Are there any hacks for the Kobo Libra H2O?

[NiMa]

I recently bought a Kobo Libra, and was wondering if there were any hacks or tricks that I could do without harming too much the system, since the storage is soldered into the main board and bricking the device would likely mean that I could never power it up again.
Thanks for answering if you want, and have a good day!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by NiMa

I recently bought a Kobo Libra, and was wondering if there were any hacks or tricks that I could do without harming too much the system, since the storage is soldered into the main board and bricking the device would likely mean that I could never power it up again.
Thanks for answering if you want, and have a good day!

You might want to check such threads as One-Click Install Packages for KOReader & Plato, the various Instructions for patching firmware x.yy.zzzzz threads such as Instructions for patching firmware 4.22.15268, geek1011's threads such as NickelMenu: An integrated launcher for Kobo eReaders. Niluje's Kute File Monitor: A smarter file-trigger based launcher plus a mass of other threads.

[NiMa]

Thanks!

[NiMa]

One thing; I would like to know... I tested the "One Click" Plato and KOReader on my old Glo HD, and it worked very well. Do you know if there would be any risk on installing it on my new Libra? Since I cannot reflash the original firmware when the device's broken because of soldered storage, I'm quite scared of doing that.
From what I could see, this does not much to the Kobo filesystem itself... it only adds folders in the .kobo directory.

Thanks for answering!

[geek1011]

You won't have any issues which can't be solved with a factory reset with the OCP packages.

FYI, here's a small list of tools/mods and their safety:

Completely safe:
- Calibre/KTE
- Kepubify
- Covergen
- Seriesmeta
- Dictutil
- PyGlossary
- Custom fonts
- Custom translations
- Other external tools like these

Unlikely to cause issues, can be fixed with a factory reset:
- Newer Nickel mods (the NickelHook ones):
. - NickelMenu (but the cmd_* actions are more risky depending on what you do with them)
. - NickelSeries
. - kobo-dotfile-hack
. - NickelDBus (not released yet) (slightly more dangerous)
- Other readers:
. - Plato
. - KOReader
- FBInk
- KFMon
- MiniClock
- NiLuJe's stuff
- calibre-web sync server
- vlasovsoft
- Database/config modifications

Same as above, but touches system files directly:
- Kobopatch (Nickel, most libnickel and other patches)
- Manual firmware upgrades

Possible issues, but fixable with a factory reset:
- Kobopatch (some libnickel patches, specifically ones around syncing and the home screen)
- Telnet/SSH (but it depends what you do with it)
- fmon
- Kobo-UNCaGED
- Non-trivial LD_PRELOAD hacks
- Skipping multiple major versions when doing firmware upgrade
- Using firmware from another hardware revision (just the KoboRoot.tgz)

More dangerous, may cause more serious issues if they fail (possibly unrecoverable on devices with soldered memory):
- KSM (on older devices/firmware versions)
- KoboLauncher
- Night mode
- KoboCloud (by fsantini)
- Older software/mods (i.e. before fw 4.x) (on older devices/firmware versions)
- Anything touching the init scripts (busybox, rcS, u-boot, pickel)
- Anything messing with mass storage mode
- Anything dynamically modifying system files
- Older telnet/ssh hacks (i.e. not built-in or part of one of the tools in the above lists)
- Large firmware downgrades without a factory reset
- USBNet
- Custom kernel modules

Same as above, but not really hacks:
- Opening up the device physically
- Full factory reset (this is actually somewhat of a fragile process, so don't do it unless you have to)

Highly dangerous:
- Android
- advboot
- KSM (on newer devices/firmware versions)
- Older mods (i.e. before fw 4.x) (on newer devices/firmware versions)
- Kernels
- U-boot
- Screen replacement
- etc

P.S. Sorry about the lack of formatting in this post, I was typing it from my phone.

[NiMa]

@geek1011
Hi, thanks for your complete and detailed answer. Not to worry for the formatting, it was perfectly organized. This was the answer I was looking for. Very clear explanation. I'm sure that this will help other users of Kobo with soldered storage.
Going to install PBChess and possibly Plato on my Libra today!

Thanks again!