

But I am this way about the Kindle Keyboard as well. In a world where devices don't have keyboards, it is nice to find some that do. So far, the only device I've enjoyed with a keyboard is the Blackberry Passport.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DoctorClu

Oh it was great to post. I still have the Literati. Plugged it up, and it is a OK device. I still wonder why this device had a full keyboard if you can't take notes? Makes no sense.

The keyboard likely only to search.
Though I think on Kindle Keyboard 3, DXG and DX at least you could type a note for a highlight (annotation). But awkward to select highlight.