K5 FW 5.x ScreenSavers Hack

[Andrewzz]

Hello!

I have applied the newly released JB to my PW2, and then installed the screensaver + cover mode using the MRI installer (i but both bin at the same time on the root of the Kindle). The process when OK, with no error and the screen saying it was installed.

Then I proceed to put the cover file on the root of the PW2, unpluged it, restarted, and I got the "The ScreenSavers hack is currently in cover mode but hasn't yet successfully processed a book cover", I have been reading a book for like half an hour, and the ScreenSaver has not changed to the book's cover I'm reading.

Any idea what could be the problem ?

EDIT:

In verbose mode, I got the message "S W failed to process cover"

[knc1]

Install Python.

[qqqqqqqqqqqz]

Question:

1. What's the difference between "random" and "shuffled"?

Suggestions:

2. Add a way to configure how often each picture shows. My understanding of "random" ("shuffled"?) mode is that it chooses an order for all PNGs on each boot, so if the user configures percentages for each photo, e.g. "there are three photos, display this one half the time", that photo could be duplicated in the list of photos to display.

This could be done with a separate file, for example:

$ cat ss-chance.conf
cool-photo.png/50;tree.png/25;bird.png/25

Or it could be done by renaming each file, like:

$ ls
bird:25.png
cool-photo:50.png
tree:25.png

3. Add an option that overlays the personal info over ALL screensavers, not just "cover mode". So for "last" mode, it could just set the personal info (with a transparent background, of course) as the ONLY screensaver. And it could work with random and shuffled also.

That's it from me!

[NiLuJe]

@Andrewzz: You're most likely reading a KFX book. Try with the latest snapshots.
Or your current read simply has no proper cover set in its metadata (... or it's a PDF. Or a periodical?).

@qqqqqqqqqqqz:

1. shuffle is basically a no-op on FW 5.x (unless you enable the usb watchdog, which is most likely useless, hence it being disabled by default).

Both settings do the same thing, they just potentially do it at different times (hack startup for random, watchdog restart for shuffle. The "restart framework" button in KUAL will trigger a hack startup, hence the deprecation of the watchdog).

2. While completely doable in theory, it sounds way messy to handle on the user's side, and I personally have no interest in implementing this. In the same vein as my next answer, that's on the user's hands. Nothing is preventing you from spiking your pool with duplicates to game the sorting process .

3. Slightly annoying to implement for performance reasons (it would imply keeping a copy of the pristine images somewhere, and re-processing them at each startup. The composition process is *extremely* expensive, so it's kind of a no-no, you'd basically sit around waiting for the framework to start for no good reason).


We're already processing stuff in cover mode, and only doing it image per image, once the framework is up, so we can sweep the performance aspect under the rug without too much trouble.


Plus, those images are already user-provided, so, if some extra info is needed, that's entirely in the user's hands. (It's the same reasoning behind the lack of a "magically dither all my custom screensavers" button in KUAL: I leave that to the user).

It's trivial to batch-process with ImageMagick, and is much faster on a desktop anyway.

[dhdurgee]

I installed your latest snapshot on my KT2 in cover mode and have a problem. I had a book with a generic cover, so I edited it with Sigil and added a cover. I used their Kindlegen plugin to create both .mobi and .azw3 versions. I first placed the .mobi on my KT2 and the cover was displayed as expected. I later loaded the .azw3 on the KT2 in its place to see what the difference was in display. The hack does not retrieve the cover from the .azw3, strange!

I have enabled verbose mode on the screen saver, how can I retrieve the log and see what is going wrong? Is the log in the USB file tree? Is the a way to retrieve it in KUAL?

Dave

[NiLuJe]

@dhdurgee: Enter ;dm in the Homescreen's search bar.

Alternatively, unpack the azw3 on your desktop with KindleUnpack and see if it manages to find a cover.

Might also be a hash clash since this is sideloaded, but that seems like a stretch.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dhdurgee

I installed your latest snapshot on my KT2 in cover mode and have a problem. I had a book with a generic cover, so I edited it with Sigil and added a cover. I used their Kindlegen plugin to create both .mobi and .azw3 versions. I first placed the .mobi on my KT2 and the cover was displayed as expected. I later loaded the .azw3 on the KT2 in its place to see what the difference was in display. The hack does not retrieve the cover from the .azw3, strange!

I have enabled verbose mode on the screen saver, how can I retrieve the log and see what is going wrong? Is the log in the USB file tree? Is the a way to retrieve it in KUAL?

Dave

Get the KUAL extension that copies dmsg to a text document -
Replace the dmsg command with the (IIRC) 'showmessages' command.

Somebody check me on that ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

[NiLuJe]

@knc1: showlog . But there's a debug search string for that, so unless they broke it, no need to bother .

[knc1]

Originally Posted by O.P.

Is there a way to retrieve it in KUAL?

