Kobo ereader and chess appelet

[bigalster]

I have a old Kobo ereader software version 3.19.5761(Oe028f3185,12/29/15)
serial num: KG 3182900434B
I won the Kobo ereader.I recharge it as need be. When i got it i had only Sudoku in the "Extras" and no web browser or capability to go online. A year or so later i was doing a software update and after the update i noticed that i had a chess playing appelet when none existed before,so i was pretty excited as i am an international chess master. This past year i loaned my Kobo to a freind while he was in hospital.he used the chess appelet.The battery needed recharging so he recharged it and in this process,the chess appelet disappeared off the home page,never to return. So i went from having a Kobo that never had a chess playing appelet to one where i somehow got it in a software upgrade,to losing it in another upgrade or software glitch.

Now i searched the web to see about restoring this chess appelet and i found this site>https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=261305, that detailed how i could retrieve the chess-playing appelet on my Kobo ereader. I tried following the instructions on Sqlite3 editor software but not too sure what i was doing but did get into the "Activity" section he speaks about but when i changed the ID=chess and saved it and disconnected my Kobo,the chess appellet did not appear and nothing changed.

Can someone,who knows, please help me with this problem and could they let me know if this is possible to retreive this lost chess playing ability of my Kobo ereader and guide me through the steps.Thanks and i look forward to hearing from you all on this my first posting.

[davidfor]

You will have to downgrade the firmware on the device. From the serial number, I think this is a Touch. From memory, Chess was in the firmware from start. But, in the last year or so, Kobo firstly removed Chess from the menus and then a change was made that meant it stopped working. Unfortunately, I don't remember off the top of my head which firmware version was the last that had Chess working or in the menus.

There is another version of Chess that you can install. I have never tried it, but searching in the forum for pbchess should find it.

[bigalster]

Ok mate.thx.But how would i go about downloading the firmware on the device? Thi is a Touch one of the originals,like i said. I think what you say sums up what Kobo did. I am familiar with that chap you mention pbchess,some russian guy. What would be steps to do this?
This is what i was trying to follow>>>>>>

Play chess on firmware 3.15
hi all,
in this version chess is no more available on "extras" menu. Anyway, as pointed out by some users, Kobo only removed the way to launch the game, and not the game itself: infact, if the tile "Chess" was present on the homepage at the moment of the firmware upgrade, it was not removed and they can still launch the game.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to launch chess for the other users not having chess tile on homepage.

So my idea was to manually change the content of the tile to re-enable the chess game.

Warning: applying this modification ther is the risk of corrupting the Kobo database that stores data about: book progress, statistics, and so on. Please do not proceed until you are confident on what you are doing and in any case make a backup of the database file (KoboReader.sqlite).
I take no responsibility on any damage this procedure may cause to your ebook-reader.


It's a very simple procedure, applicable to any kobo on firmware 3.15 (even though I just tried it on my kobo glo), but requires some knowledge with command line tools.

First of all, create a tile on the homepage launching any of the extra present in the settings / beta features. For instance sudoku.
Be sure that you have now a tile called "sudoku" on the homepage.
Connect the kobo to the PC
For safety reason, make a backup of the file <koboDrive>/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite (so that you can recover it in case something goes wrong during this procedure)
Open the file <koboDrive>/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite with the Sqlite3 editor software you prefer (for instance SQLiteSpy for Win, but there are many free editors for any platform)
In the table "Activity", find the row with Id=sudoku, and change the value of Id=chess; save the modified DB
Disconnect the Kobo, now you should have a tile with the chess


Simplified procedure, using Sqlite3 command line tool:

Be sure that you have the sudoku tile on the homepage (if you don't have it, just play a sudoku game and it should appear)
make a backup of the file <koboDrive>/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite (so that you can recover it in case something goes wrong during this procedure)
Download Sqlite3 command line for win, linux or mac
Create a folded on your PC and put into it:
The executable Sqlite3 files you downloaded
The sql file attached to this message (chess.txt)
The kobo DB file (<koboDrive>/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite) copied from Kobo
Open a shell, go the folder you created and launch this command:
Code:

sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite < chess.sql

Copy the patched KoboReader.sqlite file back to kobo (overwriting existing file)
Disconnect kobo and you should have the chess tile on homepage


Hope this may be useful.

