8 ms·

Nice, would you mind sharing more info on the benefits of jailbraking it? Apart from gaining root access, is there an ecosystem to still view my saved books, pd

Nice, would you mind sharing more info on the benefits of jailbraking it? Apart from gaining root access, is there an ecosystem to still view my saved books, pdfs, maybe even other programs / text formats ?

QuikAccount 4y ago
IIRC it means you can install the Play Store instead of just having Amazon's terrible Fire store.
- Semaphor 4y ago
  But the Kindle doesn’t run either, I think you mean the fire tablets and not the e-readers?
  - trevcanhuman 4y ago
    Yep. This is for [e]Kindles. It's a screen reader that uses e-ink screens that save a lot of power and barely have any of that blue light that hurts your eyes. It's just grey-scale colors. Completely different from Fire Amazon tablets.
  - QuikAccount 4y ago
    You're right I'm thinking of the Fire tablets. Allegedly if you jailbreak your Kindle you can manage your library and collections with Calibre.
    - Semaphor 4y ago
      You can manage your collection with Calibre (and at least used to auto-strip DRM in the process) without jailbreaking, I did that with the Kindle Keyboard many years ago. The only thing I remember about jailbreaking, was being able to use custom screensavers and fonts.
      - QuikAccount 4y ago
        I don't think you can strip DRM any more. At least I can't with my Kindle Paperwhite and Calibre.
        joecool1029 4y ago
        You can still, but unless the libraries needed to do it are updated you'd need to use the last version of Calibre built on python2.
        coconut08 4y ago
        I didn't have any issues removing drm from my purchased amazon books as of a few months ago using the latest version of calibre released at the time and the latest version of the kindle for windows app.
- w0mbat 4y ago
  No it doesn't. You can install the Google Play Store without jail breaking. I've installed the Play Store on 3 Fire tablets, and I've never done a jail break. Instructions are on the android Police website. https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire-tablet/ https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire... The Play Store is a great improvement, it has far more apps and newer versions than the Amazon app store.
coconut08 4y ago
one benefit is that it can allow you to read epubs which is the universal standard for books. the fact that they don't support epubs natively is like having a music player that doesn't support mp3's. the only reason they do it is for the sake of being anti-consumer and anti-competitive.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- and0 4y ago
  This sounds great, but still much more effort that dragging+dropping into an online epub->mobi converter and using the nice "email yourself a file" feature they support. Also, epub support is coming and mobi is being deprecated https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/the-amazon-kindle-will-support-epub-in-late-2022 https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/the-amazon-kindle-will-s...
  - Mindless2112 4y ago
    At the end of that article: > Update: It looks like Amazon is converting the uploaded EPUB to KF8 (AZW3). So, it looks like they might not support EPUB natively. So I'm not holding my breath. Which is not to say Amazon couldn't add native EPUB support. KF8/AZW3[1] (Amazon's proprietary ebook format) is basically EPUB in a MOBI shell. But they're moving away from KF8 to KFX[2] for books purchased from the Amazon store. [1] https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KF8 https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KF8 [2] https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KFX https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KFX
    - thaumasiotes 4y ago
      > Which is not to say Amazon couldn't add native EPUB support. They've had it in the past; I know there have been Kindle models that included a web browser. Is that gone?
      - goosedragons 4y ago
Georgelemental 4y ago
Jailbreaking allows installing custom reader apps like KOReader (https://koreader.rocks/ https://koreader.rocks/). KOReader has lots of nice features, including top-notch EPUB support, Wallabag integration, a PDF reader that can do reflow with k2pdfopt (https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/), and generally lots of ways to customize the reading experience. I don't have a jailbroken Kindle but I love it on my Kobo
thecatinabox 4y ago
You can create app's on them, either native apps built for armv7 (and an old version of glibc), or create a 'kindlet' (java app made for kindles, using java 1.4 (or 1.5 if you compile it down to 1.4)) https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindlet_Developer_HowTo https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindlet_Developer_HowTo https://cowlark.com/kindle/getting-started.html https://cowlark.com/kindle/getting-started.html At my current job, I made an app for the older Kindle 4, as a way to replace paper pick lists. It ends up being both cheaper then paper + ink and more convenient. It's also a nice way to recycle old/unused kindles.

