diff --git a/frontend/device/kobo/device.lua b/frontend/device/kobo/device.lua
index c4dd67d22..0007509dc 100644
--- a/frontend/device/kobo/device.lua
+++ b/frontend/device/kobo/device.lua
@@ -144,10 +144,12 @@ end
 function Kobo:resume()
     os.execute("echo 0 > /sys/power/state-extended")
     -- cf. #1862, I can reliably break IR touch input on resume...
-    local f = io.open("/sys/devices/virtual/input/input1/neocmd", "r")
-    if f ~= nil then
-        io.close(f)
-        os.execute("echo 'a' > /sys/devices/virtual/input/input1/neocmd")
+    if os.getenv("FROM_NICKEL") == "true" then
+        local f = io.open("/sys/devices/virtual/input/input1/neocmd", "r")
+        if f ~= nil then
+            io.close(f)
+            os.execute("echo 'a' > /sys/devices/virtual/input/input1/neocmd")
+        end
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/platform/kobo/koreader.sh b/platform/kobo/koreader.sh
index 56abf1a5b..c9ba7c21d 100755
--- a/platform/kobo/koreader.sh
+++ b/platform/kobo/koreader.sh
@@ -29,12 +29,12 @@ export EXT_FONT_DIR="/mnt/onboard/fonts"
 
 # fast and dirty way of check if we are called from nickel
 # through fmon, or from another launcher (KSM or advboot)
-from_nickel="false"
+export FROM_NICKEL="false"
 if pkill -0 nickel ; then
-	from_nickel="true"
+	FROM_NICKEL="true"
 fi
 
-if [ "${from_nickel}" == "true" ] ; then
+if [ "${FROM_NICKEL}" == "true" ] ; then
 	# Siphon a few things from nickel's env...
 	eval "$(xargs -n 1 -0 < /proc/$(pidof nickel)/environ | grep -e DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS -e WIFI_MODULE -e PLATFORM -e WIFI_MODULE_PATH -e INTERFACE -e PRODUCT 2>/dev/null)"
 	export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS WIFI_MODULE PLATFORM WIFI_MODULE_PATH INTERFACE PRODUCT
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ fi
 
 ./reader.lua "${args}" 2> crash.log
 
-if [ "${from_nickel}" == "true" ] ; then
+if [ "${FROM_NICKEL}" == "true" ] ; then
 	# start kobo software because it was running before koreader
 	./nickel.sh &
 else