UPDATED for 2.3 ~ K2 Screensaver Hack Instructions as easy as I can get them...

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

I have modified these instructions to include the 2.3 Kindle software update.  I left the old link here in case someone needs the uninstall file to do the 2.3 update.  Under that, you will find the link to get the NEW hack file.  It is my experience that the step by step is the same, but the old hack won't work with 2.3 update.    

Here is the new hack link for 2.3 Kindle Hacks page When you get this hack file unzipped, be sure that you are using the correct file for your Kindle.  There is one file for K2, one file for K2i, and one file for DX. As well as uninstall files for K2, K2i and DX.  There is also a readme with instructions.

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I had people email me asking for help with the screensaver hack.  I do know that not everyone knows computer language, so I have attempted to make these instructions as easy as I can.  

Don't read through and let it overwhelm you.  Just go step by step.  It really is easy!

First, what operating system do you use?  (Windows XP?  Windows Vista?  Mac/Apple?)  This is important because before you start, you HAVE to make sure that you are able to view your "hidden" files and folders.  I use Windows XP and the way to make sure that I can view hidden stuff is this:

Start

Control Panel

Folder Options

Click "View" tab (at top)

Scroll down the list: where is says "Hidden Files and Folders"     make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is selected"

Scroll down a bit more and UNcheck the one that says "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"

Click OK

This makes sure that you can SEE the folder you need for your screensaver hack.  Unless you restore your computer, you only need to do this step once.

OK, now close out of all that and go on the internet to this address:  

• (OLD HACK) http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=400528&postcount=150   ***This will not work with 2.3 Update!  I am leaving it here because you will find the uninstall file here: the "kindle2 screen saver hack-0.4.zip" download.  In this zip you will find the uninstall file for versions prior to 2.3 Here you will find the uninstall file for any version prior to 2.3
• (NEW HACK) Here is the link to find the hack for version 2.3: Kindle Hacks page  Choose Screensaver hack. Once you unzip, BE SURE TO CHOOSE CORRECT FILE to continue on with these instrucitons. There are 6 files and a readme.  K2, K2i and DX install files, K2, K2i and DX UNinstall files.  

I download this to my desktop for easy finding.

Open the download when done.

On Windows XP, you have to unzip it and extract the files.

Find the file for your Kindle (K2, K2i or DX .bin file) and right click then select copy.

Now, onto business!!!

Hook up Kindle to computer via USB cable.

In My Computer, double click on your kindle to open it.  After opening Kindle, right click and paste your Kindle version .bin file here.  This is the "root file" (Don’t create any folders or put it in an of the folders. The root file is the one that contains the documents, music, and Audible folders)

Unhook Kindle from computer

On Kindle go to home>menu>settings>menu>Update your Kindle and wait for update to complete.  (It takes a minute)

Hook Kindle up to computer via USB cable again.

Open Kindle from My Computer again

Double click the system folder (this is the one that may have been hidden had we not done the first few steps)

Open screen_saver folder

Here are the original screensavers that Kindle comes with!  Add or delete images to/from this folder (yes, go ahead and delete Oscar..please)  Save any of the original screensavers you want and delete the others.  Then, get all those beautiful screensavers you got here at Kindleboards and move them to this same folder.

Unhook Kindle from computer

Now on Kindle go to home>menu>settings>menu>restart

After this is done, try your slider switch.....your screensavers SHOULD be there!!

Yeaness!!!

[Tana928]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

Did it work ok for you, I assume? 

[Tana928]

Yes it worked and I am soooooooooo not computer savy   

[Susie Cube]

Your directions are awesome for the screen saver hack! 

Hmmm - do you happen to have straight forward directions for the font hack?  TIA

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

I can make one!!

**edit....just did!  The thread is titled K2 Font Hack Instructions as Easy as I can get them....

[kimmysue]

IMHO, both of these should be stickied!  THANK YOU!

Kim

[Ann in Arlington]

What I have done is added links to this thread in a new post in the sticky FAQ K2 thread in this forum.  That will keep the thread easy to find. . .without adding more stuff to the top of the board.  If there are too many stickies, folks with small screens have to do a lot of scrolling to find the 'come and go' discussion threads!  This way, the link in the FAQ will always point here, even if it's several pages down.

