Custom Kindle OS

[blackbishop]

It seems like most of these posts are aimed at jailbreaking a Kindle Paperwhite in order to preserve the link to Amazon (and Amazon content). I may have missed it in my searching, but is there any guidance on installing a custom OS?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

It seems like most of these posts are aimed at jailbreaking a Kindle Paperwhite in order to preserve the link to Amazon (and Amazon content).

I may have missed it in my searching, but is there any guidance on installing a custom OS?

1) How in the world did you come to that conclusion?
Look at the post number in your browser's location bar, and then tell me how you judged the content of over 3 million posts.

2) Do you have one that is ready to be installed?
I am sure there are people here that would also be interested in any custom OS that you come up with.

[blackbishop]

@knc1 Not judging the entire site Just folks generally talking about modding their kindles here and on other sites. The focus definitely seems to be "custom wallpapers but I still like Goodreads"

Did I miss a thread on a custom OS for the kindle?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

@knc1 Not judging the entire site Just folks generally talking about modding their kindles here and on other sites. The focus definitely seems to be "custom wallpapers but I still like Goodreads"

Did I miss a thread on a custom OS for the kindle?

Nope, we are counting on the one you have developed.

- - - - -

In your searching, you will probably come across the threads where I proposed, from time to time, porting Tizen to the Kindles.

There has never been more than one or two people capable of assisting in the work interested.
That is just too few people to get the job done, it would take the full time efforts of at least six people, each a specialist in their field, to do the full port.

Samsung has recently been talking about implementing Tizen in their smart TV products.
But so far it is just talk.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

Did I miss a thread on a custom OS for the kindle?

Could you explain what the purpose would be of doing that? If you place any value whatsoever on your time, and you want a general-purpose eInk tablet, you'd be much better off simply buying such a device in the first place. Buying a Kindle, then trying to turn it into something it's not would appear to be something of an exercise in frustration .

[knc1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Could you explain what the purpose would be of doing that? If you place any value whatsoever on your time, and you want a general-purpose eInk tablet, you'd be much better off simply buying such a device in the first place. Buying a Kindle, then trying to turn it into something it's not would appear to be something of an exercise in frustration .

Yup - that is a valid point.

But doing it as a hobby project would not put a real value on the time spent.
And, yes, this is talking about a **lot** of time.

Plus, due to the lack of hardware documentation, it would have to be done in a country with very liberal views on reverse engineering.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by knc1

But doing it as a hobby project would not put a real value on the time spent.
And, yes, this is talking about a **lot** of time.

Absolutely. Nothing wrong with a hobby project. I could equally well ask myself why I've spent thousands of hours creating books for the MR library. I'm sure my time could have been much more usefully spent .

[knc1]

I sometimes think the same thing about my time spent here on the "help desk".

[blackbishop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Could you explain what the purpose would be of doing that?

Fair question. The price of a Kindle vice a general eInk tablet makes it attractive. I see a few people offering general eInk tables (Visionect being the primary provider), but at a price point of near $300 it isn't practical for a general audience.

When folks were initially discussing the Kindle jailbreak it was focused on new screensavers and minor iterations on the software. I think it would be fun to work on something totally different that takes an eInk tablet in a different direction like an infoboard, digital signage, digital picture frame with an API that folks could call to make real time data available with a superior battery life.

But I also understand folks who say "Why bother even jailbreaking it?" I guess it depends on your propensity to tinker.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

- - - - -
like an infoboard, digital signage, digital picture frame
- - - - -

You can find all of those here, ready to use on your Kindle.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

Fair question. The price of a Kindle vice a general eInk tablet makes it attractive. I see a few people offering general eInk tables (Visionect being the primary provider), but at a price point of near $300 it isn't practical for a general audience.

The most popular ones (at MR at least) seem to be the Boyue T62 and the Onyx T68. They aren't quite in the $300 range, but you're absolutely right in saying that they are certainly more expensive than the Kindle.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Absolutely. Nothing wrong with a hobby project. I could equally well ask myself why I've spent thousands of hours creating books for the MR library. I'm sure my time could have been much more usefully spent .

Oh, I don't know. I read the copy of Moonfleet you uploaded.

[Rizla]

The other issue is any jailbreaking techniques developed for one Kindle will probably be blocked in later firmwares and models by the Zon. That's a lot of work for something that will probably stop working. Hats off to the tireless hackers who make customization possible on a range of e-ink devices.

[blackbishop]

Originally Posted by knc1

You can find all of those here, ready to use on your Kindle.

Are you referring to the discussions about loading OpenInkPot? It's okay, but can't take advantage of the wifi network--has to be USB'ed

[knc1]

Originally Posted by blackbishop

Are you referring to the discussions about loading OpenInkPot? It's okay, but can't take advantage of the wifi network--has to be USB'ed

Where in the snippet of your post that I quoted:

like an infoboard, digital signage, digital picture frame

or in my response do you see a reference to the (dead) OpenInkPot project?

You can find infoboard, digital signage, and digital picture frame Kindle add-ins on this site.