Develop Bugs

Kindle - Sideload eBooks

As some of you might have noticed, the Amazon Kindle App is quite good.
Unfortunately you have to pay for ebooks which are usually available for free on the Internet (e.g.: Programming Windows Phone 7, sold for 22.53$ , available for free on: http://www.charlespetzold.com/phone/).
So I tried to convert it to the used prc format, et voilà it's working.
So here's what you have to do:
Download http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp or any other Program, capable of converting pdf to prc.
When the conversion is done, apply the registry hack, so that your phone will show up in Windows Explorer. (http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2010/11/18/use-your-windows-phone-7-device-as-a-portable-usb-drive/) Remember to close Zune. Otherwise it won't work.
Copy the newly created *.prc file to your phone. If not already done, install TouchXplorer and go to My Documents\Zune\Content\0400\03 and cut the newly created file (It will be renamed to*.z)
Paste it to Applications\Data\48195FB4-EE0E-9264...\Data\IsolatedStore\kindle
Now rename the file so you will remember the it (e.g. programming.prc).
Start up Kindle and the newly added book should be available.
Let me know if it works for you too.

Works perfectly.... thanks!

Works fine, thanks. However, would be nice if you linked the USB hack in your post. Also, (this confused me at first) the storage doesn't show up if you use WPConnect or have Zune running.

It works fine but the book (i tried the Programming WP7 one too) isn't really readable. The text is all over the place and it's also alot larger than the other books (despite my settings being smallest font possible).
Is there a way to make it more "Phone Friendly"?

does it only support prc format?
edit: nevermind, it supports mobi too apparently

worked ... flawlessly
thanks Bro..

Instead of TouchXplorer, you can use Advanced Explorer - it supports doing this automatically. It can both copy files to your phone from the PC (without the PC registry hack) and can sideload .mobi files for you (or you can use the copy-paste functionality just like in TouchXplorer).

Advanced Explorer for mobile or pc? where i get it? is it work with samsung focus?

It's a homebrew phone app. You can find the link right here on this forum. You ned developer unlock of course, as with all these other options.
Samsung suppport is in progress, but I don't know how far along it is.

Why can't you just email the PDF to your @kindle.com account? That's the standard way of getting free books in PDF format to your Kindle, and then it's available to all your Kindle devices as well. I mean I get following this hack if you want to convert non-PDF files, but for MSWord, PDF and MOBI files it's automatic.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_k2land_trans?nodeId=200505520
[EDIT] - Following the instructions from Amazon above, I see they give you a download link to the converted file. You still need to copy the file to your Kindle or Phone, so this hack is still valid. However, if you do mail to your @free.kindle.com email address, you can get it in native (.azw) format.
M

mlekas said:
Why can't you just email the PDF to your @kindle.com account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it possible to have a kindle account without owning a kindle device? because my amazon account is asking a 16-digit serial number

[Q] How to set a video player over SMB streaming in File Expert?

I'm using root file explorer to connect to my Samba shared NAS (goflex home).
If I copy a .mkv file to my local sdcard, when I click the file (in file expert) it gives me the popup of what program I want to open the video file in. I click mxplayer, it plays just fine.
But if I connect via SMB to my NAS, when I click the same .mkv file, it won't let me pick a video player; instead it says it can't find a default program for this type of file, do I want it to search for one or no thanks. Search for one fails, and no thank just returns me to the File Expert screen. If I want to take the time (and SPACE) I can copy that same mkv file to my sdcard and play it.
So, my question is, how do I get file Expert to give me the video player prompt when connecting via SMB?
As a side not I've tried ES File Explorer in Lan Mode and always get Login Failure connecting to the goflex_home NAS (even though I've triple checked the login credentials and am using the same as in File Expoer).
I've also tried Avia to use DLNA and it sometime works but it doesn't show my Samba shares, it shows my DLNA shares and for some reason doesn't show all of them, including the files I want to play (and yes I shared them already with the Goflex Home config panel.
tl;dr -- how do I tell file expert to use mxplayer when browsing SMB shares, instead of the popup asking to find a program to handle the file?
Edit: Made some progress; tweaked the ES File Expert connection settings to connect to the root of my share and can connect and it gives me the choice of what file player to use -- though it seems to fail streaming. the same file I can play fine from sdcard chokes and is unplayable over streaming.
Alternately, does anyone have a better solution for this problem entirely?
Edit2: Sorry a but more info. When the mkv file is on my sdcard and I click it, I get the same error popup. If I hold down on the file fore afew seconds, I can click "Open As" then "Video" then pick my player. But in SMB exploring, holding down doesn't have an "Open as" option in the menu.

