Eddie On Everything » kindle

How to Root Your Kindle Fire

eddie — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:39:52 +0000

First off, I’d like to say that I love the Kindle Fire. And I don’t really see a good reason to root it, at least not for most users. Amazon really did do a great job with the OS. Kudos, guys & gals.

And If you have a Kindle Fire, you’re probably more interested in streaming things via Prime, something that won’t work on a rooted Kindle. So consider why you want to root it in the first place before stepping into the morass.

But me, I like to play with things. I’m a Unix guy, and I like to have an SSH daemon running on my devices. Call me a control freak, but hey, it’s what I’m used to. And I need a rooted device in order to do that.

User death2all100 over at Android forums discovered a method for rooting the Kindle Fire. Here’s a link to the thread. You’ll need to have the Android Development SDK installed, and will have to know how to edit files & stuff. But it’s not that complicated.

For me, the only tricky part was getting Windows to find the new driver information. If you’re not getting adb to recognize the device after editing the INF file, you’ll have to change the driver manually via Device Manager.

I’ll refrain from posting the exact steps here – just visit the link at Android Forums and you should be set.

But again – once you root your device you will no longer be able to stream videos from Amazon. Though there is a work-around for that.

My Kindle’s Screen is Broken! But Amazon is Replacing It – For Free

eddie — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:21:31 +0000

I can’t believe it happened to me.

I was settling into bed, and I grabbed my Kindle for a little bedtime reading.

But boy was I in for a shock.

ACK! The screen was broken!

Turning it off and on didn’t fix the problem, nor did doing a reset or gently massaging the screen with my fingertips.

As you can see from the photo, the top-half of the screen was not refreshing, but was instead showing portions of various screensavers, along with a number of other non-descript blobs and globs. The bottom half continued to display text properly. The text does update when I turn the page, but still – this isn’t very usable.

I spent the night trying to figure out what I was going to do about it. The Kindle is significantly less expensive now (I paid $360 for mine), but there are other readers out there as well. I thought I owed it to myself to at least head to Barnes & Noble and check out the Nook Reader.

Before I did, though, I called Amazon support, and I’m glad that I did. The very helpful CSR offered to replace my Kindle free of charge, even though it was no longer covered by warranty, and even though she said it sounded like “impact damage,” which I think is code for “Well you probably dropped it, dummy.”

My new replacement Kindle should be here tomorrow (overnight!) and I have 30 days to return the broken Kindle.

How’s that for great customer service? This is exactly why I continue to shop at Amazon, and why I would much prefer to own a Kindle (and buy my e-Books via Amazon.com) than use another e-Reader. Had Amazon not replaced my Kindle for free, I may have purchased a B&N Nook or another e-Reader, and Amazon would have lost out on my future purchases. A win-win situation for both of us.

Contacting Amazon support is really easy, too: I used the Kindle support link on their website, and when they called me (yes, they called me within seconds, and my wait time was less than a minute) their rep already had all of my account information at hand. Great job, Amazon.

“Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility” Boot Failure Caused by Kindle

eddie — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:45:15 +0000

I had to reboot one of my computers, which a pretty rare occurrence around here.

The machine is a few years old Dell Dimension e520.

The problem: The computer wouldn’t reboot. After running through a little RAID dialog, the computer just hung, right after showing the message “Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility”.

The solution: I discovered that the problem was caused by my Amazon Kindle. Yes, you read that right, my Amazon Kindle prevented my computer from booting properly. I unplugged the Kindle, rebooted, and everything was magically fixed.

Discussion: I was a little nervous when I saw that this computer wouldn’t boot. I assumed that I had a hard drive failure, or hard disk controller failure. The message isn’t helpful at all, it just happens to be the message that gets spit out right before whatever caused the hang caused the hang… Anyway, I only use this computer as a media manager, so I wouldn’t have lost any irreplaceable documents, but it would have been a pain in the neck to deal with.

After rebooting a few times, and getting the “Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility” error each and every time, I started the process of narrowing down the problem. Fiddle with BIOS settings to verify everything is in order. Boot with some hard drives disconnected, in an attempt to narrow the problem down to a particular hard drive.

