how to put shit on old kindle without USB and internet
my kindle's USB port is broken, so I can't just connect via USB to put books on it
it also refuses to connect to WiFi hotspots without a backing internet connection. however, I don't want to connect it to the internet because it will phone home to amazon and potentially do auto-updates i don't want.
but, enshittification of the internet to the rescue, the kindle accepts a wifi hotspot with a "captive portal", so we pretend to be one.
prerequisites
Python, NetworkManager, dnsmasq, Calibre
make sure firewall allows connections from wifi to local dns, dhcp, port 80 and whatever port is configured in calibre (default 8080)
make nm connection config
nmtui, "edit connection", "add", type "wifi", select wifi card as device, mode "access point", security "wpa & wpa2 personal", enter some password, ipv4 configuration "manual", add address "10.42.0.1/24", disable "automatically connect"
Networkmanager profile
Networkmanager profile
===============================================================================
Connection profile details (Hotspot)
===============================================================================
connection.id: Hotspot
connection.uuid: 10e9bbfa-7d25-4525-9da4-8f424e9e0836
connection.stable-id: --
connection.type: 802-11-wireless
connection.interface-name: wlp2s0
connection.autoconnect: no
connection.autoconnect-priority: 0
connection.autoconnect-retries: -1 (default)
connection.multi-connect: 0 (default)
connection.auth-retries: -1
connection.timestamp: 1720017613
connection.permissions: --
connection.zone: --
connection.controller: --
connection.master: --
connection.slave-type: --
connection.port-type: --
connection.autoconnect-slaves: -1 (default)
connection.autoconnect-ports: -1 (default)
connection.down-on-poweroff: -1 (default)
connection.secondaries: --
connection.gateway-ping-timeout: 0
connection.metered: unknown
connection.lldp: default
connection.mdns: -1 (default)
connection.llmnr: -1 (default)
connection.dns-over-tls: -1 (default)
connection.mptcp-flags: 0x0 (default)
connection.wait-device-timeout: -1
connection.wait-activation-delay: -1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
802-11-wireless.ssid: amazon_sucks
802-11-wireless.mode: ap
802-11-wireless.band: --
802-11-wireless.channel: 0
802-11-wireless.bssid: --
802-11-wireless.mac-address: --
802-11-wireless.cloned-mac-address: --
802-11-wireless.generate-mac-address-mask:--
802-11-wireless.mac-address-denylist: --
802-11-wireless.mac-address-randomization:default
802-11-wireless.mtu: auto
802-11-wireless.hidden: no
802-11-wireless.powersave: 0 (default)
802-11-wireless.wake-on-wlan: 0x1 (default)
802-11-wireless.ap-isolation: -1 (default)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
802-11-wireless-security.key-mgmt: wpa-psk
802-11-wireless-security.wep-tx-keyidx: 0
802-11-wireless-security.auth-alg: --
802-11-wireless-security.proto: rsn
802-11-wireless-security.pairwise: ccmp
802-11-wireless-security.group: ccmp
802-11-wireless-security.pmf: 0 (default)
802-11-wireless-security.leap-username: --
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key0: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key1: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key2: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key3: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key-flags: 0 (none)
802-11-wireless-security.wep-key-type: unknown
802-11-wireless-security.psk: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.psk-flags: 0 (none)
802-11-wireless-security.leap-password: <hidden>
802-11-wireless-security.leap-password-flags:0 (none)
802-11-wireless-security.wps-method: 0x0 (default)
802-11-wireless-security.fils: 0 (default)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ipv4.method: manual
ipv4.dns: --
ipv4.dns-search: --
ipv4.dns-options: --
ipv4.dns-priority: 0
ipv4.addresses: 10.42.0.1/24
ipv4.gateway: --
ipv4.routes: --
ipv4.route-metric: -1
ipv4.route-table: 0 (unspec)
ipv4.routing-rules: --
ipv4.replace-local-rule: -1 (default)
ipv4.dhcp-send-release: -1 (default)
ipv4.ignore-auto-routes: no
ipv4.ignore-auto-dns: no
ipv4.dhcp-client-id: --
ipv4.dhcp-iaid: --
ipv4.dhcp-dscp: --
ipv4.dhcp-timeout: 0 (default)
ipv4.dhcp-send-hostname: yes
ipv4.dhcp-hostname: --
ipv4.dhcp-fqdn: --
ipv4.dhcp-hostname-flags: 0x0 (none)
ipv4.never-default: no
ipv4.may-fail: yes
ipv4.required-timeout: -1 (default)
ipv4.dad-timeout: -1 (default)
ipv4.dhcp-vendor-class-identifier: --
ipv4.link-local: 0 (default)
ipv4.dhcp-reject-servers: --
ipv4.auto-route-ext-gw: -1 (default)
run with it
- run in terminal
# start hotspot nmcli connection up Hotspot # dns/dhcp server to pretend our offline hotspot is a somewhat working wifi sudo dnsmasq --conf-file=/dev/null --no-hosts --keep-in-foreground --bind-interfaces --except-interface=lo --clear-on-reload --strict-order --listen-address=10.42.0.1 --dhcp-range=10.42.0.10,10.42.0.254,60m -q --log-dhcp \ -8 /dev/fd/2 --no-resolv \ --auth-server=dns.kindle.com,wlp2s0 \ --host-record=dns.kindle.com,10.42.0.1 --auth-zone=dns.kindle.com,10.42.0.0/24 \ --host-record=dogvgb9ujhybx.cloudfront.net,10.42.0.1 --auth-zone=cloudfront.net,10.42.0.0/24 \ --host-record=spectrum.s3.amazonaws.com,10.42.0.1 --auth-zone=s3.amazonaws.com,10.42.0.0/24 # pretend we're in a captive portal... # run in empty folder: sudo python -m http.server 80 - run calibre "content server"
- connect to your hotspot on the kindle
- click "yes" when it asks whether you want to connect to the captive portal
- navigate to 10.42.0.1:8080 in the web browser
- download books from calibre to the kindle
- 🎉