K5 FW 5.x ScreenSavers Hack

[Varilux]

Thanks for developing/explaining the hacks... I've used them to "fix" multiple Kindles over the years.

I received a Kindle Paperwhite 2 for Christmas, and by that evening I had the Jailbreak and Screensaver hacks working perfectly. They have continued to work perfectly up until last night (I have one custom screensaver loaded which always comes on when the reader goes asleep)...

Last night, the custom screensaver quit working (I now see the pre-loaded screensavers). I did purchase a book two days ago, but I've made plenty of other book purchases without having an issue with the screensaver hack.

I hooked the Kindle back up to my computer, and my screensaver is still in the proper folder (and the regular screensavers are all in the "backups" folder). I tried moving the regular screensavers out of the backups folder and installing my custom screensaver, still see the old screensavers. I tried rebooting, still the old screensavers.

Is it possible my Kindle has downloaded a new version of the software that has "broken" the Jailbreak?

[GoSharks]

@Varilux-
It is likely that your PW updated to a new firmware...if that is the case, you will need to re-install the SS hack. It does not survive firmware updates. (the Jailbreak does survive so you do not need to re-install it)

**If this turns out to be your problem, you might try adding BackDoorLock to the list of hacks you add. It will keep silent updates from happening.

[Varilux]

Thanks GoSharks,

Reinstalled the 09 and 16 files (which I saved on my computer at Christmas), and the familiar look of my custom screensaver is now back on my Kindle.

Then I did a search for the back door blocker and installed that to make sure Amazon can't mess with my Kindle unless I allow them to...

Seriously, it is completely beyond me why the Kindle can't just be offered with the ability to use custom screensavers (mine has my contact info and family crest, so if the Kindle is ever misplaced it can possibly be returned... its actually prevented someone from accidentally taking my Kindle by mistake on a flight once (she had the same Kindle & cover as mine)!

Thanks again!
Pete

[GoSharks]

@Varilux-
Glad it was a simple fix... as to the rest, I don't think you'll get an argument from anyone! I'm just thankful that the Dev's around here work their magic and make customization possible. Welcome to the forum.

[NiLuJe]

@jmartindf: Yep, perfectly normal, magazines aren't supported .

I can't quite remember why I disabled magazine/newspaper support, in fact, so i'll just check again if simply supporting those works ;p.

[jmartindf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

I can't quite remember why I disabled magazine/newspaper support, in fact, so i'll just check again if simply supporting those works ;p.

I'd be overjoyed if it did. I'll happily test and/or provide sample files.

[NiLuJe]

@jmartindf: I just updated the snapshots. There's now a KUAL switch in the 'Cover Mode' menu that, hopefully, should make the cover mode handle periodicals.

Do tell me if this works, since that's pretty much dry-coded (not that it took much, but you never know ;p).

[jmartindf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Do tell me if this works, since that's pretty much dry-coded (not that it took much, but you never know ;p).

@NiLuJe: I just tried it out on two different periodicals. I installed 0.16.N @ r10330 on my Kindle I then went into KUAL, activated the new setting, and tested with two different periodicals. I didn't get a cover for either one.

For what it's worth, I find the KUAL menus very confusing. For instance, when the menu shows "Do not parse periodicals (Default)" is that the setting that the hack is currently on or the setting that you'll all activate by tapping the menu? Likewise does "Handle periodicals" mean it's currently doing so or that it will do so after I tap?

I tested both ways, with two magazines each time, and never did get covers for my magazines.

[NiLuJe]

@jmartindf: Damn. I'll have to build a periodical w/ a cover to check this out...

About the KUAL menu: they show you what'll happen when you click them, yes. I do get that it might not be terribly clear, hence the double status print showing what's happening once you click on something (KUAL's status line, and the hack's verbose eips).

[NiLuJe]

@jmartindf: Squashed the bug .

The next snapshot should handle periodicals properly. (The delay before extracting the cover after opening a periodical is slightly longer than for a book, because the periodical reader app behaves slightly differently than the book reader, so I played it safe [15s after opening instead of 5]).

It should be up in ~45min .

EDIT: Up.

[jmartindf]

@NiLuJe: Download, installed, and verified working. Thanks!

[rogerinnyc]

@NiLuJe -- Thanks as always for continuing to provide such great support for our Kindles.

On your latest tweak, a couple of things -- which may be unclear to others as it was to me: you need to update both KUAL AND the ScreenSavers hack from your snapshots. I only did KUAL at first and then was puzzled that I couldn't find the new Cover Mode behavior to handle periodicals.

Even so, it's not working for me with my newspaper subscription to the Wall Street Journal (OK, OK, don't yell at me, I also read and prefer the NYT). Your post suggests it should work with both magazines and newspapers -- and indeed, it does work with my The Atlantic magazine subscription (does that philosophically balance out the WSJ?). Maybe the WSJ doesn't have any cover file to extract? (How would I tell?)

EDIT: Further to a PM with NiLuJe where he checked out the file, the WSJ doesn't have an imbedded cover that his hack can use. Oh well...

[NiLuJe]

@rogerinnyc: Hmm, no, the extension's bundled with the ScreenSavers hack, not KUAL, and doesn't require anything fancier than the rest, so you shouldn't necessarily have to update KUAL (unless you have an outdated release that doesn't handle the PW2 properly) .

Check if it works if you drop straight to an article content, instead of staying on the cover or the 'menu', the periodical reader seems to be a bit iffy as to when it actually updates the timestamps of the last opened book in the db.
Of course, that won't help if there indeed isn't any cover in the metadata, which can be checked using KindleUnpack (or the tweaked version bunlded with the hack). If that sounds too cumbersome, just PM me the file (even if it's DRM'ed, it doesn't matter) and I'll check .

[rottenbrain]

Hello,

I can't turn on the shuffle option. I created a blank file called shuffle in the root of the folder linkss but the option doesn't work. In this folder i have the following blank files (without extension): auto, shuffle and mount_ss.
Are any more file needed?

Thanks and regards

[NiLuJe]

@rottenbrain: Use KUAL, and be sure to understand how it actually works (ie. the shuffle happens once, at boot).