PW5 Gargoyle Interactive Fiction interpreter for new Kindles (PW5)

[kbarni]

Hello,

Finally I could jailbreak my Kindle PW5 and enjoying the great Koreader!

In the meantime I realized that most software wasn't updated for newer kindles (firmware 5.16+) So I decided to take the plunge and put my experience to the use of the community and create/update some extensions.

So, without further ado, I present you :

Gargoyle Interactive Fiction interpreter!
(Latest update: March 14)

You need a jailbroken Kindle (firmware 5.16.3+).

Instructions

KUAL: Unzip the attached file to the extensions folder on the Kindle. Start KUAL and choose gargoyle.

Booklet: Now copy the gargoyle_booklet.sh file to the documents/ folder on the Kindle. A Gargoyle book appears on the home page of your Kindle!

Playing

In case the keyboard disappears after opening a game, make a two finger tap on the top right corner of the screen! It will display the keyboard again!

Here are the list of gestures:

• One finger:
  • Tap on input line: place cursor
  • Double tap: copy word to cursor
  • Swipe up/down: scroll pages
  • Swipe left/right: move cursor
• Two fingers: see figure below (the table corresponds to the corners of the screen)

Configuration

To change the default folders (games, saved games), edit the gargoyle.sh file.

To configure further Gargoyle (changing fonts and font size), edit the garglk.ini file in the dist folder.

Troubleshooting

• Gargoyle isn't starting! -> Check that the firmware is newer than 5.16.2. Check that the files are correctly copied to the extensions folder.
• HELP! The on-screen keyboard disappeared! -> Two finger tap on the top right of the screen to display the keyboard!
• Gargoyle crashes when opening .dat files -> Rename the file to .z5 to force the glulxe interpreter instead of advsys (see this post)

Credits

This extension is based on pete330's port, with the original patches by baf.

Source code here: https://github.com/kbarni/garglk/

For further instructions read the original thread.



Your feedback is always welcome!

Please tell me also what other extensions would you like to see?

[kbarni]

BTW, source code is here --> https://github.com/kbarni/garglk/

[fenny]

Can't seem to open any inform7 (.gblorb) files.

Tried with Counterfeit Monkey and Superliminal Vagrant Twin

Worked great with a z-code file (Anchorhead).

[kbarni]

Yes, I confirm. This looks like a problem with the Glulx interpreter. Will look into the issue this weekend.
It also seems it won't open images...

[kbarni]

aaaanndd....

It's working!

Please download below the latest version.
This works with every format I tested. Images and all.

@administrator: please update the file in the original post and remove the previous versions.

[Frogm4n]

Thanks for building this! I've been interested in IF on my Scribe for a while. I'm on a Scribe 2022 running 5.17.3. I tried some .DAT format files with both your first release and this _2 release and they wouldn't work with either of them. I found an archive with .z5 files, and those do work. However it's hit or miss which one will have the keyboard open once it loads the game. Is there a gesture to show/hide the keyboard and one to quit/close Gargoyle? I've been lucky that the game screen only uses the top 2/3 of the screen, so KUAL is still visible behind it. I happen to have enough extensions in it that the bottom of the Quit button can be tapped when no keyboard is available.

[kbarni]

Thanks for the feedback !

The issue with the DAT extension is that two formats use the same extension: advsys games and old Infocom games. Gargoyle uses advsys interpreter by default when opening this format and will eventually crash.

The easiest solution seems to be to simply change the extension to .z5

Another workaround seems to be to force the interpreter for a specific game in the garglk.ini file (in /extensions/gargoyle/dist folder):

[ zork.dat ]
terp frotz

(for more details see this discussion)

Concerning the disappearing keyboard, I also observed the issue (it's even worse on leafpad, another project I'm working on). Correcting this bug is my top priority. Adding a swipe gesture to display hidden keyboard is also a good suggestion.

[Frogm4n]

I'm glad you mentioned that about the file types. It got me to see if the gnu file command could tell me which kind the files are before I renamed them.

games$ file *.dat
Lurking.dat:  Infocom (Z-machine 3, Release 221, Serial 870918)
Nordandb.dat: Infocom (Z-machine 4, Release 19, Serial 870722)
Hitchhik.dat: Infocom (Z-machine 5, Release 31, Serial 871119)

I changed those extensions to the matching .z# based on those results. Gargoyle now opens them right away. Of course there's still the missing keyboard issue, but I haven't found a pattern to it yet. Hopefully it's not too much of a headache to find and fix.

[kbarni]

Yes, it gives headaches. It seems it occurs when opening large games; I re-display the keyboard when the game is opened. But if it's still loading, the keyboard disappears when the loading is finished.

I made a workaround. In the following version, two finger tapping on the top right corner will force the keyboard to reopen. I hope it will make Gargoyle usable until I figure out a better solution.

I also made some modifications on the font size to adapt to my Kindle.
You can modify the font size to your liking in the extensions/gargoyle/dist/garglk.ini file.

[Frogm4n]

It works! Adding the keyboard gesture is a great help. Thanks! I'll try to give the config a look this weekend. From the repo readme it looks like there is some fancy font handling. Have you noticed any issues with modern proportional typefaces? I'm sure most of the games were designed on monospaced systems, but I'm not sure if any actually require it.

[Frogm4n]

I looked at the .ini and didn't see much that I felt was worth poking at until I've used the app some. Tonight I was playing the C.I.A. Adventure (cia.z5, ported from TRS-80 to GWBASIC to Inform) when I had a crash due to an OOB read. I don't know if that was in the Z-machine or the interpreter itself, but I ended up having to hold the Scribe powerbutton for 15-ish seconds until it did a full restart and not a simple reset. FWIW, I was in the 1st floor office trying to pick up the items from the desk. I've attached a screenshot.

[kbarni]

Maybe you can try running the game in desktop Gargoyle to see if it gives the same error.

[poetrynati]

So I'm very new to Kindle modding and was really interested in Gargoyle but I can't seem to get it to work. It shows in the list of KUAL applications, but when I try to launch it, nothing happens. I just get sent back to the home page. KOReader works fine however. I'm in the latest firmware, could that be the issue?

[poetrynati]

Edit: So for some reason after I reinstalled everything it worked. Definitely me messing something up the first time. Thank you so much for this! The kindle is the perfect media for interactive fiction.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by kbarni

Maybe you can try running the game in desktop Gargoyle to see if it gives the same error.

I haven't been able to replicate it on the Scribe, so I'll have to chalk it up to a random bug until I can.