Display ncurses on the kindle - Other things

[Reventlov]

Hello !
Is it possible to display ncurses application, like htop, on the screen of the kindle 4 non touch version (I want to keep its ebook reader usage) ? How can I install ncurses, if possible ?
The original goal is to have a fullscreen digital clock launched using kite, so if I cannot use ncurses, any recommendation ?
Ty in advance.

ps/edit: the bottom bar on my kindle hide some text in some pdf. I don't want to modify the pdf, I guess this is just a flaw in the software. Any way to fix that without converting the pdf to something mostly ugly ?

[twobob]

totally possible.

Root it.

Install a terminal of your choice.

On a 4 you could run Xclock or Oclock (i forget which is which) on a custom xserver.

I have demonstrated this exact thing working on several threads. (clock wasn't fullscreen but meh)

Re PDF: Install the kindle 4 Liberator and see if that suits you.

TLDR? https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/K4_Index
and https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...7&postcount=49

(a virtual X server)
[root@kindle /proc]# Xvfb -fp /mnt/us/sh/fonts/X11/100dpi/ -noreset -nolisten tcp -screen 0 600x800x8

(a port into that to grab some graphics from, and to connect to from our PC to manipulate the X server in the absence of keys to get our best "setup" configured for keyless initialisation)
[root@kindle root]# x11vnc -noxdamage -noncache -forever -shared -nopw

(put onto screen for real)
[root@kindle root]# /mnt/us/kindlevncviewer/kindlevncviewer -config /mnt/us/kindlevncviewer/config.lua -encodings "copyrect raw" 127.0.0.1:1 &


(if the above fails OOTB on the four to actually show on screen run the command below in another terminal)
[root@kindle root]# while sleep 1; do eips ''; done

(let's have a window manager for the fullscreen handling - optional)
[root@kindle root]# blackbox &

(run something)
[root@kindle root]#oclock (or xclock?) (plus some gumpf from the threads assuming you don't have your system setup exactly like mine - mainly -font 6x7 or w/e I forget exactly)

example here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=70

That would do it.

Or you could use a terminal. or write a native app.. or a kindlet? maybe... or a ...

well you get the picture.

Yes.

[Reventlov]

Thank you for your response.

Originally Posted by twobob

Install a terminal of your choice.

There is no term section in the https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/K4_Index page.
I tried kiterm and myts but they need launchpad to work, and I didn't find how to use launchpad on the Kindle 4 Non Touch (the thread here doesn't help: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=172086 / I'm using kite at the moment).
So, any suggestion on what term I can use ?

Originally Posted by twobob

Re PDF: Install the kindle 4 Liberator and see if that suits you.

I found nothing about a «*kindle 4*Liberator*» thing anywhere. More precisions ?
Ty in advance.

[qlob]

err you can probably launch kiterm from kite by just putting whatever the launchpad script calls in a bash script for kite. myts would require adaptation for the K4.

just search liberator here in the forums... it's relatively new.

[Reventlov]

I try really hard but I find nothing about liberator on the forums (only message about liberator, but no links).
I tried to install Coolreader but I get a «*The device is not registered as a Test Kindle to run this title. Please ask the developer to add this device to the list of registered Test Kindles.*» message.
I tried to add the developper keys as suggested in one post, it doesn't work (I rebooted).
I tried to follow that, too, same issue: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=136
I'll try to use kite tomorrow, good night.

[twobob]

Originally Posted by Reventlov

I try really hard but I find nothing about liberator on the forums (only message about liberator, but no links).
I tried to install Coolreader but I get a «*The device is not registered as a Test Kindle to run this title. Please ask the developer to add this device to the list of registered Test Kindles.*» message.
I tried to add the developper keys as suggested in one post, it doesn't work (I rebooted).
I tried to follow that, too, same issue: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=136
I'll try to use kite tomorrow, good night.

