Kindle 4th gen non-touch - hacking

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Ceuse

any progress on a touch like jailbreak yet? seems like it is kinda forgotten by the devs

The original K4 and Touch jailbreak threads were getting confusing due to containing information for two devices that turned out to be very different inside. The old K4/Touch jailbreak thread split off into two new threads (specific to the kindle model) for Jailbreak and hack developments.

The Kindle 4 is not being neglected. Progress may seem slow because developer time is being split between multiple new devices. In the threads, the "jailbreak" as such is often called "developer mode". A fully automatic jailbreak was deemed not necessary yet due to the fairly simple set of instructions to do this manually (and many developers have done this to their kindles). When there are sufficient new hacks ready for the general public, the need for a one-step jailbreak will become more important. Most existing hacks will should on the K4 with minor modification by the developers, and will need to be signed for the K4 and a K4 version added to the hack packages.

Here are some threads on hack status of Kindle 4 non touch (a/k/a K4 or K4NT):

Kindle 4 (no touch) GUI Localization
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=160796

K4 and Touch framebuffer changes
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=161419

Kindle 4th gen non-touch - hacking (this thread)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=1887236


And here are some threads showing hack status of Kindle Touch (a/k/a KT or K5):

GUI Launcher for Kindle Touch
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=161263

Extended Linux Functionality - GUI Launcher Kindle Touch:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=161704

There is more stuff in development, but not ready for the general public. The latest (not ready for prime time) information can be had by following the IRC channel. Please do not install unfininished (alpha) hacks unless you know how to repair your own kindle. The developers are busy developing. Thanks.

[Tr0n]

Originally Posted by EightWeight

I've had ssh via wifi up and running with my K4 non-touch SO for a few days. I was able to change the root password with passwd to something easy to remember. scp works just fine now that I've figured out the syntax, but I'd really like to get sshfs working so I can just mount it on my Desktop and move files with Nautilus. The problem is it won't accept a password. I think it needs public/private key negotiation. I've generated the keys but don't know where to put the public key on the kindle.

So EightWeight, What files have you messed with to get SCP working? I have attempted to connect to it via a simple client like Cyberduck or YummyFTP on mac using SSH with no luck. Im just now starting over with a fresh install on my Kindle to hash this out. Let me know.

[Tr0n]

Sweet, I got it working. SSH w/ SCP. I will post a guide in a bit. Might be able to get it to update with a .bin for you folks with the jailbreak. So much better than loading them via USB.

[mrbob]

Originally Posted by Tr0n

So EightWeight, What files have you messed with to get SCP working? I have attempted to connect to it via a simple client like Cyberduck or YummyFTP on mac using SSH with no luck. Im just now starting over with a fresh install on my Kindle to hash this out. Let me know.

sh: /usr/libexec/sftp-server: not found

As I said in the other thread, it is not strictly necessary to have SFTP installed on the device to get SCP access to the Kindle.

To transfer files to/from the Kindle using SCP (without installing SFTP binaries):

• Windows - Use WinSCP, but be sure to set the connection protocol to SCP. By default it uses SFTP which will not work in this case..
• Linux / Mac - Use the 'scp' command line tool, or if you need a GUI you can also run WinSCP under Wine.

Unfortunately sshfs needs SFTP - so if you want to mount the kindle in Linux as a sshfs volume (or do something similar) then you will need to install sftp-server on the device...

[EightWeight]

Originally Posted by dionoea

They're usually put in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys server side. Google "ssh authorized_keys" for more information. I'm not sure that it'll work on the kindle as I haven't tried it yet but I don't see why it shouldn't (unless the ssh binary was compiled without key support)

I spent more time than I should have trying this out every way 'til Sunday. No dice. First of all /root is in a tmp folder (/var/tmp/root) so anything you put there is volatile. I created /root on / and put /.ssh/authorized_keys there but sshfs didn't try to use it.

sftp doesn't work because it's not installed and the hack to put it in /usr/libexec won't work because there's no /usr/libexec directory on the K4.

[dionoea]

Originally Posted by EightWeight

I spent more time than I should have trying this out every way 'til Sunday. No dice. First of all /root is in a tmp folder (/var/tmp/root) so anything you put there is volatile. I created /root on / and put /.ssh/authorized_keys there but sshfs didn't try to use it.

~ refers to the home directory (there is no automatic fallback to /root). So they would need to be in /var/tmp/root. You could add an init script which copies the keys there at boot. Or you could edit /etc/passwd to put root's home directory somewhere else. I'm sure that people have already tried similar stuff on the older kindles.

sftp doesn't work because it's not installed and the hack to put it in /usr/libexec won't work because there's no /usr/libexec directory on the K4.

About sftp I would just check what mrbob said.

