KOReader on the Tolino Vision 6

[macglide]

Hi,

I know that the Tolinos are not being widely used except for central Europe, but I think it is a great device as it runs on Android. I installed KOReader and it is usable, however, a few things don't work.

Things I've figured out so far:

The easiest way to install KOReader is to enter 124816 into book search to access developer options. There you can activate ADB and install KOReader via ADB.

I was also able to switch page turn buttons by creating the event_map.lua (put it in koreader/settings) with the following content:

return {
            [22] = "RPgBack",
            [21] = "RPgFwd",
 }

The device has bluetooth, but it is not being used by the tolino reader app.

There are still some problems which I haven't been able to solve yet:

1. It's not possible to switch off the front light within the app, but brightness control is working.

2. Light color control is not possible. Somebody suggested to test https://github.com/koreader/android-...hController.kt but I don't know how to use it.

3. I think the device is not recognized as a Eink device and settings such as page refresh rate are not visible. After reading some time, some ghosting occurs.

Does anybody know, how to solve these problems?

Cheers and thanks for the great app!

[pazos]

Hi. Very good questions.

Originally Posted by macglide

Hi,
1. It's not possible to switch off the front light within the app, but brightness control is working.

That's the generic driver. Intended for android lcd devices. The brightness you control is for the activity, not for the whole system. There's no warmth.

Originally Posted by macglide

Hi,
2. Light color control is not possible. Somebody suggested to test https://github.com/koreader/android-...hController.kt but I don't know how to use it.

I'm that somebody. Currently there's no way for final users to test alternative ligth drivers, as they do with EPD drivers. I'm working on it in https://github.com/koreader/android-...ncher/pull/339

3. I think the device is not recognized as a Eink device and settings such as page refresh rate are not visible. After reading some time, some ghosting occurs.

True. There're no APIs for dealing with eink screens or warmth lights on android. Each vendor implement its own. We support a few different drivers.

You can currently test if one of the supported drivers work in your device and request support providing required info so we can add that device to a whitelist. See https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/4551

[macglide]

Hi,

thanks for your quick reply!

Ah okay I just didn't want to spam Github.

Good to know, makes sense!

I run the tests and posted the report also to the issue.

Manufacturer: rakuten kobo inc.
Brand: rakutenkobo
Model: tolino vision 6
Device: e70p14_android
Product: e70p14_android
Hardware: sun8iw15p1
Platform: virgo
run test for tolino: ok
run test for qualcomm: fail
run test for rk30xx: fail
run test for rk33xx: fail

[CyberPaul]

Originally Posted by macglide

Hi,

I know that the Tolinos are not being widely used except for central Europe, but I think it is a great device as it runs on Android. I installed KOReader and it is usable, however, a few things don't work.

Things I've figured out so far:

The easiest way to install KOReader is to enter 124816 into book search to access developer options. There you can activate ADB and install KOReader via ADB.

I was also able to switch page turn buttons by creating the event_map.lua (put it in koreader/settings) with the following content:

return {
            [22] = "RPgBack",
            [21] = "RPgFwd",
 }

The device has bluetooth, but it is not being used by the tolino reader app.

There are still some problems which I haven't been able to solve yet:

1. It's not possible to switch off the front light within the app, but brightness control is working.

2. Light color control is not possible. Somebody suggested to test https://github.com/koreader/android-...hController.kt but I don't know how to use it.

3. I think the device is not recognized as a Eink device and settings such as page refresh rate are not visible. After reading some time, some ghosting occurs.

Does anybody know, how to solve these problems?

Cheers and thanks for the great app!

Hi,
I know this is an old post but I'm trying to do what you have described.
I installed APB tools on my Mac, I enabled ADB debug on my Tolino Vision 4 HD (124816 search for Android debug options doesn’t function anymore. It is now 1123581321), successfully connected to it (serial number shown) and then installed the apk for Android ARM devices.
I saw the progress percentage and then it finished. And now? Where is the app? Where can I launch it?
Thanks in advance.

[CyberPaul]

I’ve been able to install smart launcher and all apps recommended here: https://allesebook.de/anleitung/toli...b-root-980665/
Then I installed koreader android arm version downloaded from official site.
When I run it, it crashes showing a long report. Did I choose the right version?

[macglide]

Now you have to set the new launcher as default. You can do this by either restarting the device (there should be a prompt asking for the default launcher) or if you set one of the hardware keys as a home button. This can be done in the tolino app in settings, at least with my Vision 6.

[CyberPaul]

Thanks for your prompt response. I installed the launcher and everything else, launcher was starting but Koreader still not working. I copied the apk in Tolino root and then installed it by using Total Commander within Tolino itself. It worked! Don't know why.
One question: How TestEink settings are saved? Is it sufficient to change parameters and it is automatically applied and saved? When I launch it a second time I find all values back to default, so I'm not sure it is applied and saved.

[macglide]

As far as I understood, the eInk test is primarily for the devs to see which display driver works. If one works, you can tell them and then they try to implement the driver for this device. Maybe that was already done. Does your screen refresh?

[Frenzie]

That's correct. At this point Tolino should probably Just Work™, unless there's a new model that breaks things.

[CyberPaul]

Thanks guys!
Yes it seems to work correctly.

[pazos]

The test activity should be pretty explainatory nowadays.

If the device is already supported it will print the driver for epd and lights.

A device has support for eink updates if the epd driver is different to "none"
A device has support for custom lights if the lights driver is different to "generic"

If the device is unsupported it will print "Unsupported device"

We're mostly interested in reports from unsupported devices if one or more of the available drivers work on that model.

[macglide]

Originally Posted by Frenzie

That's correct. At this point Tolino should probably Just Work™, unless there's a new model that breaks things.

The tolino Vision 6 for example does not work yet

[CyberPaul]

I noticed that refresh behavior is actually changing when I select different options within testeink utility. Also, the site linked above describes it as a necessary step with very specific options to select. And they seem to deliver the best result to me.
So it’s not simply to test unsupported devices.
Once rebooted the device the refresh is no longer as selected, as I notice ghosting.
That’s why I wanted to understand how to make these changes persistent.

[CyberPaul]

I’ve just realized that there has been a a misunderstanding. My fault. I was referring to the Android external app called TestEink, not to the internal driver test within koreader.
The one mentioned in the guide here:
https://allesebook.de/anleitung/toli...b-root-980665/
Where the author recommend these settings:

1. Choose a waveform mode: GLR16
2. Choose an update mode: FULL
3. Choose a wait mode: NOWAIT
4. Choose a monochrome fashion: NOMONOCHROME
5. Choose a hardware dither mode: DITHER_COLOR_Y4
6. Choose a software dither mode: Android_ARGB8888
7. Tap "Go to testing" and at least tap the screen again to flicker.
Leave the test environment with the virtual buttons of Button Savior.

So we were talking about two different things.
Anyway the above settings are very important in my case to get rid of ghosting. Unfortunately they are not saved: after Tolino is rebooted, I see ghosting until I don't re-do the above steps.
Aren't you using this in your cases? Aren't you experiencing ghosting without performing those steps?
I'm totally new to koreader that's why I'm asking if I'm making mistakes.
Thanks!

[Frenzie]

But what does the information from KOReader say? Does it say epd driver none or tolino?