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Struggling with the install process #11

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thephatmaster opened this issue Jan 12, 2023 · 7 comments
Open

Struggling with the install process #11

thephatmaster opened this issue Jan 12, 2023 · 7 comments

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@thephatmaster
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thephatmaster commented Jan 12, 2023 •
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Firstly, thanks for the project. When (if) I get this up and running it will make my HA experience wonderful. I can do all sorts of practical things like make sure the usual doors and windows are closed before leaving, and ensure my grocery list is on the wall next to my partners' "analogue" grocery list.

Can I ask where is the best place to seek help with the install process - Here? Mobileread.com? the HA forums?

I bought a cheap K4 locally on seeing this project, but without realising the complexity of the various kindle-specific setup processes.

I got to installing KUAL, but now get the "Test Kindle Installation Result" notice (and "device not authorised" KUAL error).

Reinstalling MKK does make that go way, but only if I never connect to the wifi (which is obviously not ideal for use with your screensaver container).

It's not clear from the instructions whether I should have registered my device with Amazon (I haven't logged in) or not etc. I also can't find a post mentioning an addon which blocks contacting the mothership.

edit the KUAL addon BBB seemed to be an important part of the install process. However, it's not making any difference - I keep getting the authorisation revoked when I connect to wifi

further edit if I run the kindle in airplane mode, and reinstall MKK, I can at least ssh in over USB - the connection is patchy though
@sibbl
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sibbl commented Mar 11, 2023

Hi, sorry for the late reply - seems like I missed that back in January.

Sounds like a MKK issue to me, where the mobileread forums might be the better place to ask.

Great to hear that you somehow have gotten in running in the meantime, despite a patchy connection...?

@The-May
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The-May commented May 8, 2023 •
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@thephatmaster I had the same Issue. I was very curious too and I struggled alot too to get a grip on how to get into the loop and to understand the "logics" on how to install something on these pesky devices.
I can recommend you doing following things in chronological order:

OPTIONAL:

  1. factory reset device (optional -> do it if nothing worked), be sure to be on 4.1.4 (latest Firmware for Kindle4 (K4) Devices and set it up initially.
    MANDATORY:

  2. Restrict internet access for the Kindle. It looks like Jeff Bezololo is somehow revoking/disabling something. You can "block internet access on any "normal" router to this device. @sibbl maybe mention it in the manual?
    People also mention activating flightmode to prevent this but I honestly could not find any explaination on this.

  3. (Re)jailbreak via the "known" method.

  4. Download and Install "Backdoorlock" https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205666 (File "update_backdoorlock_12_install.bin in the .zip file called backdoorlock_[number].zip
    This binary seems to prevent communication with Jeff´s Servers.

  5. Install Software USBNetwork, MKK/KUAL v1, kite (See steps from this repos Instruction)

  6. Be sure how to ssh into your device to fix something if you have screwed something up.
    6.1 I recommend using it via USB-Cable method, which is a little more complicated, but reliable af. Siee instruction: [1] [2]
    6.2 you can also go over the network but for me, I will never do this because this almost softbricked my device. (maybe bad luck)

  7. unrestrict access for the kindle OR change PINGHOST in the config.sh file into local home assistant IP, otherwise your tablet will tell you that wifi is not working OR just unrestrict access AND change PINGHOST to a local IP-Adress

  8. Install Docker Image (which I havent dont yet, because I wait for Pull #61

I have successfully tested it though by adding the sample Image into my openly visible www-path of home assistant:
Warning! This is just for testing! The picture can be seen by everyone if they know the URL. Just do it for testing purposes

  • download sample-image
  • rename it (in my case kindle1.png)
  • put it into the path \config\www\ of your homeassistant server
  • Change URL in Config.sh IMAGE_URI="http://ip.of.your.homeassistant:8123/local/kindle1.png"
  • See if your Kindle shows the picture if yes: open the kindle1.png in paint, draw something into it and save it again
  • wait if the picture updates

@thephatmaster
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thephatmaster commented Oct 18, 2023 via email

@thephatmaster
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thephatmaster commented Oct 18, 2023 via email

@jck5000
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jck5000 commented May 10, 2024

@The-May

If I had read that before doing everything thrice and ending up with the same problem as @thephatmaster, I wouldn't have given up because of the late hour. Now - well, tomorrow is a new day, let's see if this (still) works.

