techy stuff
Modding a Nintendo DSi XL
I bought a suspiciously cheap wine red Nintendo DSi XL from ebay - lo and behold, it is floppy af. Replacing the lower part of the shell is on the to-do list, but in the mean time I have modded the device with the intention of jazzing it up a bit, and also pirating some games I don't want to buy a cartridge for (read: Ghost Trick). I followed the instructions at dsi.cfw.guide, and while it wasn't a quick process, it went very smoothly.
What didn't go so smoothly was my attempt at replacing the inner part of the bottom shell - I pulled on a cable too hard and it tore the ribbon cable that attaches the top screen to the motherboard, and now it doesn't turn on... I sold it for parts on ebay.
I'm hoping the next DS I buy won't need any repairs (I'm not trying all that again), but in case you want to try repairing a DS, iFixit has several guides on how to do various repairs.
Jailbreaking my ancient kindle
When I was 8 or 9 my parents bought me a Kindle Keyboard. I never used it much - even then I preferred physical books - but since finding it again recently (and replacing the battery), I thought it might be handy to have for things that I would otherwise read on a screen. Unfortunately, the 16 year old kindle can only read mobi files and not the epubs I had downloaded. So it was time to get jailbreaking.
This was not as easy as I had anticipated. The first time I tried to jailbreak it, there was so much conflicting information that I got lost and gave up. The second time, I discovered this reddit post - posted literally the day before! - that was so easy to follow that it took no time at all to jailbreak the device. I'm going to summarise the steps here for posterity.
How to jailbreak a kindle keyboard
These steps will show you how to jailbreak your kindle keyboard and install KOReader.
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Identify your kindle model.
Take a look at the device settings to find the serial number.
Nickname Start of serial number Model name k3g B006 Kindle 3 3G + WiFi (U.S. and Canada) k3w B008 Kindle 3 WiFi k3gb B00A Kindle 3 3G + WiFi (Europe) -
Update firmware.
Go into settings and look at the bottom of the screen. If your Kindle's version is aything other than 3.4.3, you'll need to update it before proceeding.
Connect your Kindle to the internet, go into settings, then hit the menu button. You might be able to hit Update Kindle to perform the update.
If you can't automatically update the Kindle, you can update it manually. Go to this page, scroll down to Table 3, and download the appropriate file. It will download a .bin file.
Plug your Kindle into your computer and copy this file into the root directory of the Kindle. Next, eject the Kindle, go to settings, open the menu and hit Update Kindle. Do this until you have version 3.4.3.
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Find the right jailbreak file.
Go to this page on mobileread.com and find the heading "Packages targeting the Kindle 2/DX/DXG/3/4", then click "kindle-jailbreak-0.13.N-r18833.tar.xz". Extract this file to get a folder of .bin files. The file you want will start with "Update_jailbreak_0.13.N_k3..." - choose the file that matches the Kindle nickname you found in step 1. This is important - the first time I tried this, I accidentally copied the wrong file and couldn't proceed with the jailbreak. Copying over the wrong file won't work, but thankfully it also doesn't break anything.
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Jailbreak the kindle.
Plug your Kindle into your computer and copy the install.bin file into its root directory. Eject the kindle from the computer. The OP of the Reddit post suggested turning off the Kindle's WiFi at this stage, so I did that as well. Once you've done that, go to settings, open the menu, and select "Update Kindle". The device should update and restart. One you see that the update has been successful, your Kindle has been jailbroken!
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Install MKK (Mobileread Kindlet Kit).
If you want to install fun programs on your kindle, you need to first install MKK.
MAKE SURE YOUR KINDLE'S WIFI IS TURNED OFF OR IT WON'T WORK.
Go back to this page on mobileread.com and scroll to "KUAL & KUAL extensions". Select the last item "kindle-mkk-20141129-r18833.tar.xz". Extract this file to get a folder full of .bin files. Choose the correct file for your model, copy it over to your Kindle, eject, and update.
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Update the keys in MKK.
The dev keys for KUAL expired some time in 2025. Go to this mobileread post, download the zip file, extract, select the correct install.bin file, copy it over, eject, and update.
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Install KUAL.
KUAL lets you launch different applications in your Kindle.
Go to this page on the Kindle Modding Wiki. Ignore the MRPI stuff and go to the next step. Select "KUAL for Legacy Devices" and extract the file it gives you. Inside the resulting folder, find "KUAL-KDK-1.0.azw2" and copy it to the documents folder of your Kindle.
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Install KOReader.
Go to the KOReader GitHub and find the KOReader-Kindle-Legacy zip file. Extract it and copy its contents into the root directory of your Kindle. Eject your Kindle and open KUAL. You should get KOReader as an option - select this and then hit "Start KOReader", and you now have a functioning Kindle!
How to add books to your jailbroken Kindle
The main way that I have seen is to use Calibre, where you can theoretically send books to your Kindle over WiFi.
This didn't work for me for whatever reason, so I went more manual with it:
- In KOReader, hit the three lines in the top-right corner, and then exit. This will take you back to the regular Kindle menu
- Plug your Kindle into your computer.
- Drag whatever files you want into the Documents folder on the Kindle, then eject.
- Go back into KOReader and your books should appear in the Documents folder.