11 ms·
Jailbroke my Kindle to use it as an e-ink monitor
- cyanydeez 2y ago[flagged]
- IKnowMazin 2y agoWhy? I ask as someone who doesn't have an X, but am also ignorant to why someone would not use it.
- oaththrowaway 2y ago[flagged]
- robxorb 2y agoIt's a type of mainstream-media induced psychosis commonly referred to as "rocket-man bad" (related to the similar "orange-man bad"). Essentially, almost entirely one-sided coverage of two highly-influential people of contemporary times have warped some people's opinions of them into an irrational and often incoherent rage, leading to boycotts/"cancelling", etc. In both cases, these were people who were widely-admired - in Musk's case among the same demographic now hates him - when the MSM supported them prior, which then 180°'d when the MSM machine turned against them, for whatever reason. It's an interesting phenomenon to observe, but is also rather sad as it divides people quite nastily. My response here will likely be downvoted, flagged and receive endless repeats of the media misrepresentstions against both characters. Criticism will likely be almost entirely devoid of balance, and especially absent of rational acknowledgement that eg, in the orange mans case, hundreds of millions of people love him enough to believe he will lead their country to prosperity. Unfortunately, such division leads only to a bleak future for all involved, which is why I try here - humbly - to bring some light, and rationality to it, no doubt failing due to the nature of the problem and its effect on people. X seems like a pretty much the same platform before and since Musk, only since Musk there is noticably-less "curation", and so discussion is more organic, so, some may find it more raw. I like it better, but it's not particularly different really.
- talldayo 2y agoTelling people that is like demanding someone switch to Linux. You can save yourself, but demanding it from others is hilariously ill-fated.
- toast0 2y agoI doubt Wayland would be better at this?
- dang 2y agoPlease don't do this here—it just adds noise to the threads. As for that platform: we're all annoyed by the annoying things about it, and it has gotten significantly more so, but it remains a source that HN would be significantly worse without. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- goryramsy 2y agoIf anyone’s looking to jailbreak their kindle, the ‘mobileread’ forums are a great place to start.
- Meph504 2y agoThis would be far more interesting if you shared how, and did it on a platform that wasn't meant for short form content.
- adtac 2y agoWriting a quick Github gist, sorry haha, I'll post a link here in a few minutes. Edit: https://gist.github.com/adtac/eb639d3c707b55a28f0ee9a420aa7e0c https://gist.github.com/adtac/eb639d3c707b55a28f0ee9a420aa7e...
- dang 2y agoOk, we've changed the URL above to that one from https://twitter.com/adtac_/status/1820127470613622950 https://twitter.com/adtac_/status/1820127470613622950, which it includes.
- adtac 2y agoThanks!
- adtac 2y agodang, can we merge this thread into https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177 or vice versa?
- dang 2y agoSure.
- arnavpraneet 2y agoI did not expect your username to be dang, I thought he meant it as a figure of speech like "dang"
- defrost 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- denysvitali 2y agoWhat's unclear here is the refresh rate, but knowing the Kindle(s) this is hardly faster than 0.5fps
- Rebelgecko 2y agoIt looks like it has the ability to do partial refresh
- adtac 2y agoupdated the gist: I'm getting close to 3-4 frames per second! this is only possible because of the partial screen refreshes since most pixels don't change between consecutive frames
- denysvitali 2y agoOh wow. That's nice! Yes, if it does partial refreshes then the refresh rate might be way faster than I expected. Awesome!
- Mountain_Skies 2y agoFor me, that would be fine. It's common to have some reference or other piece of information that I want handy but doesn't change much.
- retrac 2y agoHere's my old Kindle Touch 2 running a hacky Android 4 port attempt and a Game Boy emulator: https://i.imgur.com/m7ZZ1Xm.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/m7ZZ1Xm.mp4 I'd say more like 2 - 3 fps. Not sure why there are random black lines. Display driver doesn't handle the demand of constant update very well. I normally use it as an e-ink picture frame.
