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Oct 14 2010

Jailbreaking Kindle

* Jailbreak

Download the attached kindle-jailbreak-0.3.N.zip file, and unpack it. In here, you'll find a bunch of .bin files, and a src directory.
Leave the directory alone, and upload the correct update_*_install.bin file for your kindle to the root directory of your Kindle.
(As always, k2 means K2 US, k2i means K2 GW, dx means KDX US, dxi means KDX GW, dxg means KDX Graphite, k3g means K3 3G (US [B006]), k3w means K3 WiFi [B008] and k3gb means K3 3G (UK [B00A]).
For a Kindle 2 International, that would be update_jailbreak_k2i_install.bin for example.

Now, eject your Kindle, and go to [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle. It should be quick, and it should FAIL (With a U004 error on fw 3.x or with a U006 error on fw 2.x, in the bottom left corner of the screen). It's completely normal, intended, and harmless.

And that's it, your Kindle is now ready to install custom hacks!

* ScreenSavers

Download the attached kindle-ss-0.15.N.zip file, and unpack it. In here, you'll find a bunch of .bin files, and a src directory.

First, upload the correct update_*_install.bin file for your kindle to the root directory of your Kindle.
For a Kindle 2 International, that would be update_ss_0.15.N_k2i_install.bin for example.

Now, eject your Kindle, and go to [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle. It should take a couple dozen of seconds.

You shouldn't even need to do a full restart after that .

To change your custom screensavers, plug your Kindle to your computer via USB, and upload them to the linkss/screensavers folder that has been created by the hack. You'll have to restart your Kindle in order to take your new screensavers into account. To that effect, you can either use the autoreboot feature, or simply do a full restart of your Kindle.

To use the autoreboot feature: Just drop a blank file named reboot in the linkss folder (by copying and renaming the already existing "autoreboot" blank file, for example) (or in the linkfonts folder if you also have the fonts hack installed!), and your Kindle will do a quick reboot 10s after you've unplugged it!

If you want to randomize the sequence in which your screensavers will be shown, create a blank file named random in the linkss folder (right alongside the "auto" file), and then do a full restart of your Kindle! This will shuffle your screensavers around on each boot.

* Fonts

Download the attached kindle-fonts-3.9.N.zip file, and unpack it. In here, you'll find a bunch of .bin files, and a src directory.
NOTE: Since v3.9.N, this package has been split in two (solely because we were over the attachment size limit ).
The K2, K2I, DX, DXI and DXG packages are in the kindle-fonts-3.9.N-k2.zip archive, and the K3G, K3W and K3GB packages are in the kindle-fonts-3.9.N-k3.zip archive.

First, upload the correct update_*_install.bin file for your kindle to the root directory of your Kindle.
For a Kindle 2 International, that would be update_fonts_3.9.N_k2i_install.bin for example.

Now, eject your Kindle, and go to [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle. It should take a few dozen of seconds. If you're on FW 3.x, and this is your first install, it may seem to hang for about a minute or two on the "Update successful, Your Kindle is restarting..." screen, that's okay.

You shouldn't even need to do a full restart after that .

If you want to change the fonts used by the hack, you'll have to upload them in the linkfonts/fonts directory, strictly following the usual naming scheme. (Type_Style.ttf) (for details on where each font is used, please see this post). The default fonts installed by the hack are the usual non-cjk unicode fonts (Droid Sans, Droid Serif & DejaVu Sans Mono), with the addition of the CJK-aware Droid Fallback if you're on FW 3.x. You'll find a bunch of other prepackaged, ready to use, font sets here, and in the next few replies:

* Droid_Sans.zip > Same as the default, only use Droid Sans instead of Droid Serif.

You'll have to restart your Kindle in order to properly take your new fonts into account.

By default, the autoreboot feature is enabled. If you wish to make use of it, don't forget to drop a blank file named reboot in the linkfonts folder (right alongside the "autoreboot" file, by copying and renaming it, for example). When that file is present, your Kindle should automatically do a quick reboot 10s after you've unplugged it.

FW 3.x: If you chose to handle the browser fonts, this will add a considerable overhead to this process (We need to regenerate FontConfig's config & cache). That can take more than a couple of minutes! It'll happen each time you update your fonts, either during the framework startup if you did a full restart, or before the framework restart when using the autoreboot feature!. So, if you're switching fonts on a K3, and you have enabled the browser fonts handling (more on that later), and you use the autoreboot feature, don't be surprised if it takes considerably more than 10s before the framework restarts!

