[HN Gopher] Jailbroke my Kindle to use it as an e-ink monitor
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Jailbroke my Kindle to use it as an e-ink monitor
        
       Author : adtac
       Score  : 393 points
       Date   : 2024-08-04 16:08 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gist.github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gist.github.com)
        
       | goryramsy wrote:
       | If anyone's looking to jailbreak their kindle, the 'mobileread'
       | forums are a great place to start.
        
       | Meph504 wrote:
       | This would be far more interesting if you shared how, and did it
       | on a platform that wasn't meant for short form content.
        
         | adtac wrote:
         | Writing a quick Github gist, sorry haha, I'll post a link here
         | in a few minutes.
         | 
         | Edit:
         | https://gist.github.com/adtac/eb639d3c707b55a28f0ee9a420aa7e...
        
           | dang wrote:
           | Ok, we've changed the URL above to that one from
           | https://twitter.com/adtac_/status/1820127470613622950, which
           | it includes.
        
             | adtac wrote:
             | Thanks!
        
             | adtac wrote:
             | dang, can we merge this thread into
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177 or vice
             | versa?
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Sure.
        
               | arnavpraneet wrote:
               | I did not expect your username to be dang, I thought he
               | meant it as a figure of speech like "dang"
        
               | defrost wrote:
               | Dan G. IRL
        
               | nyjah wrote:
               | Legend.
        
             | loeg wrote:
             | The twitter thread has the demo, which is pretty neat.
             | Github link is lacking that (maybe the author can add the
             | demo to that).
        
           | judge2020 wrote:
           | Here's a direct MP4:
           | 
           | https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1820127349548982272/vi.
           | ..
           | 
           | You could probably direct link it in markdown to embed it,
           | although i'm not sure if Twitter will serve it on a high-
           | traffic gist like this one after a while (I imagine there's
           | some sort of rate limit-based hotlink protection).
        
           | whoami730 wrote:
           | Can it cause my Kindle to get bricked?
        
             | averageRoyalty wrote:
             | Probably. Jailbreaking is always a risk, and you should
             | research and understand the risks before undertaking.
        
         | creesch wrote:
         | Interesting that you perceive hn as a platform for short form
         | content.
        
           | vosper wrote:
           | They were talking about the original link to a tweet
        
             | creesch wrote:
             | Ah, missed that.
        
           | Meph504 wrote:
           | Twitter is where his link points...
        
             | creesch wrote:
             | Yeah, I figured that out about 6 hours ago:
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41158720
             | 
             | Though it did already point to the gist back then, and I am
             | still unsure how I can tell it pointed to twitter
             | originally.
             | 
             | Thanks though?
        
               | debugnik wrote:
               | > I am still unsure how I can tell it pointed to twitter
               | originally.
               | 
               | You can usually find a comment by dang saying something
               | like "we've changed the URL from <old link>".
        
         | dstroot wrote:
         | You said this much more constructively that I might - I
         | _really_ dislike when people post long form stuff on X
         | /Twitter. For those who may not know you can reply to a tweet
         | with "@threadreaderapp unroll" to have a reconstructed doc sent
         | to you. The bot will reply directly to you and only you after
         | the unrolling is complete. Hope that helps someone.
        