After about 15 minutes of messing with it, I noticed that my Kindle was connected via USB cable to the computer. I thought, “Hmm, I wonder if this Dell is trying to boot from the Kindle or something…” So I unplugged the Kindle. Voila! Problem solved!

Was the computer trying to boot from the Kindle? Probably not. I assume that the BIOS was trying to get information from the Kindle about what sort of device it was. The computer was asking, “Hey, you there on USB port 1, it’s KIndle, right? Ha, that’s a funny name. Anyway, what are you? Can I boot from you?” To which the Kindle probably replied, “DuuuurrrrrrrR?”

So anyway… If you’re having problems booting your computer, and if you’re getting the “Press Control –I to enter configuration utility” message, try unplugging all of your USB devices before you spend a lot of time troubleshooting.

Changing the Margin Size on the Kindle

eddie — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:25:06 +0000

I’ve always thought that the Kindle has way too big of margins.

So much of the screen seems wasted on huge margins. Yeah, it produces a prettier pictures when photographing the Kindle, but if you prefer a little bit larger text size, these large margin cuts down on the number of words-per-page significantly.

I wanted those margins to be a bit smaller, so I set out to find out how.

After much digging, I found a tip on the Kindle forums that told me how to change the margin size.

Here’s how to change the margin size on the Kindle:

1. Set your Kindle to show the main screen (i.e. not displaying a book), then connect the Kindle to your computer.

2. Using your computer, browse to the system > com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader directory.

3. There, you’ll find a file called “reader.pref.” Open it with your favorite text editor. (If you’re on Windows, you can use Notepad if you don’t have another one.)

4. There’s a setting in there for “HORIZONTAL_MARGIN”. The default setting is 40. change it to whatever you’d like.

5. Disconnect your Kindle from your computer & restart it. (Press Menu, choose “Settings”, press Menu again, then choose “Restart”.

I changed the margin setting on my Kindle to be 20, which seems to be fine for my tastes. I had originally tried setting it to 10, but when the margin is that small the bezel casts a shadow over a small portion of the text. It bugged me, so I’m fine with 20.

There are a couple of other settings in the file, too – one for font justification, for instance. I haven’t played around with changing these.

A note: Don’t open up a document before restarting your Kindle. If you do, the changes you made will be overwritten. Also, make sure that your Kindle is on the home screen before connecting it to your computer.

Another note: If you change the “words per line” setting while reading a book, your changes here will be lost. (That is, the margin setting will revert to “40”.) Chances are you never use this feature anyway, particularly since you came here trying to make the default words per line even greater. I have been able to change the font size without losing my new settings.

Yet another note: This setting also affects the margins for the main Kindle screen. So depending on how slim you make the margins, the little “new” or “sample” flag that shows up next to a title may get cut off. With my setting of 20, everything seems to fit. Even if it didn’t, though, it really wouldn’t bother me too much – what do I care if my screen shows “ample” instead of “sample,” as long as I know what “ample” means?

A tip for Windows users: If you’re unable to see the “system” folder on your Kindle, make sure that Windows Explorer’s “Show hidden/system files” setting is turned on.

GWB’s “Decision Points” Kindle eBook more expensive than actual printed copy

eddie — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:55:47 +0000

I’ve been hearing a lot about George W. Bush’s new book, Decision Points.

I’m not normally one for politically-themed reading, but I’m a sucker for presidential history, so I thought I’d pick up a copy.

I went to Amazon & was shocked to see that the Kindle edition is actually more expensive than the print version!

Are you kidding me, Amazon? Let’s go over the reasons why this is ridiculous.

It costs nothing to produce a copy of an eBook. Nothing. Here’s how you do it: cp book copy_of_book. Not that hard, now was it? On the other hand, it does cost money to print an actual, tangible book. Yet somehow the more costly version is cheaper. WTF?
If I pay for the eBook edition, it’s locked to my Kindle via a DRM protection scheme. One reader, one copy. Publishers don’t have to worry about lost revenue via loaning, gifting, or resale. You’d think such a heavily restricted copy would be cheaper than a book that you could read then re-sell, wouldn’t you? Of course you would, because that makes perfect sense. Apparently not to Amazon.

