Kindle Touch and PuTTy

[qrafzv]

I connected PuTTy to my Kindle Touch (v5.10) and am ready to type in some commands with your help please.
If anyone is confident about a safe command for any of the following please contribute.

1) To rename the browser (a convinient way of disabling web browsing)
2) To rename the store browser.
3) Convert the kindle from KSO to ad-free (after extracting the AdToggle extention it was still not showing up in the launcher GUI. I dont know why)
4) Disable/ruin the abbility to use wifi (beyond kindle's "turn of wireless" option)

Please reply to any you know.
Thanks a million folks!

[knc1]

Originally Posted by qrafzv

I connected PuTTy to my Kindle Touch (v5.10) and am ready to type in some commands with your help please.
If anyone is confident about a safe command for any of the following please contribute.

1) To rename the browser (a convinient way of disabling web browsing)
2) To rename the store browser.
3) Convert the kindle from KSO to ad-free (after extracting the AdToggle extention it was still not showing up in the launcher GUI. I dont know why)
4) Disable/ruin the abbility to use wifi (beyond kindle's "turn of wireless" option)

Please reply to any you know.
Thanks a million folks!

And what will you have left after you do all of that?
Please state your goal/objective -
There is probably an easier, more reasonable way to reach it.

[qrafzv]

I dont want my son to browse the internet alone. nor to download books.
hence goal numbers 1 2 and 4. (although i might want it to have wifi and be associated with an account enabling me to send documents to the kindle's email address.)
The kindle will then serve exactly the function i baught it for: reading PDF books of which i have over 10GB on my computer.

And goal 3 of removing ads needs not be explained.

So can anyone please provide any of the commands to achive the 4 goals mentioned in the first post. Thanks!

[qrafzv]

I dont want my son to browse the internet alone. nor to download books.
hence goal numbers 1 2 and 4. (although i might want it to have wifi and be associated with an account enabling me to send documents to the kindle's email address.)
The kindle will then serve exactly the function i baught it for: reading PDF books of which i have over 10GB on my computer.

And goal 3 of removing ads needs not be explained.

So can anyone please provide any of the commands to achive the 4 goals mentioned in the first post. Thanks!

[qrafzv]

Sorry about the error or the duplicate post. can a modirator please remove the duplicate. thanks

[knc1]

Originally Posted by qrafzv

Sorry about the error or the duplicate post. can a modirator please remove the duplicate. thanks

You can edit one of the posts down to five characters (the name of a smily will do).

Thanks for the explaination, seems reasonable and I think I have read other people asking about doing the same or similar function limiting.

If the use of Wifi was put under password control, then it would not matter if the browser was disabled or not - no way to connect off-kindle, nothing to browse.
Not quite sure how to make that happen, but the principle remains.

Or -
You didn't mention how technically savy your son is.
What are the chances that he could undo anything you tried to do?
Maybe he could be giving us all lessons.

[geekmaster]

The kindles were not designed as secure devices, or even as multi-user devices. What you want would require some significant hacks to achieve. The simplest way would be to rename the files or links to them to break the apps that you want to prevent from running, but that could have side effects. One problem is that it may cause an OTA (automatic Over The Air) update to fail, possibly even bricking your kindle. Another is that an update may restore missing files, re-enabling stuff that you disabled.

Using a wifi password could prevent connecting to YOUR wifi network when you go into settings and tell the kindle to "forget" the connection. But if a neighbor has an open access point, the kindle could be connected their.

Children these days are often a lot more technically competent than we give them credit for, having grown up with technology as part of their environment and part of their language.

The kindle security locks down the entire device completely if you give it a password, and supplying the password to "log in" enables all the functionality.

If your kindle is registered, others who have access to it can buy stuff from the kindle store. You need to control WHO has access to it, OR lock it with a password.

[qrafzv]

Could anyone please answer the first question and provide the appropriate codes to accomplish the goals mentioned in the first post.
Thanks guys

[geekmaster]

If you rename the browser, an OTA update could just replace it. Even if you had a place holder file, it could get replaced. But it is more likely that an update would just brick your kindle. It is NOT safe to make changes like that to the root partition.

It would be possible to install a custom hack using ixtab's jbpatcher, that disables the wifi option from the menu, so that you cannot turn wireless on. But if you have a special offers kindle, just clicking an ad will turn wireless on again.

