Let's put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle
tailscale.com327 points by Quizzical4230 3 days ago
327 points by Quizzical4230 3 days ago
> is available for all but the most up-to-date Kindles
Bought one from eBay to try it out. Silly me connected it to wifi and suddenly it’s up to date and no longer breakable
If you want a cheap rooted eReader I think you're better off getting a Kobo instead, they don't officially support rooting but AFAICT they make basically no effort to prevent it.
The latest Kobos use MediaTek SoCs with locked bootloaders. The Kobo Clara BW's MT8113, for example. As far as I know, one of the early bootloaders it, BL1, refuses to execute the next bootloader (BL2) unless its signature is valid. We can get the device into a mode where BL1 waits for upload of a BL2 via USB using an exploit called Kamakiri, but in public there is neither an exploit to get BL1 to boot an arbitrary BL2, nor an authorized BL2 image to upload. See here: https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/1332
Kobo devices have root exposed but don't let users boot their own kernels (and the kernel they ship was not compiled with kexec either).
I really don't know the reason so many devices these days don't have an unlock method. It seems predatory. Who knows where in the chain this happens... maybe it's Kobo, or maybe MediaTek won't sell you their SoCs for mass-market devices unless you lock them.
Can you just access /dev/mem or load a kernel module? Is there a SELinux policy stopping that?
If you can do either of those, it should be trivial to get kexec working by just loading it as a module.
As far as I know, yes, it's possible. No SELinux. Kernel is a branch from 4.9.something pretty far off mainline with a few proprietary binary blob modules. As far as I know the real impediment here is lack of demand.
According to the github issue it seems to be a simple checksum step, not a true signature verification? If so there is no locked bootloader in any real sense.
If the real impediment is lack of demand or low-level development effort for any given device, that's in principle a solvable issue once projects like pmOS and Mobian choose to focus on some reasonably-available hackable hardware and bring it up to true daily driver state.
mtkclient does not seem to correctly interpret the usb output of the device past some part of the early boot process. Really, any of those messages formatted by mtkclient are unfaithful to the intended meaning. So yes maybe it is "just a checksum step" or maybe something else entirely. Last year I collected some UART logs on the device during bootup in a zip here:
The details in this comment are messed up and shouldn't be taken as authoritative.
- Getting the device's BL1/BROM into download mode (where it waits for an upload of a Preloader/BL2 from outside), for these devices itself does not involve exploits. Kamakiri is an exploit in the upload process that gives an execution point at that stage.
- The BROM on Kobos (at least the old ones, P365's) don't have security enabled as far as I know. (Unless somehow they are lying to us when we ask, which there is no evidence of). They only do some integrity checks (header magic #s, checksums).
- Security on Kobos happens down the chain, starting at the Little Kernel apparently jumped to from the Preloader. I am still learning about the Clara BW's boot process.
+1 to a Kobo, they cheaper and better than Kindles, with full Calibre support (https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre - OSS which has been in development for ~20 years!).
The way you install additional software is literally just moving files into folders whilst its plugged into your computer. I'm sure it could handle Tailscale.
I agree with your sentiment that the Kobo is better than the Kindle from an... ethical standpoint, if you have the money for one. However, it is worth noting that Kindles will always be cheaper than Kobo devices [0] due to economies of scale and lockscreen advertisements (removable with jailbreaking). From a pure cost perspective, and assuming the user is technically-minded enough to accomplish the jailbreak, the Kindle is likely always [1] a better deal.
[0] as of today, 12/8/25, the "base model" Kindle 11th Generation is priced at $109.99 USD, and the respective Kobo Clara BW is $139.99 USD.
[1] I say "likely always" to cover my bases. To my knowledge Calibre supports Kindle, just not as well as Kobo. That said I have found that the KOreader app is more than powerful enough for my use case (reading my own epubs, using dictionaries, etc.)
That doesn't always hold, if you want color e-ink then Kobo is currently the cheaper option.
Kindle Colorsoft (7" 16GB) - $250
Kindle Colorsoft (7" 32GB) - $280
Kobo Clara Color (6" 16GB) - $160
Kobo Libra Color (7" 32GB) - $230
The Libra also supports a stylus (sold separately) while the Colorsoft doesn't, that's reserved for the much bigger and pricier Kindle Scribe.
How is situation with latency on these readers?
I’ve just acquired the latest gen Kindle and I’m absolutely blown away by how fast it is.
do you mean latency on a color screen? (my experience with color eInk is that it adds quite a lot of latency)
The current colour kindles and kobos don't use real eink colour. It's just a bw screen with lcd colour overlay (eink kaleido)
The real colour screens are used on the remarkable (eink gallery) and they are indeed slow for full page updates though remarkable seems to have done a lot of smarts for local updates while drawing.
Plus the kindles will get decent discounts on prime day, black friday and such.
Where do I get DRM-free ebooks to put on a Kobo? I don't support breaking DRM. So I'm using a Kindle because it has the best access to and integration with almost any book I want.
What does it mean to not support breaking DRM? You purchase something and then are fine not being able to use it?
