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Let's put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle

(tailscale.com)
327 points Quizzical4230 | 9 comments | 08 Dec 25 16:34 UTC | HN request time: 1.208s | source | bottom
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FlyingSnake ◴[09 Dec 25 05:47 UTC] No.46201668[source]▶
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

replies(1): >>46202340 #
1. scary-size ◴[09 Dec 25 07:46 UTC] No.46202340[source]▶
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

replies(1): >>46203786 #
2. jack_tripper ◴[09 Dec 25 11:39 UTC] No.46203786[source]▶
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.

replies(2): >>46204147 #>>46206511 #
3. FlyingSnake ◴[09 Dec 25 12:21 UTC] No.46204147[source]▶
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.
replies(1): >>46204182 #
4. jack_tripper ◴[09 Dec 25 12:25 UTC] No.46204182{3}[source]▶
> 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.

replies(1): >>46205125 #
5. FlyingSnake ◴[09 Dec 25 14:15 UTC] No.46205125{4}[source]▶
Fair enough. We all have enough eInk devices in our cabinets. To each their own .

What do you mean by “Rust for displays”? Bikeshedding?

6. Ghoelian ◴[09 Dec 25 16:05 UTC] No.46206511[source]▶
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.

replies(1): >>46208019 #
7. jack_tripper ◴[09 Dec 25 17:47 UTC] No.46208019{3}[source]▶
>An OLED produces actual light

Actual light? As opposed to producing fake light?

replies(1): >>46208347 #
8. scary-size ◴[09 Dec 25 18:12 UTC] No.46208347{4}[source]▶
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.
replies(1): >>46209050 #
9. jack_tripper ◴[09 Dec 25 19:00 UTC] No.46209050{5}[source]▶
Turn down the brightness of the OLED and it also just "blends in".