- dredmorbius 2y agoIndependent of the methods indicated here (screen capture + imagemagick conversion), there's the underlying question of E-innk hardware capabilities. I can speak to the latter. E-Ink screens are usually capable of a number of different refresh / display modes, which trade higher-quality visual appearance (crispness, greyscale, ghosting) for slower refresh. Refresh rates typically range from ~2-4 Hz at highest quality to 16--60 Hz at lower quality, but faster-updating modes. For most E-ink devices I've seen there are typically four modes, "Normal/Regal" (highest quality), "Speed", "A2", and "X-Mode" (fastest refresh). "Normal" is best for reading static text. "Speed" is sufficient for terminal-based sessions (I have Termux installed on my Onyx BOOX tablet), and most interactive apps (e.g., Web browsers, Podcast apps). I find little practical distinction between "Speed" and "A2". X-Mode does show considerale ghosting, but is indeed capable of video playback. Typically it's also possible to set the full-refresh interval (now many repaints are premitted between full refreshes which clear ghosting but give a distinct "flash" update. E-ink has a number of compromises, but is quite usable. Apps which are designed with its capabilities and limitations in mind are much better suited. Mostly that involves full-screen pagination of content rather than scrolling. Given the ubiquitous use of touch-based scrolling in most Mobile applications, this can be somewhat frustrating. I tend to use dedicated e-ink apps (such as Onyx's own NeoReader book reader), apps tuned for E-ink such as Einkbro, a Web browser, or terminal-based apps which work well in a text-based context.
- readthenotes1 2y agoPosted on GitHub: "unfortunately I lost the Go source code"
- SillyUsername 2y agoFollowed up with "but it was pretty simple, like under 30 lines" So simple in fact, that it wasn't quickly rewritten and added to GitHub...
- adtac 2y agoI should stop writing code in files like /tmp/x.go no matter how throwaway I think the code might be. I still have the linux/armv7 binary if anyone wants it lol.
- stavros 2y agoOh man, apparently I'm not alone in using /tmp/ as my storage space. I like it because it's self-cleaning!
- bmsleight_ 2y agoI did a similar project HDMI in https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/old-kindle-shows-hdmi-video-eventually/ https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/old-kindle-shows-hdmi-video-... to make an OK Monitor - https://barwap.com/projects/okmonitor/ https://barwap.com/projects/okmonitor/
- frognumber 2y agoFYI: I'd pay to cover costs if there was a just-works off-the-shelf version of this. I don't think there's a business model there (I suspect the sales would be in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars -- so no matter where you set your profit margin, you're not covering your time or much beyond costs), but I've sometimes seen things done like that on hobby projects just for impact. I'd love to have a wireless eInk display for my computer, ideally from a USB-C dongle (so it gets video and power), but HDMI + USB power would be fine too.
- sp101 2y agoThere is: https://shop.boox.com/products/mira https://shop.boox.com/products/mira You could also use any eink tablet that runs Android with a screen mirroring app.
- frognumber 2y agoThat looks very nice. The $1800 version is exactly what I'd love to have as an extra monitor on my main computer, if not for the price tag. 3200x1800. 25.3". It looks really good. Unfortunately, as is, it's a little outside of my wallet range. There's a smaller $800 version too. 1650x2200. 13.3". That looks more usable. To me, a major upside of the OkMonitor is the wireless connectivity. That's very, very nice. Especially if the computer dongle could be made small enough for use with my laptop while traveling, it would be a very nice solution.
- lopkeny12ko 2y agoThis article completely glosses over what is presumably the first step of making this work, which is getting a shell on the Kindle. The only resource is some random forum bulletin board post? Huh?
- medstrom 2y agoWhat do you mean "random"? Does the post lack some info or why is it not good enough?
- rbanffy 2y agoPosts in forums don’t age well, change URLs, become outdated, and so on. If you want a durable thing, you should add that to the project description.
- medstrom 2y agoI don't think phpBB threads ever change URL these days. It's only unreliable if the forum is managed by a video game company, because they delete the whole forum every now and then to renew their website. But MobileRead is well-known and enduring.
- dredmorbius 2y agoI suspect it's less that the forum will change URLs as that the URLs listed within some arbitrary forum post will become outdated as the referenced source moves or is deleted. Linkrot, in other words. Documentation in Wiki-based formats is more resilient against this as posts can be subsequently edited.
- lopkeny12ko 2y agoWhy is the source-of-truth record for a set of complex technical instructions in a bulletin board board of all places? Instead of, you know, checked in as code in a version-controlled repository, like basically all other software?
