Paranoid privacy question - Kindle Fire General

I've been using CM7 and CM9 ROMs on a variety of devices for some time. I just got a Kindle Fire, primarily to use as an e-book reader, and I've rooted it, installing FFF and TWRP over the Kindle 6.3 OS. I've tried three of the CM9 R
OMs on this forum, and they work fairly well, but the battery life is terrible compared to the native Kindle OS. I DON't want Amazon to install an OTA "upgrade", so I've installed DroidWall to prevent OTA upgrades. I hope this works. The threads on the subject seem uncertain.
I have a variety of .txt files that I want to read on the Kindle, but I don't want to use the Amazon e-mail conversion facility because they contain private informatin that I don't want to send to Amazon or any other server. I think that using Calibre on my Mac, I can convert the files to .prc and then load them on the Kindle via USB, but I'm still concerned that Amazon could read them, since presumably their e-mail facility has access to the /Documents folder.
Does anyone have any information of the security of this (and also the /Books) folder?
Walt

If you want to avoid putting important documents in the documents folder on your kindle, one step you could take is to convert the .txt documents to epub using calibre and then installing one of the various ebook reading apps on the market. Then just create a folder on your sd card and put your epubs there. Since the kindle app on the kindle can't read epub's I believe you will be fine.

Related

Just Another Brick in the Nook

I hope this is fixable. I'm running ManualNooter 4-6-16 and have been for months, no problem. Then all of a sudden, today it stops working. It just won't boot. I was using it, and it was working great. I came back later it was locked up, wouldn't come out of standby. I held down power and N to turn it off, which was all i was able to do, now it wont boot at all. It gets to the nook color screen then locks up. So I do a total wipe and re install ManualNooter. Now it does get to the Nook Color screen but it's the B&N one not the pretty MN one. And it locks up on the setup program at "Enabling Wifi". Trying a Nandroid Restore now but I don't know if that has any chance of working. It's going veeerrrrrry slowly. Any ideas?
You could try flashing something to an SD card, booting that, and seeing what the problem is from that. Or try flashing a whole new rom.
alunral said:
You could try flashing something to an SD card, booting that, and seeing what the problem is from that. Or try flashing a whole new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want a new ROM tho, I'd go back to stock before I'd use CM or MIUI. I need the stock reader. Which brings up another question. How do I revert to stock?
Did you update flash or Su before this happened?
---------------------------------
Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk
koopakid08 said:
Did you update flash or Su before this happened?
---------------------------------
Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I did a Nandroid Restore and it booted... twice. Now it's doing the same thing again. Not finishing a boot. I have books that I've bought on B&N so I can't run CM or MIUI cuz I need to read them.
Just a side note, you don't need BN stock to read BN books. You can either use the nook app or an app called Aldiko Reader - both are free in the android market place. I'm not a fan of the nook app - basically use it to download my bn books to my sd card. I got the pro version of Aldiko and format it perfectly. Only difference from stock is I have to tap the screen to get the page number I'm on. When you pull your books into Aldiko from bn, it will ask for your login and password. The login is the name on your cc and password is cc number you used to purchase. You only have to do that once, and then rest of bn books come in.
Hope you find a fix to your other problems.
shelly29 said:
Just a side note, you don't need BN stock to read BN books. You can either use the nook app or an app called Aldiko Reader - both are free in the android market place. I'm not a fan of the nook app - basically use it to download my bn books to my sd card. I got the pro version of Aldiko and format it perfectly. Only difference from stock is I have to tap the screen to get the page number I'm on. When you pull your books into Aldiko from bn, it will ask for your login and password. The login is the name on your cc and password is cc number you used to purchase. You only have to do that once, and then rest of bn books come in.
Hope you find a fix to your other problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it installed and open on my Evo and so far it's only showing Adobe books(i only have one) and I cant find where to add my B&N account how do you do this?
Ideas anyone? It still isn't booting and I'm at a loss what to do now.
No idea about the boot problem, but for the book issue, I back up everything with Calibre, and backup the Calibre library as well! It does a good job of puting the books in the right place. I don't know about an Evo, but if it is Android, I would think it has a "My Files" directory on the SD Card, within that directory copy your books to books in my files and that should work. If there is a problem, try using Calibre. Sometimes there are DRM issues and you can't open things unless it is in the correct directory (happened to me a couple of times) and Calibre can fix the problem just by adding them to it's library and copying them to the reader. In Alkido you will have to click the home button(top left) then SD Card (bottom left) and you can browse to where your books are.
Once you backup your books, and all the apps you need, maybe try starting with a clean slate and a new ROM. There is an installer to install a copy of the stock ROM and remove CWM if you need to send for warranty replacement. I don't know exactly where is is, but it was in the nook forum here.
I have books that I've bought on B&N so I can't run CM or MIUI cuz I need to read them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can. Install CM7 and use the Nook app. Any book you bought that is in your library (or archived) will always be available to the app.
Does not work for some of the magazines and books

