Kindle 1 Font Mod Tool v0.1

[lovebeta]

This tool helps you to modify the fonts Kindle 1 used to render the ebooks. It is especially useful if you want to use Kindle 1 to read books in non-european languages, such as Chinese. This mod is applicable to Kindle 1 firmware 1.2 only. (I actually don't know how to do it in firmware 1.0.8 or lower.) This mod, however, does not apply to the NetFront browser.

DISCLAIMER: The author makes no guarantees and holds no responsibility for any damage, injury or loss of property that may result from the use of this mod! PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

USAGE:
1. Make sure that you have firmware 1.2 for your Kindle 1.

2. Unzip the enclosed package to the root of your SD card. That is, "update_font_mod.v1.bin" and "\custom" should be in the root directory.

3. Put the SD card into your Kindle 1. Navigate the menu: "Home" -> "Settings" -> "Menu" -> "Update your Kindle" -> "OK".

4. Wait for the update to complete. Kindle should automatically reboot and you will be done after that.

CAVEATS:

1. Due to the usage of symlink, you will loose the usb access to your Kindle memory. You can however still access that space using Kindle itself.

2. There appears be a bug in the java mobipocket reader, that it cannot correctly make line breaks in CJK (because they don't have spaces between words). The link breaks were only correct for the smallest font size. This however can be somewhat remedied by inserting non-visible blank spaces between CJK characters.

RESTORE:

1. If the Kindle can still boot into the normal screen, use the enclosed "update_font_restore.v1.bin" to restore to the factory setting.

2. If the Kindle cannot boot normally, pinch the reset hole on the back of your Kindle while hold down the "home" key. When the Kindle boots into the recovery mode, select 2 to "reset firmware". You will be back to factory setting this way, but you will also loose everything on the kindle memory.

Overall I think because of the second restore methods, this mod is fairly safe.

CUSTOMIZE:

The included \custom folder is just for illustation purpose. Currently I only changed the default serif font to "DroidSansFallback" because DroidSansFallback contains fairly complete unicode characters and is free. Feel free to modify it to your needs. Remember that you have to bring your own font, as well as modify "font.properties" for this to work.

ACKNOWEDGEMENT:

Special thanks to igor for his great effort on ebook hacking. I also took cues from similar hacks for the K2 by clarknova and superzhou.

[unrequited]

Wow, that's a wonderful piece of code... any luck throwing it against K2 yet? If character sets can be changed, can actual fonts be changed as well?

[lovebeta]

Originally Posted by unrequited

Wow, that's a wonderful piece of code... any luck throwing it against K2 yet? If character sets can be changed, can actual fonts be changed as well?

Please don't use it with K2. I don't currently have a K2 with me so I cannot debug and release a universal font mod.

It is actually easier to mod K2 because the filesystem is rewritable and has much larger (80+ mb) free space. Also it appears that there's no "line break" bugs in K2's mobireader. But for K1 you have the firmware reset option, so it is much safer to mess with K1.

[Blog Kindle]

Great piece of work.
Too bad I have K2 rather than K1.
I'm working on K2 font hack myself.

[tsgreer]

Wow, thank you so much for this! I finally was able to change the font on my Kindle 1--I hated the default font that came with my Kindle 1.

Now I'll go back to reading it (I had switch my alliances over to my OpenInkpot enhanced BeBook because I could load my own fonts).

I did make a minor change though; I replaced your font with "DroidSerifRegular"--I like serif fonts better.

Worked like a charm and now my kindle has a much better font. Yay!! You rock! I've been wanting to find a non-programming, non-PC way to do this. Thank you, thank you!

[AntoineBruguier]

Hello,

Thanks for all you good work. It does however mess up some French (and Spanish characters), such as in "Français" or "España." The Chinese characters are fine.

(I am using a Kindle 1 with firwmare 1.2).

[FooSoft]

Thanks for the hack - being able to study Japanese on my Kindle is huge for me.

[AnnLakh]

where could I get droid sans fallback font? Or, how can one modify font.properties to change the font to, for example, Times New Roman?

Thanks in advance

[vho3000]

Anyone has Kindle firmware update 1.2 and send me a link for the download to vho8000@gmail.com. Thanks.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by vho3000

Anyone has Kindle firmware update 1.2 and send me a link for the download to vho8000@gmail.com. Thanks.

The instructions with a download link can be found on Amazon here.

[artstep]

When I press OK to update I get this message: code U006. And then Kindle loads main menu and fonts are the same.
I copied bin file via USB instead of via SD card. Does this matter?

[vho3000]

Originally Posted by lovebeta

This tool helps you to modify the fonts Kindle 1 used to render the ebooks. It is especially useful if you want to use Kindle 1 to read books in non-european languages, such as Chinese. This mod is applicable to Kindle 1 firmware 1.2 only. (I actually don't know how to do it in firmware 1.0.8 or lower.) This mod, however, does not apply to the NetFront browser.

