K5 FW 5.x ScreenSavers Hack

[NiLuJe]

@yecam: Yep, pinfo_header was added per user request (hence the lack of clear documentation) to specifically customize the string prepended to the personal info (i.e., the exact string that threw you: "If found, please contact: " ).

[Ruskie_it]

Hello there, I have just recently updated my PW2 firmware to latest version (5.6.1.0.6), and since I have done that I have noticed a SS hack malfunctioning that extremely rarely happened before, maybe once or twice since when I bought the pw. Now it has already happened twice in three days.
SS hack 0.21 has been correctly reinstalled after the fw update, and "usually" works in cover mode: when I put the kindle in standby, the last valid cover gets displayed. Lately, I can't say following which exact course of action, what happens is that when the kindle goes in standby, the latest "screenshots" gets displayed - yeah, like if the "last" option had been chosen.
This happens each time the kindle goes standby, until I reboot the kindle completely. Yet, if I use KUAL ss tools to preview current ss, the correct cover gets displayed, so it seems the "setting" is still correct.
I have the impression that it happens when I switch a few books, and read some of them very briefly, but I am not sure about that.
Any idea?

[Akirainblack]

Are you "safely ejecting" the kindle after plugging it into a PC?
That is exactly what I have experienced if the eject is not done properly.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by Akirainblack

Are you "safely ejecting" the kindle after plugging it into a PC?
That is exactly what I have experienced if the eject is not done properly.

Uh. No. I NEVER do that, since "safe eject" is not needed since... at least Windows Xp I think, since when usb interface become fast enough that smaller usb storing device do not need buffers anymore.

You might have nailed it at first attempt... Though I am now extremely curious to understand why not safely ejecting the Kindle panics the ss hack...

[Ruskie_it]

Hmmmm.. I have made some tests unplugging the Kindle without safe ejecting it first... both with Calibre loaded and showing the Kindle mounted, and without it. But no, the correct cover still shows up as a screensaver after the ejection...
It may be what you supposed, still, 'cause as far as I remember I actually had connected the kindle to the pc both time when the problem appeared... but I haven't been able to reproduce it so far.

[NiLuJe]

@Ruskie_it: Beg to differ, you really *should* unmount && eject properly, the USB stack is notably crappy on those devices (well, it's much, much better on the PW2 to be fair), and FAT32 is terrible.

But that's a sidebar, and mostly irrelevant here, although volumd is known to have weird interactions with the boot process that do affect the hack, but it's mostly limited to the "don't boot while plugged in" thing .

To get back to the issue at hand, even your 'extremely rarely' should be have been a never. The symptoms you describe happen when the framework is fed a broken file; which should *never* happen in cover mode, since we're generating them ourselves; and the final 'activation' copy should be atomic, and in a ramfs.
Unfortunately, when that happens, the framework gives up completely until it's restarted, so that sucks.

You could try to pinpoint if it happens with a specific book? When you mention switching books, that shouldn't matter much, except if those are new (queue of images to crunch, hogging the CPU), but even then, at worst you should see the *previous* cover, not a broken one. (Keep in mind that for the 'very briefly' to have an impact here, that's a real very briefly, i.e., something between the 5~15s range).

That, or there might have been subtle changes in how the framework reacts when its only image in the pool is silently modified (which works in a completley different and slightly broken way on legacy FW, for instance, so, who knows). Not running FW 5.6.1 here, but I've never heard of this happening in cover mode, and have never seen it happen myself on previous FW :/.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@Ruskie_it: Beg to differ, you really *should* unmount && eject properly, the USB stack is notably crappy on those devices (well, it's much, much better on the PW2 to be fair), and FAT32 is terrible.

Yeah well, I tend to forget that this is not just an usb stick but there is another computer at the other end of the cable...

To get back to the issue at hand, even your 'extremely rarely' should be have been a never.

Yeah well, I recall it had happened once or twice months and months ago, but it was occasionally. I did not bother at the time, but it was for sure older version of both the hack, the jb, the firmware... so who knows what happened.

