# A dead Kindle becomes a wall-mounted to-do board

A jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite pulls a dashboard of to-dos, vocab words and notes from a Python server, then sleeps between refreshes for weeks on a charge.

- Category: Interface (mod)
- Device: [Kindle](https://afterware.xyz/d/kindle)
- Made by: [techbao666](https://github.com/techbao666) on GitHub
- Original: https://github.com/techbao666/Kindle-Board
- On Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/a-dead-kindle-becomes-a-wall-mounted-to-do-board

## Can I build this?

- Difficulty: Beginner
- AI-buildability: 5/5 (Nearly all the work is Python server code and a Kindle shell script on a device you already own, with no soldering or enclosure.)
- Time: A weekend
- Cost: $0
- Parts: Kindle Paperwhite
- Tools: USB cable, SSH or terminal access to the server, Docker

Estimates based on the original write-up. How the AI-buildability score works: https://afterware.xyz/ai-buildability

## Build sheet

- Device: Kindle Paperwhite 3/4/5 (jailbroken)
- Server: Python + Pillow, Docker
- Display: 1072x1448 e-ink, 300 PPI
- Battery: 2–3 weeks per the author

## Starter prompt

```
Based on "A dead Kindle becomes a wall-mounted to-do board" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/a-dead-kindle-becomes-a-wall-mounted-to-do-board

Build a Python Flask server that renders a 1072x1448 black-and-white PNG at /screen.png using Pillow, showing a to-do list, a word-of-the-day and a sticky note from a JSON file. Add a simple mobile web page to edit the items. Then write a shell script for a jailbroken Kindle that downloads the PNG over Wi-Fi, checks the file is over 10KB, and draws it with eips, then turns Wi-Fi off.
```

## Story

The server is plain Python with Pillow, rendering a 1072x1448 black-only image at /screen.png. The Kindle wakes its Wi-Fi, downloads the image, checks it's bigger than 10KB, then pushes it to the screen with eips or FBInk. The text is pure #000000 with big 56px English and 34px Chinese type, sized for reading from a bathroom mirror or desk across the room.

The power trick is the good part. After each refresh the Kindle cuts Wi-Fi and drops into suspend through a Linux RTC alarm (echo mem > /sys/power/state). E-ink holds the image with no power, so the author claims 2 to 3 weeks on a charge. The phone-side web panel lets you tick off tasks, add to-dos and look up dictionary definitions for new words.

Worth stealing: the no-jailbreak fallback. Plug the Kindle in, open its experimental browser, go to /view, and the page refreshes itself every 60 seconds. The jailbroken KUAL route is the one for real battery life.

## Resources

- [Repository](https://github.com/techbao666/Kindle-Board)

Tags: kindle, e-ink, dashboard, kual, python, docker, low-power

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