I do not see anywhere in your posts that you say whether or not you have Special Offers. This is information we need, to decide all the ways of preventing wireless from being enabled.

Requesting custom features like this usually requires you to invest the time needed to learn how to DIY, or to invest the money to hire somebody to do it for you, or ask for somebody else to do your custom work for you for free (hopefully in a more pleasant and convincing manner).

Regarding your request to "provide the appropriate codes to accomplish the goals mentioned", I think you may find the answer to that one here: http://mattgemmell.com/2008/12/08/what-have-you-tried/

[knc1]

Originally Posted by qrafzv

I connected PuTTy to my Kindle Touch (v5.10) and am ready to type in some commands with your help please.
If anyone is confident about a safe command for any of the following please contribute.

1) To rename the browser (a convinient way of disabling web browsing)
2) To rename the store browser.
3) Convert the kindle from KSO to ad-free (after extracting the AdToggle extention it was still not showing up in the launcher GUI. I dont know why)
4) Disable/ruin the abbility to use wifi (beyond kindle's "turn of wireless" option)

Please reply to any you know.
Thanks a million folks!

1) not required if no network access
2) not required if no network access
3) Your Amazon account panel, or call customer service
4) Remove or disconnect the wifi device.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

1) not required if no network access
2) not required if no network access
3) Your Amazon account panel, or call customer service
4) Remove or disconnect the wifi device.

I notice in your quote that there was a KSO conversion step I missed, which answers my question about SO. That means it would be more difficult to disable wireless.

Trying to lock a kid out just raises a challenge. Much better to teach the kid, trust the kid (to a point), and monitor the kid. Perhaps with a reward for good behavoir.

Like I said previously, kids raised with technology learn it as part of their native language skills. They may know more than you give them credit for (and if not, the can easily learn it, especially if you challenge them with things like renamed files).

You can prevent the browser from having net access in your router, but that does not prevent connecting to a neighbor's open router. You can rename the browser, but that does not prevent an update from replacing your hack, or your kid from using a different browser.

[geekmaster]

@knc1: Are you starting an "Annoying Animated Avatar" contest?
Here is my entry:

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

@knc1: Are you starting an "Annoying Animated Avatar" contest?
Here is my entry:

I hadn't thought of it, but maybe . . . .

I am tired of looking at the current one in less than a day...
And it was the best of a collection I stumbled on.
Will do something about it tomorrow.

Have been reviewing the world's collection of "Tux" -
See the graphic I did on my http://OpenPlayer.org, where the subject is Media Players?
I am looking for inspiration enough to do something similar for KnetConnect (e-book readers).

[bhaak]

I think if your children are tech savvy enough to use the wi-fi or usbnet connections to ssh into your kindle and revert the changes you've done to get on the internet, they probably already know how to do it on every other computer in your household and you should probably encourage them to use their super powers for good and show them some open source projects where they can bring in their talents.

Most "digital natives" (I really don't like that term) aren't really that much better with technical stuff but they just use computers more naturally and just because of that know more about it than their parents who also don't often are able to spend as much time on it as kids are.

Anyway, what about using the builtin firewall capabilities of Linux for preventing internet access?

If we look at /etc/upstart/network.conf (jailbroken firmware 5.0.4) we see that on network startup, iptables reads a file with firewall rules: /etc/sysconfig/iptables

Adding some rules before the COMMIT line /etc/sysconfig/iptables should do the trick.

Spoiler:

# ICMP. Allow only responses to local connections
-A INPUT -p icmp -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

# outgoing only allowing private IPs
-A OUTPUT -d 192.168.0.0/16 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -d 172.16.0.0/12 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -d 10.0.0.0/8 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -j DROP

COMMIT

[hawhill]

iptables is probably a good option here, yes. The rules are slightly wrong, though. First, the "ACCEPT" lines would never match since the "-j" jump to the DROP target is a final action. The DROP target should be jumped to after checking the more specific ACCEPT rules.

And then if they would match - it's very probable that the Kindle's wlan0 interface will have a local IP, so all outgoing connections would be allowed (-s is the "source" IP switch). You probably meant to allow connections _to_ the local network, which would be the "-d" flag instead of the "-s" flag. Although I can't really see why even local connections should be allowed. The DROP line would be sufficient.