NickelMenu: An integrated launcher for Kobo eReaders

[Aleron Ives]

You can always check that the device is secure by trying to use telnet or FTP when you haven't enabled them. You should get a message along the lines of "connection refused" or a timeout.

[shyhermit]

My fault. Poor idiom. I mean going out and connecting to a public wifi at coffee shop or in a public library needed in a pinch to use the web browser.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Not quite sure what you mean by outside. Are you connecting to someone else's WiFi outside your home or are you connecting to your own WiFi while sitting on your balcony/porch/patio?

[DNSB]

In which case a reboot before connecting would do the job. OTOH, using a web browser on an eInk device qualifies as cruel punishment.

[Aleron Ives]

On a Kobo it does, anyway. Boox devices have a tolerable browsing experience, but they have much faster CPUs and extra refresh modes specifically designed to enhance performance (at the cost of PQ).

[DNSB]

On the only Boox I've got to play with (Boox Tab Colour???), the web browser was a pain. Possibly since the pages the owner of the Boox was browsing used quite a few animated graphics and then they tried to show me show it looked with a YouTube video. Even using the Fast setting for the screen, it was not great. Much like the web browsers on my eInk device collection, I felt it was for emergency use only.

OTOH, the owner loves it and since their main reading is comics, the Kaleido 3 screen looks pretty good with them.

[Aleron Ives]

Yes, the performance on video is still terrible (~12 FPS), but the fast refresh settings are good enough that you can read and scroll through web articles more or less normally. I've never tried the browser on my Libra 2, as I suspect that with a single-core CPU and no control over refresh speed, even navigating a simple website would require a lot of sitting and waiting.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by shyhermit

Thanks, both DNSB and Aleron Ives. Not knowing how to code at all, I would not even know how to mod the above code to make a toggle for FTP.

I guess the simplest and safest way is to just use the NickelMenu "switch" to reboot the device each time I finished using FTP (which I intend to use only infrequently).

Per DNSB, as Telnet and FTP effects do not persist after reboot, the device remains secure after reboot even if I need to use WiFi when I am outside, correct?

FYI:

I've cone up with a modified FTP and Telnet definition for NickelMenu that is a true toggle of either one; ie if not running it will enable it; if running it will disable it.

menu_item :main :IP Address :cmd_output :500:/sbin/ifconfig | /usr/bin/awk '/inet addr/{print substr($2,6)}'

menu_item :main :Telnet (status) :cmd_output :500:quiet: /usr/bin/pgrep -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023"  
  chain_success :dbg_toast  :Telnet active on port 2023
  chain_failure :dbg_toast  :Telnet inactive on port 2023

menu_item :main :Telnet (toggle) :cmd_output :500:quiet: /usr/bin/pgrep -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023"
  chain_success:skip:5
    chain_failure :cmd_spawn :quiet :/bin/mount -t devpts | /bin/grep -q /dev/pts || { /bin/mkdir -p /dev/pts && /bin/mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts; }
    chain_success :cmd_spawn :quiet :exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023 /usr/sbin/telnetd -i -l /bin/login
    chain_success :dbg_toast :Started Telnet server on port 2023
    chain_failure  :dbg_toast :Error starting Telnet server on port 2023
    chain_always:skip:-1
  chain_success :cmd_spawn :quiet :/usr/bin/pkill -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 2023"                  
  chain_always :dbg_toast  :Stopped Telnet server on port 2023

menu_item :main :FTP (status) :cmd_output :500:quiet: /usr/bin/pgrep -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021"  
  chain_success :dbg_toast  :FTP active on port 1021
  chain_failure :dbg_toast  :FTP inactive on port 1021

menu_item :main :FTP (toggle) :cmd_output :500:quiet: /usr/bin/pgrep -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021"
  chain_success:skip:4
    chain_failure :cmd_spawn :quiet :exec /usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021 /usr/sbin/ftpd -w -t 30 /mnt/onboard
    chain_success :dbg_toast :Started FTP server for KOBOeReader partition on port 1021
    chain_failure :dbg_toast :Error starting FTP server on port 1021
    chain_always:skip:-1
  chain_success :cmd_spawn :quiet :/usr/bin/pkill -f "^/usr/bin/tcpsvd -E 0.0.0.0 1021"                  
  chain_always :dbg_toast :Stopped FTP server on port 1021

[shyhermit]

Peter,

What beautiful lines of code you wrote! They worked perfectly. I did not use the toggle to check status, as the switch alone is sufficient in telling me each time whether I am turn on or off my FTP or Telnet access.

Originally Posted by PeterT

FYI: I've cone up with a modified FTP and Telnet definition for NickelMenu that is a true toggle of either one; ie if not running it will enable it; if running it will disable it.

[PeterT]

The majority came from the original documentation. My main change was to use pgrep to look for the process, rather than the classic ps | grep approach

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

[Aleron Ives]

Now if only there were a reliable way to block firmware updates so I could safely enable Wi-Fi for telnet and FTP.

[Quoth]

My router can block all Internet access for selected devices.

But a FW update on a Kobo isn't as big an issue as on Kindle.

[Aleron Ives]

No, but it's still a problem. I have no desire to downgrade and re-patch every time I want to FTP a file, so I just keep Wi-Fi off and use USB for everything.

[npr]

This does the job for me:
Patch: libnickel.so.1.0.0 -- Always show confirmation dialog before upgrading.