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Amazon Releases Kindle Source Code

Posted by timothy on from the use-the-forks-luke dept.

MackieChan writes with a piece of news that slipped past earlier this month: "Barnes & Noble receives a lot of credit from the Slashdot community for standing up to Microsoft and for allowing the Nook to be so easy to root, but perhaps Amazon releasing the source code to the Kindle will help it gain back supporters it lost after remotely removing ebooks."

4 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. All of 'em by chill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not just the source to the recent Kindle Fire, but code for all of them back to the original. Nice move.

    I wonder if they held any bits back?

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    1. Re:All of 'em by chrb · · Score: 5, Informative

      It looks like this is just the GPL software. Nothing terribly exciting but maybe it has kernel drivers for the e-ink display. AFAIK the Kindle uses a locked bootloader so there is no way to actually get your ROM image running anyway. The Fire is a bit more promising, and the source release does seem to have kicked off a bit of interest in hacking it a bit, it's been rooted and Android market runs. I'll save you the 148MB download; here's the contents of Kindle_src_3.3_611680021.tar.gz:

      gplrelease/
      gplrelease/picocom-1.4.tar.gz
      gplrelease/util-linux-2.12r.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/atk-1.26.0.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/uboot-1.3.0-rc3.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/pango-1.24.5.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/gstreamer-0.10.17.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/taglib-1.5.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/e2fsprogs-1.38_patch.tar.gz
      gplrelease/fuse-2.7.1.tar.gz
      gplrelease/libltdl-1.2.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libol-0.3.18.tar.gz
      gplrelease/syslog-ng-1.6.11.tar.gz
      gplrelease/busybox-1.7.2.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/webkit-1.1.7.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/e2fsprogs-1.38.tar.gz
      gplrelease/wireless_tools.29.tar.gz
      gplrelease/mtd-utils-1.0.0.tar.gz
      gplrelease/pango-1.6.0.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/lrzsz-0.12.20.tar.gz
      gplrelease/gst-plugins-base-0.10.17.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libvolume-id_092.ipk
      gplrelease/ifupdown_0.6.8.tar.gz
      gplrelease/gst-plugins-good-0.10.6.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/gst-plugins-base-0.10.6.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/linux-2.6.26-lab126.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/gnutls-2.8.4.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/module-init-tools-3.2.2.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libgpg-error-1.4.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/DirectFB-1.2.0.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libproxy-0.2.3.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/module-init-tools-3.2.2_patch.tar.gz
      gplrelease/glib-2.22.2.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/udev-112.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/alsa-lib-1.0.13_patch.tar.gz
      gplrelease/enchant-1.4.2.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/gtk+-2.16.5.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libgcrypt-1.4.4.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/base-files_3.0.14.ipk
      gplrelease/alsa-lib-1.0.13.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/fuse-2.7.1_link.tar
      gplrelease/dosfstools-2.11.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/libsoup-2.30.0.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/procps-3.2.7.tar.gz
      gplrelease/procps-3.2.7_patch.tar.gz
      gplrelease/base-passwd_3.5.9.tar.gz
      gplrelease/powertop-1.10.tar.gz
      gplrelease/iptables-1.3.3.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/glibc-2.5.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/alsa-utils-1.0.13_patch.tar.gz
      gplrelease/alsa-utils-1.0.13.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/gdb-6.6.tar.bz2
      gplrelease/sysvinit-2.86.tar.gz
      gplrelease/cairo-1.8.6.tar.bz2

  2. Re:Remote removing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Those already exist for most kindles, with the only requirement being a jailbreak. The kindle is built upon a linux system, with a java framework and a bunch of shell scripts. The shell scripts are the important bits which handle downloading the ads & and there was also a mod to revoke amazon's control entirely.

    Source: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=150

  3. Nothing to see here. by Kufat · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's just a minimal GPL drop. No application level source. Unlike (for example) Netgear or Linksys, they don't even provide the object code and build tools to let you build your own usable device ROM image from a combination of proprietary and OSS components.