How to update Kindle 2/DX/DXG with YifanLu's firmware from 3.2.1 to 3.4.2

[knc1]

Originally Posted by newman

Just listed all the files there and the only ones bearing "swap" in their names are:

/proc/swaps
/proc/sys/vm/swappiness

No swapon, swapoff, nor mkswap. It's not present even in NuLuJe's kindle-usbnetwork-0.55.N which has a portion of Busybox.

--

I'll check Buildroot for sure.

Hmm....

My "Dev" K3 needs a battery re-charge, but once that happens I'll see what I can find.
Maybe I already built the utilities and forgot about doing it (if I did, they will be on this K3 that is charging now).

It is nearly my lunch time here, so give me a few hours.
(I need a break from counting ions anyway. Although I think I figured out what happened to my mysteriously disappearing copper(1) oxide.)

[knc1]

Phooey -
Sometime in the past I removed everything from my K3 -
Or maybe it just forgot everything because I haven't paid it much attention.

[newman]

Can someone with Kindle 3 (or perhaps every Kindle with 3.x firmware) with FW version prior to 3.4 have a look at /etc/fb.modes and if MD5 hash of that file is 645ec280a0ac85ac6c4672d614d7388d send it to me in PM, please? Same with the same file with MD5 645ec280a0ac85ac6c4672d614d7388d if on 3.4+. Thanks.

[thatworkshop]

I had a few pms with newman regarding this issue but I'll reveal it here too.

I am still on v2.5.8. (Well, I was on v2.5.5 till last night )

What I am more interested in, is that speed in flipping page doesn't change so my reading experience doesn't get worse. Does upgrading to 3.2.1 or even 3.4.2 make the experience less realistic?

It'd be nice to be able to switch between version on the fly, i.e. work with 3.4.2 and when you need to, go to 2.5.8. Obviously, not just these versions and not just Kindle DX. I have system images of my DXG for 2.5.5 and 2.5.8, in fact, before doing anything, I take a dump... hehehehe

I think I disclosed it for Kindle Touch or Kindle 3, when I was more active here, but: Has anyone found a quick way to switch between versions?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by idoit

I had a few pms with newman regarding this issue but I'll reveal it here too.

I am still on v2.5.8. (Well, I was on v2.5.5 till last night )

What I am more interested in, is that speed in flipping page doesn't change so my reading experience doesn't get worse. Does upgrading to 3.2.1 or even 3.4.2 make the experience less realistic?

It'd be nice to be able to switch between version on the fly, i.e. work with 3.4.2 and when you need to, go to 2.5.8. Obviously, not just these versions and not just Kindle DX. I have system images of my DXG for 2.5.5 and 2.5.8, in fact, before doing anything, I take a dump... hehehehe

I think I disclosed it for Kindle Touch or Kindle 3, when I was more active here, but: Has anyone found a quick way to switch between versions?

The root of the filesystem tree is firmly anchored in the kernek once it is up and running - -
So "Switch on the Fly" - - Not without rebooting.
Using kexec might be one path to explore (there has been some work done here on a kexec enabled kernel).

Another possibility (not tried here that I know of) is to support more than one guest system under Linux-VServer(.org) and then switch the pariperals between the various guest instances.

But your going to either run out of RAM or have to enable swap so the instances not in use have somewhere to go.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by knc1

The root of the filesystem tree is firmly anchored in the kernek once it is up and running - -
So "Switch on the Fly" - - Not without rebooting.
Using kexec might be one path to explore (there has been some work done here on a kexec enabled kernel).

Another possibility (not tried here that I know of) is to support more than one guest system under Linux-VServer(.org) and then switch the pariperals between the various guest instances.

But your going to either run out of RAM or have to enable swap so the instances not in use have somewhere to go.

Oh yes I remember discussion about kexec.
At this point, I want to exactly know the advantages of upgrade from 2.5.8 to 3.2.1 or 3.4.2 ?
And its disadvantages (I know of one which kinda keeps me from updating!)... which I'm sure there are plenty, speaking on a "hackery level"!

If one updates, I'm sure, they can revert back, just like Kindle Touch and Keyboard right? Do we know the magic key for this thing (Kindle DXG) to go to recovery/fastboot mode?

[knc1]

Magic Key still unknown for the DX, DXG.

You get support for TLS 1.0 & 1.1* in the experimental browser.
Currently, the primary reason to run 3.4.2
(* no TLS 1.2 support - yet)

Translation:
The https: web sites that will not talk with you now, will after the upgrade.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by knc1

Magic Key still unknown for the DX, DXG.

