I Need a Kindle Dx WiFi Hack

[yifanlu]

I'm also curious about swapping the 3G modem for a wifi card. If anyone has an old laptop or something with a mini-pcie wifi card and is willing to donate it for science, I can try getting it work or writing drivers for it, etc.

[spleen]

I've bought this from ebay for a few bucks
http://cgi.ebay.it/TOSHIBA-ATHEROS-A...item3a5efbd8df

I've seen that kernel 2.6.26 has the ath5 drivers

[yifanlu]

Originally Posted by spleen

I've bought this from ebay for a few bucks
http://cgi.ebay.it/TOSHIBA-ATHEROS-A...item3a5efbd8df

I've seen that kernel 2.6.26 has the ath5 drivers

1) DX and k2 uses 2.6.22.19
2) you need imx platform compatible drivers. I haven't researched enough to see if it means some reconfigurating or rewriting/writing the drivers. The kindle doesn't come with "unused" drivers.

[mark03]

Originally Posted by yifanlu

2) you need imx platform compatible drivers. I haven't researched enough to see if it means some reconfigurating or rewriting/writing the drivers. The kindle doesn't come with "unused" drivers.

I would be surprised if the driver needed modification. My experience with Linux on embedded arm has been that most hardware drivers are platform-agnostic. Certainly this is true for all USB drivers, and I suspect the mini-pcie cards you're going to find are mostly USB-based.

On that subject, I never saw any replies to my earlier post in this thread. Has someone verified whether the 3G modem in the DX is USB-based or PCI-based? This would be good to know before sticking random mini-pcie cards in your Kindle, because if it is USB based the chances are that the PCI signals aren't even active on the connector. As mentioned above, this is likely to be fine, but you'd have to be sure in that case that your wifi card is really USB-based.

[hawhill]

Looking at it from the software side, it *is* USB-based. And I didn't find an PCI bus in the specs, so you were right at that. I now have a mini-PCIe form factor USB based Wifi card here, I hope that on the coming weekend I'll find some time to play with it and my DX.

Reconfiguring kernel sources (there aren't really wifi drivers that let you get away with just module-based extensions, since wireless extension support - for iwconfig & co - has to be compiled into the kernel itself) seems to be all that's needed. The kernel already did compile fine in a test. Hence my questions regarding the kernel in yifanlu's older thread here....

[spleen]

Originally Posted by yifanlu

1) DX and k2 uses 2.6.22.19
2) you need imx platform compatible drivers. I haven't researched enough to see if it means some reconfigurating or rewriting/writing the drivers. The kindle doesn't come with "unused" drivers.

yes but someone told me that k3 fw has been successfully ported to k2 ;-)

thanks for your work

[yifanlu]

Originally Posted by spleen

yes but someone told me that k3 fw has been successfully ported to k2 ;-)

thanks for your work

The kernel loads the firmware (aka kindle os). Both 2.6.22 and 2.6.26 can load 3.0. The software was actually designed that way. However, drivers are another case.

[timofonic]

Any news about this?

[yifanlu]

I don't know about any others working on this, but as for me, I'm putting the it on hold while I try to jailbreak the kindle 4.

[hawhill]

Well, I've got a mini-pcie-slot, USB wifi card right here on my desk. However, I don't have an antenna yet... and am somewhat hesitant to open my device as I managed to break the case when opening another KDX... (it was dysfunctional, thus no loss, but I got a bit scared). Well, I think I'll give it a try. In the meantime, I tried to make sense of how the device in that slot is toggled on/off. I still didn't find the interface yet. And to make it worse, I've spent a bit too much time on kindlevncviewer lately...

[raukoras]

Hi,

Just to say that I'm also VERY interested in such hack !

I'm eagerly waiting it. :-)

[KrissKross]

Hi all,
Toshiba adapter PCIE/USB:
http://www.pchub.com/uph/laptop/279-...-LAN-Card.html

Second hand, but ~ 6.50$ :-)

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by hawhill

Well, I've got a mini-pcie-slot, USB wifi card right here on my desk. However, However, I don't have an antenna yet...

2.4 GHz wifi frequencies have a quarter wavelength almost exactly one inch (25.4 mm).

You can make an extremely simple quarter-wave whip antenna by stripping a small amount of insulation off one end of a piece of small wire and poking the stripped end into the wifi coax connector. Then measure and cut the wire so that only one inch (25.4 mm) extends from the connector. You do not need to strip the rest of the wire (only the part inside the connector).

This works surprisingly well. I have done it many times.

EDIT: A better antenna is a dipole antenna. You can make one from a short piece of coaxial cable (50-ohm preferred, but 75-ohm TV cable works fine if kept short).

Cut a couple inches or so (about 50 mm) of the outer insulation off the outer braided metal shield. Then push back the braided shield to open the weave and loosen it, and roll the braided metal shield back over the remaining outer insulation. Trim the rolled back shield to one inch (25.4 mm). Trim the remaining insulated conductor wire to one inch (25.4 mm). Do not strip the insulation off the inner wire. Wrap plastic insulating tape around the outer shield to keep it from shorting out anything nearby. This works a lot better that the simple quarter-wave whip described above.

Either antenna is extremely simple to construct, and they work well if the distance is not too far from the wifi router. I have made plenty of these too (even for long term use). If careful, you can strip and spread the braided shield on the other end too, stick the center wire (stripped) into the a coax connector, and wrap the outer braided shield wire around the outer metal part of the coax connector. Extremely cheap and expedient "MacGuyver" antenna hacks.

[fry@pocketbook]

Is it possible to use a mini pci-e to usb card like this.

I think we can use any usb device!? We can use udev rules to load needed module.

@yifanlu do you have the default .config for compiling the kernel?

[wifi]

Was anybody successful so far? I just bought a Kindle DX graphite. I love it, but here in Germany the 3G restrictions suck...