12-09-2019, 11:44 AM | #1 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 70
Karma: 11789
Join Date: Dec 2019
Device: PW4
|
Is it reasonable to hack the PW to be a long life clock?
My secondary reason to obtain a jail broken PW is to use it as a hacked clock - to permanently display the time (as a screensaver?) updating 1/minute.
Before I go 'all in', wondering if this is a reasonable hack for someone with average hacking skills!? I presume the basic steps would be: 1) Jailbreak 2) Install the addins 3) Code the clock app in Python, generating updated png files once/minute 4) Add the script to cron Thanks for the advice! |
12-09-2019, 11:51 AM | #2 |
Nil adsuetudine maius
Posts: 278
Karma: 500000
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: US
Device: PW4
|
Interesting idea. While I haven't actually done this, it shouldn't be difficult to do on a jailbroken paperwhite.
|
Advert | |
|
12-09-2019, 11:54 AM | #3 |
hopeless n00b
Posts: 5,111
Karma: 19597086
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: in the middle of nowhere
Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9
|
Just a thought. Wouldn't doing this be equivalent to 1,440 page turns per day?
|
12-09-2019, 12:09 PM | #4 |
Nil adsuetudine maius
Posts: 278
Karma: 500000
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: US
Device: PW4
|
Stats race?
The 1,440 page turn reference.. made me think of this old instructable. But more on point for the OP, not exactly what you proposed doing but certainly worth a look, Yet another clock extension. |
12-09-2019, 12:12 PM | #5 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 70
Karma: 11789
Join Date: Dec 2019
Device: PW4
|
At 1440 turns/day, I guess the next question is how long would a charge last at that rate?
I don't mind charging it up periodically, or maybe hacking in a bigger battery... |
Advert | |
|
12-09-2019, 12:15 PM | #6 |
o saeclum infacetum
Posts: 20,229
Karma: 222235366
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: New England
Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5
|
Please report a thread and ask it to be moved rather than repost.
|
12-09-2019, 12:41 PM | #7 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 70
Karma: 11789
Join Date: Dec 2019
Device: PW4
|
my bad
|
12-09-2019, 01:03 PM | #8 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,280
Karma: 98804578
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: pb360
|
Quote:
|
|
12-09-2019, 02:25 PM | #9 |
Nil adsuetudine maius
Posts: 278
Karma: 500000
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: US
Device: PW4
|
Honesty, most people using cron on desktop nix boxes never get it to work either.
But persistence works. I must have wasted a full afternoon squashing cron gremlins in tivo boxes in the day. |
12-09-2019, 02:30 PM | #10 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,987
Karma: 128903378
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Actually, it's not reasonable to hack a PW to make it a digital clock. You are best to get a lower end Kindle and hack that to be a clock. No need to wast a PW when you can waste an older Kindle.
|
12-09-2019, 02:37 PM | #11 |
Nil adsuetudine maius
Posts: 278
Karma: 500000
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: US
Device: PW4
|
That's a subjective position. It's only a waste if the idea has no value to the OP.
And the OP could still use it for reading if he wants to. It could be a clock when the Kindle happens to be idle. Which seems more like increased utility than a "waste". |
12-09-2019, 02:40 PM | #12 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,987
Karma: 128903378
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
I'm not saying the idea has no value. I'm saying it would (IMHO) better to use a lower end Kindle such as the Kindle Basic.
|
12-09-2019, 03:23 PM | #13 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,280
Karma: 98804578
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: pb360
|
|
12-09-2019, 04:02 PM | #14 |
Nil adsuetudine maius
Posts: 278
Karma: 500000
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: US
Device: PW4
|
It's a little bit insidious. They do. But if you do a lot of recording you won't see that for extended periods of time. But it will suspend sooner or later and then you get to play with the gremlins. Unless of course you got all your cron syntax right on the first go.
yeah right, first go (much hysterical laughter) -- edit: in all fairness it's a good point. Cron will be a pita if you let the Kindle sleep. It shouldn't be a problem for a device that can be tethered to an outlet. But it's worth thinking about what to do on a device that you let sleep. Perhaps a clock display, when not plugged in should be designed to "time out". And redisplay/update only after the Kindle wakes up from some other event. @handyguy Here is a thread with useful information about both using python to display screen objects and sleep(ing) cron dragons. Last edited by Junket; 12-09-2019 at 04:42 PM. |
12-09-2019, 04:42 PM | #15 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,280
Karma: 98804578
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: pb360
|
Quote:
I have decades of (shallow) cron experience and currently have dozens of cron jobs that collectively launch thousands of times per day. |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
PRS-900 PRS-900 Clock Hack? | Dahak | Sony Reader | 13 | 06-18-2010 03:33 AM |
clock hack for EBW 1150??? | the7gerbers | Fictionwise eBookwise | 1 | 02-18-2009 10:32 AM |
Sony Reader hack: clock in status bar | vvv | Sony Reader | 20 | 04-26-2007 06:11 PM |