JBPatch

[Antoinekamel]

This night I've dreamed of JBPatch 3.3.1 (as if it were the next version, fully working with Paperwhite).

Not that I'm that anxious, of course not.

[PoP]

@hfpop Not the correct thread for this question but dictionaries are just books with additional indexes. You simply side load them in your reader like any other mobi. You can try with one I created myself, for fun.

[hfpop]

Originally Posted by PoP

@hfpop Not the correct thread for this question but dictionaries are just books with additional indexes. You simply side load them in your reader like any other mobi. You can try with one I created myself, for fun.

Thanks for the input. I placed the question here in the context of JBPatch with the multiple dictionaries search option; I am sorry if off-topic.

[techiemonkey]

If you are still open to patch ideas then here is one:
A pointer ( a dot may be?) or an underline moving across the page at a changeable pace to help the eye to focus on the words, reducing sub-vocalization and thus increasing reading speed. The underline would dissappear after each line. This technique is called meta-guiding. OR a way to allow the hand to touch and move along the line without turning pages or highlighting. So the hand would take the place of the pointer or underline. An idea on how it could be done:
A SORT OF adjustable TIME LIMIT. For eg. touching the screen without moving for say 5 secs would result in the highlighting/note menu to appear. Similarly, moving hand across the page = Nothing. (Swipe action should be disabled. But tapping = Next/Previous page.
More information on speedreading.

[toabm]

Originally Posted by ixtab

OK... so it'll take some more time for a full-fledged new version supporting FW 5.3.4.

In the mean time, due to popular demand, here are the hyphenation and margins patches as standalone files.

You only need these if you are running PW FW 5.3.4, with JBPatch 3.2.1. Install as usual, i.e., copy the file(s) into opt/jbpatch on the USB drive.

Note: the core of JBPatch 3.2.1 does work on FW 5.3.4, but none of the bundled patches do (only the ones attached here work). That also means that it won't show up in the device info.

First thanks a lot for your effords, you made this device touchs perfection....

Secondly would like to ask if the UI for the Patch still works on 5.3.4

I have the 3.2.1 JBPatch installed on my Kindle PW with 5.3.3 running on it. The Enhance Dictionary Lookup Patch(2013-01-28), the Hyphenation PAtch(2013-01-30) and the Modify Reader Margins Patch(2013-01-28) work perfectly as will as the core of the Patch and the UI.

Thanks a lot again.

[MaxStirner]

First of all sorry if this has already been asked - I couldn't find anything on the matter but feel free to delete this post if it seems irrelevant, noobish or stupid or whatever..
I have some patch ideas:
a) would it be possible to launch the browser in the landscape mode (very useful for long and extensive wikipedia articles In my opinion).
b) would it be possible to save a webpage for offline reading? (WIFI and 3g are not accessible everywhere still so it might be useful in the case above as well).
Btw thank you IXtab and others for what you do for us..

[twobob]

@ max

Request 1) Use skipstone

Request 2) Working on it right now...

[root@kindle bin]# ./polipo --help

./polipo [ -h ] [ -v ] [ -x ] [ -c filename ] [ -- ] [ var=val... ]
-h: display this message.
-v: display the list of configuration variables.
-x: perform expiry on the disk cache.
-c: specify the configuration file to use.

[ezyang]

Wonderful patch, the PDF margin hack has suddenly made reading PDFs so much more tolerable. Some patch ideas:

1) Save landscape/portrait orientation per document (rather than as a global setting, as it is now)
2) Tweak top/bottom margin for PDFs only (so split those margins into two cases)
3) Disable links (so that you can tap the kindle to next page without fear of accidentally triggering a nonlocal jump)

[twobob]

Hey. All you people with "suggestions" - This is an open source project you know...

I was just totting up all the timescales of the changes for one man - Ixtab is just one man - I reckon there is at least a couple of weeks work - if not months. Unless he was gonna work on this full-time... and I don't see this buying his groceries of you know what I mean.

Now if you all had a hack at your own suggestions... Sure the learning curve would be steep... it always is for new things.. but a team of - what 8 ? of you - with those skills under your belt could kick the ass of any new changes in the future.

This project has always suffered from too many suggestions and not enough person-power. Be part of the solution, not the workload.

Throw rocks now. I can take it.

[ixtab]

@twobob: thanks!

It's really pretty much what twobob said: I won't be able to satisfy those requests. Many of those are way out of scope for JBPatch anyway. But I'm even having trouble to keep the existing patches working with the current firmwares, because of Amazon's obfuscation.

I'm repeating my previous statement again: JBPatch was a really exciting and interesting project back then, and I was enthusiastic to make the Kindles work better. Then, Amazon obviously determined that independent developers are some kind of danger, and rigorously fucked us - by closing jailbreak holes, and by obfuscating and re-obfuscating their code ever more with every release.

Now, every firmware update essentially requires a complete new analysis of the binary code.

So yeah, Amazon's obfuscation strategy worked - by now, it's almost impossible to understand what is happening in their software.

They won. We lost. Thanks for listening.

[twobob]

I politely suggest these request be forwarded to customer services.

Perhaps they will listen and take action with enough voices.

Regards,
Me.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by ixtab

They won. We lost. Thanks for listening.

Now if I could just find a few people with as much skill and dedication to help on the k-tizen project, we could probably kiss Amazon goodbye for good.

[MaxStirner]

Twobob & Ixtab - I think yo both read our posts to seriously. They are (as the word implies) merely SUGGESTIONS not demands or obligations of any kind. We simply ask a question about a certain possibble feature or upgrade but without pushing or demanding the feature to be included. As for me I'm thankful and wholly understand the difficult situation that you face, limited resources, code being obfuscated etc but alas I can't be of much help even though I wish I could simply because I'm a programming noob - my top skills are limited to finding an appropriate directory to put the file in and run the program by following instructions. Yet I can still offer a warm thank you and a couple of beers if you someday happen to visit my country . So to summarize - please don't feel obligated or pushed in any way - treat my suggestions and questions as they are - suggestestions and questions and nothing more.

[ixtab]

@MaxStirner: thanks for the reply.

The problem is not with people suggesting their ideas -- suggestions are always welcome.

But there are too many people who are quick to propose features that they want for themselves - yet there's almost noone who is actually willing to spend time or effort for getting there. In concrete numbers: there is exactly one patch that I'm aware of which hasn't been developed by me. When I released JBPatch, I was actually hoping for more support than just myself.

And by now, Amazon has just complicated things even more, because with every new firmware release, pretty much everything is re-obfuscated again - requiring at least a revisit, but generally a rewrite, of every existing patch. For them, it's one button click; for me, it's hours or days of work. For every single patch. With every new firmware release.

This is why I've reduced my efforts to the really important patches* lately, and dropped some of the others. I simply don't have the time and energy to port every single patch to every single firmware.

If the classes hadn't been re-obfuscated with every new release, most of the patches would simply be working on all firmwares - and the effort could be spent in more interesting and useful ways.

(*) The only patch that I personally consider to be vital is the hyphenation one. Everything else is just "nice to have".

[pirl8]

Originally Posted by ixtab

The only patch that I personally consider to be vital is the hyphenation one.

It is, indeed, together with the margin patch, IMHO.

Consider also the Hyphenate This! plugin for calibre. It's not elegant and works only for AZW3 but it does not need any patch. I consider it complementary to your patch.