Ubuntu 9.04 On Kindle 2

JO_DIE_THE_STAR_F*** writes "Jesse Vincent managed to get Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope running on the Kindle 2. The new functionality was presented in a talk at OSCON 2009."

Comments

data connection?

[quercus.aeternam]

I can't help but wonder - is the kindle's data connection still available?

And if so, on what end is the code that limits the kindle to accessing wikipedia and amazon?

Re:data connection?

[natehoy]

Someone on the project page asked the guy who did this if the data connection worked.

His reply was rather cryptic: "YES BUT DON'T DO THAT".

If the person who managed it is recommending against it, the very same hoopy frood with the smarts who managed to go to all the trouble to hack Ubuntu onto the Kindle, then I gotta go with "it either doesn't work well enough to bother, or there's a really good reason why you shouldn't use it if it does".

Re:data connection?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I doubt that there is any particular technical reason; but it might well be an excellent way to have the data connection cut off. Much worse, from the perspective of the linux enthusiast, who the presenter presumably is, would be Sprint, or any other carrier considering a future deal to provide a whispernet-like service, insisting on hardcore cryptographic device crippling as a condition.

Enforcing network security in the client wouldn't be a terribly good plan; but a carrier's attempt to do so could make a project like that of TFA much harder in the future.

Interesting test of Amazon's Legal Dept.

[NoYob]

From their terms of use:

No Reverse Engineering, Decompilation, Disassembly or Circumvention. You may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, modify, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Device or the Software, whether in whole or in part, create any derivative works from or of the Software, or bypass, modify, defeat or tamper with or circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Device or Software or any mechanisms operatively linked to the Software, including, but not limited to, augmenting or substituting any digital rights management functionality of the Device or Software.

I wonder what the legal team will do? This is a derivative work and the guy did reverse engineer how things worked (a little) to get Linux on it.

Re:Interesting test of Amazon's Legal Dept.

[Shikaku]

Did Amazon put a lease on the Kindle? No.

It's yours. The debt was paid and you own the device. You can bash it in with a hammer if you wanted. There's nothing stopping you from doing anything to the hardware, including damaging it. There's no law against hacking hardware, and you can already put your own ebooks on it so it's a moot point that it promotes piracy like you can argue for consoles. There are laws on the effects and results it can cause, mostly to do with the FCC and radio frequencies, and other illegal things you can do with any normal computer. The EULA has no sticking power.

Now, the idea that the 3G internet connection still works is interesting. There's no login credentials. So technically you DO have unlimited access to their network, until they decide to ban your chip ID. Then someone could make a class-action lawsuit and say they gave me unlimited access, you can't ban me.

Re:First

[bhartman34]

I can't and don't claim to be an expert, by any means, but I think the other thing you have to keep in mind is that it's a good proof of concept. If Ubuntu can be put on it, that might mean that other, slimmer distros might be able to be put on it. What if you could take Android or WebOS, rework them to move a cursor around for item selection (rather than through touch), and run that? Either of those would obviously have no problem running on a 3G network, and you'd have the kind of light apps that the Kindle should be able to handle.

Like I said, I'm not an expert, but being able to install a new OS on the Kindle does open up some possibilities, I think.