downgrading a PW1: best old firmware?

[cryptocoryne]

I am wondering if there is REAL changelog for kindle firmwares? (i.e. not the usual vague nonsense about "enchanced stability and security" and the sun will shine out your butt after this upgrade.)

Seriously, though, does anything get fixed/improved from 5.3.3 to 5.6.1.1 or are all the "updates" just Amazon monkeywrenching jailbreaks?

Is there any reason not to downgrade to, say, 5.4.4.2 for jailbreaking? Or is that already too new for it to work?

If I stay at 5.3.3, do I lose any wonderful improvements in 5.6.1.1? (I just downgraded and things seem fine enough. Is there any reason to upgrade? I know that CollectionsManager will break....)

I'm a longtime Nintendo handheld fan and have learned the hard way that the big N pretty much doesn't update anything except their nefarious countermeasures to lock out CFW/Homebrew, so I don't expect much better, uh, support from Amazon.

[shamanNS]

The is no changelog. We have to rely on memories of long term Kindle owners.
I just recall that couple of significant things happened when PW1 got updated from fw 5.3.9 to 5.4.x:

what you've lost going from 5.3.9 to newer= ability to just dump custom font files and have them appear in Aa menu (no hacks & jailbreak needed... even though you needed jailbreak if you wanted to hide from Aa menu bunch of Asian built in fonts that appeared when you start using custom fonts)/

Kindle Touch and Kindle Paperwhite 1st gen are (where ? since PW1 no longer has that) the only Kindle devices on firmware 5.x.x branch.

what you've gained with first 5.4.x build = those fancy pop-up footnotes. I think Goodreads integration was introduced at the same time. Not sure about timeline of introducing "Cloud collection" feature (that broke the ability to have nested collections when using Collection Manager) and when did Amazon introduce this "swype up from bottom" that shows the interface for "skimming pages" without loosing you currently reading page (the whole slider at the bottom with button that skip chapter forward of backwards). With firmware 5.4.x PW1 got the rest of the features that first appeared on then-new PW2: Vocabulary Builder and Kindle FreeTime.

A for fw 5.6.1.1 the only thing I can recall now is that it introduced that hidden feature of using "FONT_RAMP" file to re-map/re-define font sizes of those 8 options in Aa menu. And somewhere between first 5.4.x build an that latest/last 5.6.1.1 PW1 got that "Family library" sharing feature.


Al in all, if you don't want/need to use a particular hacks or/and app or feature (like you really really want nested collections) I see no reason not to "downgrade to jailbreak" and then post-jailbreak return to fw 5.6.1.1.


p.s. IIRC you will not be able to connect to Amazon's servers (to download archived PDOCs, purchased books, or browse the Kindle Store on you Kindle & buy books).

[knc1]

do I lose any wonderful improvements in 5.6.1.1?

You lose network connectivity with anything that requires TLS protocol (which is nearly anything at all these days).
If you can live without Internet connectivity ...

[cryptocoryne]

Originally Posted by knc1

You lose network connectivity with anything that requires TLS protocol (which is nearly anything at all these days).
If you can live without Internet connectivity ...

Actually, I think I already do live without it on my ereaders and video games. I've been hoardin' and convertin' my eBooks since the days of the Palm III. Something that guy said in MIB about rebuying The White Album still rankles.