Really horrible policy by RiverinSouthAmerica Company, I had that 4th gen Kindle lie around since I got the first gen Paperwhite, and I haven't used that for years. I really wonder why nobody really hacked that, yet.

Pity that this isn't a well-maintained project anymore. Kudoz to the developer(s), but it's about the most useful HA thing I really want. ESPHome has nice solutions for $50 epaper displays, but pretty much everone who uses HA has at least two old Kindles.

And since this is getting into me ranting: Why is the most-popular, most-maintained external HA "Display" thing the Kiosk browser thing? Why, just why would I want a touch panel to control my HA if I have that to control everything, automatically? If I leave the house or go to bed, and forgot to switch off anything, I can tell Alexa since I was too bothered with manual switches. HA does that on it's own, the App know where I am. Why would anyone need a touch panel? I just need to know if everything is fine, because I have ~ zero programming skills.

@thephatmaster
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thephatmaster commented May 11, 2024 via email

@jck5000
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jck5000 commented May 17, 2024 •
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Alright, switching off internet access in my router did help a lot.

So, instructrions for dummies, it does work:

(a) find the Kindle in your router and switch off internet access. If you can't do that, forget even trying this.
(b) Follow steps 1-5 by sibbl here. If you have any problems understanding the instuctions, google what you want to do, click "Videos", and follow the first one.
(c) Step 6 is "clone this repository". There's a video how to do that too, but just click the green "code" button, then click "download zip". Unpack Zip file.
(d) "Set the variables inside this repository's extensions/homeassistant/config.sh" is a bit scary. As a windows user, use Notepad++, google will tell you where to download that for free (this is important!)
Lines you have to change are:

IMAGE_URI="http://192.168.188.142:8123/local/sample.png" # URL of image to fetch. Keep in mind that the Kindle 4 does not support SSL/TLS requests PINGHOST="192.168.188.142" # which domain (or IP) to ping to check internet connectivity. ROUTERIP="192.168.188.1" # router gateway IP. The Kindle appears to sometimes forget the gateway's IP and we need to set this manually.

In my case, 142 is my homeassistant IP (it will tell you if you find it, set same for Pinghost. Router IP is your router's IP. It will also tell you if you find it, but that's easier than step (a).

Copy the folders "extensions" and "kite to your kindle root directory.

(e) as per @The-May above, download this sample image and upload it to your HA's config/www/ folder. It's easy if you install samba, this nice Indian gentleman explains it for people who have no clue like me. You'll have to create the /www folder. If you got this far, you should be able to do that.

(f) restart your kindle, make sure that your HA doesn't have SSL on (as per instructions; it's certainly a problem)

(g) find out that the sample.png is 800x600 resulution, works fine with ssl off, but looks shit.

No idea why.

But simply ignore that, it works great when you simply continue.

(h) Install the HA Add-On (click the blue "here" to install).

The configuration should be (first three lines, ignore the rest)
http://homeassistant.local:8123
/lovelace/kiosk?kiosk *
...and insert the Access token you generated after clicking your username. Consult youtube if you're not sure on how to do that.
*: I made a lovelace dashboard named kiosk, and ?kiosk will display it in kiosk mode, see this nice Swiss gentleman here on how to install that. Do that!

(k) change the IMAGE_URI in the config.sh file on your kindle in the /extensions/homeassistant to http://homeassistant.local:5000 (or http://192.168.188.142:5000 (insert correct IP here)

(l) give it some time. It does work fine.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to @sibbl who made this! Great use for an old kindle.

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4 participants
@sibbl @The-May @thephatmaster @jck5000