[Q] Nook Color Apps vs Android Market Apps

I'm new to the Nook Color area of XDA, so I apologize in advance if my question is one that has been answered. I did search, but was not able to find an answer to my exact situation, so here it is:
I'm getting a NC as a gift for my family to use. I understand that the stock Rom for the NC allows you to access (what appears to me to be) B&N's version of the Market, with apps optimized for the NC. That sounds like a good thing, as it would seem like they would be the more stable versions (as they are built/tweaked specifically for the NC).
However, I'm familiar with (in general) the rooting/custom ROMs/overclocking concepts of an Android device, so I'm thinking I would like to put MIUI or CM7 on the device so that I can make it be the most powerful and useful device possible.
Here's my dilemma - I can't seem to find any posts that say whether the apps that a person can get from the B&N "market" will run (if transferred via ADB or Root Explorer, or whatever the NC equivalent may be) on a CM7/MIUI setup, or if it is just better to get the normal Market version of those apps.
For example: If I get Angry Birds in the B&N market, I would assume it's designed to run a certain way on the NC. If I download it from the Android Market, I would assume it's going to run differently. Is there any perceptible difference between the two?
I'm not entirely averse to staying with the stock ROM if the apps are heavily tied to (and perform better with) the stock setup. However, if it's not really going to matter whether they come from B&N or Google, I would prefer to be able to use a custom ROM and still be able to run (within reason) all the apps I'm used to using.
I guess that ultimately I can dual-boot if I find that the B&N app versions are superior, but having just dealt with a letdown from a Pandigital Novel, I'm wanting this experience to get off on the right foot. To me, the optimal situation would be a full install of a custom ROM, with either the optimized B&N apps running or equivalent Android Market apps running.
Thanks in advance for any advice/experiences anyone can offer.
I think it depends on whether or not the application requires anything that would be only in the B&N version of Android. I've used the Pandora application from the stock OS on CM7 and worked fine, but there may be some that won't. I haven't ran stock since about a week after getting mine.
Edit: I realized I rambled, so feel free to skip the long version below.
Short version: Not sure if you can ADB pull/push the paid B&N apps to another install, don't know how (if any) DRM works for that. While B&N apps are built specifically for the resolution, I find that they are very expensive (compared Angry Birds Seasons HD 99cents to B&N Angry Birds Seasons (HD) 3 dollars, and honestly I could not see a difference between the two) and if your Nook is not overclocked (which requires rooting), tend to be slow. There are some that are quite nice that I haven't found the equivalent of yet in Amazon App/Google Market such as Word Rainbow. You can find replacements/equivalents for most of the B&N apps in the other two stores I've mentioned. B&N sadly has a very small selection of apps that are actually any good, imo.
The native B&N reader app is far better than the Nook app (some functionality like enhanced children's books ONLY available on native app) and has not been, afaik, successfully ported.
Long, rambly, feel-free-to-ignore version pertaining more to ROMS than apps:
I've run unrooted stock, Manualnootered (rooted) stock, and various flavors of CM7.
- The native ereader app in stock has a very, very nice UI. Much better imo than the Kindle's. I still have to find a good replacement for it. It is also the only way, AFAIK, that you can read those enhanced children's books that lets you record your voice, or that has animations/reads to the viewer. If this is important to you, then stick to unrooted or rooted stock.
- Unrooted stock is so slow, that after having used overclocked rooted stock and CM7, I cannot bring myself to use it again. Even page turns were slow. App loading times are abysmal, and live wallpaper will not only eat your battery but cause everything else to slow down.
- Manualnootered stock is quite nice because you get to install 3rd party apps, have access to not only B&N's own store but also Google Market and Amazon App Store if you install them. You can also overclock so it's a much faster experience (highly recommended).
*Drawbacks are that there are some bugs that you may run into: Update issues with Adobe products, which cause boot loops (there's a fix for it). Not all apps may appear in Google Market (several things you can try to fix). And finally, if there's an OTA (over the air) update to the next (1.4, assuming you manualnooter to the latest 1.3 update), it will break your root/nootering and you will have to do it all over again.
- Installing a Cyanogenmod ROM: You get Gingerbread instead of Froyo (2.3.x vs 2.2.x), lots of goodies too many to list. With Tablet Tweaks (built in) and Nook Color Tools, you can tweak the bleep out of your Nook Color in terms of performance. You won't have to worry about OTA updates or the boot loop issue, but you do run into issues such as: "Your device is not compatible" messages when you try to install certain apps from Google Market (there are workarounds for most of them), SOD (Screen of Death, supposedly fixed with latest dalingrin kernel update), wifi issues (disconnect, difficulty connecting, etc.), force closes of random processes if using a nightly build. You could go with the stable build, but honestly the improvements in the nightly builds far outweigh the bugs which get ironed out pretty quickly.
The best part is, you don't even have to install just one of these. If you want, you can either a) dual boot stock + custom rom from EMMC (native Nook Color space), b) boot custom rom from SD install and keep unrooted stock to avoid voiding your warranty if you're concerned about that c) mix and match dual booting etc. It is pretty much impossible to brick your Nook Color.
After several months I've found that I prefer using CM7 builds simply because they are so much more customizable than rooted stock. I would suggest trying out both (stock, rooted or not, + CM7) via the SD card install + stock EMMC if you're not leaning towards one or the other.
Thank you. That was a very clear, concise, and complete answer to my question (and a good excuse for me to use some alliteration).
