Amazon Releases Sources for Kindle DX
Online bookdealer Amazon has released parts of the source code for its youngest Kindle DX e-book device.
The new files for the Linux-based device are joined to the code that Amazon has already put on the Web for its Kindle 1 and 2 devices.
Apart from the relevant disclaimers, the download site has no further licensing stipulations. The tar.gz archive for Kindle DX does have a gplrelease library containing a kernel based on Linux 2.6.22 and further GPL software.
A closer analysis of the source code is still pending. At first glance, it seems to use Amazon subsidiary Lab126's u-boot bootloader and the E-Ink driver was made for the latter's older Apollo architecture. The source archives also include the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) sound system and the Gstreamer multimedia framework. MP3 codecs unfortunately seem to be missing. Apparently the developers also worked with Intel's PowerTOP tool to reduce the device's energy consumption, since they also include the sources for it.
The Lab126 Amazon subsidiary has also recently announced some job openings, among them for Linux kernel developers.
Issue 266/2023
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