Also consider koreader instead of the stock reader app.
I kinda love that buried in the koreader menu somewhere is an option that drops me at a linux shell. I have no use really for this feature, but i like it. Good for those times you absolutely have to crank out some awk on the plane or whatever. :)
Thank you, I did not know about this!
But what I'd really like is an option not to hide the navigation bar while KOReader is open. I work with technical PDFs and need to jump between applications very often.
One of which is often Termux!
I use the Calibre support, but did not know you could install additional software that easily!
Kobo is great. I use Plato and KOReader on mine. They worked better than the original reader software for reading manga.
Same with the Barnes and Noble Nooks. I've never rooted one, but via ADB one can install a launcher and most Android applications run. I've used four generations of Nooks to run AnkiDroid.
Just beware to check what version of Android the Nook is using before you buy, and what your app needs.
Android on an e-reader unlocks so much potential. I've owned four or five Kindles over the years but recently switched to an Onyx Boox page 7" as my main e-reader. Expensive (relative to Kindles) but runs full Android 11 and has physical page turn buttons. I use an app called BookFusion to sync my library including reading position across all platforms. Battery life isn't Kindle grade but I can get by charging once a week which is a good enough tradeoff for the convenience of being able to run Android apps.
The only (tiny) issue I've had with Tailscale on Kobo has been that the tailscale daemon prevents me from using the Kobo in Mass Storage Mode while it's active, so I have to disable/quit KOReader to be able to plug it in again, which is admittedly not frequently warranted anyways.
I used to like my Kobo a lot but recently it's got some pretty severe unreliability issues, usually around reading non-Kobo epubs and PDFs. Like, if I open of those files, the device usually crashes and when it recovers after a reboot, the file disappears.
I was more after a eink display in a shape that is cheaper than new boards for a DIY project
Resell it, or wait six months. FWIW the 10th generation Kindle Paperwhite (the "PW4" in kindlemodding/mobileread lingo) doesn't have as large a screen as the newest models, but its maximum supported OS is currently 5.18.1 (and you can download that update directly from Amazon and transfer over USB), which is vulnerable to AdBreak. I just jailbroke and Tailscaled my PW4 this weekend after numerous failed attempts over a period of about a year to use the previous WinterBreak exploit.
I read mostly on my iPad; the Kindle is really just for reading outside, like at the beach/pool. But it was such a neat idea that I couldn't just pass it up.
There is a new jailbreak, that is currently unpatched. You might need to make sure your Kindle doesn't get updated first by filling in all the disk space.
I have tailscale running on my robot vacuum. It's my own little autonomous mesh vpn node that lets me connect back to my home network when I'm on the go.
Please share more details! This sounds so cool!
You can root certain models of robot vacuums and then ssh into them. Most run some variant of linux. Then just install tailscale. There are a few blogs out there of people who have done it[0][1].
It's taking a cloud-based product, de-clouding it, and then connecting it to your own private 'cloud'. Pretty cool all things told.
[0] https://kazlauskas.me/entries/tailscale-doesnt-quite-suck
Kindles are amazing devices for hacking and turning into cute little dashboards. The kindle modding community is wonderful and full of people experimenting with it. If you have an old kindle, give it a new lease!
Shameless plug: I wrote about my experience here
https://samkhawase.com/blog/hacking-kindle/
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43822251
I love just how non-intrusive an e-ink dashboard is sitting in a room. Definitely can recommend it as a base device that gets you display, wonky Linux, a battery and networking in neat little package.
Also recently showed my dashboard here: https://franz.hamburg/writing/kindling-e-ink-dashboard.html
You don't need to ball out on eink for that.
An old oled android phone is even easier to mod for that.
Eink is like the Rust of displays for hobby projects. Everyone defaults to it even when it's not necessary.
That's an unfair criticism. Kindles and their eInk setup provide the perfect low-fi hacking experience that developers love. It's minimal, slow and barebones linux base makes it easier to hack für such fun projects.
> low-fi hacking experience that developers love
Well I'm a hacker too and I don't really prefer low-fi hacking experiences, or at least not that flavor. I prefer getting stuff done since my free time after work is limited.
Oh and I used to work with eink displays for a living, but they always end up gathering dust for my hobby projects because it's only good for very few niche use cases that most of the time are better served by the more flexible and practical available solutions, unless of course, your uses case is showing it off on the internet for clout because this time what makes it special is it uses eink even though it adds no benefit.
Like I said, the Rust of displays.
Fair enough. We all have enough eInk devices in our cabinets. To each their own .
What do you mean by “Rust for displays”? Bikeshedding?
What are you talking about, e-ink is much nicer for things like this. An OLED produces actual light, and uses way more power. I wouldn't want an oled display on 24/7 in my living room.
Everyone defaults to it because it's really nice actually.
>An OLED produces actual light
Actual light? As opposed to producing fake light?
I think they mean that even an OLED display will actively emit light. When, in contrast, the e-ink displays shown in the linked posts are unlit. That, for me, is the key advantage making the device blend in.
That’s cool, and unexpected from a corporate blog.