Another thing to take into account with the FW 3.x is that the settings of the rendering engine have changed a bit. It now makes use of the TrueType bytecode hinting instructions of your fonts, and uses them to hint at the most aggressive level. (In terms of FT/FC settings: hinting=true, hintstyle=hintfull, autohint=false). What this means is that fonts without hinting instructions (or with crappy code) will look considerably fuzzier than they did before. It's especially noticeable at small sizes, and in the browser.

If you really want to be able to tweak the browser fonts, and don't care about the overhead involved, just remove the nobrowser file in the linkfonts folder, and Restart your Kindle, and wait. A lot. NOTE: Because regenerating the cache takes so much time, we won't try to handle the browser fonts by default, in order not to waste 5 minutes each font switch.

There's also two new custom fonts used for rendering non-latin scripts. CJK.ttf, like the name implies, is used to render Chinese/Japanese/Korean scripts. After that, there's I18N.ttf, which is used as a fallback. By default, the hack uses the DejaVu Sans font. While it's far more pretty than the vanilla fallback font usually used (code2000), it does seem to support a lot less different types of scripts. Long story short, if you have weird non-latin rendering issues, those are the two fonts you should look at .

If you don't use the autoreboot feature (for exemple if you removed the autoreboot file in the linkfonts folder), you'll have to do at least a framework restart each time you change the fonts. If you have no means of doing a framework restart (ie. via usbnetwork), you'll have to do a full restart via the Settings menu, or by holding the power switch for ~15 seconds). Do note that the autoreboot & Restart methods are both way cleaner (and possibly safer) than the physical hard-reboot (which basically just plugs the battery off for a little while, which explains why your Kindle needs to be unplugged from any power source for this to work).

/!\ Be careful, if you miss a font, the hack won't be applied, so you shouldn't have any problem, but if for some reason, the Kindle software doesn't like one of your custom font, they'll be garbled, or invisible. Also, it may prevent you from actually _seeing_ the Settings page to do the restart. (And actually reading any books, also.) If that happens to you, try one of the three methods described earlier to reboot your Kindle. If you want to avoid this kind of issue, use the autoreboot feature Also, don't remove the other fonts found in the linkfonts/fonts folder. We need them, and the hack won't be applied if they're missing.

FW 3.x: Apparently, even when using the autoreboot feature, some of you are still encountering some of these weird issues (on FW 3.x only!). To workaround this, I have packaged some of these fonts as an update file. Check this post for more details.

If you have some trouble with by briefs instructions, the MR wiki has been updated (with some screenshots):
Fonts Hack: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kind...nd_3.x_Kindles
SS Hack: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kind...nd_3.x_Kindles

NogDog also wrote several blog posts about these hacks (also with screenshots):
Fonts Hack: http://www.kindleminds.net/2010/06/2...e-version-2-5/.
SS Hack: http://www.kindleminds.net/2010/07/0...eensaver-hack/

NOTES:
Some people reported losing their collections when installing these hacks... It shouldn't happen, but apparently it's a bug in the vanilla 2.5 firmware, so make sure you do a Whispernet Sync and/or that you make a backup of your system/collections.json file before doing anything .

Don't try to force a custom update by rebooting your Kindle. You should *always* install custom hacks via the Settings page. If the 'Update Your Kindle' link is greyed out, it's because you uploaded the wrong binfile for your device. Don't try to force an install by rebooting. It'll, at best, fail, and at worst, force you to start your Kindle in recovery mode to delete the offending update.

Also note that, while there is a zipfile for the usbnetwok hack attached here, I won't provide any support for it, and I strongly discourage anyone not well versed in bare-bone Linux CLI system administration to even try it. It's far too easy to brick your device/mess up the software with that thing.

It might be an old news, but I recently came by this guide to jailbreaking your Kindle. Normally, you do not need that, as far as I remember, the majority of hacks already embedded with jailbreak, but if you want - you can have it.

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Oct 10 2010

Update iPhone 4.1 Jailbreakable & Unlockable

THIS GUIDE APPLIES TO IPHONE 4 ONLY.

How to Update iPhone 4 to iOS 4.1 Without Updating Baseband 1.59.00

Step 1

Step 2

  • Run TinyUmbrella
    ***READ THE README TinyUmbrella README NOW Yes. You Read it.
  • Hit the Start TSS Server button

Step 3

  • Now open the iTunes. Hold down the SHIFT (Windows) or Alt/Option (Mac) key and hit the Restore button on iTunes.
  • Then browse and select your downloaded iOS 4.1 firmware

Step 4

  • Let iTunes error with 1004 error (baseband update failed – we want this :) )

  • No simply hit the Kick Device Out of Recovery button on TinyUmbrella.