QuikAccount 4y ago

IIRC it means you can install the Play Store instead of just having Amazon's terrible Fire store.

Semaphor 4y ago
But the Kindle doesn’t run either, I think you mean the fire tablets and not the e-readers?
- trevcanhuman 4y ago
  Yep. This is for [e]Kindles. It's a screen reader that uses e-ink screens that save a lot of power and barely have any of that blue light that hurts your eyes. It's just grey-scale colors. Completely different from Fire Amazon tablets.
- QuikAccount 4y ago
  You're right I'm thinking of the Fire tablets. Allegedly if you jailbreak your Kindle you can manage your library and collections with Calibre.
  - Semaphor 4y ago
    You can manage your collection with Calibre (and at least used to auto-strip DRM in the process) without jailbreaking, I did that with the Kindle Keyboard many years ago. The only thing I remember about jailbreaking, was being able to use custom screensavers and fonts.
    - QuikAccount 4y ago
      I don't think you can strip DRM any more. At least I can't with my Kindle Paperwhite and Calibre.
      - joecool1029 4y ago
        You can still, but unless the libraries needed to do it are updated you'd need to use the last version of Calibre built on python2.
        coconut08 4y ago
        I didn't have any issues removing drm from my purchased amazon books as of a few months ago using the latest version of calibre released at the time and the latest version of the kindle for windows app.
w0mbat 4y ago
No it doesn't. You can install the Google Play Store without jail breaking. I've installed the Play Store on 3 Fire tablets, and I've never done a jail break. Instructions are on the android Police website. https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire-tablet/ https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire... The Play Store is a great improvement, it has far more apps and newer versions than the Amazon app store.

coconut08 4y ago

one benefit is that it can allow you to read epubs which is the universal standard for books. the fact that they don't support epubs natively is like having a music player that doesn't support mp3's. the only reason they do it is for the sake of being anti-consumer and anti-competitive.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
and0 4y ago
This sounds great, but still much more effort that dragging+dropping into an online epub->mobi converter and using the nice "email yourself a file" feature they support. Also, epub support is coming and mobi is being deprecated https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/the-amazon-kindle-will-support-epub-in-late-2022 https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/the-amazon-kindle-will-s...
- Mindless2112 4y ago
  At the end of that article: > Update: It looks like Amazon is converting the uploaded EPUB to KF8 (AZW3). So, it looks like they might not support EPUB natively. So I'm not holding my breath. Which is not to say Amazon couldn't add native EPUB support. KF8/AZW3[1] (Amazon's proprietary ebook format) is basically EPUB in a MOBI shell. But they're moving away from KF8 to KFX[2] for books purchased from the Amazon store. [1] https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KF8 https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KF8 [2] https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KFX https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KFX
  - thaumasiotes 4y ago
    > Which is not to say Amazon couldn't add native EPUB support. They've had it in the past; I know there have been Kindle models that included a web browser. Is that gone?
    - goosedragons 4y ago

Georgelemental 4y ago

Jailbreaking allows installing custom reader apps like KOReader (https://koreader.rocks/ https://koreader.rocks/). KOReader has lots of nice features, including top-notch EPUB support, Wallabag integration, a PDF reader that can do reflow with k2pdfopt (https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ https://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/), and generally lots of ways to customize the reading experience. I don't have a jailbroken Kindle but I love it on my Kobo

thecatinabox 4y ago

You can create app's on them, either native apps built for armv7 (and an old version of glibc), or create a 'kindlet' (java app made for kindles, using java 1.4 (or 1.5 if you compile it down to 1.4)) https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindlet_Developer_HowTo https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindlet_Developer_HowTo https://cowlark.com/kindle/getting-started.html https://cowlark.com/kindle/getting-started.html At my current job, I made an app for the older Kindle 4, as a way to replace paper pick lists. It ends up being both cheaper then paper + ink and more convenient. It's also a nice way to recycle old/unused kindles.