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hardwaresoftonyesterday at 9:29 PM6 repliesview on HN

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


Replies

akazantsevtoday at 10:06 AM

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...

a10cyesterday at 9:38 PM

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...

wilted-irisyesterday at 11:44 PM

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

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pidgeon_lovertoday at 9:55 AM

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

Rebelgeckotoday at 12:49 AM

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

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looperhackstoday at 9:15 AM

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