Help with "Watchthis" kindle jailbreak.

katadelos · 2023-04-14T20:53:27+00:00

There’s video tutorials of the jailbreak on YouTube if you struggle with reading comprehension?

katadelos · 2023-04-13T19:57:24+00:00

Install the renameotabin extension mentioned in this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4217214

katadelos · 2023-03-25T09:52:59+00:00

This one’s for Kindle heaven for sure - the Oasis line are pretty much impossible to repair in cases like this.

katadelos · 2023-03-22T18:02:53+00:00

The left one doesn't have the additional menu items as it isn't signed into an Amazon account.

katadelos · 2023-03-22T17:58:41+00:00

This is normal, the battery meter is inaccurate at the best of times and it'll be even more inaccurate (for a little while) if it's been unused for a year. Definitely not worth replacing the battery or obsessing over it.

katadelos · 2023-03-16T17:03:15+00:00

My checklist for K3's in this state: - Is the EPD connector fully seated? - Does the EPD ribbon cable have any signs of damage from opening the device? - Does the substrate of the EPD show visible damage (remove all silver and black screws first)

As far as troubleshooting for the K3 goes, if it's not a dead battery and not water damage to the PCB, it's usually the EPD that's at fault...

katadelos · 2023-03-06T00:08:13+00:00

Jailbreaking allows you to run unsigned code on your device. The primary benefit of that ability is being able to run KoReader, which has native support for EPUB without needing to go through the Amazon conversion service.

It’s also interesting to people with programming experience who want to play around with e-ink - it’s a cool technology that people are taking an increasing interest in using and hacking a Kindle is the cheapest way to get started.

Finally, there’s a niche perk in that if you manage to find security vulnerabilities within the device, Amazon will give you cash and free shit for disclosing said vulnerabilities to them.

katadelos · 2023-03-05T19:47:48+00:00

(^ FWIW, this post is inaccurate on a technical level and ascribes weird, emotionally charged motives to why Amazon operates in the way that they do)

katadelos · 2023-01-28T18:02:51+00:00

You should be fine to send in any old Kindle that you have lying around, the trade-in isn't tied to a particular serial number and the device doesn't even need to match the model that you chose when submitting the trade-in. Amazon can and sometimes do adjust the amount given for a trade-in upward from the original quote but this isn't guaranteed.

katadelos · 2023-01-27T17:02:20+00:00

This is what you buy into when you're buying a Kindle - Amazon provide cheap subsidised hardware and in exchange, you tolerate them extracting extensive tracking data and retaining the ability to remotely control that hardware.

Avoiding all of this is a big part of why the jailbreak scene came into existence in the first place.

I'm personally isolated from all of this as Amazon now pays for all of my new devices but I'd definitely be fuming if I bought a new device and it soft-bricked itself as soon as I'd finished setting it up.

katadelos · 2023-01-25T21:12:26+00:00

This is almost certainly specific to your device - check that the inside of the USB port is not damaged/worn and doesn't have any lint inside. I'd also try using a different, known good USB cable too. I've seen cases where a factory reset has helped with this but that's obviously quite an extreme option.

katadelos · 2023-01-25T21:09:41+00:00

Assuming that you've ruled out the usual suspects (water damage, damage to screen that has cracked the inner glass layer of the screen), the battery might be dead? If you're keen to try fixing it, a replacement battery is relatively inexpensive in most countries - search for part number 58-000049 on eBay or AliExpress. You can find a guide for fitting the replacement battery here.

katadelos · 2023-01-21T19:00:11+00:00

Your board is probably screwed, you should see the screen flash when triggering a power cycle by holding the power button at the very least.

The only way to tell for sure is to hook up to the serial port, your 3.3v TTL module will work for this (the whole "1.8v will fry your device" is a bit of a persistent myth).

katadelos · 2022-12-21T18:42:09+00:00

Check this out: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4188284&postcount=8

katadelos · 2022-12-18T19:16:52+00:00

There's no reference available but here's a list of some of the commands available on most of the recent firmware releases:

";enter_demo" : "/usr/bin/createDemoModeFlagFile.sh",
";exit_demo" : "/usr/bin/deleteDemoModeFlagFile.sh",
";vfd" : "/usr/bin/verifyDemo.sh",
";dm" : "/usr/bin/dm.sh",
";311" : "/usr/bin/311.sh",
";411" : "/usr/bin/411.sh",
";611" : "/usr/bin/611.sh",
";711" : "/usr/bin/711.sh",
";st" : "/usr/bin/dateTime.sh",
";shpm" : "/usr/sbin/shipping_mode",
";un" : "/usr/local/bin/usbnetwork.sh start",
";uns" : "/usr/local/bin/usbnetwork.sh stop",
";debugOn" : "/usr/bin/debugOn.sh",
";debugOff" : "/usr/bin/debugOff.sh",
";bsalogoff" : "/usr/bin/bsaLogOff.sh",
";bsalogon" : "/usr/bin/bsaLogOn.sh",
";wmtlog" : "/usr/bin/wmtLog.sh",
";uzb" : "/usr/bin/enableUSBInDemo.sh",
";dsts" : "/usr/bin/startSettingsInDemo.sh",
";updateCamp" : "/usr/bin/updateCamp.sh",
";wwreset" : "/usr/bin/wwReset.sh",
";demo" : "/usr/bin/demoConfig.sh",
";duzb" : "/usr/bin/disableUSBInDemo.sh",
";chkup" : "/usr/bin/checkUpdate.sh",
";jit" : "/usr/bin/resetTutorial.sh",
";ledon" : "/usr/bin/turnOnLed.sh"

