Quote:
Originally Posted by irreld
Sorry for not being able to test. My only PW2 is for daily use and I havent got a serial port connection.
But I am wondering is this a kind of rescue pack? And are there any mechanisms(like signing) to prevent the custom factory bin?
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PW-2 is not on the list of available initial updates.
No, it is what it says it is, the initial factory firmware install.
No, drop in root of USB storage, and re-boot it.
The following is (expert) speculation:
From the evidence available, it seems the Kindles are manufactured with only the 'diags' operating system installed.
That copy of u-boot, kernel, and file system would have been programmed while the memory chips where still on the tape reel -
before being soldered to the board.
(the 'programmed while on the tape reel' is not speculation - that is how high volume devices are built).
The production of the devices up to the 'ready to box' stage is most likely fairly slow -
Say maybe only 10,000 per week.
At which point they would be stockpiled in that state.
Now to go from 'ready to box' to 'ready to ship' only requires:
lift Kindle from box -
insert into jig (with a USB connection) -
push 'go' button on jig -
the update_initial.bin file is transferred and the kindle rebooted -
while that is happening, the same person is doing the same to twenty other jigs -
now back to that original Kindle -
if it is showing the initial 'plug me in' screen - ship it
if not - toss in recycle bin.
Now that step can be done much, much faster than 10,000 a week by a bunch of people who want a 1 week factory job away from the rice fields.
THAT is how to meet the extremely high demand the first day/week/month of a new product's release without having the huge cost of a lot of vast production facilities sitting idle for the other 11 months or 51 weeks or 365 days (this is leap year).
I.E: You only need the 'raw material' -> 'ready to box' able to meet the average demand over a year's time.
And only the 'ready to box' -> 'ship it' stage needing the ability to run at the initial demand rate.
Also, that last step can be done by vast armies of people with mud still between their toes and only getting paid $1.50 + one bowl of rice (lunch) for a 16 hour work day.
Keep in mind that those "$1.50 + one bowl of rice" jobs for a day's work is much, much more than you can earn in the rice fields.
Even with tightly controlled press, news of riots at the factory hiring door over those "high paying" jobs have shown up in the press.
It is the way that part of the world works (pun intended).
= = = = =
Potential scoffers:
That is more than a family could earn during the Great Depression in the USA.
Read (or watch) :
"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck.
There are people still alive who lived through those times, ask anyone in their 80's or 90's.