DISCLAIMER: The author makes no guarantees and holds no responsibility for any damage, injury or loss of property that may result from the use of this mod! PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

USAGE:
1. Make sure that you have firmware 1.2 for your Kindle 1.

2. Unzip the enclosed package to the root of your SD card. That is, "update_font_mod.v1.bin" and "\custom" should be in the root directory.

3. Put the SD card into your Kindle 1. Navigate the menu: "Home" -> "Settings" -> "Menu" -> "Update your Kindle" -> "OK".

4. Wait for the update to complete. Kindle should automatically reboot and you will be done after that.

CAVEATS:

1. Due to the usage of symlink, you will loose the usb access to your Kindle memory. You can however still access that space using Kindle itself.

2. There appears be a bug in the java mobipocket reader, that it cannot correctly make line breaks in CJK (because they don't have spaces between words). The link breaks were only correct for the smallest font size. This however can be somewhat remedied by inserting non-visible blank spaces between CJK characters.

RESTORE:

1. If the Kindle can still boot into the normal screen, use the enclosed "update_font_restore.v1.bin" to restore to the factory setting.

2. If the Kindle cannot boot normally, pinch the reset hole on the back of your Kindle while hold down the "home" key. When the Kindle boots into the recovery mode, select 2 to "reset firmware". You will be back to factory setting this way, but you will also loose everything on the kindle memory.

Overall I think because of the second restore methods, this mod is fairly safe.

CUSTOMIZE:

The included \custom folder is just for illustation purpose. Currently I only changed the default serif font to "DroidSansFallback" because DroidSansFallback contains fairly complete unicode characters and is free. Feel free to modify it to your needs. Remember that you have to bring your own font, as well as modify "font.properties" for this to work.

ACKNOWEDGEMENT:

Special thanks to igor for his great effort on ebook hacking. I also took cues from similar hacks for the K2 by clarknova and superzhou.

Please let us know how we can change font properties to Chinese font with more complete character set.

[vho3000]

I have the same font name for everyone to use. It is from Microsoft, very reliable display containing most common chinese characters. Its display of english characters is also good. That is difficult to find. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by lovebeta

This tool helps you to modify the fonts Kindle 1 used to render the ebooks. It is especially useful if you want to use Kindle 1 to read books in non-european languages, such as Chinese. This mod is applicable to Kindle 1 firmware 1.2 only. (I actually don't know how to do it in firmware 1.0.8 or lower.) This mod, however, does not apply to the NetFront browser.

DISCLAIMER: The author makes no guarantees and holds no responsibility for any damage, injury or loss of property that may result from the use of this mod! PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

USAGE:
1. Make sure that you have firmware 1.2 for your Kindle 1.

2. Unzip the enclosed package to the root of your SD card. That is, "update_font_mod.v1.bin" and "\custom" should be in the root directory.

3. Put the SD card into your Kindle 1. Navigate the menu: "Home" -> "Settings" -> "Menu" -> "Update your Kindle" -> "OK".

4. Wait for the update to complete. Kindle should automatically reboot and you will be done after that.

CAVEATS:

1. Due to the usage of symlink, you will loose the usb access to your Kindle memory. You can however still access that space using Kindle itself.

2. There appears be a bug in the java mobipocket reader, that it cannot correctly make line breaks in CJK (because they don't have spaces between words). The link breaks were only correct for the smallest font size. This however can be somewhat remedied by inserting non-visible blank spaces between CJK characters.

RESTORE:

1. If the Kindle can still boot into the normal screen, use the enclosed "update_font_restore.v1.bin" to restore to the factory setting.

2. If the Kindle cannot boot normally, pinch the reset hole on the back of your Kindle while hold down the "home" key. When the Kindle boots into the recovery mode, select 2 to "reset firmware". You will be back to factory setting this way, but you will also loose everything on the kindle memory.

Overall I think because of the second restore methods, this mod is fairly safe.

CUSTOMIZE:

The included \custom folder is just for illustation purpose. Currently I only changed the default serif font to "DroidSansFallback" because DroidSansFallback contains fairly complete unicode characters and is free. Feel free to modify it to your needs. Remember that you have to bring your own font, as well as modify "font.properties" for this to work.

ACKNOWEDGEMENT:

Special thanks to igor for his great effort on ebook hacking. I also took cues from similar hacks for the K2 by clarknova and superzhou.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by vho3000

It is from Microsoft, very reliable display containing most common chinese characters.

Droid is a nice font, but was designed for Android (not from MicroSoft), see the Wikipedia.

[haoafu]

Where's the /custom folder? I see the 2 attachements but not the /custom foler anywhere. Where can I find it?

Thanks!