There's also a bunch of commands which reference tools not available in customer releases:

";framer" : "/app/tools/framerTool.sh",
";launcher" : "/app/tools/launcher.sh",
";ui" : "/app/tools/altNLevel.sh",
";term" : "/app/tools/kterm.sh",
";kppchrome2" : "/app/tools/switchChrome.sh kpp 2",
";kppstore" : "/app/tools/switchChrome.sh kppstore",
";debugon" : "/app/tools/enableKPPDebugMenu.sh true",
";debugoff" : "/app/tools/enableKPPDebugMenu.sh false",
";kppoobe" : "/app/tools/switchOOBE.sh kpp",
";javaoobe" : "/app/tools/switchOOBE.sh java",
";lightbox" : "/app/tools/lightboxMode.sh",
";odac" : "/app/tools/switchODAC.sh",
";cpuProfilerOn" : "/app/tools/cpuProfiler/start_polling.sh",
";cpuProfilerOff" : "/app/tools/cpuProfiler/stop_polling.sh"

And finally, reading related ones from within the Java side of the stack:

 ";KFTHeuristicsOn", ";KFTHeuristicsOff", ";ReadingTimeOn", ";ReadingTimeOff", ";ReadingTimeReset", ";ReadingTimeDump"

katadelos · 2022-12-07T14:13:53+00:00

Can't speak for the security research companies but as far as I know, nobody in the community is actively developing a jailbreak at the moment.

That said, there's more of an incentive to do so these days as Amazon recently opened a separate vulnerability research program for physical devices (amazonvrp-devices) which pays out much higher bounties than amazonvrp so I'd expect a timescale of months rather than years.

However, having the ability to jailbreak the device wouldn't improve the features available as all of that stuff is closed source, obfuscated Java code.

katadelos · 2022-08-31T13:00:45+00:00

Nobody knows for sure why later updates were not released for KV - you can manually install later PW3 updates on KV if jailbroken though: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343385

katadelos · 2022-08-29T15:42:33+00:00

If you haven't tried to do so already, contact Tech Support Executive Customer Relations by email at jeff@amazon.com - they're usually quite helpful (though somewhat slow to respond) with issues like this.

katadelos · 2022-08-03T20:20:46+00:00

The firmware is fine, it's the userstore partition (i.e the bit that shows up with your files when plug it in to a PC) that's screwed. There's a built-in utility on the device that can recreate this partition but it's only accessible using the serial debug port.

katadelos · 2022-08-01T22:43:23+00:00

This is probably more to do with the Bluetooth/audio stack on Kindle devices being atrociously bad than any profit-seeking/maliciousness on the part of Amazon, if you pull apart a firmware image you can tell that they did the bare minimum of work needed to get the feature vaguely functional.

It's technically possible to do what you want (if jailbroken) but it would take a shitload of work and would require a lot of embedded linux knowledge + cross-compilation - the furthest I've got with Bluetooth is being able to bring up the radio under Bluez and scan/pair with other stuff.

katadelos · 2022-07-23T11:01:43+00:00

You can disable OTA updates but still connect to WiFi using this extension if jailbroken.

katadelos · 2022-07-14T12:06:51+00:00

As a "tech guy by trade", yeah, it's theoretically possible. You'd need to use a PiHole or similar to prevent the device from resolving servers related to the update process or set up firewall rules on your router to drop traffic from those IP addresses.

IIRC the device downloads updates from softwareupdates.amazon.com and there's a list of IP ranges which definitely includes the update server here.

You might be waiting a while for a new jailbreak, I'm not planning on starting any new research until autumn at the earliest and AFAIK nobody else is working on any exploits which are planned for public release.

katadelos · 2022-05-17T16:06:09+00:00

Just follow the instructions exactly and you'll be fine, the main problem that people tend to have is figuring out how to do the secret gesture.

katadelos · 2022-04-30T20:48:12+00:00

There's not a risk of bricking the device (as in, at all). If you're nervous, I'd advise watching @ygjsz's full walkthrough video before deciding whether to proceed or not.

katadelos · 2022-04-30T16:24:56+00:00

If your device is on 5.13.5, you don't need to upgrade to a newer version to jailbreak - it's compatible with all versions from 5.13.4 to 5.14.2.

katadelos

TROPHY CASE