           | bazzargh wrote:
           | I know this one has been fixed, but I also find those an
           | annoyance - more so because if you're not logged in on
           | twitter, you only see the first tweet, not the thread. So
           | rather than get irritated when I click through stories, I
           | block the links on HN with ublock-origin rules like so:
           | news.ycombinator.com##tr.athing:has(a[href^="from?site=twitte
           | r.com"])         news.ycombinator.com##tr.athing:has(a[href^=
           | "from?site=twitter.com"])+tr         news.ycombinator.com##tr
           | .athing:has(a[href^="from?site=x.com"])         news.ycombina
           | tor.com##tr.athing:has(a[href^="from?site=x.com"])+tr
           | news.ycombinator.com##tr.athing:has(a[href^="from?site=medium
           | .com"])         news.ycombinator.com##tr.athing:has(a[href^="
           | from?site=medium.com"])+tr
           | 
           | 2 rules each because the replies and the story titles don't
           | share a common parent element. eg right now I can tell from
           | the numbers beside the stories that number 23 is missing; but
           | otherwise HN looks the same. The same trick works for google
           | search results; I have rules like the ones below to block
           | less useful tutorial sites when I'm looking for python/js
           | docs:                   google.com##div:has(>div>div>span>a[h
           | ref^="https://www.w3schools"])         google.com##div:has(>d
           | iv>div>span>a[href^="https://www.geeksforgeeks"])         goo
           | gle.com##div:has(>div>div>span>a[href^="https://realpython.co
           | m"])         google.com##div:has(>div>div>span>a[href^="https
           | ://www.programiz"])         google.com##div:has(>div>div>span
           | >a[href^="https://www.datacamp"])
           | 
           | Hope this helps folk too; I'm not going to fight a battle
           | over links to these sites (and others I've blocked), I'm just
           | trying to improve my own experience of the site.
        
             | naitgacem wrote:
             | I do something similar with Google search results. I hide
             | results from Pinterest, Quora, TikTok, ...
        
           | tjoff wrote:
           | That requires you to have a twitter-account though...
        
       | denysvitali wrote:
       | What's unclear here is the refresh rate, but knowing the
       | Kindle(s) this is hardly faster than 0.5fps
        
         | Rebelgecko wrote:
         | It looks like it has the ability to do partial refresh
        
         | adtac wrote:
         | updated the gist: I'm getting close to 3-4 frames per second!
         | this is only possible because of the partial screen refreshes
         | since most pixels don't change between consecutive frames
        
           | denysvitali wrote:
           | Oh wow. That's nice! Yes, if it does partial refreshes then
           | the refresh rate might be way faster than I expected.
           | 
           | Awesome!
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | For me, that would be fine. It's common to have some reference
         | or other piece of information that I want handy but doesn't
         | change much.
        
         | retrac wrote:
         | Here's my old Kindle Touch 2 running a hacky Android 4 port
         | attempt and a Game Boy emulator:
         | https://i.imgur.com/m7ZZ1Xm.mp4 I'd say more like 2 - 3 fps.
         | Not sure why there are random black lines. Display driver
         | doesn't handle the demand of constant update very well. I
         | normally use it as an e-ink picture frame.
        
         | dredmorbius wrote:
         | Independent of the methods indicated here (screen capture +
         | imagemagick conversion), there's the underlying question of
         | E-innk hardware capabilities. I can speak to the latter.
         | 
         | E-Ink screens are usually capable of a number of different
         | refresh / display modes, which trade higher-quality visual
         | appearance (crispness, greyscale, ghosting) for slower refresh.
         | 
         | Refresh rates typically range from ~2-4 Hz at highest quality
         | to 16--60 Hz at lower quality, but faster-updating modes. For
         | most E-ink devices I've seen there are typically four modes,
         | "Normal/Regal" (highest quality), "Speed", "A2", and "X-Mode"
         | (fastest refresh).
         | 
         | "Normal" is best for reading static text. "Speed" is sufficient
         | for terminal-based sessions (I have Termux installed on my Onyx
         | BOOX tablet), and most interactive apps (e.g., Web browsers,
         | Podcast apps). I find little practical distinction between
         | "Speed" and "A2". X-Mode does show considerale ghosting, but is
         | indeed capable of video playback.
         | 
         | Typically it's also possible to set the full-refresh interval
         | (now many repaints are premitted between full refreshes which
         | clear ghosting but give a distinct "flash" update.
         | 
         | E-ink has a number of compromises, but _is_ quite usable. Apps
         | which are designed with its capabilities and limitations in
         | mind are much better suited. Mostly that involves full-screen
         | pagination of content rather than scrolling. Given the
         | ubiquitous use of touch-based scrolling in most Mobile
         | applications, this can be somewhat frustrating. I tend to use
         | dedicated e-ink apps (such as Onyx 's own NeoReader book
         | reader), apps tuned for E-ink such as Einkbro, a Web browser,
         | or terminal-based apps which work well in a text-based context.
        
