One-Click Install Packages for KOReader & Plato

[NiLuJe]

You'll find here links to so called "one-click" install packages for both KOReader & Plato.
This is primarily aimed at brand new users, with the goal of getting things to work in the most fool-proof manner possible, by simply unpacking a single ZIP archive in the root of your Kobo eReader over USB.
To make this possible, these packages bundle KFMon & NickelMenu.

For existing users, if you're happy with your current setup, by all means, carry on! . Launchers are, by design, mutually exclusive: between fmon & KFMon, only the one installed last will be active, but where KSM is concerned, KSM will always take precedence, so this is NOT designed for KSM users.
If you're curious as to what this actually does to original KOreader/Plato packages, the gory details are all here!

Now that this is out of the way, on to the good stuff!

As mentioned earlier, the installation instructions are dead simple, and can be automated by the script found in post #2:

1. Choose what you want to install: KOReader, Plato, or both, and download the appropriate ZIP from the listing below.
2. Plug your Kobo eReader to your computer over USB.
3. Directly extract the ZIP archive you've just downloaded to the root directory of your device (i.e., not under any subdirectory). (That's the "one click" bit ;p)
   NOTE: Prefer the "Extract To" approach (and allow replacing existing content if it's asked of you) vs. manually copy/pasting or drag'n dropping bits of the ZIP content yourself, as preserving the integrity of the directory structure and its contents is of paramount importance!
4. NOTE: On FW >= 4.17, you'll need to prevent Nickel from scanning *nix hidden folders.
5. Safely eject your device. The Kobo software should then appear to be processing a book, before restarting to process an update.
   NOTE: If it doesn't attempt to reboot, that's a sure thing something went wrong in the previous step (hint: see the NOTE).
6. Once your device has finished rebooting, you should simply be able to tap on the KOReader or Plato icon in your Home or your Library to launch it, or via the new entries added to the Home's main menu!

NOTE: Something that bears repeating from KFMon's FAQ: a FW update will disable it, so you'll have to reinstall it after a FW update in order to be able to launch stuff again, which is why there's a package dedicated to that listed at the bottom of this post.

NOTE: Another thing that bears repeating is that on FW >= 4.17, you'll probably also want to prevent Nickel from scanning *nix hidden folders. And you'll want to tweak your config before unplugging your device (i.e., before installing this; or, if you've just upgraded your FW, during the first USB connection after the update). In order to alleviate potential interaction from USBMS gremlins, I would *also* recommend that you do all this right after a clean, full reboot of your device.

NOTE: Please see the next post for an automated installation script, which I heartily recommend using instead of doing all this manually!


The listing follows this format:
Description | D/L Link | Last Modified | Size | MD5 Checksum | MR Thread

(A barebones version of this listing is also available here).

One-Click Kobo Packages:

• KOReader | OCP-KOReader-v2024.11.zip | 2024-Nov-20 19:49:28 | 44.4M | 278eb16061dcdf7fe3493589a27f2e45 | KOReader
• Plato | OCP-Plato-0.9.44.zip | 2024-Nov-25 11:03:08 | 20.6M | 42b4b8935d5597f4b3b777dd9bdc1ae7 | Plato
• KOReader AND Plato | OCP-Plato-0.9.44_KOReader-v2024.11.zip | 2024-Nov-26 21:05:27 | 64.2M | c236feca94024f21d0726318b5a18bdc | KFMon
• KFMon (use this after a FW update) | OCP-KFMon-1.4.6-139-g709df40.zip | 2024-Nov-26 21:05:27 | 853.0K | 1dc42bf1146d9789015791db43d3da78 | KFMon

Last updated on Tue, 26 Nov 2024 21:07:43 +0100

[NiLuJe]

Alternatively, I've also come up with small scripts to automate the process somewhat, with a few caveats:

• They rely on decently recent features, on every platform (i.e., Windows 10, a not terribly outdated macOS version, and a decently recent Linux distribution).
• They'll only behave properly with a *single* Kobo plugged to the computer. Running 'em with *no* Kobo plugged in is safe, running 'em with multiple Kobos may lead to unexpected behavior: it may be handled sanely, but it might not.
• On macOS, this doesn't protect you from some of its stupid "Quality of Life" features. Of particular interest here, Safari and its tendency to do stupid things with ZIP archives. If you don't want to change your Safari settings, you'll have to fish out the original ZIP archive from your Trash.
• Most browsers will treat the Windows script as a text file, so you'll have to Right Click > Save Link As (or Download Linked File in Safari) on the link to download it.
• Every OS allows you to eject an USB device safely, without having to unplug it. Always do that. Only unplug it as a last resort.
• Don't download the packages onto the device itself, that's unnecessary, and may actually complicate matters on Linux & macOS.

With that out of the way, here's what this is supposed to automate: figuring out where the Kobo is mounted, asking you to confirm what you want to install, and properly unpacking the right archive. This will also automatically prevent Nickel from scanning *nix hidden folders on FW 4.17+.

NOTE: Pertaining to that particular bit of trickery, I would *strongly* recommend that you do all this right after a clean, full reboot of your device; and to connect the device *straight from the Home screen*, without touching any documents first!

Note that, in addition to the packages in the first post, the scripts also handle KFMon's standalone install package, to quickly restore functionality after a FW update, for instance .

Onwards!