i second this question... same here with samba!!!
anybody knows?

It gives me option to select the player.

[Q] How to Load an Add-On Zip File in to XBMC on a Fire TV?

This week, my XBMC guru gave me a link to a Zip file that would allow me to reinstall Mashup in XBMC. Unfortunately, it appears that AT&T is blocking the hostingsiteforfree.com server, so I can't access that file. He sent me the Zip file, and I was able to successfully FTP it into my Apple TV, but I have not been able to get it on my Fire TV. Apparently I can't use a USB thumb drive to get the file on there unless I root my Fire TV, which now sounds like it could brick the unit. How can I load this Zip file into XBMC?
BTW, I tried uploading the Zip file to my own server and pointing XBMC at it, but instead of recognizing it as a Zip file that I could use to "Install from Zip File," when I clicked on it XBMC merely drilled down to its contents, showing "plugin.video.movie25" and inside that, the "resources" folder and fanart.jpgs, etc. Is there a way to post the Zip file on my own server that XBMC will be able to "Install from Zip File"?
Thanks.

Raymondo17 said:
This week, my XBMC guru gave me a link to a Zip file that would allow me to reinstall Mashup in XBMC. Unfortunately, it appears that AT&T is blocking the hostingsiteforfree.com server, so I can't access that file. He sent me the Zip file, and I was able to successfully FTP it into my Apple TV, but I have not been able to get it on my Fire TV. Apparently I can't use a USB thumb drive to get the file on there unless I root my Fire TV, which now sounds like it could brick the unit. How can I load this Zip file into XBMC?
BTW, I tried uploading the Zip file to my own server and pointing XBMC at it, but instead of recognizing it as a Zip file that I could use to "Install from Zip File," when I clicked on it XBMC merely drilled down to its contents, showing "plugin.video.movie25" and inside that, the "resources" folder and fanart.jpgs, etc. Is there a way to post the Zip file on my own server that XBMC will be able to "Install from Zip File"?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use the adbFire app from your laptop/desktop to push the file to sdcard location on the FireTV.
http://www.jocala.com/adbfire.html

>Just use the adbFire app from your laptop/desktop to push the file to sdcard location on the FireTV.<
Thanks for the response, smokie75. adbFire looks like it could come in very handy. But I'm feeling like the apes at the beginning of 2001, staring at the monolith before them.
I pushed the file to my Fire TV using adbFire, supposedly to my sdcard location. But when I looked for the file on my Fire TV, I couldn't find it. I tried to Add Files Source. In the window where I'd normally input a URL, I clicked on "Browse," and then in Root Filesystem I found "sdcard" listed, but when I clicked on it, up came a listing of folders like "Alarm, amazonmp3, Android, DCIM, Download, etc." and I couldn't find my mashup.zip file anywhere. Where did I go wrong?

