Introducing Kinology - The Premier KFHD7 Custom ROM
Standard Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for loss, damages, or any kind of issue whatsoever that could arise from installing this ROM. You install it at your own risk.
Kinology is the premier custom ROM for the Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet. It will not work on any other device. Kinology should be considered a "hybrid OS"; it contains Amazon's 7.3.1 ICS-based core along with Google's ICS Services Framework and application stack. Let's dive right in to the feature set:
Feature List
Visual:
- Display density set to 200
- Lower brightness levels enabled
- Notification icons enabled instead of "My Kindle" text
- Many tablet / dual pane layouts are enabled due to the density change
- Approximate percentage (rounded to 5%) shown on status bar battery icon
- Boot animation based on "Revisiting Brownian Motion" (with permission)
Functional:
- Long press the Navbar Home button to bring up Recents
- Navbar will always show the Menu button in non-Amazon apps
- Restart and Recovery options available in Power button menu
- Bluetooth sharing will accept all file types
- App suppression in default launcher disabled
- Non-Amazon account & sync settings enabled
- Advanced Accessibility options enabled (ICS-style services list)
- Select Screen Lock enabled
- Inspired by (but not copied from) 0xD34D's KFHD Extended Settings:
- Text-to-speech options enabled
- Data Usage, Power Usage, and Battery Info options enabled
- Developer Options enabled
Launchers:
- Third-party launchers no longer need to be installed to /system
- Widget and Live Wallpaper pickers pre-installed
Apps:
- Rooted with latest SuperSu from Chainfire
- All system apps are fully deodexed, optipng'd, and zipalign'd
- Most recent Amazon Kindle app updates pre-installed
- Allow non-market apps to install by default
- AOSP Keyboard and CyanogenMod DSPManager included
- Easily uninstallable third-party apps: OI File Manager, AdAway, and Adobe Flash Player (Note: Flash will also require installation of a supported third-party browser of your choice)
Google Apps/Framework:
- Google package includes the ICS Framework, FaceLock, Gallery, Gmail, Play Store, Talk, and TTS
- Play Store apps unrestricted based on Tsjoklat's fixes
- Libs, Permissions, etc., included so that other Google apps may be installed
Behind-the-scenes:
- Supports init.d via iridaki's install-recovery technique
- Latest busybox installed (stericson's version)
- Automatic zipalign of user apps during boot
- Automatic permissions fixing during boot
- OTA updates disabled (based on prokennexusa's scripts)
- ADB shell uses root account
Fixes:
- Fixed crash on Gmail notifications (this is an Amazon OS bug, not Gmail)
- Fixed non-scrollable wallpaper issue
- Fixed Lockscreen turning black at custom DPI
- Fixed potential battery drain due to searching for a cellular signal
- Show only the secure lockscreen when enabled
Removed:
- Kindle Fire Tutorial
- Kindle Freetime Tutorial
- Lockscreen Ads
- Amazon Store's Market link stealer
Installation
You MUST have a working custom recovery on your Kindle before attempting to install this ROM!
If you do not currently have one, try Hashcode's bootloader + TWRP.
The following instructions will get you to the latest version of Kinology. Note step 0b carefully - it determines whether you are "upgrading" (dirty-flash) or doing a clean install (wiping user data)!
Step 0 - Preparation:
- If you are not currently running Kinology or Stock OS with TWRP 2.4.4.0, download Kinology-step0a-boot-7.3.0-twrp-2.4.4.0.zip. This will flash four items: stock 7.3.0 xloader, stock 7.2.3 bootloader, Freedom boot/kernel 7.3.0, and TWRP recovery 2.4.4.0.
- If you want to do a clean install, download Kinology-step0b-wipedata.zip. If you want to keep your user apps and their data, do NOT include this file. Flashing this will wipe out EVERYTHING except the internal storage (sdcard). It will, however, move your currently installed apps (but not their data) to the sdcard at Kinology/AppBackup. Don't forget to delete the AppBackup folder to free up some space once you no longer need it.
- Download Kinology-step1a-amazonos-7.3.1.zip, Kinology-step1b-amazonos-7.3.1.zip, and Kinology-step1c-amazonos-7.3.1.zip.
- If you skip to step 4, you will have a stock 7.3.1 OS, unrooted, but with a custom recovery.
- Download Kinology-step2-kinology-2.0.1.zip.
- If you skip to step 4, you will have the base Amazon OS with all Kinology features, but no Google Framework or Apps.
- Download Kinology-step3-google-20130425.zip.
- This step gives you the full Kinology Experience!
- Transfer all downloaded zip files to your Kindle's storage
- Reboot into TWRP Recovery
- Choose "Install"
- Select the first zip file you downloaded
- Choose "Add More Zips"
- Select each zip file you downloaded in order and repeat until all files are queued
- Swipe to Confirm Flash
- Choose "Reboot System"
As this is a deodexed custom ROM, the first boot will take extra time to complete while it regenerates the Dalvik cache.
Additionally, if you did a clean install, please reboot your Kindle the first time you get to the "Choose your language" screen. After a clean install, Kinology needs to do some configuration that can only happen during the second boot. If you did not reboot during setup, don't worry, nothing is permanently broken - just be aware that you may experience FCs or other oddities until you reboot.
MD5 Checksums
- Kinology-step0a-boot-7.3.0-twrp-2.4.4.0.zip - 9985CF40674D976B19B27FB9431EC55C
- Kinology-step0b-wipedata.zip - 83520190255803A4593B1FBF24DE99AA
- Kinology-step1a-amazonos-7.3.1.zip - BC994650E3ACECF6E70E095E257D8DCC
- Kinology-step1b-amazonos-7.3.1.zip - A277A4E953DAB5D0CF591AD16E532D15
- Kinology-step1c-amazonos-7.3.1.zip - 6179FAA72779D83B64B72DE7358D9267
- Kinology-step2-kinology-2.0.1.zip - 690077C2BCB08A0DCE72023AB618B5E1
- Kinology-step3-google-20130425.zip - 10B58F59468849D01032B7DBDFAE19E0
Advanced Configuration
There are a few behind-the-scenes boot-time options that can be configured through files located at /sdcard/Kinology.
OTA updates:
- The packages used for OTA updates can be enabled or disabled at boot time. Just rename the file to either "ota-disable" or "ota-enable" and reboot your Kindle. It is, of course, highly recommended to leave OTA disabled, as an Amazon-triggered updated would wipe out most, if not all, of Kinology from your device.
- By default, ADB uses the 'root' account, and then immediately drops to the 'shell' account. This custom ROM injects a version of adbd that does not drop to the shell account. To change this behavior, rename the file to either "adbd-root" or "adbd-shell" and reboot your Kindle.
- This behavior can be changed by renaming the file to either "za-enable" or "za-disable".
Screenshots
- See third post
Known Issues
- See second post
Change Log
- See second post
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