[EightWeight]

Oh man, this is SOOOOOO Cool!! I got sshfs wifi to work on my K4 so I can mount it on my desktop like a regular drive with the whole filesystem visible.

Here's how I did it:

The first step is to get ssh wifi working. Once you have that you can work on the filesystem in a terminal without using the USB cable.

Get the file at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...4&d=1285246572 and extract it somewhere.

Log into the Kindle as root. Do 'mntroot rw'.

Do 'mkdir /usr/libexec'. Copy the file you grabbed and extracted above to this new directory.

Log out and in a terminal 'sftp root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx'. Replace the x's with the Kindle's IP on your local network. Once you give it the password you should get the sftp> prompt. So far, so good. Now log out.

On your local machine create a directory to which you have permissions. I used ~/kindle.

Now try 'sshfs root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/ ~/kindle' from your terminal. This should mount the Kindle filesystem at ~/kindle and may even put an icon on your desktop. Mine does. (In the screenshot I mounted /mnt)

To unmount the Kindle you have to issue 'fusermount -u /your/mount/point'. On my system, if the Kindle has timed out (another problem that needs addressing), this may not work and it freezes the Desktop.

Another mod I did was to create a /root directory on / in the Kindle. I opened the /etc/passwd file and changed the root target to /root instead of /tmp/root. Then I created /root/.ssh/authorized_keys and set up public and private keys on host and client. I don't know if this is really necessary since I always get prompted for a password anyway. BTW, I changed root's password to something I could remember!

[kubbur]

Originally Posted by danar

Hello,

I primarily use Windows. I have written instructions to root the Kindle4 via usb networking and how to add custom screen savers. The information in the files is primarily from all the previous posts in the Kindle Touch thread. I only re-wrote the information from a Windows user perspective. Thanks must go to all of those who helped in the rooting of the Kindle.

You still need to have a basic understanding of Unix file systems and
commands.

I have attached two text files:

(1) Kindle Root Access via USB Networking.rtf
(2) Kindle Custom Screensavers via USB Networking.rtf

Dana

i did the screensaver tutorial, worked like a charm

did a little bash script that you could add into the tutorial


#!/bin/bash
mntroot rw
cd /mnt/us
mkdir /mnt/us/screensaver
mount /dev/mmcb1k0p1 /mnt/base-mmc
mv /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800 /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800.old
ln -sfn /mnt/us/screensaver /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800
echo finished

[Ceuse]

awesome idea still would love to have a do it all script like : start usb networking, install networking device. start script a: jailbreaked. start script b: adds all pictures from c:/kindlescreensavers to the newly custom created screensaver folder

possible? or just after a real jailbreak ?


(i love my kindle nt just so much i dont dare trying that winscp stuff myself)

[kubbur]

so here is an idea of a bat script, i dont know bat so im stuck


run.bat
ask user to enter serial number
detect kindle from name of connected usb devices
if not found ask user to enter driveletter
rename "DONT_HALT_ON_REPAIR" to "ENABLE_DIAGS"
install driver for usbnet
copy screensaver.sh to kindle
ask user to restart kindle
ask user to enable usbnet
detect and set custom ip to a specific network
use "input some way" to interact with the kindle terminal
login to kindle with root and mario
if login failed run
python installer and python script for password hacking
login to kindle
run screensaver.sh
tell user to restart kindle and instructions on
how to put in screensavers and such

[yifanlu]

I think we should spend time finding a real jailbreak exploit instead of trying to make the most out of this amazon hiccup.

[kubbur]

Originally Posted by yifanlu

I think we should spend time finding a real jailbreak exploit instead of trying to make the most out of this amazon hiccup.

is there something that i could do ?, i really wanna do something to help

[Tr0n]

Originally Posted by yifanlu

I think we should spend time finding a real jailbreak exploit instead of trying to make the most out of this amazon hiccup.

Sounds like a plan. Its a shame the Kindle 4 NT doesn't have a media player :/. I remember you mentioning a possible exploit with the older webkit the Kindle uses? We should start there.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Tr0n

Sounds like a plan. Its a shame the Kindle 4 NT doesn't have a media player :/. I remember you mentioning a possible exploit with the older webkit the Kindle uses? We should start there.

No speakers. No headphone jack. You need to write an audio driver to pulse-width-modulate the audio out to the power LED, then a photocell to optocouple that to your headphones or audio amplifier.

The power photocell supports multiple colors. To get stereo sound, you need to PWM two separate colors, then use color filters on a pair of photocells to recover separate audio channels.

Optical audio output only, and a *real* hack. It would be a fun project if I ever get the time.

If you choose to do this yourself, please post your results to this forum.

[yifanlu]

Tr0n was joking that it would be cool if the media play XSS exploit also works on the K4. I've mentioned before that there is an exploit for the audible player that is included with the K4 but disabled. Of course the exploit also requires more work to get working completely.