There is an alternative to ;dm

[dhdurgee]

I used ;dm and here is what "linkss" entries I see in system logs:

160208:170650 system: I linkss:start::starting linkss
160208:170651 system: I linkss:kh_msg::mounting screensavers tmpfs
160208:170651 system: I linkss:kh_msg::cover mode setup...
160208:170651 system: I linkss:kh_msg::mounting custom screensavers from tmpfs
160208:170652 system: I linkss:kh_msg::launching cover watchdog
160208:170652 system: I linkss:kh_msg::starting cover watchdog (lipc-wait-event)
160208:170820 system: I linkss:kh_msg::switched to the reader, trying to extract the cover
160208:170830 system: I linkss:kh_msg::current cover is already B0058HDCC8

These are since I restarted the KT2 when the poblem started. KindleUnpack does unpack the cover image:

dhdurgee@DHD-Z560 ~/Downloads $ ~/bin/KindleUnpack_v075/lib/kindleunpack.py /var/tmp/kindle/azw3/The_Uplift_War.azw3 /var/tmp/kindle
KindleUnpack v0.75
Based on initial mobipocket version Copyright © 2009 Charles M. Hannum <root@ihack.net>
Extensive Extensions and Improvements Copyright © 2009-2014
by: P. Durrant, K. Hendricks, S. Siebert, fandrieu, DiapDealer, nickredding, tkeo.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, version 3.
Unpacking Book...
Palm DB type: BOOKMOBI, 458 sections.
Unpacking a KF8 book...
Processing K8 section of book...
Mobi Version: 8
Codec: utf-8
Title: The Uplift War
Palmdoc compression
Unpacking images, resources, fonts, etc
Extracting font: font00439
Extracting font: font00440
Extracting font: font00441
Extracting font: font00442
Extracting image: image00443.jpeg from section 443
Extracting image: image00444.jpeg from section 444
Extracting image: image00445.jpeg from section 445
Extracting image: image00446.jpeg from section 446
Extracting image: image00447.jpeg from section 447
Extracting image: image00448.jpeg from section 448
Extracting image: image00449.jpeg from section 449
Extracting image: cover00450.jpeg from section 450
Extracting image: image00452.jpeg from section 452
Unpacking raw markup language
Processing ncx / toc
Building an epub-like structure
Building proper xhtml for each file
Building a cover page.
Warning: cover_page.xhtml already exists.
Building an opf for mobi8 using epub version: 2
Write K8 ncx
Creating an epub-like file
Completed
dhdurgee@DHD-Z560 ~/Downloads $

Despite the "current cover is already B0058HDCC8 " I see "The ScrenSavers Hack is currently in 'cover' mode, but hasn't successfully processed a book cover "

Dave

[knc1]

Ah, but you had one book in two different formats on the device.

All of the files that a Kindle generates when a book is put on user store are not deleted with the book.

So it is probably just a matter of confusion (either software or human) -
Take both of the copies of the book off the device -
Browse the directory tree visible over USB for things that seem related (the names are usually a give-away) and delete those also.

[NiLuJe]

@dhdurgee: Ah, right, of course.

I didn't count on there being an actual real ASIN on sideloaded KindleGen stuff (there usually isn't), but it would appear to be the case. And since I imagine both versions have the same ASIN, well, the first one won ;p.

That's an extremely unlikely event (and use case), so I don't think I want to bother terribly to handle such cases (it'd be messy).

If you just want to double-check the cover on the other version, just clear the cover cache, switch to a different book, then back again to the one you want to check.

EDIT: ... except you're seeing the default fallback, not a stale cover. That's... strange.
Check all the kh_msg logs, the cover parsing script has a different prefix.
And double check that the date & time is sane on your Kindle.

[eschwartz]

The same ASIN on two books?

That sounds incredibly unwise. I remember having really annoying issues involving ghost books that don't show up in certain Library Views, whenever I reloaded a book with a changed title but the same ASIN.
Can't remember ever trying the same book twice, but I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happens?

[knc1]

2 books with same asin, name and different extensions - concurrently.
(or one in the cache and one on user storage)

[dhdurgee]

Trying to change out the type of book to see which worked better may have been the start of the problem, but I am thinking something is now wrong with the hack as it is failing with other books as well.

Given what was discussed here, I plugged my KT2 in and removed all files and folders with the name of the book that appears to have started the problem. I then cleared the cover cache and personal data for the hack from KUAL. I next restarted the KT2. After restart I plugged in and side-loaded the problem book and another one. I unplugged, opened the other new book and read a bit, then did some other work allowing the hack to work. When I check back later I still got the default fallback for that book!

I went back to home and dumped the logs, which are attached for eyes with more understanding of what to look for to inspect. Please let me know where to go from here. I guess worst case I could totally delete the hack and reinstall if that is needed.

Dave