Raymondo17 said:
>Just use the adbFire app from your laptop/desktop to push the file to sdcard location on the FireTV.<
Thanks for the response, smokie75. adbFire looks like it could come in very handy. But I'm feeling like the apes at the beginning of 2001, staring at the monolith before them.
I pushed the file to my Fire TV using adbFire, supposedly to my sdcard location. But when I looked for the file on my Fire TV, I couldn't find it. I tried to Add Files Source. In the window where I'd normally input a URL, I clicked on "Browse," and then in Root Filesystem I found "sdcard" listed, but when I clicked on it, up came a listing of folders like "Alarm, amazonmp3, Android, DCIM, Download, etc." and I couldn't find my mashup.zip file anywhere. Where did I go wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming your PUSH/PULL/DELETE was set to sdcard: . Go to INSTALL FROM ZIP FILE>ROOT FILE SYSTEM>SDCARD it should be there, probably at bottom of list

Raymondo17 said:
This week, my XBMC guru gave me a link to a Zip file that would allow me to reinstall Mashup in XBMC. Unfortunately, it appears that AT&T is blocking the hostingsiteforfree.com server, so I can't access that file. He sent me the Zip file, and I was able to successfully FTP it into my Apple TV, but I have not been able to get it on my Fire TV. Apparently I can't use a USB thumb drive to get the file on there unless I root my Fire TV, which now sounds like it could brick the unit. How can I load this Zip file into XBMC?
BTW, I tried uploading the Zip file to my own server and pointing XBMC at it, but instead of recognizing it as a Zip file that I could use to "Install from Zip File," when I clicked on it XBMC merely drilled down to its contents, showing "plugin.video.movie25" and inside that, the "resources" folder and fanart.jpgs, etc. Is there a way to post the Zip file on my own server that XBMC will be able to "Install from Zip File"?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't mashup no more?

Mashup gone for good

Lol so why are people still installing it?

Sounds like you already have it sorted, but for others searching let me throw out a couple easier methods.
1) ftp - there are multiple apps that let you run a web based ftp server on your device. I haven't done this on my FireTV, but I do use one called Wifi File Transfer, or something like that, on another android device. Assuming you know how to side-load xbmc, side-loading a wifi ftp app is simple.
2) just use a samba (windows/smb) share from another computer on your lan. You can browse the smb shares from within XBMC and "install from zip" from there.

wqwrqrfq said:
Assuming your PUSH/PULL/DELETE was set to sdcard: . Go to INSTALL FROM ZIP FILE>ROOT FILE SYSTEM>SDCARD it should be there, probably at bottom of list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant! Not sure why it didn't work before, but I re-pushed it and there it was, waiting for me in the sdcard directory! Sweet! Thanks for your help, Smokie75 and wqwrqrfq! And I appreciate your input, skeptic_always. Mashup is alive and kickin' on my Fire TV!
danknasty said:
Isn't mashup no more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's living a sort of zombie life. Although the developer pulled the plug on it, there is still a way to install it and get much of the functionality it once had. I'm new to XBMC so I never got to see Mashup in all its glory, but there is still plenty of content still working. Some of the areas, like 3D movies, appear to be missing most of their content, but other areas are still chock full of Mashup goodness.
I'm a newbie to this forum, so if it's kosher to post the URL here, let me know and I'll post it.

Is it just a playlists that are still working because they created a new ADDON that is supposed to carry that stuff over.

danknasty said:
Isn't mashup no more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone disabled the update part of mashup. With that file you are able to use mashup without problems. Or get an old version of mashup and block github.com, it won't be able to update but you lose the use of github for other stuff.
---------- Post added at 01:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------
danknasty said:
Is it just a playlists that are still working because they created a new ADDON that is supposed to carry that stuff over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're referring to Phoenix, I tried it and it's nothing like Mashup., it's nice in it's own right though. In mashup, search, new releases, newly added all work as before.

danknasty said:
Is it just a playlists that are still working because they created a new ADDON that is supposed to carry that stuff over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya know, I'm so new to XBMC that someone more knowledgable will have to answer that. Like I said, there are areas that appear to be pretty empty, but areas where a lot of content still works, some of which appears to be recent content. (I found last week's episode of Modern Family, for example.) While it appears to be a shadow of its former self, the excellent way that the content is organized and categorized still makes it my first stop when launching XBMC.

