Converting the KT3(W) to a network or standalone computer ?

[Euphoric]

Hello everyone, I am wondering if the new Kindle 8 could be used as a small computer...

Either a standalone computer :
- using the bluetooth controller on the KT3 to connect a bluetooth keyboard...
- using the Wifi for lan or Internet access
- using the screen as an alphanumeric terminal at first (GUI not needed), so as to run command line tools like plain text editors, mailers, compilers/interpreters...

or even just a remote terminal :
- bluetooth keyboard and nice e-ink display as above
- terminal software and ssh client to remotely work on server kept at home

I'd love it...

so, a first question is : does the bluetooth controller on the KT3 support other profiles than the audio one ? (introduced in this 8th generation for Amazon's VoiceView)

Thanks to anyone who can make the ball rolling...

[eschwartz]

Once you jailbreak it, you have access to a full linux OS under the hood. We have a USBNetwork/sshd hack, as well as kterm (a KUAL extension) which is a terminal shell prompt.

Although the screen is not very big and it is somewhat awkward to type.
I don't see why you couldn't use a bluetooth keyboard though -- bluetooth support (on the new, supported devices) starts in the kernel, so you can just hook into that. You may need to set it up yourself.
I think in the past people have played with getting bluetooth up and running even on older devices before Amazon turned it on themselves...

[knc1]

The bluetooth aspect is the only one not already covered in depth here.

Start by installing kTerm and letting us know if it works on your model/your firmware version.

Edit: too slow with the typing.

[Euphoric]

Exactly
That's why I was asking for the bluetooth capabilities... (I've often had bad experiences with bluetooth under Linux)

I confirm that kterm works on the KT3W (G000KA) with latest firmware (5.8.1.1)...

Of course, it only gives access to a busybox, not a fully-fledged GNU environment, but it's already *GREAT*...
and the network is here too (e.g wget http://www.google.com works), so the question is really how (and firstly if) the bluetooth stack will allow to connect an external keyboard and thus give a really nice and small linux terminal on the go (e-ink screen and wireless keyboard, who needs more ?)...

PS: Thanks a million for your great work on the kindle jailbreak !

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Euphoric

Exactly
That's why I was asking for the bluetooth capabilities... (I've often had bad experiences with bluetooth under Linux)
- - - -

I can not see in your first post where you describe the things you have already done and those results.

So instead of my asking you a lot of questions, just to receive an "I already done that" response, please give the full context of your question.

For inspiration, see:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272087

And at least the summary of the linked-to article there, see:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-...ns.html#before

[Euphoric]

oops, sorry, it seems I was not clear, so please let me try to dissipate any misunderstanding

- I'm a full newbie in this Amazon Kindle world, so I have done *nothing*...

- I've bought this KT3W last week, this is my first Kindle device and I am very enthusiastic about its low power consumption, readability in sunlight conditions and computing potential when jailbroken...

- I now see that this enthusiasm has had me write too much in the initial post before the single question was asked...

- considering that I am not a native english speaker, I should thus have restricted to a more direct question, but I didn't want to be impolite, so I tried to express what I had in mind... Now I am wondering if my confirmation of Kterm working on KT3W/5.8.1.1 was impolitely given, I didn't want to upset anyone

- the bluetooth problems I was referring to were on Linux PC, Raspberry Pi and Android, as a simple user with software that didn't always work as it should, or with small developments with Bluetooth controllers that didn't support the Bluetooth profiles I would have wished...

- I didn't know that the Kindle platform already had an integrated (unactivated) bluetooth in the previous versions, like eschwarz says : I thought this was something new to the KT3, which made me realize how great this Kindle would be with an optional external keyboard...

" For inspiration, see:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272087
"

Ouch, this is so true...
I admit I should have tried to dig into the bluetooth software before asking...
I've surely been lazy, but as a newcomer I thought that someone with more experience here had already had a look at the bluetooth capabilities of the KT3...
Will learn my lessons and do more tests before asking, sorry...

[NiLuJe]

Don't hesitate to ask, just start with more focused queries (with as much context as possible, as @knc1 mentioned) . It's a bit hard to give you a meaningful answer otherwise .

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Euphoric

oops, sorry, it seems I was not clear, so please let me try to dissipate any misunderstanding

- I'm a full newbie in this Amazon Kindle world, so I have done *nothing*...

- I've bought this KT3W last week, this is my first Kindle device and I am very enthusiastic about its low power consumption, readability in sunlight conditions and computing potential when jailbroken...

- I now see that this enthusiasm has had me write too much in the initial post before the single question was asked...

- considering that I am not a native english speaker, I should thus have restricted to a more direct question, but I didn't want to be impolite, so I tried to express what I had in mind... Now I am wondering if my confirmation of Kterm working on KT3W/5.8.1.1 was impolitely given, I didn't want to upset anyone

- the bluetooth problems I was referring to were on Linux PC, Raspberry Pi and Android, as a simple user with software that didn't always work as it should, or with small developments with Bluetooth controllers that didn't support the Bluetooth profiles I would have wished...

