kobopatch users & non-Kobo-supported languages

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by dmapr

But for Russian you would definitely want to at least get the keyboard patch

No need Starting from version 4.16 Kobo changed (corrected) the keyboard and

[ApplicationPreferences]
CurrentLocale=ru
ExtraLocales=ru

in Kobo eReader.conf quite sufficient. Patch - a matter of taste, my opinion-it is unnecessary (not needed). This also applies to other languages.

[Vetchy]

@jackie_w — I'm support summary of @dmapr. It solve all issue with text in russian language books, like:
- footer and header text
- footnotes
We haven't other issue.

After find solution with Avenir font, i'm leave only next patches for my kobo.

overrides:
  src/nickel.yaml:
    Dictionary pop-up - increase available text area: yes
    Remove footer (row3) on new home screen: yes
  src/libadobe.so.yaml:  
  src/libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml:
    Increase TOC level indentation and fix extra indentation bug: yes
    Freedom to advanced fonts control: yes    
    Set KePub hyphenation: yes
    Allow searches on Extra dictionaries: yes
    Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height: yes
  src/librmsdk.so.1.0.0.yaml:

[jackie_w]

This is a summary of where I think we're at with Kobo GUI system fonts:

Part 1: - "fooling" the Kobo into using different physical font files

A "better Avenir Next" solves a problem for Cyrillic users but not necessarily, for example, for Vietnamese users, and definitely not for those who require CJK fonts.

If a better Avenir Next does not solve the problem for your language it's probably not dodgy to say that any font the user has legal access to can be renamed using JSWolf's instructions in post #57.

• Users who like having 2 system fonts (1 serif, 1 sans-serif) can pick 2 "good for my language" fonts and use the renaming trick to Georgia (serif) and Avenir Next (sans-serif) before sideloading to /fonts with the correct filenames. See N.B. Update below.
• Users who only want a single system font, using their "good for my language" font, can do the renaming trick twice with a font editor: once to Georgia and once to Avenir Next before sideloading to /fonts with the correct filenames. See N.B. Update below.

However, using FontForge for the renaming trick, whilst conveniently free, is not necessarily a happy experience for a non-techie. It's not particularly user-friendly or robust [**].

N.B.: *** Update for firmware 4.21.15015+ ***
Once the renaming trick is complete, the info in post #2 will be required to force the Kobo to load all its fonts after a re-boot.

In fw 4.21.15015 @Semwize discovered (post #91) that it is now possible to completely overwrite the default Georgia and Avenir system GUI font files rather than sideloading copies to /fonts. See post #96 for some sample code you can use in kobopatch to copy your custom fonts into the main firmware font directory. If you do this it will no longer be necessary to perform the shenanigans in post #2 after every re-boot.


Part 2: - using kobopatch to change Kobo nickel CSS for font-family.

N.B. Unfortunately, in fw 4.32.19501, Kobo made major changes to font handling. A side effect seems to be that any kobopatching of font-family is so limited as to be no longer worthwhile for any practical purposes.

For those who are comfortable using kobopatch but not a font editor ...

If the only part of the Kobo GUI you really need to improve is the My Books book lists then

• the fairly generic patch for nickel in post #10 can be used with your sideloaded font(s) of choice.
• Chinese users, and others who use Code2000 as their preferred sideloaded font, can use a similar patch in post #43

There are also patches in the kobopatch standard pack which can customise font-family in other parts of the GUI, e.g.

• 'Custom new header/footer font' (not Japanese/Chinese users)
• 'Custom page navigation scrubber' (not Japanese/Chinese users)

[** My personal experience with FontForge, on Windows, is that I just hope that I manage to get what I want done before it crashes in a heap.]

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Semwize

No need Starting from version 4.16 Kobo changed (corrected) the keyboard and

[ApplicationPreferences]
CurrentLocale=ru
ExtraLocales=ru

in Kobo eReader.conf quite sufficient. Patch - a matter of taste, my opinion-it is unnecessary (not needed). This also applies to other languages.

Would this make installing custom dictionaries for Russian any easier, or do you still need to use the "Extra" dictionaries route?

I'm only asking for info. My own chances of ever reading anything in Russian are about zero.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I think the Moderators might take a dim view of explicitly recommending that Kobo owners who need Cyrillic should appropriate fonts from Nook updates to make their Kobo better!

It's not actually illegal. But B&N no longer make the nook firmware available to download manually. It's no different then other threads saying Bookerly can be had from a new enough Kindle firmware. What might be a problem is giving specific instructions on how to extract the fonts.

[NiLuJe]

Recent (> last 6 months) fontforge releases should be significantly more robust than they used to .

But, yeah, it's certainly not the most user-friendly process .

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

[** My personal experience, on Windows, is that I just hope that I manage to get what I want done before it crashes in a heap.]

Yes, Font Forge for Windows is pretty unstable.

What might work is the free version of Type Light. It's available for Windows and OS X.

https://www.cr8software.net/type.html#thumb

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Recent (> last 6 months) fontforge releases should be significantly more robust than they used to .

But, yeah, it's certainly not the most user-friendly process .

I'll look for an update. Thanks

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

or do you still need to use the "Extra"

yes

Jackie, cannot find where changes font the right side of the footer and the header Apparently it's not mine.

[jackie_w]

I added a Part 2 to my summary for those who can't face using a font editor. To be fair to FontForge, it's hard to see how you can make a font editor really user-friendly. It's a complex subject.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I added a Part 2 to my summary for those who can't face using a font editor. To be fair to FontForge, it's hard to see how you can make a font editor really user-friendly. It's a complex subject.

But the free Type Light will let you rename fonts and it is stable and a lot easier to use.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Recent (> last 6 months) fontforge releases should be significantly more robust than they used to .

But, yeah, it's certainly not the most user-friendly process .

... follow up ...

Please tell me FontForge isn't one of your many development projects and I've just mortally offended you!

[NiLuJe]

@jackie_w: Nah ^^. But development picked up the pace recently, and a lot of cruft was taken care of, so I just thought it was worth mentioning .

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by Semwize

No need Starting from version 4.16 Kobo changed (corrected) the keyboard and

[ApplicationPreferences]
CurrentLocale=ru
ExtraLocales=ru

in Kobo eReader.conf quite sufficient. Patch - a matter of taste, my opinion-it is unnecessary (not needed). This also applies to other languages.

I'll check it again, haven't tried in a long time. I distinctly remember not liking the results of

CurrentLocale=ru

and I was not able to make it work using only

ExtraLocales=ru

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not actually illegal. But B&N no longer make the nook firmware available to download manually. It's no different then other threads saying Bookerly can be had from a new enough Kindle firmware. What might be a problem is giving specific instructions on how to extract the fonts.

The firmware is still available for manual download. 1.3.2 for Glowlight, for instance.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the free Type Light will let you rename fonts and it is stable and a lot easier to use.

Also (and especially if you can't/don't want to install a separate program but have Java), then TTFEdit is a viable alternative, too.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@jackie_w: Nah ^^. But development picked up the pace recently, and a lot of cruft was taken care of, so I just thought it was worth mentioning .

Does FontForge still crash on Windows or has it been fixed so it no longer crashes? Does it have a proper file requester under Windows? The last time I tried FF, the file requester was awful.