Font, ScreenSaver & USBNetwork Hacks for Kindle 2.x, 3.x & 4.x

[GeorgeH]

Excellent! I've wanted a 'cover' mode for a long time and this works great. Applying the mod to my K3w was simply a matter of following the instructions and 'magic happened'

[NiLuJe]

@GeorgeH: Thanks for the feedback .

While I did some tests on a K2 & K3, most of the 'real' testing was done on a K4, so it's good to know it actually behaves properly on all devices, and not just mine .

[qlob]

Just as a question: what happens when a book has no cover?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by qlob

Just as a question: what happens when a book has no cover?

That means its a rip-off (a book reported to the publisher as "unsold").

- - - -

Yes, I know that isn't the question asked, but I could not resist.

[NiLuJe]

@qlob: Hopefully, it keeps using the last valid cover (or a blank page, if that happened to be the first book opened after a *fresh* install) .

In the same vein (like the K5 version), periodicals (newspapers/magazines) are skipped .

To expand a bit on my answer to your previous questions, here's the list of disabled modules in the Python build:
PYTHON_DISABLE_MODULES="dbm _bsddb gdbm readline _sqlite3 _tkinter _curses _curses_panel"

So, nearly everything, including ssl, except for curses, db & sqlite. I can probably add sqlite if someone needs it. (curses too, although it's a bit of a PITA, it depends on ncursew, which isn't bundled on the Kindle, and I don't currently build).

@knc1: Mwahahah! I remember those warnings on some of my good old US pbooks .

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe

I'm having trouble getting the Cover mode to work on my Kindle Keyboard (USA; B006). I had no trouble getting your K5 hack to work on my Kindle PaperWhite, but I'm stumped (so far) here.

I was running your .11 jailbreak with SS .29. So, first thing I download the Python package, unzipped and used .01 for K3g. Installed in main directory and updated.

Surprised that it seemed to leave no evidence -- i.e., no Python folder -- which obviously is different than with your K5 hack. Did I do something wrong, or is this the expected result?

I went on and installed SS .31 (over .29, without uninstalling), updated, then dropped Cover into the Linkss directory and restarted. No Overflow directory or anything that I recall from the K5 hack -- but, more to the point, it's not working.

Any thoughts? Should I reinstall the Jailbreak and start over?

Thanks in advance.

[rogerinnyc]

Forgot to mention I'm on 3.4. Also, after running the Python bin, the bin survives in the Linkfonts directory?? Even though it started up a level in the main Kindle directory before I ran update.

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc: It should create a [/mnt/us/]python folder (exactly like the K5 version). If it didn't, something went wrong. Since it requires a somewhat large amount of space (~60 or 70MB), check that you do have some free space on your device .

Yep, if it doesn't find Python, the cover mode isn't enabled, so, nothing surprising there (although there *is* an overflow folder in this version, but it's only used when switching to cover mode from another mode, so it should be mostly empty on a fresh install).

And, yeah, the python update ends up caught in the update trap because it's not whitelisted (I'll probably disable that feature in the next round of update, it doesn't make much sense now, and didn't prove that useful during its lifetime anyway ^^).

So, no, if the update was successful, playing with the jailbreak won't change a thing. (On the other hand, if it failed with a U007 error, then, yeah, you need the latest jailbreak).

I could ask you to check the logs, but there's no error checking in the python update script, since it's not doing anything extraordinary besides unpacking a tarball...

[rogerinnyc]

As always NiLuJe, thanks for the quick reply.

Still no joy, though. Over a GB of space left on my K3. No error codes in running the Python bin. And still no Python folder gets created.

The attached picture is where I initially place the bin file -- and is also exactly what it looks like after running it (by selecting Update Your Kindle). As I mentioned before, the bin file, after running, ends up in the Linkfonts directory.

Any chance the download for K3g is bad? Or any other thoughts?

The screensaver hack still works the old way (if I load my own photos), but I do love your Cover tweak as it works on my K5.

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc: Hmm. Unlikely that the packages are broken, it's (one) of the device I tested this on ...

I just checked, and there *is* error checking in the install script, so, good news ;D.

So, yeah, could you attach the logs (enter ;dm in the search bar, it creates an all_logs*.txt file in the documents folder)?

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe,
OK, Text file attached (took me a while because I kept entering, literally, "[/b];dm[/b]" -- it wasn't until I went back to the K5 thread and saw your instructions to Leir, which were just ";dm" -- in boldface -- that I figured it out!).
Hope there's a clue in there that you can read. It's Greek to me!

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc: Ouch, I messed up my BBCode, sorry. >_<"

Good news though: yes, it helps. The update failed with a U007 error. Your jailbreak isn't up to date .

(On a sidenote, I just caught a bunch of weird bugs in cover mode on my K4, so I'll take a look at those tomorrow, in the meantime, it may not work as well as on the K5 until I figure that out )

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe, thanks! And my bad, I guess. I was pretty sure I had run 11N as the jailbreak, but go figure. I'll try again.

EDIT -- OK, up and running and seems to work well once you cycle through your books and create the cache (had one problem where two different covers actually overlapped on the screensaver -- but didn't repeat after I turned the K3 back on and off). Also sometimes the cover doesn't change, even after the cache has been created and I leave the book open for a bit. But those are quibbles, and I'm sure you'll keep improving it, as always. Thanks again!

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc:

The overlapping issue is unfortunately the result of an ugly workaround I had to resort to on these devices. When you switch the current screensaver from under the framework's feet, it will still use the old one for the next sleep. (That's probably why I never went farther than that the last time I looked at implementing this, what I have to resort to to make it work is a terrible mess compared to what's done on the K5...). So I cheat, and force show the correct image. Depending on the load, device, and current refresh speed, you'll see it as a double refresh (with two different images if this is the first sleep after a switch). You'll nearly always see it on a K2 with an old Vizplex screen, while on the other hand, you'll almost never see it on the K4 (better HW).

About the missed switches, there was a huge annoying issue where a switch to USBMS (plugged & mounted on a computer) would just break it 'til the next restart. I just implemented another ugly workaround for that, it'll be in the next version.

If you catch any other missed switch, and you can confirm that the file has a proper cover (and/or has already been cached), I'd be interested to know more about it (how to reproduce it, and/or some logs)!
[The only case I'm aware of is related to the double refresh thing mentioned above, sometimes the 'old' cover wins over my forced cover. I haven't managed to replicate this in a while, and it mostly concerns the K2. Since it's so rare, I'm not inclined to 'fix' it, because it would imply adding an always visible delay between the two refreshes].

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe: Thanks for the very interesting explanation. Glad it wasn't my device or something on the double refresh. Still love the hack!