I’m sorry, but I see this as a big “F**K YOU,” from Amazon to me. I was an early adopter who paid $360 for my Amazon Kindle. And they thank me by charging me more for my purchases?

Thanks, Amazon. Thanks a lot.

How to Buy US/UK-Only Restricted eBooks on Amazon Kindle

eddie — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:23:50 +0000

Imagine that you wanted to give me $10 for reading this blog post. You saw it, you liked it, and you thought, “Hey, I want to hit that Eddie guy’s tip jar for $10.” Good for me, right? Now imagine if, upon seeing your $10 in my PayPal account, I refunded your money with the message, “Sorry, I only accept gifts from readers in the UK.”

Crazy, right?

But that’s pretty much what the publishing industry is doing by restricting their titles based on a prospective buyer’s geographical location.

I recently tried to purchase a particular eBook & went to the Amazon website, only to find that while a Kindle version did exist, it was only available to U.K. purchasers. I live in the U.S., so I was out of luck. Or so I thought.

I found out that buying the book was as simple as changing my US address to a UK address on the Kindle management page. Since nothing is ever mailed to the address listed there, you don’t have to worry about them sending anything to the address that you pick.

A word of caution, though: while researching the topic, I learned that some people have had their Amazon account suspended for changing their address too often. Which got me to thinking, why is Amazon making it so difficult for me to give them money? After all, here I was, begging them to let me fork over $10 or so for a copy of a book that it would cost them nothing to produce. And they wouldn’t take my money simply because of where my two feet happened to be contacting the Planet Earth at the time. It sure is hard to be a customer these days, isn’t it? :)

I’m sure that the reasons come down to a lot of complicated contract issues between the author and the publisher. The author of the book likely only granted his publisher UK distribution rights, and the author either hasn’t yet assigned the US rights or the assignee has chosen to do sit on them. Amazon is just doing what they can to honor the contracts that these parties have in place, so they’re not at fault. On the contrary, what they’ve accomplished is astonishing. As of July 2010, Amazon is now selling more eBooks than it is print books.

The publishing industry needs to catch up with the year 2010. Yes, I know that they like to have their theatres of operation and their fancy contractual assignments and whatnot, but at the end of the day, all I wanted to do was pay someone $10 for the privilege of legally reading their book on my Kindle. Would they have preferred that I instead checked it out from the library for free? Or simply, ahem, “acquired” a free copy of the eBook? (‘Cuz I could have.)

How To Tell If Someone Is Lying About Their iPad Experience

eddie — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:20:40 +0000

OK, maybe that title is a little harsh.

Perhaps a better title would be “When someone tells you they love their iPad because it functions as an eBook reader, you should be a little suspect of their claims, because they’re starting to sound like a fan-boy, simply parroting the ad-copy dreamed up in Cupertino, and have probably never actually tried to read a book on the device.”

Somehow, that seemed a bit wordy.

I’ve read a lot of iPad reviews that herald the iPad as the greatest thing since the invention of the internet. “OMG, it can play movies, it can check email, it can be a book reader, it even changes the oil in my car and picks my kids up from school! I kid you not!”

The iPad is certainly a fun little toy, but lets be honest here – it’s a device for casual internet surfing and watching movies. For that, it beats the Kindle hands-down. No contest. The iPad may have an “eBook reader” built-in, but so does the computer you’re sitting in front of right now. It’s called “displaying text on the screen,” and it’s nothing new. For actually reading books, the iPad sucks.

Here’s why.

First, the screen is a backlit LCD, which causes eyestrain in most people. Sure, you can read a few pages of a book no problem, but read more than a dozen pages and you’ll start feeling a little bit queasy. Contrast this with a dedicated eBook reader like the Amazon Kindle or Nook – each of those uses an “e-Ink” display screen that is pretty much just like reading off of paper.
Glare – The iPad comes with a sleek glass screen that is highly reflective. So unless you like staring at your own reflection more than you enjoy comprehending the content of your book, the iPad isn’t ideal.
Weight – I like reading in bed, and the iPad is just too heavy.
Ergonomics – How are people who claim that they read books on their iPad holding this thing? Please tell me, because I can’t figure it out.
Battery life – Maybe not a big deal if you don’t mind plugging the thing in every 6 hours or so, but if you’re doing any extended reading, the Kindle’s week or two long battery life is nice.

