Amazon Kindle Fire 7

[TonyF]

Setting up Kindles for use with Bridgepal

It occurred to me that there must be other alternatives to using ‘standard’ 7 inch android terminals. Some of which are notoriously greedy on power. I really like the idea of using smartphones - the Acatel pixi 4 is ideal but may be a little small for some… I decided to experiment with Amazon Kindle Fire 7 inch.. So I bought a few from Ebay at ‘sensible’ prices..

Focussing only on one app - Bridgepal - was high on the list of things to do.. But getting rid of all the adverts was the first priority. I achieved this by by doing a factory reset and ensuring that the Kindles were not re-registered with Amazon.. There is NO need to ‘root’ the kindles !!!

The way Amazon seems to work is by providing continuous info on authors or genre of books which could be for ever present in adverts on screen - so it is vital to find a way round this.

It is well documented on the ’net how to do this - but basically select any wifi - and type in any password. It is important that random letters are chosen so you do not log into that wifi. An on-screen prompt will say - Not Now. Click on this and ‘voila ‘you can then carry on with the setup.

 I decided not to use the feature in Bridgepal to make it the server and experimented with other apps. My thinking was folk may want to take their Kindles home.

Before doing this it is important to enable the feature - on the Kindle - that allows any apps to be downloaded.

Going via ’Settings’ scroll down to Security and under Advanced turn on ‘Apps from unknown sources’.

Downloading the Bridgepal app - to the Kindle -  from John and Mirna’s website - https://mirgo2.co.uk/bridgepal/ is a good starting point. Install the app then concentrate on your laptop.

Download from the same site the two apps to run on the laptop and install them. Personally I did not download the bridge scoring program as I would be using Jeff Smith's well-know Pairsscorer which is still free from his new-ish website - https://jssscore.weebly.com/downloads.html. This software now has integrated BCS control software.

This is the basic requirement to ‘trial’ Bridgepal.

Incidentally I downloaded two more apps onto the Kindles.  This was to ‘hide’ all other apps that may distract players using Kindles..

Nova Launcher - available from here - http://novalauncher.com

LauncherHijack - which is available from here - https://github.com/BaronKiko/LauncherHijack/releases

With a bridge-oriented wallpaper and only the Bridgepal Icon - on-screen - my setup was ready to go !!

If required I can supply further information on implementation.

[johng]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for this. We look forward to trying it out on an old 7" Kindle Fire tablet that we have. It's worth mentioning that brand new Fire 7" tablets are sometimes available directly from Amazon at bargain prices (around 30 UK pounds), typically in the weeks around Black Friday and Easter.

There are two possible issues with Fire tablets, not showstoppers but something to be aware of:

1. If your wifi router has no internet connection (which it generally would not have in the bridge club), a Fire tablet will not reconnect to it automatically if it temporarily loses connection to the router for any reason (e.g. weak signal). This is a "feature" of Fire tablets - obviously Amazon would like you to be connected to the internet at all times as they market the Fire tablets as media consumption devices. A few years ago I developed an android app, one of the primary features of which is  to automatically reconnect to a wifi network. When I have time I could update this and make it available for download from the BridgePal website. It launches at boot time and sits in the background with just an icon showing on the status bar to indicate that it is active.

2. As far as I know there is no way of preventing Amazon updating the operating system on the device (other than never connecting it to the internet). Devices from other manufacturers require user action to initiate an update. This probably doesn't matter, but it's always possible that Amazon could make some change to the operating system to defeat some of the techniques you describe to remove the screen clutter, advertisements etc. I don't imagine they could make a change that stops the BridgePal app working as they do of course need to support standard android apps even though FireOS is a highly customised version of android.

John

[TonyF]

Hi John,

           Thanks for the additional information - very interesting.

Up to now the Kindles used had the OS updated before proceeding with the setup. Hopefully this should slow the process down for a while. To be safe, if Amazon does proceed in this way, it is best to ensure the Kindles are never re-connected to the internet. At a time when Bridgepal is updated the Kindles could be briefly connected to download the latest software  - ensure you 'deny' the OS request for update.