- cheschire 2y agoPerfect demonstration video, thanks for that.
- Animats 2y agoAre e-ink displays ever going to get cheap? By now the basic patents should be running out.
- SushiHippie 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779
- dredmorbius 2y agoThe good news, maybe, is that "E-Paper" (transflective LCD displays), capable of much higher refresh rates (60 -- 180 Hz), though with greater power draw and lacking E-Ink (electrophoretic) display's persistence, but otherwise sharing bright-light / daylit visibility, are starting to appear. What I've seen of E-Paper displays isn't especially encouraging on the cost front, as similarly-sized displays seem to have roughly comparable costs (~US$800 for a 13.3" display). But at least there should be a technologically-independent option, with the prospect for price competition.
- mattkevan 2y agoI’ve been using Daylight Computer’s new Android tablet for a while now, which has a 60fps reflective grayscale LCD screen. During the day it looks and behaves like E-paper, but with a much faster display rate. It’s also got a warm backlight for use at night. When the backlight is off the contrast is lower than the E-ink Carta panel used in the Remarkable and Boox tablets, but the backlight and fast refresh really help make up for it. https://daylightcomputer.com/ https://daylightcomputer.com/
- bee_rider 2y agoThey seem to be sold out for quite a while, sadly. Good for them, though, I hope they means they’ll grow.
- 2y ago
- piombisallow 2y agoThe easy way to do this is a Boox reader with the Superdisplay app.
- mdp2021 2y agoIncidentally, in the past few days I have been testing Android + Kaleido3 as a general purpose device, and Termux-X11. Kaleido3 is very usable; the recent waveforms and correct dithering algorithms allow video consumption with limited compromise (the framerate is high). And yes, coding is very doable (Termux provided the compilers/interpreters). Termux-X11 adds the ability to have your desktop Linux natively on the Android device (so you may not need to use E-Ink displays as part of monitor devices, but already directly as embedded in a tablet used as active computer).
- irusensei 2y agoNo no. You are not supposed to rick roll when showcasing display hacks. For displays you use Bad Apple.
- echelon 2y agoThat video has always felt unprofessional to me. I wish we'd choose something else.
- irusensei 2y agoHow professional should the video be if I want to show something animated on my Etch a Sketch?
- timetopay 2y agoIt's one of those things where if someone does the work, they're allowed to show off how they like. Next time you do an interesting display mod or port, you can choose whatever video you like.
- echelon 2y agoI meant it's a bit like the Lena image in digital image processing. I get that the original author of the series is above board, but the fandom around touhou is full of enough toxic people that it's often the first thing one encounters or associates with the brand. Kind of like the tug of war with Pepe, but much worse. I just now did a Google image search for "touhou" (just that term, no quotes) with safe search enabled and you might guess what came back. And these characters are supposed to be children. I don't want to be a nanny or intrude on people who most likely mean no harm, but if video demos are to have a "standard" test video, should it really be Bad Apple? If you've got something really cool to show off, don't spoil it by associating it with that.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- CodeWriter23 2y agoBest RickRoll ever!
- zeke_the_cat 2y agoIt looks like the entire purpose of the project was to turn "Never Gonna Give You Up" into "Take On Me" in the most indirect and random way possible.
- homakov 2y agoWhy jailbreak? Just use internal kindle browser to stream screenshots of your desktop.
- adtac 2y agoThat would indeed be much simpler! I'm skeptical that the browser is powerful enough to handle a usable frame rate since every frame would have to go from the network -> DOM -> browser app memory -> frame buffer. The browser can barely keep up with the Kindle store / Goodreads, but it'd be nice to be proven otherwise since it'd make it much easier to get this working ootb on brand new Kindles.
- homakov 2y agoi had similar idea to turn kindle to second monitor https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6dcc0hLe0mc https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6dcc0hLe0mc frame rate was too bad so i just bought dasung paperwhite :)
- denysvitali 2y agoDuplicate? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177
- dang 2y agoMerged hither.
- denysvitali 2y agoThanks!!
- anthk 2y agoAn E-Ink device would be perfect to play nethack/slashem, MUDs, IF games, turn based games and Chess/Go.