       | readthenotes1 wrote:
       | Posted on GitHub:
       | 
       | "unfortunately I lost the Go source code"
        
         | SillyUsername wrote:
         | Followed up with "but it was pretty simple, like under 30
         | lines"
         | 
         | So simple in fact, that it wasn't quickly rewritten and added
         | to GitHub...
        
           | adtac wrote:
           | I should stop writing code in files like /tmp/x.go no matter
           | how throwaway I think the code might be. I still have the
           | linux/armv7 binary if anyone wants it lol.
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | Oh man, apparently I'm not alone in using /tmp/ as my
             | storage space. I like it because it's self-cleaning!
        
               | medstrom wrote:
               | You could have /home/junk2020, /home/junk2021,
               | /home/junk2022 etc. Still self-cleaning, but it's once a
               | year.
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | Or I could have /home/junk, self-cleaning but never!
        
               | girishso wrote:
               | That is me, I have `/home/delme` since forever!
        
               | vrotaru wrote:
               | You know what else is self-cleaning?
               | /dev/shm
               | 
               | The advantage being that it does not even touch the disk.
        
               | _flux wrote:
               | One can use tmpfs for /tmp as well (and I do it).
        
               | _flux wrote:
               | I present you my most used shell function:
               | cdtmp() {             cd $(mktemp -d)         }
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | That's fantastic, thanks! I always used to do this by
               | hand. Though one downside is that the name is random, and
               | it's hard to go back if you CD out. I might use diceware
               | to make a memorable random name.
        
               | _flux wrote:
               | I agree that sometimes that is a problem, so I find out
               | the latest tmp directory with ls -tr /tmp | tail. But
               | using nicer names would help with that.
               | 
               | So I took your tip and now I have
               | cdtmp() {             local name
               | name=/tmp/$(diceware --no-caps -d - -n 2)
               | mkdir $name && cd $name         }
               | 
               | I decided not to worry about the directory existing
               | already, or of the other checks mktemp -d would do for me
               | in my single-user system.. I suppose mktemp -d -t
               | cdtmpXXX would work almost as well. Thanks for the idea!
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | Thank you! That's very neat, I'll implement this myself
               | as well.
        
             | e-Minguez wrote:
             | I'm team /home/user/Downloads/tmp
        
           | gala8y wrote:
           | This resonates funnily with "I hacked this together last
           | night for fun" a bit down the page.
        
           | theonemind wrote:
           | "It is impossible to separate a cube into two cubes, or a
           | fourth power into two fourth powers, or in general, any power
           | higher than the second, into two like powers. I have
           | discovered a marvelous proof of this, which this margin is
           | too narrow to contain" - Pierre De Fermat
        
             | thaumasiotes wrote:
             | > It is impossible to separate a cube into two cubes
             | 
             | Later disproved by the Banach-Tarski theorem. ;D
        
           | tuananh wrote:
           | where is this posted? i didn't see in in gist.github link.
        
             | SillyUsername wrote:
             | It's under the section "step 2"
        
       | bmsleight_ wrote:
       | I did a similar project HDMI in
       | 
       | https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/old-kindle-shows-hdmi-video-...
       | 
       | to make an OK Monitor - https://barwap.com/projects/okmonitor/
        
         | frognumber wrote:
         | FYI: I'd pay to cover costs if there was a just-works off-the-
         | shelf version of this.
         | 
         | I don't think there's a business model there (I suspect the
         | sales would be in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars
         | -- so no matter where you set your profit margin, you're not
         | covering your time or much beyond costs), but I've sometimes
         | seen things done like that on hobby projects just for impact.
         | 
         | I'd love to have a wireless eInk display for my computer,
         | ideally from a USB-C dongle (so it gets video and power), but
         | HDMI + USB power would be fine too.
        
           | sp101 wrote:
           | There is: https://shop.boox.com/products/mira
           | 
           | You could also use any eink tablet that runs Android with a
           | screen mirroring app.
        