- I didn't know that the Kindle platform already had an integrated (unactivated) bluetooth in the previous versions, like eschwarz says : I thought this was something new to the KT3, which made me realize how great this Kindle would be with an optional external keyboard...

" For inspiration, see:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272087
"

Ouch, this is so true...
I admit I should have tried to dig into the bluetooth software before asking...
I've surely been lazy, but as a newcomer I thought that someone with more experience here had already had a look at the bluetooth capabilities of the KT3...
Will learn my lessons and do more tests before asking, sorry...

So that is your subject and context.
Let me see if I can come up with a positive example:

title: (prefix KT3) Question on the bluetooth capabilities

Hello,
I have a general question about the bluetooth capabilities of the Amazon KT3.

This is my first experience in the Amazon Kindle world.
I just purchased my first device only last week.

As a user, in the past I have had problems with bluetooth on Linux PC, Raspberry Pi and Android devices.
Can someone here tell me about the bluetooth capabilities of this KT3?

My ultimate objective is to use bluetooth devices in addition to the ones Amazon lists as supported.

Please consider that English is not my native language.

The context, the question and the objective.
(At least that is how my mind translates your first two posts.)

If you agree that is a reasonable paraphrase of your question,
then we can get on with the being helpful part.

[Euphoric]

Sure, this is much clearer than the original post, no arguing possible...

It's also more generic since I was only interested in a bluetooth keyboard, but you're right : other bluetooth devices could be of interest (e.g elm327 OBD for cars, bluetooth GPS, ...).

(I've always thought that when you're not a native speaker, you cannot be on a par in a discussion, but I'm starting to wonder if that was not an excuse for a different problem... )

Anyway, I guess all of you don't have the same Kindle device, so I've started to look into some places (no need to answer, there's no question in this post (yet...), I'm just trying to tease a bluetooth guru...):

- sources provided by Amazon (more exactly the parts needed for them to conform with GPL) : no bluetooth-concerned application module or library... However, the 3.10.53 Linux kernel has a bluetooth driver...

- couldn't find the BlueZ commands so tried a 'find' of files with names starting with bluetooth in the filesystem : except two PNG images in the webkit's assets, it only returns a bluetooth directory in /proc and another one in /opt/brcm4343w/ (but since I have not opened my Kindle, I cannot affirm this Avnet BCM4343W module (combining a Broadcom Wifi + Bluetooth SoC with an STM32F411 Cortex M4 mcu) is really responsible of the wireless capabilities of the Kindle 8).

- so /proc/bluetooth/ contains a btenable "file", and a sleep directory that contains asleep | btwake | hostwake | proto | uart_clk entries. Also, a cat of /proc/btmac-addr or /proc/device-tree/chosen/btmac returns the MAC address of the kindle, starting with 44650D which correctly is the vendor signature of Amazon Technologies Inc.

- tried to find files starting with 'bt' : another bunch of three entries in /proc/device-tree/bt_pwr_ctrl : bt_host_wake, bt_dev_wake and bt_rst. But also a few entries in the SysFS.

- As for executable programs, it seems there's only three in /usr/bin : btui, btconnectionhelper and btd. The later one surely is the Bluetooth daemon. I was expecting btui to be a graphical program, but instead it's a text-only user interface. I will report experiments with these programs in a second answer in order to keep this one short (ahem).

- finally, there are bluetooth javascripts in /usr/share/webkit-1.0/pillow/javascripts, called by the three bluetooth html dialogs in /usr/share/webkit-1.0/pillow ( bt_forget_dialog.html, bt_paired_device_wizard.html, bt_switch_dialog.html). I'm not a javascript developer, and the scripts are several kilobytes long on a single line without a single whitespace, but it seems the actions on the bluetooth are done by the setLipcProperty method, like in

nativeBridge.setLipcProperty("com.lab126.btmd","Connect",e.bdAddress)

.
I have also seen this setLipcProperty method displayed in a 'strings /usr/bin/btd', but for now am clueless about how this works...

[eschwartz]

Amazon's nativeBridge javascript is another access point for the lipc-* group of shell commands.

You can use `lipc-probe` to get lists of available properties.

[Cinisajoy]

The problem is not in the programming.
Some bluetooth devices do not play well with some devices.
Also sometimes you need to put in a code (if unknown try 0000) to get them to connect.

Is your question: I want to turn my kindle into a computer with an external keyboard?

If yes, then I am pretty sure the help you need is here.

My answer would be if you can find a compatible keyboard it should be entirely possible.

My question would be what are you wanting to do on this computer?

[Euphoric]

I've tried to experiment with /usr/bin/btui and the /usr/bin/btd daemon...

