Tools Reasons/Benefits to Jailbreak a Kindle in 2019

[Almamida]

That's a pretty impressive example! You use the integrated keyboard?

[cd2013]

Does jailbreaking mean you no longer get firmware updates from Amazon?

If so, are there any other downsides?

You can't "unjailbreak" a Kindle, can you?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by cd2013

Does jailbreaking mean you no longer get firmware updates from Amazon?

If so, are there any other downsides?

You can still update. For jailbreakers, the bigger problem is actually preventing Amazon from automatically updating the device and potentially losing the jailbreak (or breaking compatibility of certain add-ons).

No downsides. The jailbreak itself is a tiny 272 byte key file. All it does is allow non-Amazon/unofficial stuff to run.

Originally Posted by cd2013

You can't "unjailbreak" a Kindle, can you?

factory reset followed by firmware install = jailbreak gone

[cd2013]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

For jailbreakers, the bigger problem is actually preventing Amazon from automatically updating the device

Is there a way, other than having wifi always off, to prevent automatic updates? I understand the Kindle for PC has an option for this, but not sure about the Kindle ereaders.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by cd2013

Is there a way, other than having wifi always off, to prevent automatic updates? I understand the Kindle for PC has an option for this, but not sure about the Kindle ereaders.

For now, creating a folder named "update.bin.tmp.partial" in the Kindle USB root seems to work for preventing auto updates. No idea if/when that'll change.

Mind, it seems the presence of that folder by itself has caused extremely poor battery life on the PW4. There's a KUAL helper add-on that creates an additional file to alleviate the problem.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Mind, it seems the presence of that folder by itself has caused extremely poor battery life on the PW4. There's a KUAL helper add-on that creates an additional file to alleviate the problem.

May I ask you which helper I need to install to prevent my battery to drain?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Almamida

May I ask you which helper I need to install to prevent my battery to drain?

Not quite sure which one but it's included in one of the KUAL extensions on NiLuJe's snapshots (likely the helper one).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=225030

Prevent OTA update (or something to that effect).

[Almamida]

Awesome, thank you. It's the helper one.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by knc1

I paid for it, it is mine, not anyone else's nor any corporation's.

That's it? That's your reason for doing it?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by patrickt

That's it? That's your reason for doing it?

The thread title does not require that I state ALL of my reasons.


Maybe this says it better than I did:

Originally Posted by montalex

I like a choice of font, and I replaced screensavers with my own images, each with my phone number on it. As knc1 says, it feels like mine rather than a rental from Amazon.

The emphasis behind keeping owner control of the device's behavior has much more than pure personal preference, it also includes aspects not yet (in the USA) settled in law.


Who has control of a device that is purchased rather than rented or leased is clear. A rental or lease does not transfer ownership rights (unless specially contracted as such).


A purchased device does transfer ownership rights.
The open question is:
"Does that also transfer control of the device behavior to the new owner or does control of the device behavior remain with the seller?"


I, and as far as I know, the other people behind "jail breaking" the Kindle are on the owner's side of this war with Amazon. That is, to give the owner control of its behavior.


Keep in mind Amazon's original reason for producing the Kindle and selling it at such a low price;
It was (and still is) a market research tool.
(You can find that described in the "Legal" documentation that comes with the firmware series 2 devices and newer models.)


Take this example:
You are the owner/operator of a brick and mortar bookstore.
You put what you think will be most popular with passer's by in the window to attract buyers.
But you have no way to tell exactly what that population that passes your store is really interested in.
Obviously, if you could hit everyone's most wanted publications, your sales would be at a maximum for that population.
So the Kindle was designed to gather and report back various aspects of the user's preference.
To keep that information most relevant, they retain the right to control the device's behavior (forced installing of changed firmware without the owner's consent).


I don't like a major corporation looking over my shoulder at how I use a device that does "hidden" data collection of my use of the device which is now mine by right of purchase.
Not any more than I like Amazon/Lab126/Jeff B. subscribing to every post I make at this site.
But I don't have a way to control that (no access to the site software).


Hey, you asked for it, there it is.

[eruditionastic]

Kinda off-topic but not. I agree 100% with everything knc1 said. The basic principle of "I bought it so I own it and control it" is a war that's been going on for 20 years now - a David v Goliath war in multiple industries. Phones, Kindles, gaming consoles, computers, radios, tractors, cars...and we've been losing since the DMCA passed. However, there is good news!

Right to repair legislation across numerous states has been proposed, but again, it's grassroots vs Microsoft, Amazon, John Deere, Apple, Cisco, etc.

A few weeks ago, All State insurance bought Icracked, a huge 3rd party phone repair chain. All State has said they are going to loan out their lobbyists to weigh in on the side of us now, if you can believe it. I have great hopes for 2019/2020 in this area.

[knc1]

A few independent minded Kindle developers vs the richest man in the world (140 Billion dollars).
It does seem a little one sided at times.

[kleinjar]

Originally Posted by arooni

Koreader Is vastly superior to the stock Kindle book reading experience. Especially so if you find your books outside of the Kindle/Amazon ecosystem

Except it still doesn’t have an “add note” annotation feature which the stock reader has. Very useful for some people.

[Antinoos]

I agree with knc1's long statement above.

I'm using my Kindles just as a hardware platform to read free ebooks (mainly classics from Project Gutenberg and (translations of) Greek and Latin ancient texts). Most of them are in epub format; but interestingly I still have some very old prc files from my very first ebook reader: a Palm Pilot (bought exactly 20 years ago, and it's still working... Why reformat them, as long they are still natively supported?!?

Though I have an Amazon account (to buy e.g. DVDs and tools, etc.), I've never ever bought an ebook from them. And yes, I even never had connected my Kindles to the Internet at all. Just pulled them out of their boxes, created the update blocker dir (just to make completely sure...) and then did the jb procedures (the update to a more current Amazon basic fw - I still prefer v5.8.11 for various reasons! - was made via side loaded *.bin files, not online of course).

My "everyday's burner" for reading is, BTW, Vlasovsoft's CoolReader, because this reader is highly configurable, especially the margins and tap zones; and the feature I like most is the cool and also highly configurable status line on top of the page (in my opinion much, much better than the rudimentary status info in the bottom of the screen in Amazon's firmware, as it also displays the time and battery percentage).

I also tested KOReader, but didn't like it. Too bloated. To difficult to configure. This is mainly because I don't have any PDF books that could take advantage of KOReader's really very good PDF reflow feature - my PDF files are just scanned(!) books, i.e. bitmap files; and for them, interestingly, the Kindle original firmware is the best to read (especially because of the contrast setting feature).

Another feature I like very much in Vlasovsoft's CoolReader are the user defined sleep/screensaver files. As my epubs often don't have a proper cover picture in them, I even wouldn't like them to be used as sleep screen. I'm very often travelling by train, and it's of no interest for other passengers around me to know what I'm actually reading. So I have some mere generic 16 color grayscale pictures of my personal choice, being randomly used as screen savers. This is in my opinion one of the most fascinating features of CoolReader.

Without the possibility to jailbreak, I'd never buy a Kindle.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I jailbroke a kindle but never found it terribly useful for me EXCEPT for j.p.s. reason #5. Easily disable and (especially) re-enable sleep mode (to have a page visible for reference while working on something). I occasionally wanted to cook a recipe and it was forever annoying that the screen would go into sleep mode. Gave up on that though, flour is hard to get out of the corners, so print out the page and cook from that. Same with knitting - I just print the page I'm working with.

Even using a vacuum cleaner with soft brush attachment?