SD card firmware (1.4) image links for AU/NZ

sabredog · 08-10-2010, 08:16 AM

These have just been emailed to me by Paul from Borders Australia

They are Linux Tarball compressed files.

If there are any Linux gurus amongst the Kobo community, perhaps a quick tutorial would be most handy!

Anyway here they are;

http://www.borders.com.au/uploads/bo...u-full-1_4.tgz
http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/upl...r-full-1_4.tgz
http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/uploads/...s-full-1_4.tgz

Thanks to Paul for these links! He has been a most helpful presence on the Whirlpool Kobo thread.

zoran · 08-10-2010, 12:51 PM

Perfect!
At the moment I'm not able to download file. So, I will ask
few more questions, before doing tutorial or whatever.
Is there something in original email? Instructions?
How big this file is?
There are two possibilities: first is that SD card image was
dd-ed and piped to output file using tar:
dd if=/dev/sdX | tar -czvf -
It should be unzipped, untarred and piped to the card.
Second, only files and directories on the card were tarred.
Then, file system ext3 has to be made and file unzipped
and untarred directly to it.
Side notice is that I use freebsd and has to read manual for
differences of tar versions, regarding linux. When I have
more time and more data, we will go through together and
show how easy this should be.
Technically, file system should be made first with:
mkfs.ext3 -L Kobo /dev/sdX
Then, in second option, on linux:
tar -C /dev/sdX -pjxvf filename.tgz
Linux version might differ a bit, I have to admit. I used this
command on linux, but it was my device and my right to
brick it, and the container was bzipped2. So, I used flag
j instead of z.
Best regards

Zoran

Atilla · 08-10-2010, 02:28 PM

Is it possible to create the update SD card within windows using this image?

Marcels · 08-10-2010, 04:24 PM

This is great to see. Hopefully it will help to prevent upgrade risks and provide a more straight forward process.

I hope that future firmware upgrades are avaliable as SD card downloads.

mechturk · 08-10-2010, 07:48 PM

Full instructions are supplied here.
Basically you need to format an SD card with ext3, untar the image, and press a bunch of buttons on the kobo once you've put the card in.
The reflashing itself takes around 5 minutes.

billingd · 08-10-2010, 07:50 PM

UPDATE 2010-08-17: Some of this was just wrong due to issues I had downloading the tgz file - see #17. A correctly downloaded file is not compressed twice. I have corrected the errors

NOTE 2010-09-02 : For step by step instructions for to create an SD card from a windows PC see #24 below. (There is some linux stuff but DON'T PANIC)

I have just downloaded this from borders.com.au. Download size is 123 MB.

As the .tgz suffix implies, it is a gzipped tar file. This is a standard unix thing. There are many Windows utilities that will open it, including 7-zip.

I have generated a list of files

$ tar tzf bordersau-full-1_4.tar > bordersau-full-1_4.txt

Given the file structure and presence of busybox, it is almost certain that the KOBO runs linux and used GPLed code.

If we look at the busybox binary:
$tar --strip-components=2 -xzf bordersau-full-1_4.tar ./bin/busybox
$strings busybox

we see:
Copyright (C) 1998-2006
Erik Andersen, Rob Landley, and others.
Licensed under GPLv2.

Oh dear. Where is the source? Unlicenced use of busybox is actively pursued in the US courts - see http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...00803132055210

UPDATE: The source is now available here.

sabredog · 08-10-2010, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechturk

Full instructions are supplied here.
Basically you need to format an SD card with ext3, untar the image, and press a bunch of buttons on the kobo once you've put the card in.
The reflashing itself takes around 5 minutes.

Excellent!

Now all we need is a command line driven instruction tutorial for Linux rusties and newbies to follow.

Zoran is assisting with this as well.

Solicitous · 08-10-2010, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atilla

Is it possible to create the update SD card within windows using this image?

I'm not too sure about formatting the SD card from Windows, though you could do;

- boot from a Linux LiveCD, format the SD card (only need to do it once), or use gparted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/)
- Reboot into Windows
- Install a ext3 filesystem driver into Windows (http://www.fs-driver.org/).
- Plug your card into the card reader, copy image and you're done.

You might need something like 7-zip to extract the files from the .tar.gz you download.

Sorry if I am not more clear in the steps, but I am not a Windows user, but these might be enough to get you in the right direction.

As a side note I'd be interested to know from someone who has done the update via SD card, afterwards can ebooks be loaded onto the ext3 formatted SD card and read by the Kobo? Or does the Kobo require FAT formatted for ebooks and ext3 for updates? Essentially would one need to keep a dedicated SD card for updates?