             | frognumber wrote:
             | That looks very nice.
             | 
             | The $1800 version is exactly what I'd love to have as an
             | extra monitor on my main computer, if not for the price
             | tag. 3200x1800. 25.3". It looks really good. Unfortunately,
             | as is, it's a little outside of my wallet range.
             | 
             | There's a smaller $800 version too. 1650x2200. 13.3". That
             | looks more usable.
             | 
             | To me, a major upside of the OkMonitor is the wireless
             | connectivity. That's very, very nice. Especially if the
             | computer dongle could be made small enough for use with my
             | laptop while traveling, it would be a very nice solution.
        
       | lopkeny12ko wrote:
       | This article completely glosses over what is presumably the first
       | step of making this work, which is getting a shell on the Kindle.
       | The only resource is some random forum bulletin board post? Huh?
        
         | medstrom wrote:
         | What do you mean "random"? Does the post lack some info or why
         | is it not good enough?
        
           | rbanffy wrote:
           | Posts in forums don't age well, change URLs, become outdated,
           | and so on. If you want a durable thing, you should add that
           | to the project description.
        
             | medstrom wrote:
             | I don't think phpBB threads ever change URL these days.
             | It's only unreliable if the forum is managed by a video
             | game company, because they delete the whole forum every now
             | and then to renew their website. But MobileRead is well-
             | known and enduring.
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | I suspect it's less that the _forum_ will change URLs as
               | that the URLs listed within some arbitrary forum post
               | will become outdated as the referenced source moves or is
               | deleted.
               | 
               | Linkrot, in other words.
               | 
               | Documentation in Wiki-based formats is more resilient
               | against this as posts can be subsequently edited.
        
           | lopkeny12ko wrote:
           | Why is the source-of-truth record for a set of complex
           | technical instructions in a bulletin board board of all
           | places? Instead of, you know, checked in as code in a
           | version-controlled repository, like basically all other
           | software?
        
             | grogenaut wrote:
             | Be the change you want to see in the world. In the time you
             | spent complaining about it here you could have made such a
             | resource. Don't ask the Internet in general to do it for
             | you.
        
               | lopkeny12ko wrote:
               | No, I could not have, because I don't own a Kindle nor do
               | I have any way of exercising the instructions. I'm just
               | calling out that this is an asinine delivery format.
        
               | gkbrk wrote:
               | If you don't have a Kindle, why do you care where Kindle
               | owners keep their technical information about Kindles?
        
         | adtac wrote:
         | Jailbreaks are highly firmware and hardware specific. I've only
         | seen one specific combination (5.13.5, PW3), but the
         | LanguageBreak authors have seen hundreds -- including mine --
         | so I have no additional insight or instructions that the
         | extremely thorough LanguageBreak thread doesn't have.
         | 
         | > random forum bulletin board post
         | 
         | As opposed to a random gist? :)
        
         | whamlastxmas wrote:
         | I'm a software developer and rooting my kindle genuinely took a
         | couple hours from googling to it working. It's definitely not
         | for the light hearted
        
       | cheschire wrote:
       | Perfect demonstration video, thanks for that.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Are e-ink displays ever going to get cheap? By now the basic
       | patents should be running out.
        
         | SushiHippie wrote:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779
        
           | dredmorbius wrote:
           | The good news, maybe, is that "E-Paper" (transflective LCD
           | displays), capable of _much_ higher refresh rates (60 -- 180
           | Hz), though with greater power draw and lacking E-Ink
           | (electrophoretic) display 's persistence, but otherwise
           | sharing bright-light / daylit visibility, are starting to
           | appear.
           | 
           | What I've seen of E-Paper displays isn't especially
           | encouraging on the cost front, as similarly-sized displays
           | seem to have roughly comparable costs (~US$800 for a 13.3"
           | display). But at least there _should_ be a technologically-
           | independent option, with the prospect for price competition.
        
             | mattkevan wrote:
             | I've been using Daylight Computer's new Android tablet for
             | a while now, which has a 60fps reflective grayscale LCD
             | screen.
             | 
             | During the day it looks and behaves like E-paper, but with
             | a much faster display rate. It's also got a warm backlight
             | for use at night.
             | 
             | When the backlight is off the contrast is lower than the
             | E-ink Carta panel used in the Remarkable and Boox tablets,
             | but the backlight and fast refresh really help make up for
             | it.
             | 
             | https://daylightcomputer.com/
        
               | bee_rider wrote:
               | They seem to be sold out for quite a while, sadly. Good
               | for them, though, I hope they means they'll grow.
        