In principle the procedure could be further simplified creating an update file (KoboRoot.tgz) that completely automates the DB update; but honestly I don't have time to do it by myself (and make the tests to be sure it works without messing the reader).
Attached Files
File Type: txt chess.txt (80 Bytes, 444 views)

I got to where i think he wanted me to go,"Activity" and then with my Kobo Touch plugged in,i tried following what he instructed above(although as i indicated,not sure what i was doing or if it was right method) As i said in my post,i tried changing ID=Sudoku to ID=chess,disconnected my Kobo and the chess tile did not appear.So obviously,i did something wrong.

[davidfor]

I don't use pbchess myself or any other modification on the device. To use it, you need to look for the instructions.

If you want to play the Kobo chess, then you need to do a downgrade of firmware. Whether it is practical for you depends on what else you do with the device. If you buy books from Kobo and want to sync them with the Kobo server, then you need to stay on the current firmware. If you are reading sideloaded books, it doesn't matter much what firmware, but chosing the latest that allows chess is probably the best. Same goes if all you want is to play chess on the device.

If you downgrade the firmware, you have to do a factory reset. If you are reading books, that means you will lose the reading status and you will need put the books back on the device again. The steps are:

1. Install the Kobo desktop application on a PC or Mac.
2. Do a factory reset on the device.
3. When prompted to setup the device, choose to use the computer.
4. Start the Kobo desktop application and connect the device.
5. Let the desktop application do the firmware update and do the setup, but DO NOT eject the device.
6. Open the drive for the device and find the firmware files in the .kobo directory. Delete them. You are looking for the directory upgrade and the files KoboRoot.tgz and manifest.md5sum.
7. Copy the firmware files for the version you want to use to the device. These will be the same names as what you deleted above.
8. Eject the device.
9. The device will update to the firmware you installed.

The firmware will so long as you do not sync the device. If you sync over WiFi, the latest will be downloaded and installed. If you connect to the desktop application, the latest will be downloaded. In either case, you can delete the files before the upgrade, but you won't get any new books from Kobo.

As to the firmware version to chose, from the message you quoted, v3.15 is probably the first that doesn't have chess is in the menus. The last before that is probably the sensible one. I assume that will be 3.14.0, but you should check the firmware download thread and decide on what is best for you.

[bigalster]

not sure how to factory reset the device? How will i know how the desktop application will do the firmware update?? Not sure what you mean by this and exactly what i should be doing? Sorry. Could you simplify these steps again. Where do i find the firmware update in the first place?
Also, i have Kobo Touch.I won this device through local newspaper and it didNOT come with the chess,only sudoku. That is my whole point here. So the firmware i would be downgrading(downloading?) will that have the chess appelet built in it? I am having my doubts as only later versions of Kobo have the chess=playing appelet. If you check my original post,i explain how the chess got on my Kobo reader.I think that is was some sort of software glitch and i got lucky and when i did a recharge and software update,Kobo installed the chess on my device.It was never supposed to be an option on my Kobo version. This is why i am asking how will i know that the factory reset and the update to the firmware will result in the chess appelet being installed on my device?

[davidfor]

The Kobo Touch was first released in 2011. The firmware version at the time was something like 1.9.11. Since then, there have been a lot of different firmware versions. My memory says that Chess was always in the firmware. And that Soduko was added later. But, maybe I have that backwards and chess was added in firmware version 2.0.0 when the Glo was released. In any case, it was available from then until in a lot of firmware versions until about 3.15.0. Then it could be run until one two or three versions ago. Apart from the exact versions involved, I am sure of these things. One of the first things I do when new firmware is released is to step through all the settings menus to see what the changes are.

What you can do is pick an older firmware version and install it. If it doesn't have what you want, install the next. Just move up through them until hit one you don't like and then go back one. Installing that over the newer firmware without a factory reset is usually safe. From memory, the first version without chess was tagged "One night in Bangkok" by the person who maintains the firmware download thread. Or maybe that was an alternative suggested by someone in the thread.

A factory is done from the "Device information" page of the settings. Press the button, answer the prompt and wait.

[bigalster]

OK David i will follow your steps nd let you know how it goes.Many thanks mate