Atilla · 08-10-2010, 08:35 PM

Thank you Solicitous.

sabredog · 08-10-2010, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solicitous

I'm not too sure about formatting the SD card from Windows, though you could do;

- boot from a Linux LiveCD, format the SD card (only need to do it once), or use gparted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/)
- Reboot into Windows
- Install a ext3 filesystem driver into Windows (http://www.fs-driver.org/).
- Plug your card into the card reader, copy image and you're done.

You might need something like 7-zip to extract the files from the .tar.gz you download.

Sorry if I am not more clear in the steps, but I am not a Windows user, but these might be enough to get you in the right direction.

As a side note I'd be interested to know from someone who has done the update via SD card, afterwards can ebooks be loaded onto the ext3 formatted SD card and read by the Kobo? Or does the Kobo require FAT formatted for ebooks and ext3 for updates? Essentially would one need to keep a dedicated SD card for updates?

Cheers for this!

Is it worth making some form of instruction set a sticky?

Solicitous · 08-10-2010, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabredog

Cheers for this!

Is it worth making some form of instruction set a sticky?

No worries. Seems other forums see having a sticky providing clear instructions for firmware updates worthwhile, so probably would be best.

I noticed your first post there are 3 different links to the firmware (each v1.4). Does anyone know if there is a difference between bordersau-full-1_4.tgz and anr-full-1_4.tgz? Would it be safe to assume they are just named accordingly to each company, or would there be specific adjustments made to each?

sabredog · 08-10-2010, 11:28 PM

I purchased mine from A&R.

These are the three stores selling the Kobo downunder (AU/NZ), so these are links for each store website to the firmware upgrade file.

I would assume they are identical.

zoran · 08-11-2010, 01:21 AM

I'm glad to see more people upgrading via SD card. The link
posted previously is correct in some aspects. I used live linux
CD and both usb card reader for the card and usb stick for
tarred image. The very first step has to be:

mkfs.ext3 -L Kobo /dev/sdX

Where sdX is the correct name for the device in /dev directory.
If I recall well, my usb reader was /dev/sdb and stick sdd. Your
names might be different. Doing this, the card reader has to
be unmounted. If you have auto mounting, umount it!

Next, if compressed once, simple decompression should be
enough. I urge you not to copy directory tree to your hard
disk, since there are some soft links, that should act strangely
when copied again. So, I think the best would be to mount
both usb card reader to some point like /mnt/sdcard and usb
stick to /mnt/usb. (I did it that way. If you have linux installed,
no need for usb stick, just point to the file itself.) Then do it
all in one step. Here is something that resembles what I did
for bz2 file:

tar -C /dev/sdX -pzxvf /path/to/file

SdX has to be device in /dev, that represents your usb card
reader with SD card in it (mounted, of course). I set full path
to the file, and it was, in my case, /mnt/usb/image.tbz.

My advice would be to do first try of the file simply untarring the
copy of it (since you might loose the original file) on your box
and see if this command works:

tar -zxvf file.tgz

If you get directory tree, great! You are ready to follow my
way or find your own, which is not that dangerous, since you
could try again. Once again, don't copy untarred tree to the
card. It might work, but there is a chance it might not.

I will feel free not to download and do the work myself, since I
know a lot of posters will do that themself.

Finally, I did not connect reader to the computer! I inserted the
card to the slot, pushed middle button and powered it up.
Nothing more, nothing less. I upgraded. I let it power down,
get the card out and checked if it worked. When assured, I
connected to my box and copied book directory to the mounted
device. The file sistem is vfat, msdosfs or however you name it.
After unmounting and disconnecting, it took almost an hour
to process files. As I could see, works fine now.

mechturk · 08-17-2010, 04:43 AM

As an aside, I purchased a Kobo from A&R last Wednesday, and it came with 1.4 pre-installed.

billingd · 08-17-2010, 11:32 AM

UPDATE 2010-08-17: This was just babble due to issues downloading the tgz file. Ignore it or see post #17

08-17-2010, 11:32 AM	#15
billingd Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 8616 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	UPDATE 2010-08-17: This was just babble due to issues downloading the tgz file. Ignore it or see post #17 Last edited by billingd; 09-02-2010 at 11:09 AM. Reason: Add update

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08-10-2010, 08:16 AM	#1
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	SD card firmware (1.4) image links for AU/NZ These have just been emailed to me by Paul from Borders Australia They are Linux Tarball compressed files. If there are any Linux gurus amongst the Kobo community, perhaps a quick tutorial would be most handy! Anyway here they are; http://www.borders.com.au/uploads/bo...u-full-1_4.tgz http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/upl...r-full-1_4.tgz http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/uploads/...s-full-1_4.tgz Thanks to Paul for these links! He has been a most helpful presence on the Whirlpool Kobo thread.

