Successful DX Demo un-demo'd and a few Q's

[wakawakawaka]

Hey Folks,
Been lurking for a while - short story, had a DR1000, then a Kindle3w, that died (broken screen) - always wanted a DX to replace the DR1000 in size, found a demo, took a chance I'd be able to un-demo it with info here. Turns out YAY.

A quick rundown of what I did for my own benefit and maybe others:
(note, I had a hard time sorting through all the various write-ups, in retrospect I think this is the closest one to what worked for me: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=25)
The full steps:
I had obtained a 3.2.1 rootfs.img from somewhere in the ether, unpacked via Yifan Lu's KindleTools

On windows w/ USB connected to Kindle on, in demo mode:
Ran Sir Alex's Kindle Diagnostic Tool to recover fiona**** password.

Disconnected USB when fully charged.

In Linux, connected via modified PL2303HXA serial adapter (modified to take 1.8V on VDD_325 pin):
sudo minicom -s
set /dev/ttyUSB0 to 115200, 8n1, no flow control (hw nor sw)
hold down power switch for 15s
watch boot-up
hit ENTER when prompted for recovery console
3 ENTER
I left minicom running and open on this screen - there are two options, Done or Reboot and a spinning cursor - I left it alone
Plug in USB to linux
New terminal, find drive, if automounted, unmount, in my case was /dev/sdb1 (approx 400MB)
umount /dev/sdb1
dd if=/path/to/rootfs.img of=/dev/sdb1 bs=1M
117s later I was done.
Choose reboot

Interestingly, first reboot I had a lot of errors on the console, BUT it came up with 3.2.1!!!!
Rebooted to be sure, and fewer errors (I think a lot were logfile creations or similar). Was able to run jailbreak(pretty sure it was already jailbroken, as failed with U007), fonts, python, screensaver hacks. All seem to work. Registered, 3G working (I'm in US). Happy days are here again.

OK - now for the questions. I have 3 wires soldered to the back of my kindle. I have a working happy 3.2.1 filesystem and some kernel? Any reason to keep those wires? What am I likely to need them for in the near future? Any reason to upgrade past 3.2.1?

Finally, MUCH thanks to everyone who's gone before me here. Especially GeekMaster, yifanlu, stranger_st, stangri, twobob, knc1, begemot, megacoupe, lots of confusing stuff in there but some elucidation too.

[twobob]

Don't suppose you would mind testing THIS for us while you have those cables attached?

Would be mightily grateful...

just need to check it doesn't trash the DX on reboot - after installing pre-requisites.
(it really probably wont)

Excellent write up! Thanks to you!

[twobob]

Any chance of?

[wakawakawaka]

Sorry for the late reply. Work project hit crisis mode. All clear, should be able to test in a few hours.

[twobob]

AWESOME

[wakawakawaka]

Quick update for my own memory. Missing from my DXG as it stood after my original post: active content. This post had me sorted:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=353

(though you may want to hit post #354 since it looks like there's a slight update)

I ran it without any of the 2.5.8 series stuff, my bad for not having a backup. Maybe I'll find that and improve it...

All of this was needed to show the new launcher to work on the DXG. It does.

[twobob]

Heroic. updated the link on the thread.

Much obliged.

[wakawakawaka]

Another update so I have it written and can be shared.
Got vncviewer running with a virtual display from Windows 7 x64. This allows me to have a window not visible on my standard monitors appear on the Kindle - I'm using it to view code references while I work, would be great for datasheets, etc.

Install vncviewer on your kindle, test that it works. The write-up in the kvncviewer thread is sufficient for this.

Install the ZoneOS ZoneScreen virtual display driver for Windows 7 x64: http://www.zoneos.com/zonescreen.htm#downloads

Don't install it yet, windows 7 and esp. x64 (it seems) is really sincere about driver signing. I tried a couple things but the one that worked for me was option 3, the Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider found here: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/loading-u...ta-64-bit-x64/

Run that, I rebooted afterward.

Then run the installer for ZoneScreen - if all goes well you should have a new video device without the dreaded yellow ! sign in device manager.

Reboot.

Somewhere along the line here make sure you don't have Aero running - the "Basic" colorscheme seems to handle this.

Run ZoneScreen, Options->Custom Resolution
I made a 824x1200x8 mode, that's portrait on the DXG, not sure if color actually matters yet
then, File->Attach

Your screen will probably flickr, and if you've got the screen resolution settings dialog open you may notice your windows shift. I don't know what does this, and/or how to fix it. I moved my second display back to where it was.

Now the tricky bit. Since the new display is there, but Win7 won't show it in that settings dialog, you need to download the command line tool monarr.exe from here: http://www.zoneos.com/zonescreen.htm#notes

Then set the mode on your virtual display (monarr.exe --listvirtual will show you your display #), monarr.exe --setmode \\.\DISPLAY1 824 1200 8
Then move it where you want it - for me that's to the right of my primary 1440 panel
monarr.exe --move \\.\DISPLAY1 1440 0

So far so good. Now for VNC. The VNCServer Vasily modified for use with the ZoneScreen driver for me was incompatible with kindlevncviewer - still not 100% why, but presume it's doing some strange things.

In order to use say, TightVNC server and only export the virtual display, you need to go to the Extra Ports tab in configuration, add a port for your area of real estate, for me this line ended up being:
5901:824x1200+1440+0
very familiar given what I did with monarr above...

AND YOU ROLLIN

[fredyd]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience and tips.

Originally Posted by wakawakawaka

In Linux, connected via modified PL2303HXA serial adapter (modified to take 1.8V on VDD_325 pin)

Can you please elaborate on that?
What kind of serial adapter did you start fro?
Something like this: PL2303HX USB to TTL Converter Module 5V & 3.3V Output, Onesanya brand ?
or this: USB To RS232 TTL PL2303HX Auto Converter Module Converter Adapter For arduino, no brand ?

Did you feed the VDD_325 pin with an external power source? Or from the Kindle itself (where I can find 1.8V on the kindle?) Or do another modification?

Cheers.

[twobob]

the 1.8v comes via the USBTTL adaptor. IIRC.