As I'm not really interested in the eReader functionality of the device, I'm guessing a Manualnootered/CM7(or MIUI) configuration is where I"ll go, at least until I'm sure what will work better for me.
Don't be surprised if you see me popping up in here again, asking more questions.
Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm finding myself in a similar situation again.
I've downloaded and successfully been able to run CM7.2 from an SD card, and I've been really impressed with how much faster it makes the Nook run. I'm wanting to push this over to the internal storage so that my family can enjoy the faster performance with all of their stuff on it (I've tested and been able to make a Titanium Backup of a Nook app, which restored correctly in the CM7.2 SD image).
There's one hangup, though - I can't figure out how (if it's possible) to get the stock Nook reader app to work on the CM7.2 image. This wouldn't really be a problem except that I have some "read to me" books that I've paid for that absolutely have to be available on whatever is on the device.
I've looked at this thread in the Tablet section, which has a package that can "re-bloat" the device with the stock reader.
I'd like to do something similar, and I think I have the files needed to do this, but I can't figure out how to push them into the image on the SD card.
-When I open the SD card from my computer, I see all the non-expanded files (e.g. MLO, uRamdisk, uImage, etc.), but no standard Android root directory setup.
-If I attach it to my computer when CM is running, I can see the storage, but not the root directory.
-If I use a root file explorer, I can see the root directory, but I can't mount it as read/write.
-If I use ADB, I can't mount the image as read/write, and adb push fails because it's not read-write.
I'd really like to try and get this working, as I'm not feeling comfortable with messing with the internal setup just yet (I don't want to break something that is working), but I'm guessing I'm hitting a wall because the SD card method is running in some sort of virtualized environment.
Anyone have any suggestions?
jmtheiss said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm finding myself in a similar situation again.
I've downloaded and successfully been able to run CM7.2 from an SD card, and I've been really impressed with how much faster it makes the Nook run. I'm wanting to push this over to the internal storage so that my family can enjoy the faster performance with all of their stuff on it (I've tested and been able to make a Titanium Backup of a Nook app, which restored correctly in the CM7.2 SD image).
There's one hangup, though - I can't figure out how (if it's possible) to get the stock Nook reader app to work on the CM7.2 image. This wouldn't really be a problem except that I have some "read to me" books that I've paid for that absolutely have to be available on whatever is on the device.
I've looked at this thread in the Tablet section, which has a package that can "re-bloat" the device with the stock reader.
I'd like to do something similar, and I think I have the files needed to do this, but I can't figure out how to push them into the image on the SD card.
-When I open the SD card from my computer, I see all the non-expanded files (e.g. MLO, uRamdisk, uImage, etc.), but no standard Android root directory setup.
-If I attach it to my computer when CM is running, I can see the storage, but not the root directory.
-If I use a root file explorer, I can see the root directory, but I can't mount it as read/write.
-If I use ADB, I can't mount the image as read/write, and adb push fails because it's not read-write.
I'd really like to try and get this working, as I'm not feeling comfortable with messing with the internal setup just yet (I don't want to break something that is working), but I'm guessing I'm hitting a wall because the SD card method is running in some sort of virtualized environment.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, if you want to keep the kid's books, you have to keep stock on internal memory. It is the only way they can run. They won't work on CM. That rebloat pack is just to put the stock nook reader back on stock.
When you put the SD card in the PC it is normal that it sees only the boot partition of the SD.
When you connect your nook to the PC with the USB cable, the PC can only see the internal media partition (emmc) and partition 4 of the SD (sdcard).
Root Explorer will let you read/write if you touch the toggle button at the top of it's screen.
With adb, what are you trying to mount?
Thanks for the reply.
I'm using ES File explorer, which I know works to give me the read/write capabilities, but after mounting /system (and/or /system/app) as read-write, I was not able to write files into because it said that it was not read-write.
With ADB, I was trying to mount either /system or /system/app as rewritable, but I couldn't get it to take.
That's a bummer about the kid's books thing. I was hoping I could use a better rom to get the performance up. Just because I'm curious, what is the issue that keeps the reader from working with the CM roms? Is it some sort of signature problem that B&N checks when you sign in with the reader app?
jmtheiss said:
That's a bummer about the kid's books thing. I was hoping I could use a better rom to get the performance up. Just because I'm curious, what is the issue that keeps the reader from working with the CM roms? Is it some sort of signature problem that B&N checks when you sign in with the reader app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with the kids books is they are not really books. They are interactive applications that the stock reader can access. That is how the books are smart and know how to respond to the kids touches.
And people have tried to take the stock reader and install it on CM, but it will not run.
I assume you are running ES Explorer from CM. CM is already rooted so it should work. I have used ES Explorer a little and it seems to me it had a setting that turned on root access for it.
leapinlar said:
The problem with the kids books is they are not really books. They are interactive applications that the stock reader can access. That is how the books are smart and know how to respond to the kids touches.
And people have tried to take the stock reader and install it on CM, but it will not run.
I assume you are running ES Explorer from CM. CM is already rooted so it should work. I have used ES Explorer a little and it seems to me it had a setting that turned on root access for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright. Thanks, that makes a lot more sense.

