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13" MacBook Pro with E Ink screen kickin' it beachside

Warning

Note that in some jurisdictions, it may actually be illegal to jailbreak your tablet (but not a phone!).

These directions are current as of March 2012 and worked well for me. They may not work for you, and might even destroy your Kindle. At the very least, they definitely void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk (and joy).

Environment

Procedure

1. Jailbreak

  1. On Mac: Download NiLuJe's JailBreak and UsbNet.
  2. On Mac: Extract the appropriate bin from kindle-jailbreak-0.10.N.zip (e.g., update_jailbreak_0.10.N_dxg_install.bin) to the USB storage root of your Kindle.
  3. On Kindle: Press Menu, choose Settings, press Menu again and choose Update Your Kindle. The Kindle will reboot.
  4. On Mac: Extract the appropriate bin from kindle-usbnetwork-0.37.N.zip (e.g., update_usbnetwork_0.37.N_dxg_install.bin) to the USB storage root of your Kindle.
  5. On Kindle: Repeat step 1c.

2. Setup VNC

  1. On Mac: Download hawhill's Kindle VNC viewer and copy the kindlevncviewer directory to the USB storage root of your Kindle.
  2. On Mac: Download and install Vine Server (OSXvnc). Set authentication to "none" and RFB Protocol to "3.3".
  3. On Kindle: Rotate display (using AA) to desired orientation (portrait or landscape).

3. Connect

  1. On Kindle, from the Home Screen:
    1. Press Del, type ;debugOn and press Return*
    2. Press Del, type `usbNetwork and press Return
    3. Press Del, type ;debugOff and press Return
  2. On Mac: Connect the Kindle's USB cable. The following dialog box will appear:
    A new network interface has been detected. The "RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget" network interface has not been set up. To set up this interface, use Network Preferences.
    Click "Network Preferences..." and configure IPv4 manually (IP Address: 192.168.2.1, Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0)
  3. On Mac: Issue the following 4 commands:
    $ telnet 192.168.2.2
    Trying 192.168.2.2...
    Connected to 192.168.2.2.
    Escape character is '^]'.
    
    Welcome to Kindle!
    
    #################################################
    #  N O T I C E  *  N O T I C E  *  N O T I C E  #
    #################################################
    Rootfs is mounted read-only. Invoke mntroot rw to
    switch back to a writable rootfs.
    #################################################
    [root@kindle root]# /etc/init.d/netwatchd stop
    system: I netwatchd:def:stopping Netwatch Daemon
    [root@kindle root]# /etc/init.d/powerd stop
    Stopping Power Management Daemon: [root@kindle root]# /mnt/us/kindlevncviewer/kvncviewer.sh 192.168.2.1:1 &
    

4. Disconnect

  1. On Mac: To end, press Ctrl+C and then [root@kindle root]# killall kindlevncviewer . Restart netwatchd and powerd if desired.
  2. On Kindle: To return to USB mass storage device mode, repeat steps 3.a.i-iii or simply restart (Home Screen > Menu > Settings > Menu > Restart).

5. Notes

More Info & Updates


created: 2012.03.31, updated: 2018.05.17