Two (yes that's two) IF clients for the Kindle (z-code only so far)
TazFromOz
by and share the love. Not meaning to steal Textfyre's thunder - what
they're doing is great and I bought their game in the hope that more
money = sooner they get a Kindle port. They've got the KDK so will
probably be the ones who get an official port.
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That said it is possible to play IF on your Kindle already thanks to
this guy:
http://adq.livejournal.com
I'm afraid it requires a Kindle hack - something that worried me a bit
- but I *really* wanted to play IF on my Kindle. Andrew's
instructions:
http://adq.livejournal.com/108011.html
Are pretty easy to follow. I'd skip his jailbreak hack though, as
it's a little out of date and use this one:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122519
Then install the keys, and KIF (Kindle IF) as per Andrew's
instructions.
Before hacking your Kindle I recommend having a look around the
mobilereads forums and seeing what's possible, if you think it's worth
it, etc:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=150
Many have hacked their Kindle just because of the creepy screen
savers. Others have installed dozens of hacks - it all depends on
what functionality you need/want.
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Disclaimer!!!
Hacking your Kindle will void your warranty. So far it doesn't seem
to have caused any problems with Amazon, but that's not to say it
won't in the future, as they are now aware of the hacking community.
Hacks have occasionally bricked or broken Kindles. I haven't heard of
anyone doing it with the basic hacks, just the more advanced ones that
involve using terminals and usb networking, but - fair warning - the
risk is there. At your own risk, yadayadayada!
Make sure you install the correct hacks for your Kindle. ie I have a
Kindle 3 wifi, so I install updates that end with k3w_install.bin.
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That said I *will* include a link to the second IF client for Kindle
(a dumbfrotz port):
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126768
But I wouldn't recommend playing around with terminal unless you're
linux / hack savy.
David C
Seriously though. I've tried to contact ADQ about Kif and he never replied. He tidied up the licensing to reuse, but has since moved on and I doubt cares at all about the source. As a hack it's great though. Getting the z-machine onto the Kindle legitimately is the key as well as glulx (much harder due to performance issues).
David C
www.textfyre.com
TazFromOz
lol - looking forward to the fyrestorm david.
I'm not a coder myself, but have become a bit of a groupie of the
mobilereads development forums over the last couple of weeks, and
Kindle Coding / Porting seems quite tricky. Hope it's going well -
are you guys working with zarf at all? I think he's re-writing the
gluxe engine as we speak - though not porting it, he's probably
looking at the code with that in mind. It's a real pity that kindle
programs can't get down deeper and run on the linux framework =(.
ADQ can occasionally be seen on the mobilereads forums (so it's worth
checking out (the link's above) - ADQ is his user name, so maybe
contact him that way? ADQ's version is an unofficial kindlet, as
opposed to a hack - it just requires a hack (ie because he doesn't
have access to official dev keys).