PW3 System fonts

[Ruskie_it]

Hello everybody,

While hacking my new PW3 I have noticed that the system font is way smaller than its PW2 counterpart.

In case I am using "system font" incorrectly, I mean the font that is used by, for example, the MRPI to document its actions while installing hacks, or the font that the KUAL extension "Show Time" uses to print the time in the upper right corner.

Is there a way to enlarge it (possibly without resorting to the font hack)?

Thanks

[knc1]

The add-in must be using the wrong screen resolution (running the PW-2 font on the PW-3 screen).

NiLuJe has some very complicated scripting helpers that try to get it right, but that must need some fixing to correctly id the generation 7 and 8 models.
I think I recall some "????" in the comments around the PW-3 settings.

[Ruskie_it]

Mmmmhhh... No, I don't think that's the case of this specific add-in
It is not only this "Show Time" extension that does like that. As I said, also when I run the MR Package Installer, that "Hush little baby" and other writings that come when it is installing hacks, those also are really really small, much smaller than with my PW2.
It is probably like that because PW3's screen has more dpi, yet I would like to see the lines a little bigger (as they were in PW2).

If you could point me to the files where the logic for font size is at work, I might try to experiment. Thank you!

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

Mmmmhhh... No, I don't think that's the case of this specific add-in
It is not only this "Show Time" extension that does like that. As I said, also when I run the MR Package Installer, that "Hush little baby" and other writings that come when it is installing hacks, those also are really really small, much smaller than with my PW2.
It is probably like that because PW3's screen has more dpi, yet I would like to see the lines a little bigger (as they were in PW2).

If you could point me to the files where the logic for font size is at work, I might try to experiment. Thank you!

The master copy is in one of his public repositories, but . . . .

From the snapshots thread, download the dummy_test archive.
Un-archive.
Look in the Dummy/build directory for the file libotautils5.
It hasn't been updated since July 11th.
The fall-back when a model isn't identified is the Kindle Touch (800x600).

If you find a fix or update for that, then we can go searching for the public repository the master copy is in.

Note: The serial number to nickname table only has one of the two PW3-32 model numbers, nobody has given us the other one (one black, one white).

But the libotautils5 script include is where the code is at that has to have its model recognition updated.

Then update KindleTool (for model recognition, this utility script, and the two new models) -
Then use the newly updated KindleTool to rebuild all the packages in the Snapshots thread.

But just finding the changes needed in the include script on an already installed add-in would be one part of the time consuming process done.

- - - -

Hmm...
Maybe the master copy of this file is in the same repo that KindleTool is in - that sort of makes sense, but I haven't looked yet.

[Ruskie_it]

Too bad. Unfortunately, I can understand the code there, the logic of the script, but I know too little of the... say, Kindle and/or Jailbreak architecture to be able to understand what those "constants" used for model recognition are, and how to get mine just in case (btw, my kindle is a simple PW3 2Gb, 3Gb I guess?, made for the european market. It should be covered, yet the system font is very little.

If somebody can guide me in what to do, I can follow instructions, otherwise I'm lost.
No pressure on you or anybody, though. This will be sorted out sooner or later, I just thought I might help.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

Too bad. Unfortunately, I can understand the code there, the logic of the script, but I know too little of the... say, Kindle and/or Jailbreak architecture to be able to understand what those "constants" used for model recognition are, and how to get mine just in case (btw, my kindle is a simple PW3 2Gb, 3Gb I guess?, made for the european market. It should be covered, yet the system font is very little.

If somebody can guide me in what to do, I can follow instructions, otherwise I'm lost.
No pressure on you or anybody, though. This will be sorted out sooner or later, I just thought I might help.

The table of constants is here:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Serial_Numbers

Display the code and the table side-by-side and that mystery should be solved.
(Which is why we keep telling people that table has to include their model before it can be supported.)

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by knc1

Display the code and the table side-by-side and that mystery should be solved.

Oh, okay!
Well it was easier than expected. Assuming I understood what you meant.

So, I looked in the table on the web for serial suffixes that were not present in the script. I did this only for the paperwhite models.
The problem is, I didn't find any! On the contrary, I found in the script two suffixes ("F4" and "F9") that are in the script but missing in the web table, for PW2 models.
Also, there are "0KD" and "0KE" listed in the script as PW3 model that are not in the table.
The only missing PW suffix that I spotted in the script is the one for the PW 32Gb.

I, myself, have a Kindle whose serial number is G090G1, which is both in the table and in the script, so it should be fully supported.
All in all, it seems that device recognition is not the problem. So what can it be?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

Oh, okay!
Well it was easier than expected. Assuming I understood what you meant.

So, I looked in the table on the web for serial suffixes that were not present in the script. I did this only for the paperwhite models.
The problem is, I didn't find any! On the contrary, I found in the script two suffixes ("F4" and "F9") that are in the script but missing in the web table, for PW2 models.
Also, there are "0KD" and "0KE" listed in the script as PW3 model that are not in the table.
The only missing PW suffix that I spotted in the script is the one for the PW 32Gb.

