This is how you enable OPDS

[Drummas]

I bought an Inkpad 4 (PB743G) a couple of days ago, confident that it would have OPDS to access my personal library sitting on my NAS, after testing the android app and seeing it mentioned in a couple of reviews.

To my frustration, I soon discovered that this was not the case anymore and OPDS was only available to devices sold on the Russian market.

Not willing to give up, I took a deep dive into the file structure of the device and today I managed to enable it, so I'm sharing it with this community from which I have learned so much in the last couple of days.

Please keep in mind that the process that I am about to describe bellow might be missing a few steps as I did not remember to take notes of everything I was doing, but it should be very, very close to what I've done.

First of all, your device will need to be rooted
You will also need access to the shell. ezdiy's tool here can take care of this.
Once you're able to ssh into the device, type each of the following commands:

sudo mount -o rw,remount /ebrmain
sudo nano /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen

Now change the line "have_opds=0" to "have_opds=1"
Save the file and exit, and again type the command:

sudo nano /ebrmain/config/device.cfg

Change the line "have_opds=0" to "have_opds=1" in this file too
Save it, exit nano and reboot the device.

Upon reboot, open the library and you should now have the "Network Libraries" option in the dropdown.
Select it, press the plus sign on the top right, add a URL to an OPDS library and Bob's your uncle...

Leave a comment if this worked for you

[EastEriq]

PB631, FW 5.2, works. Good catch!

A couple of notes:

• If you ssh as root using ezdiy's jailbreak, you don't need sudo, because you are already.
• I initially thought of just copying device.cfg inside /mnt/ext1/system/config/, because several other default settings are overridden by files in userspace, but it didn't work.
• As a matter of fact, the opds urls are saved in the file /mnt/ext1/system/config/opds_catalogs. The file can be edited externally, but the changes appear to be reflected in the Library menu only after reboot.

[Drummas]

Thank you for your comment, I'm glad it worked for you.
I should probably have mentioned that I'm on FW 6.8.2015, the latest available.

From the bottom of my (very) limited Linux knowledge:
device.cfg in the userspace not overidding the actual file is probably by design, for obvious reasons (so that you cannot tamper with definitions like these). The system file itself is also protected by two things: read only filesystem, applied at every boot, and a hash. If you alter the file, the hash changes and it will be overwritten with a copy of the equivalent ".gen" file, effectively undoing the modifications.

[JSWolf]

Is the Pocketbook Inkpad 4 using RMSDK to read ePub?

[Drummas]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is the Pocketbook Inkpad 4 using RMSDK to read ePub?

I believe so but not sure. Happy to check for you, if you know how.

[EastEriq]

Originally Posted by Drummas

I should probably have mentioned that I'm on FW 6.8.2015, the latest available.

I'd bet this hidden functionality is a leftover from a much earlier age anyway.


One could argue about the vagaries of the native OPDS implementation vs a more modern one perhaps. My observation is that among the OPDS sources I tried, Network Libraries was unable to retrieve catalogs from ebookgratuits, while KOReader on the same device was. Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Gallica instead were ok. But, vagaries, whatever. In all, your tip is great, I didn't thank you enough in my previous post!

[orontee]

Many, many, many thanks!

Note that on my reader /ebrmain/config/device.cfg is a symlink to /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen, so there's no need to edit both files.

[diymatt]

I just bought a PB743K3 with firmware U743k3.6.8.2480. I was wildly annoyed the PocketBook software allows OPDS on the iphone and ipad, only to discover after dumping a buttload of cash on this thing that it's not available, just like you discovered.

I came here via google thank to your post. The rub is my device refuses to root, it just fails. Did you have any hiccups or did root just work?

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by orontee

Many, many, many thanks!

Note that on my reader /ebrmain/config/device.cfg is a symlink to /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen, so there's no need to edit both files.

Are you sure of that? Afaik shouldn't it symlink to:
/mnt/secure/device.cfg

[EastEriq]

Are you sure of that? Afaik shouldn't it symlink to:
/mnt/secure/device.cfg

On mine, like orontee says:

/mnt/secure # ls -l device.cfg
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          3540 Feb  8 23:47 device.cfg
/mnt/secure # ls -l /ebrmain/config/device.cfg
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            30 Nov 14  2019 /ebrmain/config/device.cfg -> /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen
/mnt/secure # ls -l /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen 
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1001 Feb 21 15:26 /ebrmain/config/device.cfg.gen

For me their contents are somewhat different. The file in /mnt/secure is longer as it contains more useragent_ lines, apparently for several online bookstores, whereas those in /ebrmain/config/ contain zoom_factor lines. There are also a few entries maybe connected to more hidden features, like

contract_end=0
is_contract=0
hasStoreOpds=0
nativeAuthForWeb=0
webStoreFullScreen=false
webStoreToolbar=simpletoolbar

but I think I can live without knowing what they are supposed to be for.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Drummas

I believe so but not sure. Happy to check for you, if you know how.

If you can download a .acsm file and it gets converted to ePub, then yes, RMSDK is on board.

[nhedgehog]

@Easteriq:
Thanks, thats interesting.
From my understunding the working of Pocketbooks, it might work out too, if only the file:
/mnt/secure/device.cfg
has added this line:

have_opds=1

into it.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

From my understunding the working of Pocketbooks, it might work out too, if only the file:
/mnt/secure/device.cfg
has added this line:

have_opds=1

into it.

This worked for me! A much easier process too, no ssh required. I made the change with a text editor app on the device.

[electronicfur]

Does that mean you don't need to root it then?

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by electronicfur

Does that mean you don't need to root it then?

I think you'd still need root... unless a .pbi installer can write to an unrooted /mnt/secure???

EDIT: file removed as it didn't work on an unrooted device

New solution HERE

Even newer solution HERE