Android on Paperwhite?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

You are utterly wrong. I like Android on e-ink devices, and any interest Amazon showed in using android would interest me. It's the first I heard about it.

Well then might I suggest you research this completely and the only way to do that is buy what knc1 said.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Well then might I suggest you research this completely and the only way to do that is buy what knc1 said.

Might I suggest you re-read the exchange. Then you might understand.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Might I suggest you re-read the exchange. Then you might understand.

I have no idea if this will be enough to support the speculation in your mind.
It would really be better if you owned a grayscale Kindle so that you could explore it yourself.

*) Go to current jail break thread.
*) In Step #3, find two spoilers - open your choice.
*) There find a list of firmware images that are used inside of the factory, for Amazon's internal use only.
*) Download a recent version, for a 7th or 8th generation device.
*) From NiLuJe's snapshot thread, download the current build of KindleTool.
*) Unpackage the firmware image with KindleTool.
*) On a Linux machine (other than a Kindle), create or choose a directory to be a temporary mount point.
*) Mount the rootfs.bin (or similar name) file in the unpackaged file tree at the temporary mount point.
*) Browse the file system tree being used on the factory production floor.
And in that tree you will recognize some of the basic tools in an Android system. Ones that are specific and unique to the Android OS and have no use on the Amazon OS.
(Yes, both Android and Amazon operating systems are two different distributions of Linux.)

Note:
This isn't exactly news, it was last discussed here 8 months ago in posts about the contents being found in the factory device's initial firmware images.
Also several times prior to that, when the deleted files found on first release, new models was discussed.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by knc1

And in that tree you will recognize some of the basic tools in an Android system. Ones that are specific and unique to the Android OS and have no use on the Amazon OS.

Thank you for your in-depth reply. All I really wanted to know is above. How odd and interesting that there are Android tools in the Kindle FW. I've no idea why they might be there, or why Amazon would be using them. If you have insights, I'd be interested to hear them.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Thank you for your in-depth reply. All I really wanted to know is above. How odd and interesting that there are Android tools in the Kindle FW. I've no idea why they might be there, or why Amazon would be using them. If you have insights, I'd be interested to hear them.

Those firmware images should never have escaped from the factory.
The images leaked, but the documentation has not (yet) leaked out of the factory's back door.

[SKK]

Originally Posted by knc1

Either build a newer kernel or re-build arch linux against the kernel headers for your version.

Okay.

[Mr.Samuel]

Originally Posted by knc1

Someone in China does that, there is a thread here about it.

There have been signs that Lab126 has also been playing with Android on the gray scale Kindles.

Did he wrote a tutorial about that?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Mr.Samuel

Did he wrote a tutorial about that?

No.
Refused to offer any of the firmware resources he was using.
Refused to post any of the details of his procedure.

The people here that author programming, refuse to support closed source code, nor to encourage the breaking of Open Source licenses . . . .
That person received no help or support from the people of this site.
About the only thing that person received was a few comments and requests to share the technical details of the process.

[downeaster59]

I know this is an old thread, but I, for one, would be very interested in the idea of running a few Android applications on a Kindle - something like Instapaper, say, or any other app that involves primarily reading. This is the main reason why I have looked into Chinese Android e-readers, and have a couple. If this can be done, I might pick up a used PW and try.

I just bought an Oasis, and so have entered the Kindle world, too. However, I see that - since my Oasis updated to 5.8.9 already - I can't jailbreak it anyway. However, a PW might be the ticket to try this.

I'll do the research that knc1 suggested, and see if it looks like something I want to tackle. If anything new on this front has developed since this thread first began, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks!

[theol0403]

This is my long-term programming goal, here are some links that I hope to tackle in the future:

http://wiki.kldp.org/wiki.php/Androi...ngOnRealTarget
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_72dcef220100yf9i.html
https://forum.xda-developers.com/sho....php?t=2638911
http://yifan.lu/2010/07/26/compiling...amazon-kindle/

It is possible, here is a picture on the xda forum that makes me drool
but the link is dead. Maybe internet archive?
https://dl.xda-developers.com/3/2/6/...&ts=1494012665
Good luck. I would be great if people work together on this

[downeaster59]

Thanks. I'll check those out. I suspect that if I try this, it will be a steep learning curve, but it may be worth it just for what I'd learn in the process, whether or not we'll get Android apps on a PW (or Oasis, or whatever).

Since I already have a couple of Android e-Ink devices (from Chinese companies), I don't need to do this to get Android on e-Ink. Still, when I compare my Boyue T63 to my Oasis - even though both have 300 dpi displays, apps like Instapaper would look even better on an Oasis or Voyage. I didn't know if I would like the Oasis, but having it, it makes my Boyue (which seemed light enough before) seem somehow bulky and last century. (And that's with the Oasis in its cover!).

So, if I go into it, it will be mainly for the learning experience - and, secondarily, perhaps a few bragging rights for whoever manages to pull this off.

One of my fantasies is that Amazon (or Barnes & Noble, or Kobo) might one day actually release an e-Ink device that would allow you to install some Android apps, perhaps from a curated store that would include only apps that work well on e-Ink. It's possible to install apps on the Nook Glowlight Plus with a little work (I've done it), but the results were not as good as I hoped. Such a device would be a niche product, but it would be very popular in some circles, at least.

[knc1]

Trade in the Oasis.
It is the model where no one has been able to identify the serial port.
And if you are going to screw around with the operating system on an embedded device, you real need the serial port.

Once you have exchanged the Oasis for something a bit more practical -
Get your victim development Kindle to network boot.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by knc1

Trade in the Oasis.
It is the model where no one has been able to identify the serial port.
And if you are going to screw around with the operating system on an embedded device, you real need the serial port.

Once you have exchanged the Oasis for something a bit more practical -
Get your victim development Kindle to network boot.

If I somehow found a way to get my hands on a 32 GB Paperwhite, perhaps the serial port method would work there? Since the software jailbreak doesn't work with it yet, from what I can see...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

If I somehow found a way to get my hands on a 32 GB Paperwhite, perhaps the serial port method would work there? Since the software jailbreak doesn't work with it yet, from what I can see...

I do not know of a 32Gbyte Oasis.
The only 32Gbyte device I know of is the PW-3

If you plan to port another OS to the Amazon Kindle, something like jailbreaking the device over the serial port is a very minor task.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by knc1

I do not know of a 32Gbyte Oasis.
The only 32Gbyte device I know of is the PW-3

If you plan to port another OS to the Amazon Kindle, something like jailbreaking the device over the serial port is a very minor task.

I was thinking of the 32GB PW-3 because of all that extra storage, but, for this project, any PW will do.

If it is possible to install some Android apks on the Kindle OS, there may be no need (for me, anyway) to port the Android OS. In that case, I'd be content to install the Android apps on a Kindle OS. There are perhaps four or five Android apps that I would run on a Kindle. No more.

I am assuming that the Kindle would need to be jailbroken before such a project is possible. That rules out my Oasis for now, as it runs 5.8.9. But, a used or refurbished PW-3 is probably the way to go. It minimizes the loss if I brick it!