The btui program declares to be a test program, when launched, it says :

*** Welcome to TESTUI :) ***
Available commands:
 1. TurnOnBluetooth
 2. TurnOffBluetooth
 3. Scan
 4. A2DPDiscovery
 5. CancelScan
 6. Pair
 7. CancelPairing
 8. Unpair
 9. Connect
10. Disconnect
11. Play
12. Pause
13. Stop
14. SetDiscoverable
15. SetNonDiscoverable
16. SetConnectable
17. SetNonConnectable
18. ShowPaired
19. ShowConnected
20. ShowDiscovered
21. ShowAllDevice
22. Disable_auto_connect
23. Enable_auto_connect
24. Disable_PTS_Mode
25. Enable_PTS_Mode
26. Enable_BT_Perf_Logging
27. Enable_BT_Snoop_Logging
28. Disable_BT_perf_logging
29. Disable_BT_Snoop
30. Disable_BT_all_trace
31. Enable_BT_all_trace
32. Enable_BT_log_to_file
33. Disable_BT_log_to_file

Enter a command:

If the Bluetooth daemon hasn't been launched, any number typed at the prompt only seems to display the name of the command invoked, without any further effect...

Enter a command: 1
TurnOnBluetooth...

Enter a command: 14
SetDiscoverable...

Enter a command: 16
SetConnectable...

Enter a command: 3
Scan...

Enter a command: 20
ShowDiscovered...

Enter a command: 0
"0" is not a recognized command

Enter a command: ^C

During these "actions", I had a phone with bluetooth activated, and couldn't detect the Kindle, so it seems the commands aren't effective...

Starting btd with -? parameter gives the following usage :

Usage: btd [OPTION]...
-f, --foreground
      Run in foreground mode instead of daemon mode. Runs until
      terminated with SIGTERM, SIGTRAP, SIGUSR1.  Outputs
      additional messages.
-d, --debug
      Enable LLOG-based diagnostics at level 0 (LLOGS_DEBUG, LLOGS_DEBUG0).
-dn, --debug=n
      Enable LLOG-based diagnostics at level n (LLOGS_DEBUGn).
-t, --trace
      Enable trace level 0 (low).
-tn, --trace=n
      Enable trace level n (0 low, 1 med, 2 high, 3 all)
-ofname, --traceout=fname
      Redirects trace output to file 'fname' without changing trace
      level (can repeat -t option as needed).
-n, --noop
      Launch, print a message, and then immediately exit.
-wn, --watchtime=n
      Set watchdog timer for n sec (default: 40). n=0 disables
      watchdog timer (for debugging).
-?, --help
      Display usage information.

When the btd daemon runs, the btui test program seems to interoperate with the btd daemon (a slightly disturbing thing is that the prompt returns before the command is really executed... maybe each command is executed in a separate thread) :

Enter a command: 1
TurnOnBluetooth...

Enter a command: 
 BT_EnableCallbackResult = 0 
3
Scan...

Enter a command: 
 BT_StartDiscoverCallbackResult = 0 

 BT_SetPowerModeCallbackResult = 0 

 BT_DiscoverCallback
 BD_Name = Bluetooth Keyboard
BD_Address = 0C:FC:83:1A:84:AB
Class Of Device = Peripheral
Vendor ID = 0
Product ID = 0
Version = 0
Services = 0
RSSI = -72
Paired = 0
Connected = 0

 BT_DiscoverCallback
 BD_Name = SMA002d SN: 20015216
BD_Address = 00:80:25:15:98:81
Class Of Device = Unknown device type
Vendor ID = 0
Product ID = 0
Version = 0
Services = 0
RSSI = -95
Paired = 0
Connected = 0

 BT_DiscoverCompleteCallbackResult = 0 

 BT_EnableAutoConnectCallbackResult = 0

However, trying command #6 (Pair) did not report anything nor asked any parameter...
Anyway, this btui is only a test program, not the way to programmatically use the bluetooth driver...

Finally, when I closed the session, a VoiceView dialog could be seen on the graphical interface, saying that the bluetooth audio device could not be found... this interaction between the text commands and the graphical interface is strange...

[Euphoric]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Amazon's nativeBridge javascript is another access point for the lipc-* group of shell commands.

You can use `lipc-probe` to get lists of available properties.

Ah, thanks, will have a look at this, it's a whole new world for me...

[Euphoric]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

The problem is not in the programming.
Some bluetooth devices do not play well with some devices.
Also sometimes you need to put in a code (if unknown try 0000) to get them to connect.

Is your question: I want to turn my kindle into a computer with an external keyboard?

Exactly

If yes, then I am pretty sure the help you need is here.

My answer would be if you can find a compatible keyboard it should be entirely possible.

My question would be what are you wanting to do on this computer?

Developing small programs in various languages...
For cpu-intensive programs or too big applications, I would like to use a ssh client in order to connect to a computer at home...

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Euphoric

Exactly



Developing small programs in various languages...
For cpu-intensive programs or too big applications, I would like to use a ssh client in order to connect to a computer at home...

Does the kindle have enough RAM to write even small programs?
I know they only have between 2 and 4 megabytes of storage.