Update Paperwhite to 5.3.0 WITHOUT locking yourself out!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Absolutely f*cking fantastic. Great job, Amazon. These idiots have really re-obfuscated the entire framework, so that all method (and possibly class) names have changed AGAIN.

Sorry for the rude language, but I'm totally pissed off.

So, I guess 5.3.0 will go down in history as the first "middle finger" update. 5.1.0 was just a warning shot across the bow...

EDIT: Although I have the "safe" 5.3.0 now, they could always OTA another full lockdown update. I guess they are suggesting that we go find a different product line to play with. Their huge Paperwhite sales backlog must have given them the idea that they do not need or want our business anymore...

But then, it is nice hardware. We could just replace the OS with something a little more owner-friendly.

[kaznelson]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Absolutely f*cking fantastic. Great job, Amazon. These idiots have really re-obfuscated the entire framework, so that all method (and possibly class) names have changed AGAIN.

Sad, "Collections Manager" very and very good...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

So, I guess 5.3.0 will go down in history as the first "middle finger" update. 5.1.0 was just a warning shot across the bow...

But then, it is nice hardware. We could just replace the OS with something a little more owner-friendly.

Well, my attempts to just get a discussion started on that topic has fallen onto deaf ears here in the past.

So let my modify my prior proposals a bit - - -
Instead of asking for all volunteer developers, why not try paying them?

Define a KickStarter.com project to replace this Amazon {censored} with something 100% open source (kTizen or whatever).
**AND** do not do it the way the Chinese do, make the sources available.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Well, my attempts to just get a discussion started on that topic has fallen onto deaf ears here in the past.

So let my modify my prior proposals a bit - - -
Instead of asking for all volunteer developers, why not try paying them?

Define a KickStarter.com project to replace this Amazon {censored} with something 100% open source (kTizen or whatever).
**AND** do not do it the way the Chinese do, make the sources available.

The K5 hacking wiki shows that yifanlu strongly suggested that "somebody" put android OS on the kindle, quite some time ago.

For a starter, perhaps we could just start with a 5.3.0 image and strip all all proprietary stuff. I have working touchscreen and eink code (the "geekmaster signature capture" script). We could get USB networking up first, then a SIMPLE GUI up, and go from their.

I like development that progresses with "baby steps". Not only do you get quick (almost interactive) feedback, but you can actually share all those little milestones without a massive interdependent "all or nothing" framework in-progress for aeons, with few who understand it...

[h1uke]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

strongly suggested that "somebody" put android OS on the kindle

I'd say that besides the K5 makes an excellent e-reader, it can become only
a mediocre android tablet...

Due to the lack of pointing device, there is no chance for older kindle models
to run android, but at the same time personally I find these models even more
interesting and challenging than the K5.

The current OS is owner-friendly enough. Amazon's approach isn't..

Anyway, reading this may help one to better understand the process of 'androidizing' the linux kernel.

[geekmaster]

The Nook Simple Touch has similar hardware as the kindles, and runs an older android. Perhaps that would be a good code base to start from, already having a lot of the hardware support we need built-in...

Or another OS. Some simple linux desktop on the existing GPL code base would be nice, and probably right up twobob's alley. We should start a collection to get him a Paperwhite.

[h1uke]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Okay! Finished working/sandbox-testing, now I'm gonna need a real live guinea pig ;D.

You'll need to:

* Be on 5.2.0
* Be JailBroken
* Not be terribly upset if it fails and you end up on 5.3.0 without a JailBreak .

What to do:

my unit came a couple of hours ago. It had v5.2.0.

- successfully installed Jailbreak
- successfully installed v5.3.0 update downloaded previously from Amazon
- 5.3.0 loads and shows "you are jailbroken" icon
- subsequent attempts to install usbnet_0.4N fail with error code 007

more later

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by kaznelson

Sad, "Collections Manager" very and very good...

Bah... - no worries

[twobob]

Question: The installer is script.?

EDIT: No initramfs. forget that idea

Spoiler:

What's to prevent creating Ixtabs bundle as a built-in addon.

The first time it runs it installs the recovery stuff (provide known configuration) and also:

Insert a few lines extra in the end of the updater. (so it runs everytime - whatever)

At the END of the OTA script (before it reboots) it does a few sanity tests:
checks for relevant iptables entries, do we have the bins and upstart still in place?

If not - trigger a post-install refix. thinking about it just do an quick (sanity) clean-up and ram the "recovery" .bin back through the installer.

Assumption: the installer script "hacking enhancement mechanism" could be clever enough to check the lines are still in the installer script and add them if not. (conditional patch?)
(also check they are not pre-pended by a # perhaps )

generally: be ready to restore it to last known good configuration if mangled with.

Worst that can happen is that it will fail to provide access if it failed. which is no worse than is the situation now. (and maybe some redundant unlinked bins, a borked OTA script and no entry in upstart, I don't see how the very simple upstart addition could go wrong but I am open to correction)

The overhead would be tiny. the result would be bulletproof? no?

I suppose the point is that would future proof all future updates against access tampering

That's my thought anyway. HTH

[rashkae]

For those seriously entertaining the idea of chaning hardware, I wold say, why not look at Kobo Glo? Same XGA Pearl screen as the paperwhite. Light isn't quite as ... white, but Kobo was nice enough to put the firmware on a Micro SD card you can remove and play with!! (Kobo software devs, on the other hand, need all the help they can possibly get, even if they don't admit it.)

[twobob]

In other news I wore the hat in my picture again the other day. Still fits. Who knew

[twobob]

Originally Posted by rashkae

For those seriously entertaining the idea of chaning hardware, I wold say, why not look at Kobo Glo? Same XGA Pearl screen as the paperwhite. Light isn't quite as ... white, but Kobo was nice enough to put the firmware on a Micro SD card you can remove and play with!! ...

Which is nice. but I don't have one. Thanks for the tip though.

Originally Posted by rashkae

"(Kobo software devs, on the other hand, need all the help they can possibly get, even if they don't admit it.)"

I know the feeling, always happy to get my hands dirty. Perhaps one day...

[jscris]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@Vegastar: w00t!

Thanks for testing this .

A simple test would be to try to reinstall the screensavers hack, but if you saw the jailbreak message, all should be well .

_____
Works for me! I got the jailbreak message, but then did have to reinstall the screensaver hack. The linkss files were still in place, though. Thank you so much!

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe,

Thanks for the quick turnaround and fix. Worked great on my PaperWhite running 5.2.0.

Just to be clear, and maybe help others, the sequence was:

1. Installed your 1.7 jailbreak bridge, then updated
2. Installed the 5.3.0 firmware (downloaded from amazon), then updated
3. Checked and saw that the Python and Linkss folders survived the firmware update, but the screensaver hack wasn't working (as expected).
4. Re-installed your Python 1.0 hack, then updated
5. Installed your 4.0 screensaver hack (over 3.0), then updated.

Voila! Screensaver hack working beautifully.

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc (and others): Thanks for the feedback .

FWIW, reinstalling Python isn't necessary (the current version doesn't install anything outside of the userstore, it's basically just unpacking a tarball & generating the bytecode for Python's standard libs) .