Questions about mandatory firmware update 5.6.1.1 for PW1 and 5.3.7.3 for KT1

[pirl8]

Hi everybody

I've a Kindle Paperwhite 1 (5th gen, PW1 I guess) and a Kindle Touch (4th gen, KT1?). They're both jailbroken, both with JBPatch, KUAL, and the font hack.

Today Amazon wrote me that without a firmware update I won't be able to download books anymore.

The PW1 will be likely updated to 5.6.1.1 and the KT will be updated to 5.3.7.3.

I've a few questions.

1. What's really new with these firmwares? Do they come with the new font tuning capabilities?
   
2. Will jailbreak survive the update for both? Any particular recommendation to be reasonabily sure the jailbreak will survive?
   
3. What I do really need is the margin feature of JBPatch and the font hack. Will I be able to have these features again? Even with interface set to italian?
   
4. Will the anti-update feature of KUAL avoid the update?

Thanks to anybody that will try to answer.

[eschwartz]

1. Amazon is finally updating to 21st century crypto on their website and they need to make sure all older devices can still access Amazon's servers to download books.
   It is currently unclear that applies only to the earlier non-touch devices or not. There have been sporadic patches for SSL, etc. to the K3/K4NT/K1, maybe they just want to make sure everyone is up-to-date.
   But the K2/DX(G) has reportedly downloaded a non-published update which does some stuff too.
   If you want more details, why don't you tell us what your current firmware for each device is?
   
2. The jailbreak will survive on the KT.
   For the PW1 you must make sure you are running the latest version of the jailbreak (1.13.N) and start using MrPI (MobileRead Package Installer) to install hacks.
   (But it doesn't actually hurt to update the jailbreak on your KT as well, and MrPI is just faster anyway. )
   
3. The font hack is available on the latest firmwares, but JBPatch is firmware-specific and only works on the firmwares specified in the JBPatch thread.
   It hasn't been updated for the latest firmware (Ixtab gave up on fighting each new firmware) so I can tell you right now it won't work anymore although kaznelson has a minimal margins hack for the PW and there are instructions for building it for any firmware.
   
4. KUAL + BackDoorLock should work on your current firmware, as it depends on the firmware you are running rather than the update you are trying to block.

[pirl8]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

1. [...] If you want more details, why don't you tell us what your current firmware for each device is?

Yes, sorry, I didn't wrote them in 1st post because my kindles ... where not at home!

PW1 is running firmware 5.3.4
KT1 is running firmware 5.3.2.1

So your guess is that only SSL and eventually certificates are being updated, no new bookerly font or font tuning/kerning?

Originally Posted by eschwartz

For the PW1 you must make sure you are running the latest version of the jailbreak (1.13.N) and start using MrPI (MobileRead Package Installer) to install hacks.
(But it doesn't actually hurt to update the jailbreak on your KT as well, and MrPI is just faster anyway. )

Cool! Happy to hear that.
I've seen that 1.14.N is out (and just upgraded to it).

Originally Posted by eschwartz

kaznelson has a minimal margins hack for the PW and there are instructions for building it for any firmware.

Yes, I know that patches were firmware specific, and indeed I'm running such an old firmware just because Ixtab gave up updating.
BTW a minimal margin hack is just what I need, no need to change them at runtime (actually I never modified my settings). Could you please address me to where kaznelson instructions are? Same thread as JBPatch?

Originally Posted by eschwartz

KUAL + BackDoorLock should work on your current firmware, as it depends on the firmware you are running rather than the update you are trying to block.

Well, I guess it could work since it worked till now.

[eschwartz]

Your current firmwares are covered by BackDoorLock then.


And the PW1 update does introduce Bookerly IIRC.
But you can sideload Bookerly via the font hack if you need to.

There are various UI changes etc. in the updates, which you may or may not want -- notice the major version number changed.
But as far as Amazon pushing updates in general, that is only because of the crypto enhancements.

Your reasons for avoiding the newer firmware are no more or less valid just because Amazon is pushing people to accept updates which include crypto changes.

...

Here are kaznelson's margin/font size mods: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...postcount=1431
As you see, he hasn't bundled a version for the 5.6.1.1 firmware.

[pirl8]

Thank you so much!

[shamanNS]

@eschwartz: No Bookerly (and no kfx support) for PW1. Only new features added are Word Wise and Family Library.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

@eschwartz: No Bookerly (and no kfx support) for PW1. Only new features added are Word Wise and Family Library.

My PW-3, still on 5.6.1.1, has Bookerly (I don't know about kfx support).
It could well be that the same version number 5.6.1.1 for the PW-1 is not the same build and feature set.
After all, it is a different processor and SoC.

With a four level version number, if the builds have a different feature set, they **should** have a different version number.
repeat: **should**
but Amazon/Lab126 has done stranger things with the version numbering in the past.

[shamanNS]

Well I have both PW1 & PW3. My PW1 is still on fw 5.4.4 , but I wasn't lazy to unpack the fw 5.6.1.1 update bin and confirm that cramfs img doesn't contain Bookerly ttf files.



Speaking of that cramfs file: how difficult it would be (for Windows user / Linux beginner) to replace original Bookerly ttf files with version edited to change line-height (=reduced WinAscent), recreate the image and replace it using USBNetwork? So mod-ed Bookerly could be used for all book formats (mobi, azw3 and kfx), since IIRC fonts hack supports only azw3 books.

[NiLuJe]

The fonts hack should apply system-wise on FW 5.x (UI/Browser/Mobi7/KF8/KFX) .

I don't remember if they do checksum checks of the default cramfs image, but they certainly do for the CJK ones, so it may be a waste of time to try . But with cramfsck installed, it should be fairly straightforward.

[shamanNS]

I stand corrected It needed a restart after changing the override. Obviously (now ) restarting the KF8 reader is not enough for applying the changes to KFX

But still, "funny" thing, there is no shrinking of space between the lines for KFX books when I change from Bookerly to my BookerlyMod (condensed override, & name changed like that "BookerlyMod") and back and there is no "re-drawing" (partial refresh) on screen. All the other fonts in Aa menu "work" so it's not a case of bad coding when book gets stuck on default serif font (or bug #2 when it's Helvetica instead of Caecilia in the past and now probably Bookerly).

If I choose another font (Charis SIL mod) for condensed override and reboot the Kindle and reopen the same KFX book changing between those 2 AA options works, the font changes.

Since before now I only tested KFX books with that one font (edited & renamed Bookerly) and saw no visual changes I thought that it's not working, just like "font_ramp" doesn't work for KFX books.

[NiLuJe]

@shamanNS: The KFX reader not being restarted has been fixed in the snapshots .

That said, I haven't opened a KFX book except to test the Cover mode handling, so I wouldn't be aware of any new quirks .