[Q] Question re Need for Kindle Fire Utility

I have successfully re-rooted my KF using BurritoRoot process after 6.2.1 update killed my previous root. I now have a functioning root and am also able to temporarily unroot using Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper. I should mention that I have market successfully running as well as various google apps including Google Currents. I haven't installed the Kindle Fire Utility.
My question is: do I have a need for the Kindle Fire Utility on my device given the above information?? Also, despite having read through the Kindle Fire Utility thread, I don't understand the term "permanent root." Does this mean that one cannot temporarily unroot the device in order to, for example, stream Amazon video??
Thanks for any suggestions.
The Kindle Fire Utility does not get installed on your Kindle Fire. It is only a method of dealing with the rooting process. If you installed BurritoRoot, and have the Google apps, there is no benefit to using it unless you need to reload the drivers for USB access.
Thanks for your answer.
Two more questions. What about the need for TWRP?? Finally, is there a way to protect the root in the event of future Amazon Kindle Fire updates??
lstern said:
Thanks for your answer.
Two more questions. What about the need for TWRP??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP is a recovery system that allows you to do system level backups and restores of your device. With it, you can try different updates, and restore back to where you were etc...
From the TeamWin Page: http://teamw.in/project/twrp2
* Ability to save custom recovery settings
* Touchscreen driven with real buttons and drag-to-scroll
* XML-based GUI that allows full customization of the layout – true theming!
* Settings are saved to the sdcard and persist through reboots
* Ability to choose which partitions to back up and which to restore
* Ability to choose to compress backups – now with pigz (multi-core processor support for faster compression times)
Finally, is there a way to protect the root in the event of future Amazon Kindle Fire updates??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at this time. there are a number of suggestions that have been made like restricting which services and apps run, but there is nothing definitive.
The ability to reroot however using the current methods should be enough though.
OR you can change to something like CM7 and you won't get updates any longer, but there are some issues like the inability to use Amazon Prime (if you care for that) that don't work with that.
As many more people get Kindle Fires, more eyes will get put on these and solutions will show up.
Wonder how many Kindle Fires are being opened for Christmas this morning..

[GUIDE] What do I lose if I...