I, myself, have a Kindle whose serial number is G090G1, which is both in the table and in the script, so it should be fully supported.
All in all, it seems that device recognition is not the problem. So what can it be?

Maybe it isn't as simple as I thought it was.
NiLuJe has been the sole maintainer for a long time now.
We may have to just wait until he returns.

The ones in the script that are not in the table are NiLuJe's best guess at models that will be released in the future.

Amazon did change the default system font recently, perhaps that is the problem.
I don't recall the details, just that I read a mention of the change.
Perhaps it was in the font add-in thread.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by knc1

The ones in the script that are not in the table are NiLuJe's best guess at models that will be released in the future.

Yeah, that was my guess actually

Originally Posted by knc1

Amazon did change the default system font recently, perhaps that is the problem.
I don't recall the details, just that I read a mention of the change.
Perhaps it was in the font add-in thread.

Maybe that is actually the problem. No worries, I can wait, I'm just sorry I can't help more.
Anyway, let's say that Niluje finds a solution. He will update his packages but the problem would stay for the showtime package until a correction is made for it, right?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

Yeah, that was my guess actually



Maybe that is actually the problem. No worries, I can wait, I'm just sorry I can't help more.
Anyway, let's say that Niluje finds a solution. He will update his packages but the problem would stay for the showtime package until a correction is made for it, right?

Is that a update_*.bin package?
If it is, open it up with kindletool and view its install script.
Not everyone uses NiLuJe's pre-written helper script.

It not an update_*.bin package -
again check the install script.

And if neither is any help - then the font selection may be hard coded in the application.
Not everybody writes their stuff to support multiple devices, even if it does run on multiple devices.

[Ruskie_it]

It's a script, and it's pretty simple to be honest, even I can understand it...
More specifically, it even has the recognition function probably copied from Niluje's code.
Problem is I don't know what I should change.
I don't want to put the whole code here, it doesn't seem fair, however, the core of his script does this:

while :
do
  Time=`date +%H:%M`
  
  eips  $((${EIPS_MAXCHARS} - 8)) 1 $Time
 
  sleep 1
done

And the function that recognize the model is the usual Niluje's stuff (of which I only report the part that should affect my specific model):

case "${kmodel}" in
...
* )
		# Handle legacy devices...
		if [ -f "/etc/rc.d/functions" ] && grep "EIPS" "/etc/rc.d/functions" > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
			. /etc/rc.d/functions
		else
			# Try the new device ID scheme...
			kmodel="$(cut -c4-6 /proc/usid)"
			case "${kmodel}" in
				"0G1" | "0G2" | "0G4" | "0G5" | "0G6" | "0G7" )
					# PW3... NOTE: Hopefully matches the KV...
					SCREEN_X_RES=1088
					SCREEN_Y_RES=1448
					EIPS_X_RES=16
					EIPS_Y_RES=24
				;;
				* )
					# Fallback... We shouldn't ever hit that.
					SCREEN_X_RES=600
					SCREEN_Y_RES=800
					EIPS_X_RES=12
					EIPS_Y_RES=20
				;;
			esac
		fi
	;;
esac

Now, my guess is, if I want the font of a different size the only thing I can leverage upon is that EIPS_X_RES, EIPS_Y_RES I don't know the meaning of.
By the look of the code, it seems that to have a bigger font I shall reduce those EIPS figures, is that correct?

[Ruskie_it]

Hmmm. No. On second thought, that number should only influence the position of the string on the screen, not the size of its font.
There does not seem to be any reference to a font in the code, so it's just system font... and I want it slightly bigger here in PW3.
Probably the font hasn't changed between PW2 and PW3. But since PW3 has a higher number of pixel, then the charachters appear smaller... :-/

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

Hmmm. No. On second thought, that number should only influence the position of the string on the screen, not the size of its font.
There does not seem to be any reference to a font in the code, so it's just system font... and I want it slightly bigger here in PW3.
Probably the font hasn't changed between PW2 and PW3. But since PW3 has a higher number of pixel, then the charachters appear smaller... :-/

You are correct, I was wrong about that NiLuJe helper set of functions.
Those are only to align and center progress messages during installation.
No reference to using a specific font -
just using whatever the system default is.

It is the application that would have to specify a different font or different size.
If the system has a "set.prop.default.size" lipc call (or something named like that) it would be obvious in the script.

Sorry for all of the false information.

If you do a 'dump messages' (search bar ;dm) and look in the system log document you will find two things:
*) Lab126 is busy redefining lipc calls.
*) Lab126 is a long way from getting the changes correct (they even manage to crash dbus during start-up, more than once).

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by knc1

If you do a 'dump messages' (search bar ;dm) and look in the system log document you will find two things:
*) Lab126 is busy redefining lipc calls.
*) Lab126 is a long way from getting the changes correct (they even manage to crash dbus during start-up, more than once).

No problem for the information. It was fun for a change.
I see. Then, I suppose having bigger system font is just a few (???) fw upgrades away...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

No problem for the information. It was fun for a change.
I see. Then, I suppose having bigger system font is just a few (???) fw upgrades away...

And along the way, they will probably break everything we have to offer.