Development support hardware

[knc1]

Use case:
You want to set the "Customize your Kindle" settings without registering your device.

The Kindles have a tendency to 'call home' whenever Wifi is turned on.

This will cut down on that habit (but it takes the BBB firewall to stop it):

In the top level of the USB visible mass storage, add this filename:
WIFI_NO_NET_PROBE
All uppercase, no file extension, no contents

Of course your best protection (and simplest) is to leave 'Airplane Mode' ON.

The registration information file is:
var/local/java/prefs/reginfo
If your device has never been registered, you will not have one.
In that case, make one.

In the following, you will notice one more key=value pair than shown in the 'fake register' thread.
That pair (userId= ...) was added sometime during the 5.6.x firmware series.

#Wed May 06 04:58:24 GMT 2015
givenName=Hacker
userId=amzn1.account.XXXXX9XXXX8XXX7XXX5XXXX4XXXX
deviceName=Hacker's Delight
userName=Hacker Homey
deviceEmailAddress=hackerh_2016@kindle.com

Now you only have to use your choice of values, keep them in the same pattern as above in case the firmware is fussy about the pattern.

Note: running:

chown 9000:150 reginfo

probably wouldn't hurt.

**IF** you let your Kindle call home, the above will not match what they have in their database for your device, and their database always wins.
I.E: Expect the above file to be trashed or deleted if your Kindle calls home.

If the above doesn't show up in your settings -
then re-boot the Kindle (I suppose that just re-starting the framework would do, but I didn't try that).

Edit:
Confirmed working on 5.7.4.1
NiLuJe has a new nickname: Hacker Homey
and his new PW-3 is named: Hacker's Delight
Everybody else, make up your own identity - this example one is in use.

Now:
Menu -> Settings -> Device Options -> Personalize your Kindle -> Advanced Options
shows up in the menu tree and can be used.

I am in a "Wifi Free" zone (I control the only A.P. that is available, and it is off) - this device has never touched a network

And yes, it requires a reboot if your changing that reginfo file with a text editor.
Since the overall system isn't being given any file change notifications (they must not have the file registered with the kernel's notify sub-system).

Now, onto playing with voiceview (with my dongle, NiLuJe's is still 'in the mail').

[Cinisajoy]

Sort of on-topic:
Cleaned out the file cabinet today. Sorry no serial ports or dongles. Plenty of usb to micro or mini cords and assorted adapters and RCA plugs.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Sort of on-topic:
Cleaned out the file cabinet today. Sorry no serial ports or dongles. Plenty of usb to micro or mini cords and assorted adapters and RCA plugs.

You know that you will need them next week if you donate them to a worthy cause now.

They are like that 1/2 spool of special thread, you never will need it again until after you give it away.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by knc1

You know that you will need them next week if you donate them to a worthy cause now.

They are like that 1/2 spool of special thread, you never will need it again until after you give it away.

Do you have a "worthy cause" in mind???

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Do you have a "worthy cause" in mind???

I tried, but was not able to think of a current example.

Years ago, there was a ('Church organized') community service group that gathered, repaired and provided the resultant personal computer equipment to other community based services.
But I couldn't even recall their name as an example.

Since we live in the midst of the 'Bible Belt' -

It should not be too hard to find such a group again.

Hmm...
Notice how similar that pattern is to the wind dispersed fallout pattern if Glen Rose ever 'went Chernobyl'.
Perhaps there is good reason for all the Bible thumping and praying.
(No offense intended to anyone. The area got its name ages before nuclear power.)

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by knc1

I tried, but was not able to think of a current example.

Years ago, there was a ('Church organized') community service group that gathered, repaired and provided the resultant personal computer equipment to other community based services.
But I couldn't even recall their name as an example.

Since we live in the midst of the 'Bible Belt' -

It should not be too hard to find such a group again.

Hmm...
Notice how similar that pattern is to the wind dispersed fallout pattern if Glen Rose ever 'went Chernobyl'.
Perhaps there is good reason for all the Bible thumping and praying.
(No offense intended to anyone. The area got its name ages before nuclear power.)

You are talking the Comanche Peak power plant. We toured there once.
Though you need to extend that belt about 200 miles west lol.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You are talking the Comanche Peak power plant. We toured there once.
Though you need to extend that belt about 200 miles west lol.

There is nothing in West Texas, other than jack rabbits.

I once had a coffee-table book of "West Texas Jokes" -
It didn't go over well with my (Texas native) friends.

There was one I always liked - far too long for a thread post - but the punch line was:

Real Estate agent, trying to sell a farmer some land -
It begins to snow -
agent tells customer to ask that old man (who looked older than Moses) how often it snowed -
Old Man responds with: "Never have seen it snow before, but I have seen it rain, twice".