- II2II 2y agoThere is pbchess for Chess. It supports multiple ereaders. If I recall correctly, it includes a few other games and applications. For IF, QtFrotz was ported to Kobo devices. (For what it's worth, the main drawback with IF is the lack of a hardware keyboard on most e-Ink devices.)
- quasarj 2y agoAnyone have a write-up for doing this with a Remarkable 2?
- tcrenshaw 2y agoFairly sure you can run a vnc client on a remarkable 2. I've been on the fence about getting one for a few years and I'm not super up to date on them, but a quick search turned this up https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee
- idonotknowwhy 2y agoI rely in mine so much that I'm not game enough to try that lol
- joejoewang 2y agoI am wondering if anyone used https://elekscava.com/ https://elekscava.com/ device for similar purpose?
- TheRealPomax 2y agoThe fact that we still call it "jail breaking" is kind of insane. We bought this hardware, "using it however we like" is literally how ownership works.
- CobrastanJorji 2y agoThat's certainly how it should work, but how it should be and how it is are not the same thing. There's a reason we're fighting for Right to Repair laws.
- sciencesama 2y agoWell the corporate greed locks it up for our safety
- october8140 2y agoSomeone get Apple Books on a Kindle and I'll pay you a million dollars.
- Larrikin 2y agoWhy trade one walled garden for another? Just use something like Calibre and combine it with something like Kavita.
- freddie_mercury 2y agoWhat does combining them get you? I use Calibre but hadn't heard of Kavita and I'm not clear what Kavita gives me that I don't already have with Calibre?
- Yodel0914 2y agoI hadn't heard of Kavita either, but it looks like it's a lot prettier than Calibre, and (perhaps) has better a better reader. It looks like it doesn't manage format conversion and syncing though, which I guess is why you'd use both it and Calibre together.
- Larrikin 2y agoCalibre is a very ugly tool for converting formats, fixing metadata, and all the other worst parts of managing an ebook library. The single author's eccentricities are apparent but it was first and it does complete those jobs. If you slog through the setup and quirks, you at best get an iTunes experience from 10 years ago, and I just don't like using it to actually manage my library. Kavita is more like Plex, where when you have your library in something of a decent form it makes using your library a much better experience. Its also the only tool I know of that handles both manga and ebook libraries well.
- _hzw 2y agoApple Books has some rare exclusives. To name one, all of Norman Berrow's novels are only available there.
- 2y ago
- roshankhan28 2y agoi suppose this would be far more intresting if you should what various ways you ca use a kindle and also maybe provide an 1-click way to jail break kindle and upload a YT video. dont forget to add 'for educational purpose' in the title so that amazon doesnt comes after you.
- trimethylpurine 2y agoI thought thought it was called "rooting" when in reference to an Android device.
- Asraelite 2y agoMaybe it's not called jailbreaking on Android phones because it's more or less a supported feature, not something the phone tries to prevent you from doing. On other devices like a Kindle you're actively circumventing security measures.
- rldjbpin 2y ago"rooting" started up by meaning specifically to gain root access to the os. jailbreaking includes this step too, but out of need. the nice variety of root-access apps you could normally install but unable to run become available after rooting. for many that is enough, without requiring kernel-level changes to make this work. besides this conceptual difference, they both are used interchangeably. for kindle jailbreaking makes sense as there is no built-in mechanism to support new features/apps.
- amelius 2y agoThey didn't answer the most important question: was it worth it?
- adtac 2y agoToo early to tell. It's not useful as a primary monitor, but it's great as a secondary. In its current form, the frame rate is good but the latency is awful. This makes for a bad typing experience, but there are plenty of usecases where I don't need to type. And even in situations like a chat window, where low latency typing feedback is critical, I can just have the input text box on my LCD monitor and have the chat history on the Kindle since it's mostly static. It needs some work to get there tho, but for now, this is a good start.
- newsbinator 2y agoI stupidly upgraded my Kindle 4 to the latest firmware, and apparently there's no jailbreak for that and no way to downgrade.
- badkitty99 2y agoWelcome to the skinner box
- rileycantread 2y ago[flagged]
- paulcarroty 2y agoThis eReader firmware has a built-in VNC application - https://inkbox.ddns.net/ https://inkbox.ddns.net/