kindle-to-the-moon

Kindle 4NT Bitcoin Dashboard

Tested only on Kindle 4 Non-Touch, but should work on most if not all Kindles (just be sure not to brick it).

You will need:

• jailbroken Kindle with SSH access
• server (OPTIONAL)

Thanks to:

• bitcoincharts.com for the charts
• mtgox.com for the ticker
• all the Kindle hackers at mobileread.com
• /u/ToTheMoonGuy at reddit.com

Published at http://saironiq.blogspot.com/2013/11/kindle-4nt-bitcoin-dashboard.html

Distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3) - see LICENSE for details.

Setup

On the server

• NOTE: if you don't want/need to have a custom image, you can skip this and use mine - more details in the "Kindle" section below
• requirements: python2 with some libs, imagemagick suite, running webserver
• copy template.svg, gox.py and generate.sh into your server
• modify the above files to suit your needs, especially the WWWROOT variable in generate.sh
• set up a cron job to run every once in a while (eg. 5 minutes) crontab -e

  • add a new line that reads (modify the path as needed):

    */5 * * * * /home/user/kindle-to-the-moon/generate.sh
    

    (the above sets up a cron job to generate a new image every 5 minutes)

On Kindle (tested on K4 NT)

• jailbreak your kindle, get SSH working (plenty of tutorials available, just google it ;)

• SSH into you Kindle and enter the following commands (for Kindle 4NT - other Kindles might be different!):

  The common screensaver hack:

  mntroot rw
  mkdir /mnt/us/screensaver
  mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/base-mmc
  mv /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800 /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800.old
  ln -sfn /mnt/us/screensaver /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800
  

  And here comes the custom part:

  echo '*/5 * * * * /mnt/us/screensaver/screensaver.sh' >> /etc/crontab/root
  sync
  mntroot ro
  reboot
  

  • again, you can modify the crontab interval (5 minutes here)
  • also, remember that cron will only run the scheduled jobs when the device is awake, so it won't drain your battery (I keep mine connected to a charger so it doesn't sleep and updates the graphs every minute)
  • however, when your Kindle is awake (you're reading a book etc...) the cron job WILL run at the preset interval (and drain your battery if you set it to run too often)

• now you have a new empty folder named screensaver on the user partition of your Kindle (the one that can be accessed over USB from your PC)

• modify the image URL in screensaver.sh to point to your server OR if you'd like to use my dashboard (look below for a screenshot) - just put in the following URL: http://yacexplorer.tk/static/my_kindle.png - it's updated every 5 minutes

• put the screensaver.sh script into the screensaver folder on Kindle (over a standard USB mass storage conenction); the script works as follows:

  • first it checks if you have WiFi connected (if not, exits immediately)
  • then it downloads the screensaver image
  • after that if you have your screen locked, it refreshes the screen saver image and writes the current date/time on the top of screen (if not, it simply replaces it and you will see it the next time you lock your Kindle)

• now it you've done everything correctly, you should get something like the photo/image below instead of the boring old screensavers ;)