Adding Fonts to a PW 5th Gen running 5.6.1

[Josieb1]

I have two Paperwhite 1s (5th Gen) and am downloading books to them via Amazon (as i need collections) ready for the cut off on the 20th May, the only thing bugging me is the font selection as i need a darker font.

Is there a simple way to add fonts to this version of the Paperwhite? My Paperwhites are jailbroken, but i do not have KO Reader installed.

I found the fonts hack thread but i don't understand it. Thanks

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I have two Paperwhite 1s (5th Gen) and am downloading books to them via Amazon (as i need collections) ready for the cut off on the 20th May, the only thing bugging me is the font selection as i need a darker font.

Is there a simple way to add fonts to this version of the Paperwhite? My Paperwhites are jailbroken, but i do not have KO Reader installed.

I found the fonts hack thread but i don't understand it. Thanks

If you cannot increase the font weight from the Aa menu, you'll need a font editor to increase the weight of the fonts.

[shamanNS]

You also can't have new custom font family appear in Aa menu list on firmware 5.6.1.1 (some older 5.x builds could have that) . Best you can do on that old firmware is using Fonts hack to "override" what custom font family gets used when you choose "Caecilia Condensed" option in the UI / Aa menu.

Boldness adjustments for custom font were introduced somewhere around firmware 5.8.11 IIRC. So you would need a PW2 instead of PW1 if you really really need dynamic boldness adjustments (as opposed to having to modify actual font glyphs). Or you're gonna need to start using KOReader on that PW1.

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I found the fonts hack thread but i don't understand it. Thanks

You install Fonts Hack and Python 2 hack / runtime (because Fonts hack's KUAL extension uses it) using bin installers.
Installing FontsHack bin also adds a KUAL extension that you use to actually configure / setup what the hack does: like choose which EXISTING font option in Aa menu you want to "override" and which custom font family you want to use instead. Anytime you change the custom fonts family you also need to restart renderers for MOBI and KF8/azw3 formats and restart framework to "apply" your changes. It's hacky as hell but it works (and it also applied for MOBI books unlike?? the later official support for custom fonts on newer Kindles that doesn't?? work for mobi books only for KF8 and KFX).

When I still used PW1 I would override Caecilia Condensed UI option to use my modded version of Bookerly font (I reduced the line-height and made the letters bolder)

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you cannot increase the font weight from the Aa menu, you'll need a font editor to increase the weight of the fonts.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

You also can't have new custom font family appear in Aa menu list on firmware 5.6.1.1 (some older 5.x builds could have that) . Best you can do on that old firmware is using Fonts hack to "override" what custom font family gets used when you choose "Caecilia Condensed" option in the UI / Aa menu.

Boldness adjustments for custom font were introduced somewhere around firmware 5.8.11 IIRC. So you would need a PW2 instead of PW1 if you really really need dynamic boldness adjustments (as opposed to having to modify actual font glyphs). Or you're gonna need to start using KOReader on that PW1.


You install Fonts Hack and Python 2 hack / runtime (because Fonts hack's KUAL extension uses it) using bin installers.
Installing FontsHack bin also adds a KUAL extension that you use to actually configure / setup what the hack does: like choose which EXISTING font option in Aa menu you want to "override" and which custom font family you want to use instead. Anytime you change the custom fonts family you also need to restart renderers for MOBI and KF8/azw3 formats and restart framework to "apply" your changes. It's hacky as hell but it works (and it also applied for MOBI books unlike?? the later official support for custom fonts on newer Kindles that doesn't?? work for mobi books only for KF8 and KFX).

When I still used PW1 I would override Caecilia Condensed UI option to use my modded version of Bookerly font (I reduced the line-height and made the letters bolder)

I think i have decided to give up with the PW 1s, certainly downloading from Amazon, we don't even get covers anymore. I will have a play around and not worry too much what happens to them.

Thanks both of you for your help.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Another option is to use the version of ChareInk7SP that has added weight to it. You would have to embed it into your eBooks though. That's the downside with the Kindle on an old firmware.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Boldness adjustments for custom font were introduced somewhere around firmware 5.8.11 IIRC. So you would need a PW2 instead of PW1 if you really really need dynamic boldness adjustments (as opposed to having to modify actual font glyphs). Or you're gonna need to start using KOReader on that PW1.

