Kindle VNC viewer (native app, GPLv2)

[space4]

Try ssh to the kindle, cd to kindlevncviewer dir and start the viewer manually by:
./kvncviewer.sh -password YOURPASSWORD 192.168.2.1:1

Maybe the log info can give you some hint on what's happening. You can then press Ctrl-C to disconnect/freeze, Up-arrow then enter to connect again.
It's easier to press than the Shift xx keys.

Or you can try the x11vnc server, which works on my case also. It is started in the Terminal, so again the log info can give you some hint on what's happening.

I can confirm that both Vine Server & x11vnc works on FW 2.5.8 (with usbNetwork 0.33N) and FW 3.2.1 (with usbNetwork 0.35N) on my DXG.

[fluminense]

Thanks for the tips.

Tried the x11vnc, seems to be more stable, but still disconnects.
Again, had to use a beta version (0.9.14), since there's an advice about a broken openGl function on OSX lion...

The server side shows:
01/02/2012 02:48:44 Got connection from client 192.168.2.2
01/02/2012 02:48:44 other clients:
01/02/2012 02:48:44 192.168.2.2
01/02/2012 02:48:44 denying additional client: 192.168.2.2:34762
01/02/2012 02:48:44 Client 192.168.2.2 gone
01/02/2012 02:48:44 Statistics events Transmit/ RawEquiv ( saved)
01/02/2012 02:48:44 TOTALS : 0 | 0/ 0 ( 0.0%)
01/02/2012 02:48:44 Statistics events Received/ RawEquiv ( saved)
01/02/2012 02:48:44 TOTALS : 0 | 0/ 0 ( 0.0%)
01/02/2012 02:48:44 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: read: Connection reset by peer
01/02/2012 02:48:44 client_count: 0
01/02/2012 02:48:44 viewer exited.
01/02/2012 02:48:44 deleted 40 tile_row polling images.
01/02/2012 02:48:44 macosxCG_refresh_callback: unregister


The kindle side shows:
partially updating eink display (256,595)-(1149,713)
01/02/2012 02:48:45 read (110: Connection timed out)
error while handling RFB message.
01/02/2012 02:48:46 VNC server supports protocol version 3.8 (viewer 3.8)
01/02/2012 02:48:46 VNC server closed connection

The line
01/02/2012 02:48:44 denying additional client: 192.168.2.2:34762
seems interesting to me...

Also tried x11vnc with -loop parameter, but kindle seems to give up, and the connection doesn't reestablish.

Anyway, even with these disconnects, its already useful.

[space4]

How about adding options:
-nevershared -dontdisconnect -forever

[space4]

DELETED

[tvjohn]

Originally Posted by fluminense

...

The kindle side shows:
partially updating eink display (256,595)-(1149,713)
01/02/2012 02:48:45 read (110: Connection timed out)
error while handling RFB message.
01/02/2012 02:48:46 VNC server supports protocol version 3.8 (viewer 3.8)
01/02/2012 02:48:46 VNC server closed connection

..
Anyway, even with these disconnects, its already useful.

On Snow Leopard, I get similar for mac side, on connect for a split second there's a display of the Finder, then it's overwritten by endless "partially updating eink display ("

lines.

I tried it with a friend's XP pc, using Real Vnc v2.0 & Kindle performs exactly as above when connected with my mac.

Interesting that at least you get some proper display.

[hawhill]

Those dropped connections are dropped by the Kindle's firmware. I'm sorry that I didn't had much time lately to look into these issues. But the dropped connections are not really specific to the piece of software, that's due to a daemon that will drop longer lasting TCP connections (except for some special dedicated ports, first and foremost SSH).

I've got to experiment more with SSH tunneling of the VNC connection, which should get rid of the disconnection problem. Well, anyone might give that a try. Forwarding TCP connections via SSH is documented on the Web quite often.

[fluminense]

Running this solved for me (tip from the KindleTerm forum)
/etc/init.d/netwatchd stop

Don't know if it has any side effect, but seems to be perfect...