That’s it. You have successfully updated iPhone 4 to 4.1 with 1.59.00 baseband.

This is something I am going to try with either limera1n http://www.limera1n.com or greenpois0n http://greenpois0n.com. Why? Because I want to be able to finally call my friends' iPods with FaceTime by email. :) I want to keep my unlock with ultrasn0w http://ultrasn0w.com.

P.S. Fresh update - you can not do limera1n with ultrasn0w, so do either greenpois0n, which might also be not an option, if they incorporate limera1n's exploit, or DevTeam suggests to wait PwnageTool http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/1280823486/limera1n-surprise

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Aug 26 2010

iPhone 4 battery drain. Solved.

A quick follow up to http://live.prokhorenko.us/iphone-4-jailbreak-battery-drain

Media_httpwwwiphonefo_avghf

What I tried. Restore to 4.0.1 (not 4.0.2 or you will loose a jailbreak). Jailbreak. Install only MyWi4 from Cydia with Rock, run MyWi4, get the first license, remove MyWi4, install Elpelle6's MyWi4 without Rock, remove Rock - now you've got pretty clean jailbroken iPhone4 with MyWi4 without Rock installed. Run MyWi4 - it will ask you to respring. I told it "Later" and probably that what helps. It does work anyways - I tried it.

The battery runs out a little bit (I still believe MyWi4 is sorta dirty), but it's acceptable - under 5% overnight. Hopefully, it will work for you, too.

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Aug 8 2010

iPhone 4 jailbreak battery drain

I have recently used jailbreakme.com to make my iPhone 4 free. However, fairly soon, I've discovered that I have a significant battery drain with it. It took literally overnight to drop my 25% from fully charged one. So I decided to took few tries and find out who's responsible for this leak. On that particular jailbroken version, it was going down to 87% with 30 mins of usage and 3 hr 42 mins of standby time.

Media_httprodingocomw_jigub

The clean restored iPhone stays for 32 mins of usage and 4 hr 47 mins of standby, and goes down to 95% only! That's more than 3 times. Not good.

Next, going thru the jailbreak, not touching Cydia or any apps. iPhone stays for 17 min of usage and 3 hr 35 mins and down to 96% only. Basically, that's a sign that jailbreak indeed doesn't drain the battery.

Next, installing all of the updates that Cydia wants you to. It took me overnight to measure it, but seeing 15 min of usage and 9 hr 33 mins of standby and down to 95% only is clearly a good indicator of no battery drain going on.

The last step was to install MyWi 4.3.4. It comes also with Mobile Subtrate. After spending some time with it - 1 hr 17 mins of usage and 5 hr 45 mins standby - brought my phone down to 78%, which is definitely stands out of the line of "good battery usage". So, either Mobile Subtrate is draining the battery or MyWi didn't do a good job writing an extension to it, and now it eats all he juice.

I'll keep you updated, but I'm already upset so much - the most important reason for me was free tethering - and now I feel that I'm paying too big premium for it.

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Aug 4 2010

Troubleshooting unlocked & jailbroken iPhone 4

For those who haven't tried yet. Jailbreak worked flawlessly on my iPhone 4. Unlock was relatively easy, too.


I also installed MyWi 4 (the major reason for actually jailbreaking my iPhone, I really need a device to tether on the way) and My3G. Besides, I've installed Open SSH server and SB Setting, to be able to turn the SSH server off. After that, problems started to appear. The biggest one was FaceTime turned off and not being able to turn on. It actually started to send freaking short messages to some +44 number (I guess I'd be quite upset with upcoming AT&T bill), and I started to receive some replies back. Installing iPhone Delivery (which was recommended to early users of jailbreak) didn't solve the problem. I stopped receiving replies (although, I'm not sure I'm not billed for them :), but FaceTime failed to activate.

Uninstalling My3G did the trick. Easily activated FaceTime after that, and it started to work well. Reinstalling My3G after, kept FaceTime activated, but every time I tried to connect thru FaceTime it was failing. So, I'm ending up with no My3G, which makes the overall experience less exciting, but I hope this problem can be solved soon.

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About Olexandr Prokhorenko

My name is Olexandr Prokhorenko. I am passionate about building products that users *love*.

My LinkedIn profile is www.linkedin.com/in/white.


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