Trying to consolidate information I was looking for so it can help others. Please suggest additions and corrections.
What do I lose if I:
Root
- amazon VOD (including free Prime rentals)*
- your warranty (if you brick your Fire)
Install CM7
- everything from Root list
- carousel launcher
- Kindle owners lending library
- Kindle Fire Reader app (must use standard app instead)
- newsstand subscriptions (requires official reader app)
Install CM9
- everything from CM7 list
- netflix
- possible "sleep of death"
The "Silk" browser has been ported to use on non-stock Roms.
Other things I'm not yet sure about: the send-to-kindle program/email address, stability of CM9, etc. A similar list of what is gained by each could also be useful, as long as it is kept brief.
*afaik you can "unroot" at any time to re-allow this (use rootkeeper)
Updated 2/18/12
Silk now has a port that can be installed on other ROMS. Also about the warranty, in most cases, they don't cover if you brick the device but they do cover if the charge port, power button, etc breaks.
Thanks, I updated the OP with your info. :thumbup:
there are many to be listed, lockscreen, amazon market, etc.. is it necessary to create a thread like this?.
Please explain the Kindle Reader part for me. I was able to install KR on Nexus tablet and it shows my cloud books, wouldn't it work on a rooted Fire ?
I want to root Fire so that I could use Google Play and Swype, but it's a wife's device, primarily, and I don't want to screw it up for her. We don't have Prime, mainly getting library books.
Also, how easy is it to reload stock Amazon ROM ?
After rooting you can install OTA Root Keeper and temporarily disable root so you can watch Prime video. If you need root for some reason you just enable it again.
There is also a possibility to dual boot and have stock rom and some other one.

Need help with rooted NSTG

Hi, first post here from an old fart and a total non-geek. I browsed some threads here but couldn't figure it out -- probably too stupid to use them for my case.
I rooted my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight (NSTG, os version 1.2.1) with Nook Manager following instructions (from outside link I can't post) based on this thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2040351
Now when I click Relaunch and go to the apps, there are 16 apps.
How can I install more apps? (Kindle, etc.)
The Browser is very bad and rarely acts as a browser. (Just freezes.)
Only apps I see that could be helpful are:
ADB Konnect (Is this for connecting the Nook with another computer on my network? What do I do with it?)
Amazon Appstore (doesn't work)
Nook Touch Mod Manager(?)
I want to be able to read Kindle books, epubs, pdfs, etc. in addition to the standard BN Nook books (which I have no problem accessing after the root).
Any help would be much appreciated. I have little time before I can return the Nook, which I will do if I can't use it as intended.
Thanks much!
hf1 said:
Hi, first post here from an old fart and a total non-geek. I browsed some threads here but couldn't figure it out -- probably too stupid to use them for my case.
I rooted my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight (NSTG, os version 1.2.1) with Nook Manager following instructions (from outside link I can't post) based on this thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2040351
Now when I click Relaunch and go to the apps, there are 16 apps.
How can I install more apps? (Kindle, etc.)
The Browser is very bad and rarely acts as a browser. (Just freezes.)
Only apps I see that could be helpful are:
ADB Konnect (Is this for connecting the Nook with another computer on my network? What do I do with it?)
Amazon Appstore (doesn't work)
Nook Touch Mod Manager(?)
I want to be able to read Kindle books, epubs, pdfs, etc. in addition to the standard BN Nook books (which I have no problem accessing after the root).
Any help would be much appreciated. I have little time before I can return the Nook, which I will do if I can't use it as intended.
Thanks much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the Amazon App Store is dead. I don't know much about ReLaunch, but if there is an app manager you can uninstall Amazon App Store and the native Browser. Both are useless.
Nook Touch Mod Manager is for reassigning behaviors to the "n" button, the four hardware buttons, and a few more. You can look at it without any harm, but you'll probably want to get to know your device better (and how you will use it) before reassigning anything.
Again, I'm not sure about ReLaunch, but I know it has a kind of file manager (where you can browse/create folders, maybe delete files). If you don't want to install GoogleApps to get the Market working and obtain apps that way, then you will have to side-load them. That's not such a bad thing. I think the majority of my apps are side-loaded because current Market versions won't run on the Nook, so you often have to find older versions of apps elsewhere.
There are two methods for side-loading:
One uses ADB (hence the ADB Konnect app). For that you would need to get something like the Minimal ADB and FastBoot package for your PC. Maybe more than you want to know.
The other method is really easy IF the file manager in ReLaunch behaves like others. To find out, you can create a folder (maybe "Downloads"?) either on the internal memory or on the SD card in which to move apk files from your PC to your Nook via the USB connection. Once the apk file is on the Nook (and you're disconnected from the USB cable) you can go to the folder where you moved the apk file. Touching the file should initiate the package installer and you just follow the prompts from there.
Is that clear enough (from one old fart to another ? Since you mentioned the browser and Kindle app, I'll give you some files to try. They are attached below. If you run into trouble, just holler and I'll try to walk you through the ADB method.
nmyshkin said:
Is that clear enough (from one old fart to another ? Since you mentioned the browser and Kindle app, I'll give you some files to try. They are attached below. If you run into trouble, just holler and I'll try to walk you through the ADB method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nmyshkin, clear as day and thank you tons! I will try your suggestions and report back soon.

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