               | cududa wrote:
               | Watching videos/ interviews of the founder, it sounds
               | like he's very vey focussed on scaling this up to build
               | affordable and durable wall sized versions of the display
               | tech.
               | 
               | I'm certainly rooting for them. I hope they have more
               | devices available soon
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | How's battery life?
               | 
               | Have you compared sessions where you're principally, say,
               | reading books with a bookreader app vs. Web browsing, or
               | using other apps?
               | 
               | My experience on the BOOX, an E-ink device, is that web
               | browsing (Einkbro) consumes battery at ~10x the hourly
               | rate that reading books (Neoreader) does. How much of
               | that is active display, and how much is other CPU usage,
               | I don't know.
        
               | thaumasiotes wrote:
               | My experience on the reMarkable 2 is that leaving it
               | "off", showing the screen it displays when it detects
               | that you haven't done anything for a while, will drain
               | the battery in a matter of days, whereas leaving it
               | "off", showing the screen it displays when you manually
               | navigate into the shutdown menu and tell it to turn off,
               | drains the battery in a matter of months.
               | 
               | I assume that none of the difference is in active
               | display; the display is static in either case.
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | The Remarkable2 is an E-Ink device. I'd asked mattkevan
               | as they are using a transflective LCD-based "E-Paper"
               | device.
               | 
               | The technologies have a similar _appearance_ , but
               | utilise different technologies (electrophoretic vs.
               | liquid crystal). Principle differences are the
               | responsiveness of the display (LCD is far faster) and
               | power consumption (LCD draws constant power, the display
               | clears when voltage potential is removed, electrophoretic
               | displays persist indefinitely when power is off).
               | 
               | As I'd noted in the comment you're replying to, I've used
               | an E-Ink device for years, and am familiar with its power
               | consumption characteristics.
        
             | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
             | Transflectve LCDs can't compete against Eink on contrast.
             | They are inherently compromised on light transmission
             | because of the polarizers and the modern desire for
             | [back|front]light support.
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | I'm aware of LCD's inherent contrast handicap due to
               | polarising filters. That said, E-ink also has a
               | relatively low contrast ratio. Interestingly, that turns
               | into a benefit under direct sunlight, where ink-on-paper
               | is often too bright.
               | 
               | Finding current specs is challenging, but E-Ink Carta, as
               | of 2013 (over a decade ago) was citing a 15:1 contrast
               | ratio:
               | 
               | <https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E_Ink_Carta>
               | 
               |  _Edit /Update:_ A more recent HN comment gives 12:1 as
               | applying to most E-Ink displays as of 2020, with 8:1
               | being more common:
               | <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22832452>
               | 
               | I suspect current displays are _somewhat_ better, and I
               | 'm seeing a "50% improvement" comment bandied about but
               | without a corresponding contrast ratio. Earlier displays
               | had an 8:1 ratio.
               | 
               | In practice, displays will have _worse_ contrast with
               | additional layers on top of the display, such as a Wacom
               | tablet, capacitive touch, frontlight, and any surface
               | "tooth" treatment.
               | 
               | E-Paper cites a 30:1 ratio, which would be far greater
               | contrast:
               | 
               | <https://www.newvisiondisplay.com/transflective-lcds/>
               | 
               | I've had direct personal experience with E-Ink, but not
               | with transflective LCD tablet displays.
               | 
               | I suspect that _in practice_ the displays are reasonably
               | comparable in terms of contrast.
        
