DX Screen Saver Hack Available!

[Scheherazade]

I posted this on the other thread but thought it also belonged here so...

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=494354#post494354

Time to flood the Photo Gallery with 824 x 1200 pictures

[Luvmy4brats]

Wow! That was fast! Excellent news!

[koolmnbv]

I'm glad DX owners don't have to settle for Dead authors anymore if they don't want to! Yay!

[legalbs2]

I posted this on the other thread but thought it also belonged here so...

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=494354#post494354

Time to flood the Photo Gallery with 824 x 1200 pictures

How do you get them exactly 824 x 1200?  I open them in Preview on my MacBook and chose the closest number.  Also, changed the jpgs to pngs and B&W.

How do I get to the Root Directory of the KDX?  I see the System folder but not the root directory.  Is that the directory before you enter the System folder?

[Ann in Arlington]

There are some DX screensavers in the Photo Gallery. . . . .

The root directory is just. . . .there. . . .just don't put it in a folder. . . . .

[legalbs2]

There are some DX screensavers in the Photo Gallery. . . . .

The root directory is just. . . .there. . . .just don't put it in a folder. . . . .

So, when I plug in the DX, I just go to the Photo Gallery folder?  I converted color bookcovers to screensavers in B&W close to the 824 x 1200 size.

[Ann in Arlington]

No. . . . .the Photo Gallery is here on KindleBoards. . .has some screensavers formatted for the DX screen.  I don't know how to convert existing pictures, but you might see who's posted ones and ask them. . .

[legalbs2]

No. . . . .the Photo Gallery is here on KindleBoards. . .has some screensavers formatted for the DX screen.  I don't know how to convert existing pictures, but you might see who's posted ones and ask them. . .

Thanks, Ann.  I just add my book covers as screen savers and they worked fine except, the wrong size.  All seem to be over in the upper left corner.  I adjusted all the screen savers to  824 x 1200 and most worked great.  I also edited them quite a lot to allow them to show up clearly.  A neat hack.  Thanks.

[mlewis78]

Could someone direct me to a thread that has screensavers sized for Kindle DX (824 x 1200) or instruct me in how to change the size of one on my computer?  I tried to find a way to change the size on some of the screensavers that I saved to a folder, but I don't see a way to do this.

I searched "photo gallery" but I don't see one for KDX-size screensavers.

Thanks.

[mlewis78]

I just edited the photo and changed the dimensions (under image, attributes) to 824 x 1200, but the picture came out smaller (it had been 600 x 800) instead of larger.  Must have left something out.  The size of the file is 115 kb, but I don't know if that is relevant.

[legalbs2]

I just edited the photo and changed the dimensions (under image, attributes) to 824 x 1200, but the picture came out smaller (it had been 600 x 800) instead of larger.  Must have left something out.  The size of the file is 115 kb, but I don't know if that is relevant.

Make sure the pixels are set at 824 x 1200 and the file extension is .png.  Scale proportionally and resample image should also be among the settings.  I use a MacBook, but I think you can change the settings on a Microsoft computer too.

[mlewis78]

It's a JPEG image.  I just don't understand why, after I change it from 600 x 800 to 824 x 1200 that it becomes smaller.  I haven't added it to my KDX, though.  I use a laptop pc.

[kevindorsey]

That looks good, thumbs up.

[iAmBeer]

It's a JPEG image.  I just don't understand why, after I change it from 600 x 800 to 824 x 1200 that it becomes smaller.  I haven't added it to my KDX, though.  I use a laptop pc.

you cannot change the image size form its properties. That value just tells you an information not the actual size of the image.
You have to re-size it by using program like adobe photoshop but your image quality will be degraded

[mlewis78]

I used a photo-editing software that came up, but it's not photo shop.  It had a place to change the dimensions, but it just got smaller.

If it would degrade the photo quality, perhaps I should just find some 824 x 1200 images.  I did a search on KB but they must be buried.  It would be nice if there were a separate thread for KDX-size screensavers.

Would someone direct me to the thread that has some images for KDX?

[911jason]

Don't know if you like Disney images, but here's one with a couple Lion King drawings...