For these reasons, I seriously doubt the veracity of any report that holds the iPad up as an excellent eBook reader. When someone says that the iPad is great because it contains a book reader, it’s like saying that you prefer not to have a home stereo system because your car already has one built-in.

To paraphrase Jeff Bezos, “Reading is important. It deserves a dedicated device.”

I’m not saying that the iPad sucks. On the contrary, I think it’s pretty cool. I can see where it’d be useful for travel, as long as you don’t have to type too much. And I can see how it’d be useful for sitting on the couch and browsing Facebook, or even watching a movie on a plane. But it’s no replacement for a dedicated eBook reader, and anyone who says that it is probably doesn’t read all that much.

Adding a Confirm Dialog To Instapaper’s “Read Later” Bookmarklet

eddie — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:47:51 +0000

I use the awesome website Instapaper.com to keep track of articles that I want to read.

For those who aren’t in the know, Instapaper will take any website article, convert it to a readable format (that is, strip out ads, sidebars, and other extraneous crap), and store a link to it in your Instapaper account so you can read it later. You can read your saved articles on your computer screen, or even on your iPhone or Kindle.

They offer a javascript bookmarklet for instantly saving any webpage that you come across for later perusing. Which is great, but was a problem for me because I seem to hit it accidentally more often than I do on-purposely. So I made a change.

I’ve altered the Instapaper bookmarklet so that it displays a confirmation box (i.e. “Are you sure you want to add this article, or are you just clicking all willy-nilly again?”). Here’s how:

This is the code for my modified Instapaper bookmarklet, with my personal account code stripped out and replaced with YOUR_INSTAPAPER_CODE. You’ll want to put your code in its place.

javascript:function iprl5(){var d=document,z=d.createElement('scr'+'ipt'),b=d.body;try{if(!b)throw(0);d.title='(Saving...) '+d.title;z.setAttribute('src','http://www.instapaper.com/j/YOUR_INSTAPAPER_CODE?u='+encodeURIComponent(d.location.href)+'&t='+(new Date().getTime()));b.appendChild(z);}catch(e){alert('Please wait until the page has loaded.');}}if (confirm('Fer Shure?')){iprl5();}void(0)

Getting a List of All Books in Your Calibre Library

eddie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:06:40 +0000

Who wants a nice listing of all of the books in their eBook collection?

I needed a list to share with a few friends, and even though I could have generated a simple directory listing, I wanted something a little nicer.

I found this tip over at the MobileRead forums.

If you use Calibre to manage your eBook collection, getting a list is as easy as running a command from the command prompt.

Here’s how to do generate a text file listing of your library:

If you’re running Windows, open a command prompt (Start->run->cmd) and change to the Calibre directory. (Type cd “\Program Files\Calibre2″)
Type “calibredb list” to generate a list of books in your library.
If you want to save the listing, redirect the output of that command to a file. For instance, you’d type calibredb list > listing.txt

When first ran this command, I didn’t redirect the output and I ran into a memory error, probably because I have a rather large eBook library.

Python function terminated unexpectedly
(12, ‘Not enough space’) (Error Code: 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “site.py”, line 103, in main
File “site.py”, line 85, in run_entry_point
File “site-packages\calibre\library\cli.py”, line 729, in main
File “site-packages\calibre\library\cli.py”, line 249, in command_list
IOError: [Errno 12] Not enough space

Redirecting the output to a file avoids the error. So be sure to use step three, above, if you encounter this error.

Viewing the Clock on the Kindle 2

eddie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:38:11 +0000

The Kindle 1 has a couple of nice “clock hacks” that will show you the current time.

For instance, on the first generation Kindle, if you hit “Alt-T” on the main screen a clock will appear in the lower right hand corner.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t work on the Kindle 2 – hitting “Alt-T” does nothing.

There is a way to view the clock in the Kindle 2, though.

To see the clock on a Kindle 2, simply hit the “Menu” key on the main Kindle screen.

Click the menu button and the time appears in middle at the top of the screen.

Eddie On Everything » kindle

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