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by knc1

There is nothing in West Texas, other than jack rabbits.

I once had a coffee-table book of "West Texas Jokes" -
It didn't go over well with my (Texas native) friends.

There was one I always liked - far too long for a thread post - but the punch line was:

Real Estate agent, trying to sell a farmer some land -
It begins to snow -
agent tells customer to ask that old man (who looked older than Moses) how often it snowed -
Old Man responds with: "Never have seen it snow before, but I have seen it rain, twice".

Hmmm. This is about the only jackrabbit I have seen. Well now he did have some wild nights which led to some wildly colored offspring but most of them have now been removed.
http://www.odessacvb.net/visitors.cfm?p=24&b=1
And how dare you leave out the poor misunderstood rattle bugs.
http://www.rattlesnakeroundup.net


Oh and rained twice was the old man 120?

Now west Texas also has some culture.
We have the Globe Theatre. And are famous in book, movie and tv show.
Note the book was more accurate than the movie. Though the Tim McGraw character was spot on.
Oh and don't forget the sweet aroma we have of dinosaur farts.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program and have the pieces arrived yet.

[knc1]

Just now.
I am off to see if this stereo headphone jack is small enough.
Will compare it to the USB adapter I built-in on my own.

Later:
The documentation said this was a low profile, compact, three wire jack.
The adapter cord only requires three leads to be brought out of the Kindle, so this tiny 'headphone' serial port jack should do just fine.
See attached.

No lies there, it is smaller and lower profile than the jim.sh/ftx adapter.
So I **should** be able to get it inside of the PW-3's case.

It may not fit in the same place I used for the adapter on my PW-3 -
because of that step in the frame where the e-ink screen is at.
But it is going into the case somewhere.

[knc1]

Previous post updated with pictures.
Now off to cut up a brand new Kindle that isn't mine.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by knc1

Previous post updated with pictures.
Now off to cut up a brand new Kindle that isn't mine.

Have fun cutting up the kindle.
I am going to spend the next little bit attempting to make a baby block.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh and don't forget the sweet aroma we have of dinosaur farts.

Natural gas has no natural odor of its own. That "sweet aroma of dinosaur farts" you have is "skunk juice" (i.e. a "mercaptan" thiol most easily detected by the human nose) ADDED to natural gas so that potentially dangerous gas leaks can be easily detected. Sadly, floral scents were added originally, but houses became well-distributed across local neighborhoods when folks left the oven knob cracked to make their houses smell like flowers, and somebody foolishly decided to light their pipe. Dinosaur farts indeed...

Like cattle ranchers (or worse, pig farmers) calling their favorite stench "the smell of money", eh?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Natural gas has no natural odor of its own. That "sweet aroma of dinosaur farts" you have is "skunk juice" (i.e. a "mercaptan" thiol most easily detected by the human nose) ADDED to natural gas so that potentially dangerous gas leaks can be easily detected. Sadly, floral scents were added originally, but houses became well-distributed across local neighborhoods when folks left the oven knob cracked to make their houses smell like flowers, and somebody foolishly decided to light their pipe. Dinosaur farts indeed...

Like cattle ranchers (or worse, pig farmers) calling their favorite stench "the smell of money", eh?

Geekmaster,
I wasn't talking natural gas. I was talking about the rigs that drill the oil to make all the petroleum products.

But if you want to talk natural gas explosions, the "mercaptan" thiol was not originally added to natural gas. Some companies did but it was optional.
In Texas, it became law that companies had to add it in May of 1937. The bill to add it had sat through at least two congressional sessions.
Note on March 18, 1937, the richest school in Texas exploded. It was an unscented natural gas explosion.
437 children killed. The only reason I am here today is because my grandfather skipped school to work in the east Texas oil fields.
He went back to help pull out his classmates when everyone across that part of East Texas heard the explosion.
In later years, I have met at least 2 people that heard the explosion, the nephew of the man that was holding the saw that sparked and caused the explosion and my history professor in college was the son of the first doctor on the scene.
Tyler Hospital was supposed to open their new trauma center on March 19, 1937. Needless to say the opening got pushed up a few hours.

Oh and in an odd turn of events, I am highly sensitive to "mercaptan" thiol.
That has come in very handy twice.

[Cinisajoy]

Oh and yes, the baby block worked.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh and yes, the baby block worked.

The new serial port connect is **small** -

The bad:
I have to invent a new way to mount it in the case (its almost two small).
The good:
With its size, there are a lot of choices.
The ugly:
That smooth curve of the side-to-back edge all around the Kindle.
That is going to make mounting the tiny jack extra interesting.