[hawhill]

Oh! Yes, that should be it. I just didn't know I could just stop the daemon - I thought it would get restarted by the framework again :-) Yes, it's that one that is killing the connections. So wrapping this in the call to the application should work, I think.

[tvjohn]

Do you mean one of the forums here?

Originally Posted by fluminense

Running this solved for me (tip from the KindleTerm forum)
/etc/init.d/netwatchd stop
....

Doesn't seem to help in this case

Sometimes the errors pause (I'm testing this from terminal mode on K3)
& then resume when I move a window on the mac (running vine server because of the Crypto problem using the resident mac vnc server). Pic' attached shows a sample. For a split second after moving a window, the mac screen does appear on K3, followed by the "partially updating..."

[hawhill]

Oh! You're running it via the terminal application. Well, unfortunately that wouldn't work - the terminal and the VNC viewer have no way of synchronization. I think running the viewer via launchpad or via SSH/Telnet login is the way to go... The terminal *might* keep quiet if you redirect those debug messages of the VNC viewer to /dev/null, i.e. append ">/dev/null 2>&1" to the command.

[tvjohn]

Originally Posted by hawhill

Oh! You're running it via the terminal application. ..
I think running the viewer via launchpad or via SSH/Telnet login is the way to go... The terminal *might* keep quiet if you redirect those debug messages of the VNC viewer to /dev/null, i.e. append ">/dev/null 2>&1" to the command.

Initially I tried it via LaunchPad, but nothing, so tried from terminal so I could see some error output - which I did of course

I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the display would be overwritten anyway! I didn't know about the sync' aspect though.

Thank you Hawhill, your redirection works

Next I'll try it from LaunchPad again & stop the timeout..

[yoaaaaa]

Hi, i tried to follow the instruction in the zip file, and I have some questions.
1) I can't find the launchpad on my kindle 3, am i missing anything?
2) is the entire process be done on Linux platform? because there is no exe file in the zip file.
3) I successfully installed the "tsinghoo's approach" and it's on wifi connection, but the refresh rate is too slow to use it. Does anyone have the same result?

[yoaaaaa]

hi, would you consider to show us the whole process of "Kindle VNC via usb" on youtube please? my knowledge on Linux may not be enough to do it.

[barbracleo21]

Please could you do a tutorial (a video or written) step by step for no experts in linux of how to use a Kindle (i dont know mine's version, i guess is the simple one) as a second monitor. It will meant a lot to me, i have sight problems and my eyes get tired very quickly and i cant use my computer properly.

[hawhill]

Sad to hear of those problems. I start with a warning: I would not yet consider this software to be a good solution for production use, at least not yet, in its current state. It's working to some extent and it has a published code base that allows anyone with the skills to work on it. And for the technically advanced, it might provide enough to be useful.

That said, I think doing a video tutorial is not a good approach to this. First, I do not think that messing with your Kindle to run native apps like this one is a good idea if you do not know what you're actually doing. Even copy & paste isn't always without risks. One small unforeseen glitch and your device ends up bricked in the worst case. I consider this risk to be immense when it comes to video tutorials.

Then there's another problem: there isn't a single right way to do this, there are many ways. Each of them might make sense depending on what you focus on.

However, there's a basic outline:
- jailbreak
- install launchpad
- install (i.e. copy) kindlevncviewer
all of these are documented within this forum.

Then:
- set up vnc server on your OS of choice. There are plenty of vnc servers out there. Probably easiest is to forward your current PC display with "x11vnc" (but mind that the display resolutions will probably differ). You could also use a dedicated VNC-X11-Server like realvnc, tightvnc & co, but you will probably not want that until - someday - kindlevncviewer supports input, too...

I'm sorry that I cannot offer the capacity to do a full hands-on guide. Maybe someone else will jump in, but it's always hard to write proper documentation. And this especially goes for documentation that shall not expect related knowledge.