You could try to pinpoint if it happens with a specific book? When you mention switching books, that shouldn't matter much, except if those are new (queue of images to crunch, hogging the CPU), but even then, at worst you should see the *previous* cover, not a broken one. (Keep in mind that for the 'very briefly' to have an impact here, that's a real very briefly, i.e., something between the 5~15s range).

Well, it happened on a period of two days, so the book I was reading were no more than two (probably only one), but the cover is "sane" - otherwise it would never work, and it does usually. However that is one. And what I briefly read where a couple of other books. Yes, very briefly is below 15s range I know.. but in that case I would expect the old cover to show up... And to work ok once I get to the "old" book.

Anyway, now I recall that at least in one occasion, I tested-read an azw converted from a pdf file (which appeared formatted very badly in azw as it was a kids book full of images)... maybe in that case the framework got panicked by a weird cover and gave up even if I lately switched back to the previous book (and cover)?

That, or they might have been subtle changes in how the framework reacts when its only image in the pool is silently modified (which works in a completley different and slightly broken way on legacy FW, for instance, so, who knows). Not running FW 5.6.1 here, but I've never heard of this happening in cover mode, and have never seen it happen myself on previous FW :/.

Hmmm... I don't think that's the case, I am more for the bad "new" cover that crashes the framework. Let me know if there is something I can produce in case the problem happens again to help you sort this out.
Not a major problem anyway. A restart doesn't kill me.

[NiLuJe]

If that's not already the case, try the latest snapshot, I might have slipped a FW 5.6.1 fix in there and forgot about it ^^.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

If that's not already the case, try the latest snapshot, I might have slipped a FW 5.6.1 fix in there and forgot about it ^^.

Ok I will, however not being able to consistently reproduce the bug, that will only help me fixing the problem, not you identifying it.

[HannahChimes]

I am consistently getting one of two problems:
I'm using custom screensavers, but I see nothing but the last screen (not even an overlay)
or I get the default Amazon screensavers, despite the fact thayt I actually wrote over the backups.
I'm on FW 5.4.4.2
Any ideas on how to fix this?
(reinstalling didn't work, I'm thinking of manually deleting all the files related to the hack and installing fresh like that).

[NiLuJe]

@HannahChimes: You have a broken file in your pool of images (that's the cause of the 'transparent' screensaver).

And you possibly mangled the linkss folder by playing with the backups, which are just that, backups, they play no part in what's ever shown as a screensaver. (And yeah, reinstalling from scratch might be a good idea, there's a switch to flip in KUAL for the uninstall to kill the linkss folder during uninstall, or you can do it manually after the fact).

[HannahChimes]

Okay, so I'm currently updating, and I just wanted to point this out:
I'm running FW 5.4.4.2 on a PW2, but the PW2 version of the installer doesn't work; the PW1 installer does.

PS: The reason I messed w/ the backups is because it USED to work.
Replacing the backups with my screensavers solved my previous problem when used in parallel with vlasosoft's screensaver hack.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by HannahChimes

I'm running FW 5.4.4.2 on a PW2, but the PW2 version of the installer doesn't work; the PW1 installer does.

You know this can't be right, don't you?
Since the PW2 installer has worked on every PW2 it has been used on, and PW1 doesn't (well I don't really know what it does on a PW2), it's quite impossible that it is going the other way around for you...

[HannahChimes]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

You know this can't be right, don't you?
Since the PW2 installer has worked on every PW2 it has been used on, and PW1 doesn't (well I don't really know what it does on a PW2), it's quite impossible that it is going the other way around for you...

Well it is...
Although I'm getting progressively more certain my grandma didn't actually buy it from Amazon...
I've had LOTS of hardware issues, weird crashes, etc...
Maybe she got it from a third party, who covered a PW1's hardware in a PW2 case, so they could get more money.

[NiLuJe]

@HannahChimes: The answer to your suspicions is in your question .

5.4.4.2 was a PW1-only FW.