Ma favourite e-reader setup still is the Kobo + Booklore combination. Editing a configuration file on the device I can have it connect to my Booklore library that adds my own ebooks seamlessly on top of the one I can get from the Kobo store.
I haven’t setup Tailscale on it yet but it’s possible.
Do you have any more information about this?
This explains how to integrate Kobo with BookLore https://booklore-app.github.io/booklore-docs/docs/integratio...
I haven’t personally setup Tailscale yet, but looking at this it seems possible and not too difficult https://github.com/videah/kobo-tailscale
The setup is
install Tailscale on your Kobo
install Koreader
Install Tailscale on the machine that host your eBook collection app of choice
Add the OPDS URL from the collection app, replacing the local machine URL with the Tailscale URL
You can now browse and download your private collection from anywhere.
I went with Kavita since I wanted my eBooks treated as equals with my manga.
This is what I'm currently doing sans tailscale. I'm running Ubooquity on a server in my homelab as my OPDS service to serve the ebooks hosted on a mounted NAS. I can download any of those books from my Kobo with a few presses on Koreader. It's pretty great. My Kobo Forma is probably one of my best and most used tech purchases. I've had it since 2019 and couldn't be happier with the device + setup. Getting it set up with tailscale so I can fetch ebooks when I'm away from home sounds like a pretty good upgrade.
If you're looking for a good resource on jailbreaking and installing KOReader on your Kindle, I highly recommend the guides at https://kindlemodding.org/
I used Tailscale on my remarkable tablet for a while; synchronizing documents over ssh is a lot easier with a static IP. It's fairly hard to get stuff to start on boot on the RM, or at least it was at the time, so I eventually moved off that plan. But it was pretty awesome to be able to ssh in from anywhere in the world.
Oh that sounds cool! What do you do now instead?
Rmapi calls to sync. My use case is updating an annual calendar pdf which is inked on tablet but shows calendar updates day to day, so I run it on a cron
This is pretty interesting write-up*, though I'm not sure my employer would be happy with me putting out EULA-violation instructions to our company homepage.
* - at least for me, as the bugs in the stock reader drive me nuts, and have been waiting for this opportunity for a while
I heard that a lord two provinces to the North had seven of his serfs severely whipped when he found out that they had been talking about how to violate the EULA. These agreements have to be respected!
Well, you can always pray to only get a DMCA takedown request, because possibly you might get something, if not the whip. Surely the internet snarky comment coins will allow you pay the rent.
You can also run Syncthing on a jailbroken Kindle. That opens up a world of possibilities!
I've been experimenting with Syncthing on Kindle (https://github.com/Darthagnon/syncthing-kindle), but have had no luck seemingly because the Linux kernel included is too old and doesn't support network connections, or because the CPU is too weak.
Is there a project other than the one I forked?
I switched over to an Onyx Boox reader, so I don't have a Kindle anymore. But I definitely used the same project as you. I used a Kindle Paperwhite 11th gen. The linked project says it works with Kindle Touch, which is VERY old, so I don't think you're having network issues.
It's been a while, but I think I enabled SSH on my Kindle and set it up that way. I started Syncthing via KUAL, then used an SSH reverse proxy to configure Syncthing on my laptop.
It -was- kind of a pain, but once it was good, it was good!
Whoa, now that sounds like the use case I've been looking for since I jailbroke mine.
I have calibre set up to just email books to my Kindle, but that's an extra layer of indirection that I really don't need. I'll have to check that out.
I too have heard about syncthing for the first time today but from a different submission[0] you might care to be aware of.
Although, I realize Android != Kindle's OS, so I'm not sure how much concern there should be.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46184730 "Syncthing-Android have had a change of owner/maintainer"
If you have calibre, just turn on the wireless connection and have your Koreader connect to it.
Personally I'm most fond of Calibre + Calibre-Web, which masquerades as the Kobo Store and lets you use the built-in Kobo syncing mechanisms with your Calibre library instead of having to do it all within Koreader.
I thought this was a random blog post, but it's coming directly from Tailscale, https://tailscale.com/blog/tailscale-jailbroken-kindle
Kudos to all involved in freeing up Kindles around the world.
Oh, this will be very useful. My current solution is incredibly hacky, I run an unauthenticated SSH server on the Kindle (key-based wasn't working), port scan to find it, and SFTP new files. At home, at least, I have a static IP. The whole system falls apart enough that I usually just connect to calibre's remote server and send books that way, though. I wonder what the battery impact of running tailscale on a Kindle is.
Can someone correct me on this: Is using Tailscale effectively putting your firewall at someone else's PC?
Excellent. This plus OPDS will make for easier transfer of files locally.
Yes and with kavita there's now even progress sync with koreader! I use it on my kindles too.
What kernel version is it running?
I wanted to add an old paperwhite to a kubernetes cluster and the ancient kernel held me back.
Love the splash Jameson quote in the first pic.
> If everything means something else, than so does technology
Now do Tesla! I had to resort to running an oauth-proxy to access my Plex on Tesla.
yes, let's definitely do that
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