Rust (and Slint) on a Jailbroken Kindle | Hacker News Reader

Rust (and Slint) on a Jailbroken Kindle

sverre.me

235 pointshomarp37 comments

This is cool, thanks for sharing. I recently compiled Rust / Slint on a LicheeRV Nano, which is RISC-V 64bit musl[1]. It's a little portable audio player I'm working on, the compile process is done via custom Cross docker image.

Currently I'm evaluating Battery Pal[2], because the TP4057 Module was not stable enough to power USB-C to 3.5mm Adapters reliably. So far it seems to work as expected.

1: https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui

2: https://pnlabs.ca/batterypal/

Great article. Hacking old kindles is fun! I encourage everyone to give it a try. The retro feel of eink makes it special for me.

I wrote about my experience in cross compiling zig on an old kindle some time ago.

https://samkhawase.com/blog/zig-kindle-gdb/

the code: https://github.com/sverrejb/slint-kindle-backend

This looks cool, and one of the first posts I've seen on HN in a few months where I genuinely wanted to try it.

This is awesome! How reliable are kindle jailbreaks/avoiding updates, etc?

Have opted for other devices like the xteink (or a boox in the future) due to what seemed like a relatively small ecosystem around “aftermarket” kindle modifications.

The kindle would be a great option if it could be reliably jailbroken and loaded with custom software

Depending on your firmware version, most jailbreak guides will have you either create an empty directory with the same name as the OTA firmware file (causing any OTA downloads to fail) or install an extension called `renameotabin` which renames the binaries responsible for performing the update, rendering them inaccessible.

source: https://kindlemodding.org/jailbreaking/post-jailbreak/disabl...

Worth noting that kobo devices are not locked down at all and run linux. They’re very easy to build for.

This is a great point. Back when I was checking I think I was underwhelmed by the customization ecosystem for kobos but now I’m not sure what was stopping me/made me reconsider.

Upon further inspection there is also the Pine Note!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46283016

https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/

It’s quite pricey but certainly more straightforward in its offering.

Kobo is the cheaper and has a color option and is likely slightly less hackable.

[EDIT] Ah, I think this is what I found:

https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill

Kobo’s switch to secure boot made things harder for Quill which seemed to be the only custom OS.

I'm done with the kindle ecosystem, except for one last jailbroken kindle that I use for reading, but once that dies it's nice to know options.

Open source software, open (to the owners) with default configs, open ecosystems, repairability, hackability, open hardware are all factors I look for across multiple devices now. routers & wifi, readers, phones, headphones, laptops, keyboards, etc..

They don't always have to hit every element - but the more they cover, the more likely I am to track and purchase them when the time comes.

I've been using one of the Kobo Clara devices running Plato (built in Rust) for a few years now. Other than a couple of minor bugs early on, I've had no issues.

It's largely the exact device that I want my book reader to be:

* Small and lightweight

* Nice epaper screen

* No need for an internet connection whatsoever

* Natively understands EPUB

* Just reads books -- no ads, no markets, no apps, no upsell

The built-in Kobo firmware isn't great. IIRC Rakuten/Walmart hoover up and sell your reading habits, etc. Hence one reason why I don't connect mine to the internet (running Plato probably fixes this, but restarting the device doesn't immediately go into Plato). The device is also weirdly sluggish with the default Kobo software, and much faster in Plato.

One of my biggest regrets is not jailbreaking my kindle before it auto updated last year

Live has been kind to you ;)

I have a jailbroken Kindle that's connected to Wifi (and theoretically has access to the internet). No problems for three years now

If you want to make sure to block Amazon, use: https://github.com/Darthagnon/kindle-kual-blockamazon and also one of the Kindle software update blockers here: https://github.com/Darthagnon/BlockKindleOTA

Jailbreaks will be overridden on modern Kindle firmwares unless you install an additional extension to prevent updates.

I use the "renameotabin" extension and enable Wi-Fi from time to time to load books from FTP via Koreader. It has been 3 years since I jailbroke it, and there have been no resets for me.

See https://kindlemodding.org/jailbreaking/post-jailbreak/disabl...

I am working on a self-hosted library server for jailbroken kindle and opted for using pure Rust for the KUAL app to sync books and annotations with the server.

It's just running `cargo build --release --target armv7-unknown-linux-musleabihf` with a .cargo/config.toml:

``` [target.armv7-unknown-linux-musleabihf] linker = "rust-lld" rustflags = ["-C", "link-self-contained=yes"]. ```

the downside is I can't use any c-deps. :)

Tangential, how does slint fare compared to Druid/egui(?)

I'm curious as well. My understanding is one notable differencse, exemplified here, is that Slint can work on embedded devices / no-std.

Most of the Rust GUI frameworks will run on something like a Kindle with 100's of MBs of RAM. Slint is the main one that will go smaller than that (it will run on actual MCU if you need it to).

Tangential reply, but Druid has been abandoned. The spirit lives on as Xilem, but that doesn't have much traction either. It's very... exploratory in nature.

I'm partial to iced, which to me is the best GUI library in Rust by far. The Discord is super active if you have questions.

https://iced.rs/

Slint is backed by a company that sponsors its development, in model similar to Qt.

For the record, so is iced, effectively.

Ah, Cryptowatch, and what do they understand about selling GUIs?

It's Kraken, not Cryptowatch, as the latter was acquired.

Who's supposed to be selling GUIs here?

Your comment goes against several HN guidelines. As the 15th highest karma on this site, I'm sure you could do better.

The remark "in a model similar to Qt" assumes it is a software company selling a GUI framework, while offering part of it for free.

What I see there is a crypto fund that most likely cares about how iced fits into their own use cases first.

I seldom read those, by the way.

Your answer's tone is weird.

Thanks

Is there a list somewhere of jailbreak-able kindles? I've been thinking of getting one to toy with for a while, but I don't want to accidentally get one that is more heavily locked down, or that we cant run our own code on for some reason

All can be jailbroken except the newest software updated ones.

Here is the list detailing exactly the software versions supported and device support. This website will have everything you need.

(https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html)

There is also the discord which is very popular.

(https://discord.com/invite/wDbbZTF5QF)

Perfect, thank you <3

Would be so nice to use those previous Paperwhites for something like this as well. Instead I just lose them while travelling. Just lost my last 2019/smth edition. 3rd one with such fate..

I jailbroke my kindle a while back and was super excited to do it, but then didn't really do anything past that. Besides de-amazoning it, I found no real value nor supplemental features that were actually worth while. That being said, I don't regret doing it, just kind of wish there was more.

Like what?

I installed Syncthing on it to make syncing new books onto it much easier. That's the biggest and primary value I got from it.

zig as a cross-compile backend for rust is so good.

Good work! I guess you need to leave it plugged in?

Funny I have a paperwhite too I hate that forced ad thing (on screen wake) which apparently you can pay to get rid of

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