Raymondo17 said:
Ya know, I'm so new to XBMC that someone more knowledgable will have to answer that. Like I said, there are areas that appear to be pretty empty, but areas where a lot of content still works, some of which appears to be recent content. (I found last week's episode of Modern Family, for example.) While it appears to be a shadow of its former self, the excellent way that the content is organized and categorized still makes it my first stop when launching XBMC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man mashup was one of my favorite addons I cant believe I didn't know it was still functional. I just downloaded a working link its good to have it back.

[Q] spmc thumbnails to ext USB help

Hi could you clever folks help a guy out, I'm trying to do what it says in the thread title but I do not have a PC, I use agk fire and es file explorer.
can anyone do a quick idiots guide on how I can do this.
Many thanks.

Just go to you SPMC foldr and delete the thumbnail folder, and make sure you also delete the texture database file too. The thumbnail folder will auto recreate itself. If you do not delete the textures DB file iit will take a long time for Kodi to make new thumbnails.

porkenhimer said:
Just go to you SPMC foldr and delete the thumbnail folder, and make sure you also delete the texture database file too. The thumbnail folder will auto recreate itself. If you do not delete the textures DB file iit will take a long time for Kodi to make new thumbnails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
Yes I already know how to delete thumbs and textures 13.dB.
I'm trying to redirect thumbs to external flash drive. It can be done but I have no PC.

Think this is for kodi
from ftv news
how can I do this manually using esfile explorer for spmc
Guide
Ensure that your USB drive is connected to your Fire TV, that Kodi is installed on your Fire TV, and that you’ve launched Kodi at least once before proceeding with this guide. It does not matter if Kodi is installed on the Fire TV’s internal storage or on external USB storage.
Force stop Kodi on your Fire TV by going to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications, selecting Kodi, and selecting the Force stop option.
Connect to your Fire TV via ADB.
Open a Fire TV shell prompt by running the command:
adb shell
Create a directory called kodi on your USB drive where we will move Kodi’s thumbnail files by running the command:
mkdir /storage/extUsb/kodi
Copy Kodi’s thumbnail files to your USB drive by running the command:
cp -r /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Thumbnails /storage/extUsb/kodi/
This may take a while depending on the size of your Kodi installation and the speed of your USB drive.
Create a blank Kodi configuration file by running the command:
touch /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml
Fill the configuration file by running the command:
echo \<advancedsettings\>\<pathsubstitution\>\<substitute\>\<from\>special://thumbnails/\</from\>\<to\>/storage/extUsb/kodi/Thumbnails/\</to\>\</substitute\>\</pathsubstitution\>\</advancedsettings\> > /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml
Launch Kodi and verify everything is working correctly.
Delete Kodi’s thumbnail files from your Fire TV’s internal storage by running the command:
rm -rf /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Thumbnails

Can anyone please help

astro77 said:
Hi could you clever folks help a guy out, I'm trying to do what it says in the thread title but I do not have a PC, I use agk fire and es file explorer.
can anyone do a quick idiots guide on how I can do this.
Many thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Mac and a PC and I've never tried but unless someone corrects me....android terminal is very similar to Mac as it applies to Unix. So you can install android terminal on your device and run the same commands in the aftvnews guide. I'm not even 50% certain it works. Your android might need to be rooted but not certain there either.
Its just I noticed your notngetting many answers. At the very least I'm sure itnwont hurtnto try. And, I'm very curious to see if it would work.
As I understand it there are definite limits, thats why the guides usually say Mac, PC or linux. But we can connect with adb (actually that's much simpler to do with android) so its might be worth a shot.
You will need to Google if you don't know manually copy and paste paths but this isnpretty simple too. Hope it works. And if someone knows of a reason this won't work hopefully you'll let both of us know.