               | thaumasiotes wrote:
               | > and the modern desire for [back|front]light support.
               | 
               | I had a keyboard kindle that came with a case that
               | included a dim orange pull-out booklight.
               | 
               | I wish we could still get that. It was much more relaxing
               | to read by than the modern uniform white glow from the
               | page itself.
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | You can always use a clip-on book light, or other
               | external light source.
               | 
               | <https://accessorytosuccess.com/blogs/tools/best-book-
               | light-r...>
        
               | thaumasiotes wrote:
               | Every light in your link advertises (!) its multiple
               | brightness and color settings. That makes for absolutely
               | awful usability. I purchased a light like that, and it's
               | terrible.
               | 
               | Give me an actual booklight where the settings are "on"
               | and "off".
               | 
               | (Bizarrely, the light settings on a Kindle Oasis are
               | barely better - since the light is controlled by an
               | internal menu, as opposed to a hardware control, it can't
               | be operated unless you can see the menu. This means that
               | it isn't possible to have the light off during the day
               | and turn it on when it becomes dark - if it's dark, and
               | the light isn't _already on_ , it can't be turned on. My
               | conclusion is that there are no device manufacturers who
               | understand how or why someone might want to use a lamp.)
        
               | pbhjpbhj wrote:
               | How about a white book light with a piece of
               | orange/yellow plastic over it (like a stage lighting
               | gel).
        
               | dredmorbius wrote:
               | I was simply pointing to the general concept.
               | 
               | I suspect that there are simple, single-colour, single-
               | level clip-on lights.
               | 
               | Or, you know, conventional room lighting / reading
               | lights.
        
           | IAmNotACellist wrote:
           | He calls it the broken nature of the patent system, but I'm
           | sitting here wondering why the creators of that technology
           | shouldn't be handsomely rewarded for it, for a period of
           | time? It's not like they're sitting on it (Creative Labs
           | comes to mind), but rather releasing displays that just make
           | devices cost more than they otherwise will.
           | 
           | A similar thing happened the tech behind Wacom devices--they
           | enjoyed market dominance, the patent ran out, and now we have
           | super cheap high-precision digital art devices.
        
             | dartharva wrote:
             | From further down the thread, it seems it has been well
             | beyond two decades and the original patents are already
             | long expired. They are not playing fair - they are
             | evergreening their patents with marginal changes which is
             | illegal in countries where IP laws aren't a joke unlike the
             | US.
        
         | konschubert wrote:
         | The competition is still pretty expensive. The e-paper display
         | I am using in my digital calendar is not from eink (as far as
         | I'm aware), but still costs about 50 Euro if you buy a single
         | one: https://www.waveshare.com/7.5inch-e-paper-hat.htm
         | 
         | It's the main cost driver of my calendar, it basically forces
         | the price point: https://shop.invisible-
         | computers.com/products/invisible-cale...
        
           | sbarre wrote:
           | I was about to buy one of these until I saw it relies on a
           | backend service that you provide.
           | 
           | Any thoughts/plans on allowing a customer to self-host the
           | backend? Or would you publish specs so someone could build
           | their own?
           | 
           | I love the idea of this, and we would love to have one of
           | these in our house, I've just been burned too many times with
           | fully functional physical products bricking because the
           | company behind it goes away.
           | 
           | I know you say you plan to support it for a long time, but
           | everyone says that. :-(
        
             | konschubert wrote:
             | It's on the roadmap, but to be frank, other items are
             | before it. It's complicated and while I had a few people
             | ask for it, I don't think it's something that most people
             | need.
             | 
             | I know everyone says they'll support their hardware for a
             | long time and then they don't. And of course I cannot give
             | a guarantee.
             | 
             | But I have no masters to report to. No VCs and no Directors
             | or CFOs.
             | 
             | So if I want to keep the backend running, I can just keep
             | paying 20 Euro a month to Hetzner and keep the server
             | updated.
        
               | averageRoyalty wrote:
               | It's a nice sentiment, doesn't solve the bus factor
               | though. I'd also be keen once there is an open source
               | backend. I might still pay for you to host it, but I want
               | the option to not turn it to ewaste if you don't look
               | before crossing the road.
        
         | Qwertious wrote:
         | The patents have nothing to do with it. E-ink is expensive
         | because it's a niche product with low scale - LCD screens are
         | produced by the BILLIONS per quarter, and you probably have a
         | dozen different devices with one. E-Ink does basically nothing
         | that an LCD can't substitute for, and it's more expensive than
         | LCD so nobody bothers.
         | 
         | "Patents" are a conspiracy cited without real evidence. It
         | ignores that *E-INK HAS COMPETITION* (DES/Display Electronic
         | Slurry screens). If E-ink corp were price-gouging then
         | GoodDisplay would have eaten their lunch by now.
         | 
         | To be specific here, the conspiracy isn't that E-Ink patents
         | exist - E-Ink patents _do_ exist (some expired, but E-Ink corp
         | are registering new patents as they innovate), but there are
         | tons of LCD patents also. The conspiracy is the claim that
         | patents are causing price-gouging and high prices that hold up
         | adoption of the tech.
        
