Kindle Fire - Linux Mint problem

[cbalmforth]

I've spent 3 days trawling the internet and chasing red herrings trying to find an answer to my problem, now it's time to ask the experts!

I've been a happy Calibre and Kindle user for a couple of years now. Many thanks for a fine program! However I bought a Kindle Fire last weekend and I just can't get Calibre to recognise it at all. I am running Linux Mint 14 (just updated, the same problem happened on Mint 13). After installing mtp-tools I am able to transfer files to and from the device using gmtp but the OS doesn't recognise the device as either a drive or an MTP device and Calibre ignores it.

Here is the output from Calibre Debug device detection:

calibre 0.9.8  isfrozen: True
Linux-3.5.0-17-generic-x86_64-with-debian-wheezy-sid Linux
('Linux', '3.5.0-17-generic', '#28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 9 19:31:23 UTC 2012')
Python 2.7.3
Linux: ('debian', 'wheezy/sid', '')
USB devices on system:
[['0x4a9', '0x220e', '0x100', u'Canon', u'CanoScan', u''],
 ['0x15d9', '0xa4d', '0x100', u'', u'USB OPTICAL MOUSE', u''],
 ['0xbda',
  '0x111',
  '0x1122',
  u'Generic',
  u'USB 2.0 Reader',
  u'020123014067000605'],
 ['0x1949', '0xa', '0x216', u'Amazon', u'Kindle', u'D026A0A02416142W']]
Looking for devices of type: MTP_DEVICE
No known MTP devices connected to system
 
Looking for devices...
 
Devices possibly connected: None

This line shows the device being seen on the usb port by Linux
['0x1949', '0xa', '0x216', u'Amazon', u'Kindle', u'D026A0A02416142W']]
but it doesn't seem to be recognised as an MTP device.

Can anybody help me please?

<EDIT> Extra information
My Kindle is a Kindle Fire 2 with 10.2.3 firmware

[kovidgoyal]

Your kindle fire appears to have non-standard firmware. The Kindle Fire 2 has a product id of 0x0006 and the Fire HD has 0x0007 your fire has 0x000a. See http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....-connect-to-it

[cbalmforth]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Your kindle fire appears to have non-standard firmware. The Kindle Fire 2 has a product id of 0x0006 and the Fire HD has 0x0007 your fire has 0x000a. See http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....-connect-to-it

Thanks Kovid! I just love the way you support Calibre.

I created a User Defined plug-in according to the instructions and disabled the Kindle Fire plug-in. I specified mobi as the only format because that's all I want to transfer to the device, I de-selected 'Use subdirectories' because I don't think the Kindle Fire can work with them, and set Main memory folder to 'Books' because that's where the device stores them.

After re-booting Calibre the Kindle Fire wasn't auto-detected, but I could connect to it using Connect/share > Connect to folder. The books I downloaded from Amazon are now visible when I select 'Device', and I can save them to disk (in their DRM version) OK.

Unfortunately when I try to transfer a book using 'Send to device' it doesn't appear on the device, either in the Calibre GUI or when looking into the device file structure using gmtp.

Can you help me get further please? I guess I could send books to this device by email or downloading them via Calibre Server (which I have set up - a really neat program!) but I would really like the same ease-of-use as I have with my old Kindles.

Chris

[kovidgoyal]

I'm confused. You have a Fire or a Fire HD? The former connects as a USB disk, the latter as an MTP device. If you are connecting as an MTP device then how are you using Connect to Folder?

[cbalmforth]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I'm confused. You have a Fire or a Fire HD? The former connects as a USB disk, the latter as an MTP device. If you are connecting as an MTP device then how are you using Connect to Folder?

I'm confused as well! This is a brand new Kindle Fire 2 (NOT HD) with v10.2.3 firmware and it doesn't behave the way everybody else has reported their Kindle Fire behaving. I think Amazon have recently changed how this device connects to a PC because it definitely doesn't show up as a drive. However gmtp recognises the device as MTP and I can transfer files to and from it using gmtp. By installing mtp-tools and mtpfs I can also make linux mount the device as an MTP device, then by configuring the Calibre User-defined profile as described I can manually connect to the folder /media/Kindle-Fire/Internal storage. Then I see the behaviour reported in my last email.

[kovidgoyal]

Well I've added the usd ids your reported to the calibre mtp driver for version 0.9.9 so upgrade and your device should be detected as an mtp device by calibre.

[cbalmforth]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Well I've added the usd ids your reported to the calibre mtp driver for version 0.9.9 so upgrade and your device should be detected as an mtp device by calibre.

Wow! An upgrade just for me!
Now my Kindle is recognised OK without me having to mount it in Linux. Perfect!

I can send books to the device OK, they get transferred and I can read them. I need to tweak the device configuration to put them in the Books folder, but that's no problem.

There's just a tiny bit of strange behaviour left: when I copy a book to the Kindle it is no longer listed in the main library. If I disconnect the Kindle and re-boot Calibre the Kindle books re-appear in the main library, but as soon as I re-connect the Kindle then every book it contains disappears from the main library listing!

Anyway, many thanks for the help so far - I'm just going off to make another donation for this fine program.

[kovidgoyal]

You're probably either sorting the book list by the on device column or you have a search or search restriction to only show books not on the device.

[cbalmforth]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're probably either sorting the book list by the on device column or you have a search or search restriction to only show books not on the device.

Doh! I was sorting by books on the device ....

You are The Man Kovid, thanks again for a great program and the best support in the world.