There are many issues you are able to do with an previous Kindle, from loading it with kids’s books and giving it to your children to buying and selling it in for a more moderen mannequin. Chances are you’ll be stunned by how rather more you are able to do with an previous Kindle. Listed below are 5 actual tasks that I’ve completed with my jailbroken fourth-generation Kindle.
Create an offline Wikipedia
A Kindle can develop into your offline reference e book
We are inclined to take Wikipedia with no consideration. You’ll find info on an unimaginable variety of subjects, all on a single web site. The difficulty is, you often cannot verify Wikipedia with out an web connection. How are you presupposed to settle that debate if you’re tenting off the grid?
A easy answer is to show your previous Kindle right into a small Wikipedia library that can work utterly offline. Kiwix is free, open-source software program that makes web sites and different references obtainable offline. The content material is out there as compressed ZIM archives, and you’ll create your individual bespoke Wikipedia library to add to your Kindle and verify everytime you need, even with no community connection.
Flip it right into a devoted bundle tracker
E-Ink is ideal for info that solely adjustments often
After I order one thing on-line that I am wanting ahead to receiving (corresponding to a brand new tiny eReader), I’ll repeatedly verify my cellphone to see when it is because of arrive. Usually, I will verify a number of instances earlier than there are any updates. I made a decision to show my previous Kindle right into a bundle tracker in order that I may see updates with out having to verify them.
The mission pulls info from the emails Amazon sends me when an order standing adjustments. This info triggers an automation working on a Raspberry Pi that updates the picture displayed on the Kindle’s display. I can see my bundle’s present standing with a look on the Kindle.
Use it as a slow-refresh safety digital camera
You do not want 30fps to see who’s on the door
A Kindle was by no means designed to indicate video, and whereas the sluggish refresh price of the E-Ink display means that it’ll by no means be sensible for watching your newest Netflix obsession, it’s doable to get a Kindle to indicate a really slow-refresh video feed.
I arrange an automation in House Assistant that repeatedly takes snapshot pictures from my video doorbell. It then serves these to the Kindle, and my Kindle 4 can replace the pictures about as soon as a second, creating a really primary video stream.
When my doorbell rings, the Kindle can show the feed. Even with the sluggish refresh price, it is greater than adequate to see who’s on the door so I do not go reply unnecessarily.
Use it as an E-ink picture body
Black-and-white pictures look surprisingly good on an previous Kindle
Most tasks on this record require a jailbroken Kindle, however this one works even on a regular Kindle. A inventory Kindle can show pictures that you simply add, that means you should utilize it as an E-Ink picture body.
Whereas a Kindle’s E-Ink show is not best for high-resolution, full-color pictures, black-and-white pictures can look surprisingly good on the display, even on older fashions. The most effective half is {that a} Kindle makes use of hardly any energy when displaying a static picture, so the Kindle can probably go away the picture on the display for weeks while not having to be plugged into energy.
Jailbreaking does provide you with extra choices. With a jailbroken Kindle, you possibly can arrange a folder of pictures and have the Kindle mechanically cycle via the pictures, identical to a typical digital picture body.
Construct a distraction-free writing machine
A Raspberry Pi does the work whereas the Kindle turns into your monitor
A Kindle is not designed for writing. Even the Kindle Keyboard, with its built-in bodily keyboard, is a nightmare to put in writing on for any size of time. That does not imply that your Kindle cannot be used as a part of a distraction-free writing setup.
You should use one thing corresponding to a Raspberry Pi to supply the computing energy whereas the Kindle acts as an E-Ink terminal. By connecting a keyboard to the Pi, you possibly can kind away and see every little thing you write on the Kindle’s E-Ink display. One profit is that the show is way much less inclined to glare than a regular laptop computer display, so it is a good choice for working open air in vivid daylight.
Outdated Kindles are surprisingly helpful
For those who’ve purchased a brand new eReader to switch your growing older Kindle, that does not imply it is advisable toss it away. The {hardware} can nonetheless be genuinely helpful. Even in case you do not wish to strive one of many tasks above, simply jailbreaking it and putting in KOReader may give it an entire new lease of life.