       | piombisallow wrote:
       | The easy way to do this is a Boox reader with the Superdisplay
       | app.
        
       | mdp2021 wrote:
       | Incidentally, in the past few days I have been testing Android +
       | Kaleido3 as a general purpose device, and Termux-X11.
       | 
       | Kaleido3 is very usable; the recent waveforms and correct
       | dithering algorithms allow video consumption with limited
       | compromise (the framerate is high). And yes, coding is very
       | doable (Termux provided the compilers/interpreters).
       | 
       | Termux-X11 adds the ability to have your desktop Linux natively
       | on the Android device (so you may not need to use E-Ink displays
       | as part of monitor devices, but already directly as embedded in a
       | tablet used as active computer).
        
       | irusensei wrote:
       | No no. You are not supposed to rick roll when showcasing display
       | hacks. For displays you use Bad Apple.
        
         | echelon wrote:
         | That video has always felt unprofessional to me. I wish we'd
         | choose something else.
        
           | irusensei wrote:
           | How professional should the video be if I want to show
           | something animated on my Etch a Sketch?
        
           | timetopay wrote:
           | It's one of those things where if someone does the work,
           | they're allowed to show off how they like.
           | 
           | Next time you do an interesting display mod or port, you can
           | choose whatever video you like.
        
             | echelon wrote:
             | I meant it's a bit like the Lena image in digital image
             | processing.
             | 
             | I get that the original author of the series is above
             | board, but the fandom around touhou is full of enough toxic
             | people that it's often the first thing one encounters or
             | associates with the brand. Kind of like the tug of war with
             | Pepe, but much worse.
             | 
             | I just now did a Google image search for "touhou" (just
             | that term, no quotes) with safe search enabled and you
             | might guess what came back. And these characters are
             | supposed to be children.
             | 
             | I don't want to be a nanny or intrude on people who most
             | likely mean no harm, but if video demos are to have a
             | "standard" test video, should it really be Bad Apple? If
             | you've got something really cool to show off, don't spoil
             | it by associating it with that.
        
       | CodeWriter23 wrote:
       | Best RickRoll ever!
        
         | zeke_the_cat wrote:
         | It looks like the entire purpose of the project was to turn
         | "Never Gonna Give You Up" into "Take On Me" in the most
         | indirect and random way possible.
        
       | homakov wrote:
       | Why jailbreak? Just use internal kindle browser to stream
       | screenshots of your desktop.
        
         | adtac wrote:
         | That would indeed be much simpler! I'm skeptical that the
         | browser is powerful enough to handle a usable frame rate since
         | every frame would have to go from the network -> DOM -> browser
         | app memory -> frame buffer. The browser can barely keep up with
         | the Kindle store / Goodreads, but it'd be nice to be proven
         | otherwise since it'd make it much easier to get this working
         | ootb on brand new Kindles.
        
           | homakov wrote:
           | i had similar idea to turn kindle to second monitor
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6dcc0hLe0mc
           | 
           | frame rate was too bad so i just bought dasung paperwhite :)
        
       | denysvitali wrote:
       | Duplicate? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41155177
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Merged hither.
        
           | denysvitali wrote:
           | Thanks!!
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | An E-Ink device would be perfect to play nethack/slashem, MUDs,
       | IF games, turn based games and Chess/Go.
        
         | II2II wrote:
         | There is pbchess for Chess. It supports multiple ereaders. If I
         | recall correctly, it includes a few other games and
         | applications. For IF, QtFrotz was ported to Kobo devices. (For
         | what it's worth, the main drawback with IF is the lack of a
         | hardware keyboard on most e-Ink devices.)
        
