| ▲ | the-grump 2 hours ago |
| For the unaware, there is an existing solution that integrates with Kobo's native software (Nickel). It has been maintained for years, and it supports every Kobo AFAIK. It's called NickelMenu, and it's great. I'm in the Kobo ecosystem because of NickelMenu and Plato. One note if you're thinking about getting a kobo due its relative openness: consider getting a two-core device. I did not do my homework and got a Clara BW because I don't want the color display. Later I found out that color is the only one with the two-core CPU. |
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| ▲ | thepoet an hour ago | parent | next [-] |
| Hey, author here. NickelMenu is terrific and Cobalt uses it to show the menu item in the default Kobo menu. It's just that Cobalt and NickelMenu are not the same in terms of project goals. I created this as I could not find anything existing that gives the capabilities I wanted. I read several things downloaded over web apart from books on my Mac and phone, which I would prefer to do on an eInk display. Search papers on arxiv and read them offline later, Substack, even spending a lot of time on chess puzzles, monitor my Claude/Codex remotely, generate explainer audiobooks and listen to them on my bluetooth speaker etc. The longer battery and the display makes some use cases really shine and I wanted to create apps for my own Kobo and potentially helpful for others as well. |
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| ▲ | the-grump an hour ago | parent [-] | | I admire and support your effort, but the title makes it sound like you couldn't run apps in the past. Nickelmenu deserves a mention in the opening paragraph and a differentiation of what this new piece of software brings to the table. |
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| ▲ | ololobus 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I haven’t had a chance to compare side by side, but people say that if you primarily read books/prose, the BW version is better because the screen is more crisp compared to the color version, which is still a bit blurry when you read books. That’s why I ordered BW. Did anyone compare these two side by side in real life for simple text? |
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| ▲ | johnhamlin 24 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | It is maddeningly impossible to get an ereader with all three of these features: b&w screen for maximum crispness; physical buttons for reliable page turns; modern processor for speed. | |
| ▲ | pepperoni_pizza 4 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Yes. I had color Kobo, left it in the airport lounge, and bought BW one as a replacement. It is much better. | |
| ▲ | dotancohen 28 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | I use a bw Boox device, a colleague has the colour version of the same device. The colour version does not show text more blurry, rather, the contrast is significantly lower. I personally prefer the bw device. |
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| ▲ | awakeasleep an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| but also note that a color e-reader will have significantly worse contrast than a black and white model, which negates the usefulness of the device to people like me. |
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| ▲ | hamdingers 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| What does the two-core CPU get you? I'm very satisfied with my BW with KOReader, haven't noticed any shortcomings but I only read books on it. |
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| ▲ | the-grump an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | I encounter freezes mostly when I enable Bluetooth/wifi. Haven't tried on a multi-core kobo but I imagine the UI thread can keep running there. When reading, agree on it being more than sufficient. My recommendation is partially because the price can be identical when they have a sale. That was the case when I got a BW--it was the same price as the color. I should also mention I run quite a few things on my kobo: boringtun to connect to my home network, a fetcher to sync my books and feeds, Plato and its article fetcher whenever I update my Wallabag articles. I'm beyond pleased with my reader experience. The extra processing power would just be icing on the cake. | | |
| ▲ | hamdingers an hour ago | parent [-] | | Ah yeah, mine takes a while to connect to wifi too. I assumed that was just how it was, luckily I do it rarely. I got the BW over the Color only because I had read the color screen wasn't as sharp, though I've never compared them side by side. | | |
| ▲ | the-grump an hour ago | parent [-] | | Likewise. I'd had a Kobo Glo HD for more than 10 years and it was still going strong. I looked at the new color screens and they didn't look as clear to me, though it was a subtle difference. Only got the Clara BW because I wanted to use the BT remote. |
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| ▲ | charles_f an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | I do like my BW kobo, but it's on the slow side, even just when switching pages on the stock app ; and that's annoying. Sometimes because it's stuck it doesn't register the page change, and then it will highlight text instead. That's breaking the reading flow and I really hate that. |
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| ▲ | podgietaru an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Also NickelHook, which adds the native hooks into the Nickel application. I used it for intercepting http calls previously |
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| ▲ | jihadjihad 40 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Is it bad that I was disappointed after reading this, hoping for a library that handles callbacks, called NickelBack? |
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| ▲ | post-it 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I also have the Clara BW and haven't done any modding on it but it's been on my todo list. Would you be willing to briefly describe issues you've run into with it? |
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| ▲ | the-grump 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | 0 issues using nickelmenu out of the box. I recommend enabling ssh (native kobo feature) so it's easier to modify the config without needing to plug in, though obviously this is optional. If you connect over SSH, I would recommend not touching system files. The new kobos don't have a removable SD card so if you corrupt the system files and it can't boot, you need to either do some PCB surgery or get a new mainboard. |
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| ▲ | jjkaczor 16 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Apparently the "Sage" (which is what I have currently) has a quad-core, but Kobo discontinued it. Sigh, too bad - this was my favourite to-date (needs a power-cover though...). |
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| ▲ | trencedamp 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Are there any writing apps? Any way to connect a Bluetooth keyboard? (Or USB) |
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| ▲ | the-grump 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | KOReader probably lets you edit text files but I only use my kobo to read. Have not tried connecting any external devices. |
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