On the other hand I see no reason why a local wifi transfer would not work (an additional would be required which can be installed whilst setting up).
 I found this article on the Amazon website which would help achieve this --> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201642370
 (you may have to copy and paste the link).
Ahh - after further research I found this article from Digital Reader which allows an earlier version of their OS to re-installed. This is the link
 https://the-digital-reader.com/2016/03/12/how-to-downgrade-your-fire-tablet-from-fire-os-5-bellini-to-fire-os-4/

As time permits I will look into this further.

There is copious amounts of information on the 'net - hopefully I've covered most of the bases.

I have noticed when the Kindles first attempt to connect to the laptop via there maybe a delay of a few seconds with a 'moan' that the address is unreachable. This is probably a comms problem where the stand-alone router maybe slow to react. But - the Kindle always connect  - within this time - and the Start screen does appear. I'm sure John's app would be beneficial if the issue persists. (John - perhaps you can put the app on your website for me to trial ?)

One thing that is worth bearing in mind is the are seven versions of Kindles at present. I found no problems with the different versions on my Kindles. But - opinions may vary. It is possible to check the version via 'settings' and 'device options'.

One of things I did not mention in the original article is about the screen brightness. It is well-known that all devices draw more current when the display is on. I reduced the brightness level to about a third and am having no problems with battery life. All Kindles were set to 'sleep' after 30 seconds - you wish to increase this time - bearing in mind that Bridgemates are set to 20 seconds !!

Tony

[johng]

Hi Tony,

I don't think you can "deny" the OS request for update, because it doesn't ask ! On my Kindle the OS updates just happen as long as the device is connected to internet. However, if you want to avoid connecting the Kindle Fire to internet for BridgePal app updates you can download the BridgePal app from the BridgePal website onto a PC, then copy it to the Kindle via usb.

I'm not sure you can downgrade later revisions of the Fire tablet to earlier versions of the OS - I think I've read that the boot loader is locked down which would prevent downgrading the OS or rooting the tablet.

The broadcast messages from the PC are transmitted once every 15 seconds, so it's possible that if you start the BridgePal app immediately after booting the Kindle there may be a delay before the broadcast message is received, and hence the first request to the PC will give you the error message.

I don't want to put the app which I referred to on general release at the moment, as it needs some modification to take out redundant functionality, but I'll email you a copy for you to try out.

John

[TonyF]

Thanks for the info John.. You may well be right on both issues. The situation has not arisen yet for either - only 'kicking' ideas around.

Side-loading the Bridgepal app is a better approach which I had overlooked at the time of writing. This would mean never having to re-connect to the Internet.

Incidentally I have placed a short-cut on the laptop home screen for the Broadcast Service - primarily as a 'comfort' factor.     

Okay about the app - I can understand that as it was for another purpose originally. I will test out during the week.

Tony

[johng]

I've since re-tested my old WakeLockService app, which I mentioned in an earlier post, on a Fire HD. This is one of the devices which does not automatically reconnect to a wifi router that has no internet connection. It seems that the app does not have any effect on this device.

Without the app installed, the tablet generally does seem to reconnect when the router is power cycled. However, it does not reconnect if the tablet itself is rebooted, which means that it would be necessary to manually initiate connection to the router after powering on the tablet. This is an extra step that must be carried out when the tablet is turned on, but providing that the wireless signal is stable it should not cause problems during the session.

[TonyF]

Hi John,

              From the little experience I have - that problem seems to be solved on all 10 Kindles I have set up for use with Bridgepal. Pressing the power on button does bring the Kindles back 'to life' and - in my case - a 'swipe' up the screen put the Kindle back in action. As for the loss of wifi, after a reboot, that did take a little while to resolve. For me, it boiled down to ensuring all other router access is set to 'forget'. This seems to ensure that the designated router stays enabled. It would interesting to hear if this works for you too.

Regards - Tony