Hacking the Kobo Glo

Running out of devices to hack/mod, so I turn my attention to the Kobo Glo. I've had this for some time now, and so far saw no need to hack it. So I've been reading the forums on MobileRead, and now I've got the itch.

Prior to making any changes to the Kobo Glo, make a backup just in case. Everything runs off an internal 2GB microSD, so best option is to crack open the case, take out the microSD card, make a backup of it, and put it back in.

dd if=/dev/sdX of=/home/youruser/backup.img
Insert similar-sized microSD card, and do the reverse.
dd if=/home/youruser/backup.img of=/dev/sdX

If you use Windows, you can use the below tools to do the same thing:
USB Image Tool - http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/
Win32 Disk Imager - http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Using a hex editor (Free Hex Editor Neo), go to offset 200 (before any partition starts). What you see is your Kobo's serial number. Make a copy of this.

If you're too lazy to open up the case like me, there is another option. As the Kobo Glo has an external microSD slot, you can simply insert another card, and install some scripts to make a backup from internal to external. Details on this thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212474). Mind you, I installed the scripts, but it didn't work for me. Maybe my firmware (3.5.0) is too new? I installed Angor's scripts from this blog post, and that did the trick.

If you managed to brick your device before you managed to make a backup, head up to the forums and request for a clean SD image. If someone takes pity on you, they'll send you a copy. Don't forget to edit in your personal serial number before writing the image to the microSD card.

At this point, I have the option of installing KoboLauncher or Kobo Start Menu. The latter looks more full-featured, but is more "intrusive" as it puts itself above Nickel, the Kobo user interface. In the case of KoboLauncher, it's just a tile on the homescreen. When launched, it presents you a list of small apps that you can run (CoolReader, pbchess, sokoban, checkers, reversi, notepad, calculator, etc.). Installation instructions here:
http://wiki.vlasovsoft.net/doku.php?id=en:pbchess-1.2.6#kobo_touch_glo_mini_aura