Windows:

1. Check the previous message, and download the ZIP package that you're interested in.
2. Download the Windows install script, in the same folder.
3. On recent Windows versions (i.e., when running PowerShell >= 7), you'll have to "unblock" the script to allow it to run. (Right Click > Tick Unblock in the bottom-right corner).
   That should look like this (before ticking the box):
   
4. Run the install.ps1 script with PowerShell (Right Click > Run with PowerShell).
   That should look like this:
   
5. Follow the on-screen instructions.
6. Safely eject your Kobo, watch it process & reboot .

macOS:

1. Check the previous message, and download the ZIP package that you're interested in, remembering the macOS/Safari quirks I mentioned above.
2. Download the macOS install script archive, and unzip it in the same folder.
3. Run the install.command script (Right Click > Open > Then click Open in the GateKeeper popup).
   That should look like this:
   
   
4. Follow the on-screen instructions. Close the window when it's done.
5. Safely eject your Kobo, watch it process & reboot .

Linux:

1. Check the previous message, and download the ZIP package that you're interested in.
2. Download the Linux install script archive, and unzip it in the same folder.
3. Run the install.sh script with your favorite terminal emulator.
   Here's how it looks like on KDE:
   
4. Follow the on-screen instructions. Close the window when it's done.
5. Safely eject your Kobo, watch it process & reboot .

And that's it! For reference, here's how the script's output could look like:

[NiLuJe]

I'm almost ashamed to admit that dipping my toes in PowerShell for the first time was *almost* fun! *shudders* .

Anyway, KOReader 2019.01 is out, KFMon 1.2.11 is out, this is now ready to go, enjoy .

Ah, and to expand a bit on the "Windows 10" requirement: it's actually PowerShell 5+, which *can* find its way to older Windows versions, but *may* require manual intervention to do so (I honestly have no idea, Windows Update is hell). You can always try: the script will safely abort if PowerShell is too old.

EDIT: Reworded macOS/Linux instructions because of exec bit trickery. -_-".

[TheCheshireMan]

Thank you so much for this! Just tested the Windows script for Plato+KOReader on a Clara HD running the latest stock firmware (4.12.12111 with no mods or add-ons at all), it worked like a charm!

[Frenzie]

PowerShell looks more elegant than I thought.

[sherman]

Ah Powershell. All of the obtuseness of *nix shell scripts, without the brevity.

That's my opinion anyway

[Frenzie]

Hehe, I'll agree to that.

[NiLuJe]

Heh ;p.

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pretty much do a 1:1 port of simple logic like that, though .

I was prepared for much much worse, and then, it just... kind of flowed, and it worked? .

When I started thinking about my options, my first though went to Go, but I've never actually worked in Go, so then I went with: I'll try to PoC it in shell first, and then go (ha!) from there. And once that was done, I went: wait, I can probably do that with PowerShell, right? And voilà ;p.

[Frenzie]

I'd instinctively have written a much less elegant traditional batch file, JScript or VBScript. I realize PowerShell has been around for close to a decade now, but I distinctly recall purposefully installing it and fleeing to Cygwin Bash, which I'd been using for some basic "batch" (shell) scripts to great satisfaction.

Windows 7 may have integrated PowerShell, but I upgraded from XP to Debian because 7 broke all my stuff anyway.

Edit: For the sake of fairness I should probably add that PowerShell isn't half as useful on XP as it is on 7.

[sherman]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Heh ;p.

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pretty much do a 1:1 port of simple logic like that, though .

I was prepared for much much worse, and then, it just... kind of flowed, and it worked? .

When I started thinking about my options, my first though went to Go, but I've never actually worked in Go, so then I went with: I'll try to PoC it in shell first, and then go (ha!) from there. And once that was done, I went: wait, I can probably do that with PowerShell, right? And voilà ;p.

Go is nice, but the main problem with it in this sort of context is the size of the binaries.

Since you're already using Python for this project, I would have thought you might have used that instead of PowerShell.

[ps67]

A curiosity: I have the latest firmware and I applied the patches, if I wanted to install Koreader and Plato I would keep them or lose them? Actually I mistreated my Kobo already enough, so maybe I do not but I wanted to know it anyway.
Thanks to you and to all those who share their Kobo programs.

[NiLuJe]

@sherman: My main issue with Python in this context is that Windows doesn't ship with a Python interpreter .

And the solutions that exist (I think?) to build self-sufficient Windows executables out of a Python script would share the same "binary bloat" issues as Go (probably much worse, in fact) .

@ps67: Nope, KOReader/Plato/KFMon won't affect your FW version or its 'patchiness' .

[ps67]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@sherman: My main issue with Python in this context is that Windows doesn't ship with a Python interpreter .

And the solutions that exist (I think?) to build self-sufficient Windows executables out of a Python script would share the same "binary bloat" issues as Go (probably much worse, in fact) .

@ps67: Nope, KOReader/Plato/KFMon won't affect your FW version or its 'patchiness' .

Thank'You for quick replay

[Aung Kyaw Kyaw]

Is it compatible with kobo forma? And also can't download Window install script.

[favero_]

Thanks for the amazing work. Just one question, I don't need to install anything before, not even KFMon? I've just got my kobo forma and of course their software is impossible to read pdfs. By the way, what are your impressions about Plato? Is it better/worse than koreader?
And later if I want to uninstall it, what should I do?

Thanks a lot and sorry for all the noobie questions!

Also, how could I back up before installing in case anything goes wrong, do I just copy everything that is on kobo drive?