I can't spell sorry

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=198742

I PM'd you about the other stuff

Also as I recall the coolreader keys was the very last to go in. (other than a "test" tweak).
so make sure you have the very latest keys from Pops's thread.

[Kai771]

Sorry, I don't mean to be nitpicking, just wanted to draw attention to the fact that my fork of KPV is called "Librerator" and not "Liberator". The first spelling is deliberate. Hope you get it .

[qlob]

Originally Posted by Kai771

Sorry, I don't mean to be nitpicking, just wanted to draw attention to the fact that my fork of KPV is called "Librerator" and not "Liberator". The first spelling is deliberate. Hope you get it .

Oh! I never noticed that... makes sense, though

[Reventlov]

Update: Coolreader finally works ! The problem was I wasn't registrated on amazon, so my kindle wasn't "linked", I guess, to something needed by the program. More coming later.

[twobob]

Originally Posted by Kai771

Sorry, I don't mean to be nitpicking, just wanted to draw attention to the fact that my fork of KPV is called "Librerator" and not "Liberator". The first spelling is deliberate. Hope you get it .

Hi yeah. "free", I got it. I even knew that.
"When typos go bad!!!"

Cheers

EDIT: No qualms

[Reventlov]

Update:
I installed coolreader, and the librerator fork.
Pdf reading was fine (I didn't find the options I was searching for: something to manually define a "grid" of margin/border to make the software use the whole screen for text, plus the letters were blurry every two lines).

Then the software has started to do strange things, like launch himself randomly at startup, or ignoring my will to close it. After one reboot, my kindle was bricked, I used the fastboot/imx_usb_loader to fix it.
Everything works fine at the moment.

[twobob]

wow. bummer.

[Kai771]

@Reventlov

Hm, I don't really understand you. What do you mean "launch himself randomly at startup"? If Librerator is running, and screen saver starts, then after you activate it again, it will still be in Librerator. It's normal behaviour. You need to exit it through Menu->Exit Librerator.

To get as much of the screen for text, you need to manually define bounding box, or BBox. Do the following:

1. Make sure you see the whole page on the screen (go to Menu->Zoom & Rotate->Fit to page)
2. Menu->Settings->Manually set BBox. Move the crosshairs to define top-left corner, then press fiveway middle button. Do the same for the bottom right corner.
3. Many pdf files need different settings of BBox for odd and even pages. So, press page forward, then agian Menu->Settings->Manually Set BBox and set it again.
4. Now you have BBox set for both odd and even pages. Go to Menu->Zoom & Rotate -> Fit to content width.

You'll get the portion you selected on top. Since most pages are taller than the kindle's screen, a bit of the bottom of the page won't be shown. Pressing page forward will show that part that was missing, then when you press it again it will go to the next page etc. I believe that's what you were looking for.

I don't know how can someone brick a kindle using Librerator. Can you tell me exactly what you did? Also, what do you mean with "letters were blurry every two lines"? Can you post a screenshot?

[Reventlov]

Ok, so, I reinstalled librerator. And now my kindle is again acting strange.
I followed the instruction for k4nt here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=198742
I opened a pdf, set the bbox, read some text. Then I used "Exit Librerator" from the menu to exit the programm, but it keeps showing me the File Chooser Menu. That's the current situation. (last time, I used the home button, it showed me an error message, something about a delay of 5 sec, and then my kindle was bricked)
So, I'm waiting for instruction to exit librerator.

Edit: I have a full root access over wifi, if you need some logs without modifying the current situation.

[Kai771]

Thank you very much for your help with this. It seems to be an issue with cr3runner. I have K3 and use launchpad, so I didn't properly test this. I managed to reproduce the problem on my K3. It seems that both framework and Librerator are running at the same time, and fighting for input/screen. I didn't brick my kindle though - hard reset was enough. I'll remove instructions for cr3runner, so other people wouldn't have the same problem. Try using it with kite, or starting it from ssh. You shouldn't have these problems then.