[mlewis78]

Thanks, Jason.  A good one to start with.

[Scheherazade]

I'm not sure where the other thread is and am not sure about the photoshop problem.  I would offer to help but am sans photoshop while transitioning from my broken harddrive to a Windows 7 system later this month.  But you can do an advanced google image search.  It allows you to plug in the size of the photo then just find the ones you like and convert them to black and white or just load them the way they are and you're set.  No muss or fuss with changing the sizes and hoping the quality holds through the conversion.

[mlewis78]

Thanks for the idea, Sheherazade.

[Scheherazade]

Heh, since you already replied I'll make my edit a new post...

The smaller image thing might have just been Photoshop making it fit your screen.  Next time that happens, look at your magnification level and make sure it didn't zoom out on you or just click your magnifying glass and select "Actual Size".  A lot of times Photoshop will make the image fit your screen so when making a smaller image that is already taking up most of your screen into a larger one, it will look smaller due to it zooming out... if that makes sense.  Sorry, it's 4am and I'm rambling.

[mlewis78]

I don't have photoshop.  I have what came with my HP printer and Nero.

[Scheherazade]

Aha, not sure what's happening with that then. ><

[srmalloy]

I used a photo-editing software that came up, but it's not photo shop.  It had a place to change the dimensions, but it just got smaller.

Most image-editing software opens the image in a subwindow inside the application window, and defaults to scaling the image so that it will fit in the 'workspace' area of the application window. If the image is too big to fit in that space, it will be displayed scaled down to fit. For example:



This shows a Photoshop screen with an image open; in the window bar for the subwindow holding the image, you can see "test.psd @ 100%"; that means that you're seeing it at full size. If you resized it two twice its dimensions, in order to continue to display the whole image Photoshop would scale the display, and you'd see something like "test.psd @ 50%". If you change the zoom, you can zoom in and out to get variously-scaled presentations of the image, but that doesn't change the image size. Other image-editing applications use different conventions for showing how the image is scaled for display (Paint Shop Pro uses [1:1], [1:2], [2:1], etc.).

If it would degrade the photo quality, perhaps I should just find some 824 x 1200 images.  I did a search on KB but they must be buried.  It would be nice if there were a separate thread for KDX-size screensavers.

Any time you scale an image up you lose some image quality, depending on the degree of scaling. Working with an image that's already been formatted for a Kindle (i.e., reduced to 16 shades of grey) will make it more apparent. Your best bet is to find an original image that you like, perform whatever combination of scaling and cropping you need to get an 824x1200 image, then convert it to greyscale, then either reduce it to 16 colors or load a Kindle palette (which does the same thing) using error diffusion to prevent the 'banding' effect that can make pictures look ugly when reduced to 16 colors, and save it as a PNG file.

[iAmBeer]

for those who doesn't have photo shop you can try to use this website http://aviary.com/ to
edit your picture online.

[mlewis78]

I'm finally getting around now to installing the DX screensaver hack, but I have a problem.  I looked in here:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=494354#post494354

which has these instructions:

1) Plug your Kindle DX into your computer.
2) Copy "update_DX_screensaverhack-install.bin" to the root of your Kindle DX.
3) Optional Steps:
  3a) Change directories to the "system" folder.
  3b) Create a new folder called "screen_saver"
  3c) Place any 824x1200 PNG image files into the system\screen_saver folder
      that you just created.
6) Unplug your Kindle DX.
7) Press the "Menu" button on your Kindle DX and select "Settings."
At the Settings page press "Menu" again and select "Update Your Kindle."
9) When the "update" is done your Kindle DX will reboot and you are done.

If you choose not to do step 3, the system will create the system\screen_saver
folder for you and place the default screen savers in it.  You can then remove
or replace these, or mix them with your own -- it's up to you.

After I copied "update_DX_screensaverhack-install.bin" in Step 2, I couldn't paste anything into the root DX directory. The paste option wasn't there and when I tried CTRL V nothing happened.  I did follow all the other steps, but of course my screensavers don't show because the hack isn't in my root directory.

Could someone advise me as to why I can't paste in the Kindle drive directory?

Thanks.