Literary Clock

I took my old Kobo eReader and repurposed it into a literary clock that displays real book quotes matching the current time. Each minute, the screen updates with a random quote containing that exact time, rendered cleanly on the eInk display.

The setup is not permanent, removing the startup commands, followed with a reboot will return the Kobo to its normal state.

Overview

This project turns a Kobo device into a minimalist clock powered by literature.

• Uses a dataset of 3000+ time-tagged quotes
• Covers all 1440 minutes in a day
• Displays text using FBInk directly to the framebuffer
• Updates automatically every minute
• Optional tap input cycles between multiple quotes for the same time
• Displays the weather of the specified city

Ignore the dead pixels in the center. The screen was damaged when the unit was dropped.

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Device

• Model: Kobo Touch N905C (Trilogy @ Mark 4)
• CPU: i.MX507 ARMv7
• Screen: 600x800 eInk, 167 dpi
• Kernel: Linux 2.6.35.3 (BusyBox v1.35.99.139-g15f7d618e)
• Extra SD Card 32 GB (Capacity is overkill)

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How It Works

On boot, the device runs a udev hook (provided by NiLuJe's usbnet package). This launches litclock-start.sh, which waits for the SD card to mount, kills the Kobo UI (nickel), and starts the clock script. The clock script reads quotes.csv every minute, finds a matching literary quote for the current time, and renders it to the eInk screen using FBInk.

1. A udev hook runs stuff.sh
2. This launches litclock-start.sh
3. The script:
   • Waits for the SD card to mount
   • Stops the Kobo UI (nickel)
   • Starts the clock loop

The main script:

• Reads quotes.csv
• Matches the current time (HH:MM)
• Renders a quote using FBInk
  • Refreshes every minute
• Retrieves/renders the weather of the specified city from wttr.in
  • Refreshes every hour

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File Layout

Easier to use a SD card due to the limited onboard memory

File	Location	Description
Main clock script	/mnt/sd/litclock.sh	The main clock loop
Touch watcher script	/mnt/sd/touch_watcher.sh	Process touch screen events
Quotes database	/mnt/sd/quotes.csv	Time-tagged literary quotes
Boot entry point	/usr/local/stuff/bin/stuff.sh	Runs at boot via udev
Boot launcher	/usr/local/stuff/bin/litclock-start.sh	Waits for SD, kills nickel, starts clock
FBInk binary	/mnt/sd/koreader/fbink	Writes text to the eInk framebuffer
Fonts	/mnt/sd/koreader/fonts/noto/	NotoSerif Regular/Bold/Italic/BoldItalic

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Key Commands

Manually start the clock (from telnet/SSH)

killall nickel 2>/dev/null
killall sickel 2>/dev/null
killall sickel-launcher 2>/dev/null
killall touch_watcher.sh 2>/dev/null
killall litclock.sh 2>/dev/null

mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd

setsid nohup /mnt/sd/touch_watcher.sh 2> /tmp/touch_watcher.log &
setsid nohup /mnt/sd/litclock.sh 2> /tmp/litclock.log &

Check if the clock is running

ps | grep litclock

Remount SD card as writable (if needed)

mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd

The SD card mounts read-only by default. You must remount it before writing or editing any files on it.

Update the clock script or quotes

# SCP from your PC
scp litclock.sh root@KOBO_IP:/mnt/sd/litclock.sh
scp quotes.csv root@KOBO_IP:/mnt/sd/quotes.csv

Changes take effect on the next minute cycle — no reboot needed.

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quotes.csv Format

The CSV uses | as a separator with five columns:

HH:MM|time phrase|full quote text|Book Title|Author Name

Example:

13:00|one o'clock|Czarina Catherine reported entering Galatz at one o'clock today.|Dracula|Bram Stoker

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Extra Fonts

You can try more fonts by adding them to the /mnt/sd/fonts and altering the font constants in litclock.sh

• $REGULAR
• $BOLD
• $ITALIC
• $BOLDITALIC

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Weather

Above the quote, the weather for the specified city is displayed (if the wttr.in API is reachable) and logged to /tmp/weather_cache.txt. Change $CITY in litclock.sh to view the weather for a different city.

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Touch Watcher

If other quotes are available at the current time, the touch_watcher.sh script listens for touch input events. When the screen is tapped, it triggers a refresh signal (/tmp/litclock_refresh), prompting the clock to update and randomly select a different quote from quotes.csv. The script also includes a short debounce delay to prevent multiple rapid triggers from a single touch.

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Orientation

By sending the 2 to the system file /sys/class/graphics/fb0/rotate we can control the orientation of the framebuffer. This command is sent on startup in litclock-start.sh.

If your Kobo can support a newer version of fbink you can adjust the rotation fbink -r rather than adjusting the framebuffer below.

# Set landscape rotation
echo 2 > /sys/class/graphics/fb0/rotate

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Boot Chain

udev (loop0 event)
  └── /usr/local/stuff/bin/stuff.sh
        └── /usr/local/stuff/bin/litclock-start.sh  (backgrounded with setsid)
              ├── waits for /mnt/sd to mount
              ├── sleeps 15s for nickel to start
              ├── killall nickel / sickel / sickel-launcher
              ├── mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd
              └── setsid nohup /mnt/sd/litclock.sh > /tmp/litclock.log 2>&1 &

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Burn-in / Ghosting Prevention

The script performs a full flashing screen refresh (fbink -f -k) every 5 minutes to clear eInk ghosting. This is normal — the screen will flash black briefly then return to the quote.

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Required Packages

NiLuJe's USB Net / Telnet / SSH package

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254214

• Necessary for telnet and SSH access to the device
• Contains FBInk — the binary responsible for writing custom quotes to the eInk screen
• Provides the stuff.sh udev boot hook used for autostart
• Install by copying KoboRoot.tgz to /mnt/onboard/.kobo/ and rebooting
• Does not touch rcS, inittab, or any system files! I learned that the hard way.

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Kobo Firmware Archive

https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html

Historical Kobo firmware versions for all devices. Useful if you need to restore or identify the correct firmware version for your device.

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Warnings & Gotchas

• Do NOT press Home + Power together — this triggers the recovery partition (sda2) which reformats sda1 and wipes all your changes
• Do NOT put untested KoboRoot.tgz files in .kobo/ — a bad rcS will cause a boot loop that requires manually mounting sda1 on a PC to fix
• The SD card mounts read-only — always run mount -o remount,rw /mnt/sd before editing files on it
• hindenburg is the watchdog binary that monitors nickel— do not delete it or the device will reboot after ~1 minute

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More E-reader Jailbreaks

If you need more e-reader hacks, tools, and community support:

https://www.mobileread.com/

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Credits

• FBInk by NiLuJe — eInk framebuffer writing library
• Literary clock quotes based on Jaap Meijers's dataset
• NiLuJe's usbnet/KoboStuff package — telnet, SSH, and boot hook infrastructure
• KoReader — provided the pre-compiled FBInk binary and NotoSerif fonts