Kindle PW1 project

[mishaparem]

Hello Kindlers,

I just bought a used PW1, unfortunately the firmware is on 5.6.x, so I think I have to use the serial port to root and jailbreak it. In my pursuit of doing that, I opened up the PW1, and found that it's pretty empty inside. While I was trying to figure out how exactly to solder in a serial connection, I grabbed some parts from my stockpile of old android phones, and put this together:

Picture attached to post as a file

It's the Kindle PW1 in the background, replaced the stock kindle 3.7V 1420mAh battery with a Samsung SCH-i515 Galaxy Nexus 3.7V 1850 mAh battery with an integrated wireless charging circuit, and put in the motherboard and camera from an old Motorola MB810 Droid. To my amazement, it all fit within length and width dimensions of the Kindle PW1. There are still a few accessories from the Droid left to place in the arrangement, and I have to work out the wiring on the battery and charging circuit(s), maybe I'll have to add an additional battery, and just keep them separate, but there's plenty of space for all of that. If I mill down the metal structure in the Kindle, then the kindle will get a little thicker, but it will still be thinner than some of my 7in tablets, and it will have a battery life time longer than any of them, and more capabilities than a stock Kindle after I'm done jailbreaking it, and hooking it to the android via VNC.

I think I just found my ultimate travel companion....

Edit: I may have posted a little too soon, I first need to verify if the droid will run without the screen.

[knc1]

Yup, you posted too early, should have verified a few of your own claims first.

Physical fit is the easy part of such a project.

"longer battery life than any of them" - No, sorry, will not happen - the PW1 has less than a three hour run-time on the standard battery, driving the standard hardware.

"have to work out the the wiring on the battery and charging circuits" - That one will be fun, since the Amazon charging circuit is an external chip, controlled by proprietary firmware.

"if I mill down the metal structure in the Kindle" - You had better think about why it is there before you do that (unless you love buying replacements for a cracked e-ink screen).
Hint: Thou shall not flex the e-ink screen in the tiniest amount.

Plus - you should read the forum guidelines about photo sizes allowed.

[HarryT]

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Thanks.

[mishaparem]

Yeah KNC, you're right, I have a tendency to get excited about such things fast =).

I bought the PW1 for the sole reason of prototyping an eink device. I found quite a few eink screens out there, (including apparently one that's capable of showing colors?) so the long term plan is to buy one of those screens, and hook it up directly to a system on board (SOB), and have an eink tablet capable for my developing/ sys admin needs (terminal and browser, with some occasional UI stuff), with music to make me happy. The only thing is, the first 10in eink screen (with a driver) I found was $300-$400. I'm sure there are cheaper ones, but still, this PW1 was cheap, if this project doesn't work, I'll just put it back together into its original form, and see what I can do with it as is.

P.S. The PW1 screen is 2.5mm thick because of the backlight, unless you're intentionally trying to bend the screen, it would be rather difficult to break the screen. Case in point: the 10in screen on my netbook is 3.5 mm thick, I took it out, dropped it a couple times accidentally while it had absolutely no bevel on it, and it didn't crack.

[knc1]

$300 to $400 is about right for a 10inch e-ink display.
Just check the prices of a used DX or DXG (9inch) device.

Case in point about how fragile e-ink is - you'll learn.