Thank you a lot
Downloaded the terminal on my android tablet but have no idea how to connect to fire TV over WiFi using the terminal app.
Was going to just create a "text" XML file containing the correct path then just put it in the right location on my fire TV with esfile explorer and maybe copy a few folders from spmc to flash drive........
I'm sure its simple when you know how lol.

If that works for you that's even simpler. You can still use the terminal to adb push your XML. Place it in userdata. Then you'll probably need to delete textures13db from the database and restart kodi. Before the new updates this was how I stored thumbs and it worked as well as it does now. Once you verify advanced settings and it works you can delete the thumbnails from your internal sdcard.

Good stuff :good:
just don't know what to name the XML and the contents path for spmc.
As you can tell I'm not very experienced at this stuff.
edit:
something like
<advancedsettings\>\<pathsubstitution\>\<substitu te\>\<from\>special://thumbnails/\</from\>\<to\>/storage/extUsb/kodi/Thumbnails/\</to\>\</substitute\>\</pathsubstitution\>\</advancedsettings\>

please someone help
if you have done this by whatever method could you please open up your advanced XML file and copy and paste it here please.

Cracked it
made a text file using esfile explorer on my tablet named:
advancedsettings.xml
then put this in the file:
<advancedsettings>
<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>special://profile/Thumbnails/</from>
<to>/storage/extUsb/Thumbnails/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>
connected my tablet to aftv using esfile explorer over WiFi and moved the file to spmc userdata
opened spmc and deleted textures and thumbs folder, close spmc, restarted and it worked.
thanks too all that replied

[Q] Custom Background for firetv question help please ??

Hi all,
Running kodi/Helix 14.0 sideloaded on my non-rooted fireTV.... With no other extras or addons apart from my network attached HD.
Using IkonoTV as my launcher.
all updates blocked via opendns.
I just wanted to know if it was possible to change the background wallpaper on the main screen...
I know I have to go to System/Settings and then to appearance then go to skin tab and then to settings....then the tab for "Background Options" then "enable custom Background".
Once I have done this I then go to "Background Path:" and this is where I get stuck..... It's been a real pig... because the only two options I have are "External Storage" and "Root Filesystem". It's impossible for me to be able to change either of these directorys to anything else. And believe me, I've tried.
I've tried adding my photos "under the main photo tab" on the main screen held on my external storage HD and I have no problem with that...
Is the reason I cannot change the background because my firetv is not rooted, (root is not possible, due to when it was produced).
I would really appreciate any advice or help on this, as I'm googled out, and I've given up looking at the amount of tube vids telling me how to install kodi...
Is it possible for me to use adbfire to add images to the firetv somehow?
Weird thing is, nearly all of the folders I have looked in within "external storage" and "root filesystem" are empty...
One good thing is that I managed to find a tube video showing how to update kodi on a firetv without loosing ones settings using adbfire, as I wanted to update to 14.2.
Thanks chaps for reading my help request... as I seem to be all out of luck at the moment. (wish it was as easy to change the wallpaper on my firetv as it is on my laptop).

Install ES file explorer on fire tv via adb. Link it to your dropbox or Google drive account. Copy photos to your cloud account using your PC. Access from fire TV using ES file explorer and download to folder of your choice.

D33H said:
Install ES file explorer on fire tv via adb. Link it to your dropbox or Google drive account. Copy photos to your cloud account using your PC. Access from fire TV using ES file explorer and download to folder of your choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info D33H...... cheers mate..
I have to admit, I did eventually manage to get it done by using adbfire, by changing the push folder to "sdcard" and pushing my photos that way.... not ideal as I would like them in a particular folder of my choice, but at least kodi can now see my images in "external storage"....
But I like the idea of using ES file explorer, so I might try it that way as well.
On a sidenote, is it possible to run kodi without ones internet on,..... I've tried but i only get a flashing orange light,.... would this be happening, because i have set a 4 digit code on my firetv.. (to stop anyone from making unnecessary purchases by mistake).
I only ask because if my internet goes down it would be nice to still be able to use kodi.