You get support for TLS 1.0 & 1.1* in the experimental browser.
Currently, the primary reason to run 3.4.2
(* no TLS 1.2 support - yet)

Translation:
The https: web sites that will not talk with you now, will after the upgrade.

TLS, that's all?

[Jedidiyah]

Originally Posted by knc1

As of 08/10/2015 - Fixed for K2, DX, DXG if running YifanLu's firmware (FrankenKindle).
See: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=263894

- - - -

I didn't do it, one of our dev. forum readers did and shared the "HowTo".
I.E: Any of the Series 2 devices can now rum the most recent Series 3 (3.4.2) firmware.
Which 'fixes' Amazon's Experimental Browser.

Note: Does not (at this time) include updating to Amazon's most recent e-book font -
but that might happen someday also.

Thanks again for your work on this. Hopefully "strong familiarity with UNIX shell" requirement will be relaxed, and "kindle may brick" sounds scary. But I may have to do it, now there is a new problem: clicking any link returns error 503 (no server available to handle this request) every other time, and often it takes 3-4 tries before it connects.

Just in case, I still have 2.5.8 on my DXG. The original thread only gives instructions for updating to 3.1, posters later in the thread report updates to 3.2.1 and piratebay's version of 3.2.1 "acknowledged though not necessarily blessed by Yifan", but I could not find instructions for doing it. What is the go to place for a "blessed" version? Also posters there mention that "on 3.2.1 battery drain on 3g is really dramatic" and "it's not the same on 2.5.8: the battery with 3G-on lasts as-advertised, which is about a week or so. 3.2.1 is what really kicks it". What happens with 3.4.2? Also, after all these updates will it still be compatible with Librerator?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by idoit

TLS, that's all?

That is a requirement for using any site where security is a concern.
The 2.5.8 browser only does SSL3 - which is no longer used by any site built in the 21st century.
(Like your bank, etc.)

- - - -

There might be a lot more reasons, but I don't know them.
The above is what kicked off the update to the HowTo.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by knc1

That is a requirement for using any site where security is a concern.
The 2.5.8 browser only does SSL3 - which is no longer used by any site built in the 21st century.
(Like your bank, etc.)

- - - -

There might be a lot more reasons, but I don't know them.
The above is what kicked off the update to the HowTo.

I see!

I'll try to see if it's possible to just bring this feature into my DXG without fully updating it to v3.

*** But still we can go to diags mode in DX, right? (because I see many interesting stuff under /test which is I believe mmcblk0p3 on my DXG).

[thatworkshop]

Update: oops! I should have RTFM first https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=263667 but still my question is, is it possble to update only what it takes for WebKit to work? I can ignore pdf blah blah... I am happy with KindlePDFViewer.

Originally Posted by knc1

knc1

After your speculations in the other thread (I guess NiLuJe's thread), did you realize it is necessary for one who wants Wikipedia functioning again on their DX 2.5.8 to update to 3.4.2 (or 3.2.1)?

Or, is there any 'minimal' solution (like just updating webkit or just adding certs, etc)? I prefer not to get the whole update because of RAM scarcity!

[knc1]

Originally Posted by idoit

After your speculations in the other thread (I guess NiLuJe's thread), did you realize it is necessary for one who wants Wikipedia functioning again on their DX 2.5.8 to update to 3.4.2 (or 3.2.1)?

Or, is there any 'minimal' solution (like just updating webkit or just adding certs, etc)? I prefer not to get the whole update because of RAM scarcity!

To 3.4.2 not 3.2.1, 3.4.2 is the earliest, not even 3.4.1 provides the required protocols and encryption suites.

You need to update the libraries that provide the encryption services (openSSL and/or gnutls) -
You need to update all programs and libraries that reference the updated libraries (because they will have what they want to use / what they are willing to accept hardcoded in them).

You also have to update everything that all of the above depend on, because the updated stuff may need things not provided by the (older) original firmware.

And without a "magic key" to rescue yourself with - that selective updating is very risky.
Very easy for something to go wrong.

Hmm...
I think that pretty much says:
You have to update everything as a set.

[thatworkshop]

I'd appreciate if someone who has already updated to 3.4.2 or 3.2.1 can reboot their device, don't open anything, and execute this command which tells how much RAM is used and free:

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free

and tell me. I want to decide if I want to update or not. Thanks.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by knc1

And without a "magic key" to rescue yourself with - that selective updating is very risky.
Very easy for something to go wrong.

But according to Yifan, it's easy to revert back to v2.5.8 if one doesn't like 3.2.1, I believe he mentioned! ?

Originally Posted by knc1

Hmm...
I think that pretty much says:
You have to update everything as a set.

I guessed so. Darn it.