08-10-2010, 12:51 PM	#2
zoran himself Posts: 576 Karma: 11226 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	Perfect! At the moment I'm not able to download file. So, I will ask few more questions, before doing tutorial or whatever. Is there something in original email? Instructions? How big this file is? There are two possibilities: first is that SD card image was dd-ed and piped to output file using tar: dd if=/dev/sdX \| tar -czvf - It should be unzipped, untarred and piped to the card. Second, only files and directories on the card were tarred. Then, file system ext3 has to be made and file unzipped and untarred directly to it. Side notice is that I use freebsd and has to read manual for differences of tar versions, regarding linux. When I have more time and more data, we will go through together and show how easy this should be. Technically, file system should be made first with: mkfs.ext3 -L Kobo /dev/sdX Then, in second option, on linux: tar -C /dev/sdX -pjxvf filename.tgz Linux version might differ a bit, I have to admit. I used this command on linux, but it was my device and my right to brick it, and the container was bzipped2. So, I used flag j instead of z. Best regards Zoran Last edited by zoran; 08-10-2010 at 12:57 PM.

08-10-2010, 02:28 PM	#3
Atilla Addict Posts: 225 Karma: 619496 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Canada Device: Kindle 3, Kindle 3 3G, Kobo Touch, Playbook,Kobo Clara HD,Kobo Libra 2	Is it possible to create the update SD card within windows using this image?

08-10-2010, 04:24 PM	#4
Marcels Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Plymouth, New Zealand Device: Kobo	This is great to see. Hopefully it will help to prevent upgrade risks and provide a more straight forward process. I hope that future firmware upgrades are avaliable as SD card downloads.

08-10-2010, 07:48 PM	#5
mechturk Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kobo	Full instructions are supplied here. Basically you need to format an SD card with ext3, untar the image, and press a bunch of buttons on the kobo once you've put the card in. The reflashing itself takes around 5 minutes.

08-10-2010, 08:35 PM	#9
Atilla Addict Posts: 225 Karma: 619496 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Canada Device: Kindle 3, Kindle 3 3G, Kobo Touch, Playbook,Kobo Clara HD,Kobo Libra 2	Thank you Solicitous.

08-10-2010, 11:28 PM	#12
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	I purchased mine from A&R. These are the three stores selling the Kobo downunder (AU/NZ), so these are links for each store website to the firmware upgrade file. I would assume they are identical.

08-11-2010, 01:21 AM	#13
zoran himself Posts: 576 Karma: 11226 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	I'm glad to see more people upgrading via SD card. The link posted previously is correct in some aspects. I used live linux CD and both usb card reader for the card and usb stick for tarred image. The very first step has to be: mkfs.ext3 -L Kobo /dev/sdX Where sdX is the correct name for the device in /dev directory. If I recall well, my usb reader was /dev/sdb and stick sdd. Your names might be different. Doing this, the card reader has to be unmounted. If you have auto mounting, umount it! Next, if compressed once, simple decompression should be enough. I urge you not to copy directory tree to your hard disk, since there are some soft links, that should act strangely when copied again. So, I think the best would be to mount both usb card reader to some point like /mnt/sdcard and usb stick to /mnt/usb. (I did it that way. If you have linux installed, no need for usb stick, just point to the file itself.) Then do it all in one step. Here is something that resembles what I did for bz2 file: tar -C /dev/sdX -pzxvf /path/to/file SdX has to be device in /dev, that represents your usb card reader with SD card in it (mounted, of course). I set full path to the file, and it was, in my case, /mnt/usb/image.tbz. My advice would be to do first try of the file simply untarring the copy of it (since you might loose the original file) on your box and see if this command works: tar -zxvf file.tgz If you get directory tree, great! You are ready to follow my way or find your own, which is not that dangerous, since you could try again. Once again, don't copy untarred tree to the card. It might work, but there is a chance it might not. I will feel free not to download and do the work myself, since I know a lot of posters will do that themself. Finally, I did not connect reader to the computer! I inserted the card to the slot, pushed middle button and powered it up. Nothing more, nothing less. I upgraded. I let it power down, get the card out and checked if it worked. When assured, I connected to my box and copied book directory to the mounted device. The file sistem is vfat, msdosfs or however you name it. After unmounting and disconnecting, it took almost an hour to process files. As I could see, works fine now.

08-17-2010, 04:43 AM	#14
mechturk Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kobo	As an aside, I purchased a Kobo from A&R last Wednesday, and it came with 1.4 pre-installed.

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