       | quasarj wrote:
       | Anyone have a write-up for doing this with a Remarkable 2?
        
         | tcrenshaw wrote:
         | Fairly sure you can run a vnc client on a remarkable 2. I've
         | been on the fence about getting one for a few years and I'm not
         | super up to date on them, but a quick search turned this up
         | https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee
        
           | idonotknowwhy wrote:
           | I rely in mine so much that I'm not game enough to try that
           | lol
        
       | joejoewang wrote:
       | I am wondering if anyone used https://elekscava.com/ device for
       | similar purpose?
        
       | TheRealPomax wrote:
       | The fact that we still call it "jail breaking" is kind of insane.
       | We bought this hardware, "using it however we like" is literally
       | how ownership works.
        
         | CobrastanJorji wrote:
         | That's certainly how it should work, but how it should be and
         | how it is are not the same thing. There's a reason we're
         | fighting for Right to Repair laws.
        
         | sciencesama wrote:
         | Well the corporate greed locks it up for our safety
        
       | october8140 wrote:
       | Someone get Apple Books on a Kindle and I'll pay you a million
       | dollars.
        
         | Larrikin wrote:
         | Why trade one walled garden for another? Just use something
         | like Calibre and combine it with something like Kavita.
        
           | freddie_mercury wrote:
           | What does combining them get you?
           | 
           | I use Calibre but hadn't heard of Kavita and I'm not clear
           | what Kavita gives me that I don't already have with Calibre?
        
             | Yodel0914 wrote:
             | I hadn't heard of Kavita either, but it looks like it's a
             | lot prettier than Calibre, and (perhaps) has better a
             | better reader. It looks like it doesn't manage format
             | conversion and syncing though, which I guess is why you'd
             | use both it and Calibre together.
        
             | Larrikin wrote:
             | Calibre is a very ugly tool for converting formats, fixing
             | metadata, and all the other worst parts of managing an
             | ebook library. The single author's eccentricities are
             | apparent but it was first and it does complete those jobs.
             | If you slog through the setup and quirks, you at best get
             | an iTunes experience from 10 years ago, and I just don't
             | like using it to actually manage my library.
             | 
             | Kavita is more like Plex, where when you have your library
             | in something of a decent form it makes using your library a
             | much better experience.
             | 
             | Its also the only tool I know of that handles both manga
             | and ebook libraries well.
        
           | _hzw wrote:
           | Apple Books has some rare exclusives. To name one, all of
           | Norman Berrow's novels are only available there.
        
         | idonotknowwhy wrote:
         | Can i hold you to that? :)
        
       | roshankhan28 wrote:
       | i suppose this would be far more intresting if you should what
       | various ways you ca use a kindle and also maybe provide an
       | 1-click way to jail break kindle and upload a YT video. dont
       | forget to add 'for educational purpose' in the title so that
       | amazon doesnt comes after you.
        
       | trimethylpurine wrote:
       | I thought thought it was called "rooting" when in reference to an
       | Android device.
        
         | Asraelite wrote:
         | Maybe it's not called jailbreaking on Android phones because
         | it's more or less a supported feature, not something the phone
         | tries to prevent you from doing. On other devices like a Kindle
         | you're actively circumventing security measures.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | They didn't answer the most important question: was it worth it?
        
         | adtac wrote:
         | Too early to tell. It's not useful as a primary monitor, but
         | it's great as a secondary. In its current form, the frame rate
         | is good but the latency is awful. This makes for a bad typing
         | experience, but there are plenty of usecases where I don't need
         | to type. And even in situations like a chat window, where low
         | latency typing feedback is critical, I can just have the input
         | text box on my LCD monitor and have the chat history on the
         | Kindle since it's mostly static. It needs some work to get
         | there tho, but for now, this is a good start.
        
       | newsbinator wrote:
       | I stupidly upgraded my Kindle 4 to the latest firmware, and
       | apparently there's no jailbreak for that and no way to downgrade.
        
         | badkitty99 wrote:
         | Welcome to the skinner box
        
       | paulcarroty wrote:
       | This eReader firmware has a built-in VNC application -
       | https://inkbox.ddns.net/
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-05 23:01 UTC)