Fonts were added to the Kindle on June 2018 with the release of firmware update 5.9.6.

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...r-custom-fonts

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another option is to use the version of ChareInk7SP that has added weight to it. You would have to embed it into your eBooks though. That's the downside with the Kindle on an old firmware.

Thank you

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Thank you

This is the link to download the font. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=184056

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is the link to download the font. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=184056

Thank you again for your help

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Thank you again for your help

Happy to help.

[famewolf]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

You also can't have new custom font family appear in Aa menu list on firmware 5.6.1.1 (some older 5.x builds could have that) . Best you can do on that old firmware is using Fonts hack to "override" what custom font family gets used when you choose "Caecilia Condensed" option in the UI / Aa menu.

Boldness adjustments for custom font were introduced somewhere around firmware 5.8.11 IIRC. So you would need a PW2 instead of PW1 if you really really need dynamic boldness adjustments (as opposed to having to modify actual font glyphs). Or you're gonna need to start using KOReader on that PW1.


You install Fonts Hack and Python 2 hack / runtime (because Fonts hack's KUAL extension uses it) using bin installers.
Installing FontsHack bin also adds a KUAL extension that you use to actually configure / setup what the hack does: like choose which EXISTING font option in Aa menu you want to "override" and which custom font family you want to use instead. Anytime you change the custom fonts family you also need to restart renderers for MOBI and KF8/azw3 formats and restart framework to "apply" your changes. It's hacky as hell but it works (and it also applied for MOBI books unlike?? the later official support for custom fonts on newer Kindles that doesn't?? work for mobi books only for KF8 and KFX).

When I still used PW1 I would override Caecilia Condensed UI option to use my modded version of Bookerly font (I reduced the line-height and made the letters bolder)

I have a Kindle PW1 on 5.6.1.1 which is the last firmware available. Apparently I current have NO fonts as under Serif, Sans, Mono, Condensed and Fallback in Kual/Fonts/Font Overrides I have none listed under Amazon and Custom.

I have downloaded Bookerly from the web but is your custom version available? I have also downloaded ChareInk7SP and assume I want the added weight one and not NoWeight, SmallerLineHeight, SmallerLinHeightSmallerFont.

With all that being said how do I add them using the fonts hack? There is nothing to replace in the list. Thank you.

I DO have the latest stable release (march of 2026) of KoReader installed and have been playing around with it. Love that it has a text editor and a terminal in it. I'm getting used to it and got my device linked to my calibre on linux pc but don't see an easy way to transfer books/sync in calibre so that's next on my list. I do have the storage available via usbnet wifi.

[shamanNS]

I have a Kindle PW1 on 5.6.1.1 which is the last firmware available. Apparently I current have NO fonts as under Serif, Sans, Mono, Condensed and Fallback in Kual/Fonts/Font Overrides I have none listed under Amazon and Custom

Read the FontsHack topic instructions more carefully. There is some option (in one of the fonts related KUAL sub-menus) to generate font cache and fully populate the menus. Those need to be used everytime you add new font files. A Python hack is a dependency of Fonts Hack.

I can't recall the exact details since I haven't been using that fonts hack for 7+ years.

[famewolf]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Read the FontsHack topic instructions more carefully. There is some option (in one of the fonts related KUAL sub-menus) to generate font cache and fully populate the menus. Those need to be used everytime you add new font files. A Python hack is a dependency of Fonts Hack.

I can't recall the exact details since I haven't been using that fonts hack for 7+ years.

Thank you. I went back and re-read every section including the hidden ones. Specifically the spoiler. I've regenerated the font cache and the usual fonts like Cascadia Regular appear however I uploaded the 4 ChareInk7SPSL .ttf fonts to libfonts/fonts before I rebuild the cache and they do not appear under any of the choices such as serif etc under the Amazon section or the Custom section so when I attempt to do a font override on my Kindle PW1 there is nothing to select. I have python installed from the same time as I installed the fonts and screensavers. I have auto restart enabled. Not sure what I am missing.