Making a Kindle Fire “Factory Cable”

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Awhile ago I wrote a post on how to “root” a Kindle Fire without relying on an Android exploit. While a new exploit is being used to allow rooting of devices running the “6.2.1″ (+) update, a patch to the OS will likely eventually make rooting more difficult. I’ve rooted my device; in the event I need to root another I decided to make a “factory cable” to root the Kindle Fire.

Factory cable?

In short, think of a “factory cable” in, well, a factory. When your device is being made, the manufacturer plugs in a cable and loads the OS for the first time. They use a special cable which makes the device download a boot-loader with very little fuss. A factory cable allows you to do the exact same thing – it enables someone to load a new boot-loader extremely easily. This can, in turn, be used to load new ROMS (operating systems.)
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Kindle Fire Benchmarks – stock vs. CM7

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Since ripping apart my Fire , literally, I was interested in comparing the performance of my Fire running CyanogenMod 7 versus the Kindle flavor of Android. To get a rough idea I used Quadrant Standard from the Google Market. Here are the results:

  • Stock Kindle Fire OS ( 6.2.1 ) – 1,951
  • CyanogenMod 7 ( 7.2.0-RC0 ) – 2,819

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Rooting, etc. a Kindle Fire w/ 6.2.1+

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Amazon recently started pushing a well-publicized update for the Kindle Fire. This update, version 6.2.1, addresses a number of common complaints from many users which have arisen in the first few weeks of the device’s availability. While the update is positive for most, it has one side-effect for a minority of users – it “breaks” root.

Despite what many enthusiastic technologists think, I don’t think the intention of the update was to break root, at all. Rather, from what I can tell, the Fire 6.2.1 update patches the Android (Gingerbread) operating system powering the Fire. Since the popular method for rooting the fire prior to 6.2.1 took advantage of a buffer overflow exploit in Android it’s not surprising it was patched. Since the update is “pushed” over-the-air automatically to Kindle Fire’s many who rooted were left in a tough spot. I was one of them – I worked all night last night and woke to my Fire with an update. The remainder of this post is a guide on how to root the Kindle Fire, install TWRP, CyanogenMod, and the Google applications.

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Tinkering with Arduino

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Arduwhat?

The more I manage my team (which develops enterprise software systems) the less enjoyment I get out of coding large-scale personal projects. On the other hand, I really dislike watching many TV shows or movies for fun – it seems like a fleeting waste of time. Therefore, I’ve been on the hunt for new things to occupy my time.

Like most nerdy men, I have a pension for tinkering; it’s one reason why I develop for fun. A few weeks ago I was weathering a meeting via secret Reddit browsing and saw a discussion of an open source project called Audrino . Admittedly, I didn’t “get it” at first; after actually RTFMing I realized that Audrino sounded pretty dang awesome.
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Fear or filler

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Given the fact that I am about to spend several days in the Magic Kingdom, I figure I should check reality and seriousness before my fight.

Cup? This isn’t a perverted joke, right?

No. This is serious.

A few days ago I griped on Twitter about how people spend all their time deciding whether a cup is half full or empty instead of just using the cup. In short, I was basically trying to express my frustration at how people spend a lot of time contemplating life at the expense of actually living. After thinking it over, I suppose that comment was unfair. While I am sure a lot of people might do that but I am absolutely sure I have.
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It’s over 9000!

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I’m James and I have a problem. I like new technology. After resisting the last two rounds of new Apple laptop products, I finally ( finally , yeah, all of two years, James) caved in and bought a new MacBook Pro.

While I have mixed feelings about being thrown in with the technology-hipster club, I bought a new Mac because it’s the best mix of functionality, style, reliability and value . My first personal PC was an Apple LC so, really, I’ll just say I have a brand problem.
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(Even More) Annoying things girls do on dating websites

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Now that I am managing more people and I interview all the time, I have to say, I am pretty surprised at how many people are complete rubbish at applying for jobs. If you are seeking a software developer position, I do not want to know about your Sodexho job in school. I promise, I want you to program, not moonlight at our corporate coffee shop.

The number one complaint I have – people do a very poor job of selling themselves.

Likewise, on dating websites, it seems as if a lot of women have the same problem. When you write a profile, please keep in mind that stores always display new items in good light, full view, and not musty, muddy, and ripped articles discarded in a corner.
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