[RichG]

KK,
I like your bookworm.
Just got my K2 yesterday

[beckymiller75]

Awesome! 

Worked for me, no problems.

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

KK,
I like your bookworm.
Just got my K2 yesterday

thanks!  Hope you adore your Kindle!!

Awesome! 

Worked for me, no problems.

Yay!!  Glad it worked for ya...

[kimmysue]

Ann,

that's even better.    Thanks!

Kim

[joanne29]

I have tried this hack so many times and it dose not work for me even with these wonderful directions. I keep seeing the old screensavers, and framework.mario.con.new and framework.mario.con.orig in the root directory after I attempt this. Any ideas?

[Dureo]

Hi everyone,

I have the same problem as Joanne, I follow the instructions up till the opening of the system folder, and then nothing, there is no system folder, and it is definitely NOT hidden, I have just the 3 folders, and the 2 Framework files.

Anyone know what I need to do to get past this part?

Dureo

[srmalloy]

Hi everyone,

I have the same problem as Joanne, I follow the instructions up till the opening of the system folder, and then nothing, there is no system folder, and it is definitely NOT hidden, I have just the 3 folders, and the 2 Framework files.

Anyone know what I need to do to get past this part?

If you're using Windows, you've probably got the system directory hidden even though you think you told Windows to show it. However, you don't need to see it to go to where you need to go. For the instructions, I'm going to assume that your Kindle shows up as E:\ in Windows Explorer; if it shows up as a different drive letter, use that one.

Open a Windows Explorer window -- moving the mouse down to the taskbar, right-clicking on the Start button, and selecting 'Explore' is one way. When the window opens, click on the path in the textbox to the right of 'Address' at the top of the window; this will highlight the whole path. Type (without the quotes) "E:\system\screen_saver" and press ENTER. This will take you directly to the screensaver directory that installing the screensaver hack created.

Now you can delete the stock screensaver images that were copied here by the hack and copy over the screensaver image(s) you want your Kindle to use.

Before you disconnect or restart your Kindle, though, to make it easier next time, go up to the icon bar and click on the 'Up' icon (looks like a folder with a green arrow pointing up from it). This will take you to the 'system' directory, and you'll see a little folder icon for the 'screen_saver' directory. Right-click on this icon and drag it out onto your desktop; when you release the mouse button you'll get a little pop-up menu; select 'Create Shortcut here'. Once the shortcut has been created, name it whatever you like. Once you have done this, you'll have a shortcut you can click on whenever you have your Kindle plugged into your computer that will open an explorer window already pointed to the screen_saver directory so you can make changes.

[amyrebecca]

I did it! No problems at all. Thanks for the great instructions! The scary authors were freaking me out!

[melissaj323]

what if you have a MAC? how do you find out about the hidden files.....hmm, guess I will do a search on my computer. thanks for the instructions!!

[MrTsMom]

Y'all make me feel so techno-geeky! I've hacked the font and the screensavers now! Oh, yeah.  All those geeky kids (mine) can't hold a candle to me. Let's see...what's next...hack my iphone to tether it to my computer? Take over the world??? <<insert evil laugh!>>

[MrTsMom]

what if you have a MAC? how do you find out about the hidden files.....hmm, guess I will do a search on my computer. thanks for the instructions!!

I just did it for my mac! Just download the hack, then find it in your documents file (at least that's where I saved mine). when you click on the big file, 4 or show smaller files should show up in the next column. Right click on the last one (update something or other) and copy it. Then, plug in your Kindle and past this file in the first column. Update your Kindle. Plug it in again. You should see a system folder in the first column. Click on this and you should see a screen saver file in the second column. When you click on this, all the screen savers should show up in the third column. Delete whatever you want.

Now (and here's the part I had a little bit of trouble with). Find the screen savers you want. Right click on each one of them. Choose "save image as" option. I chose to rename all of them "ksaver1" "ksaver2" to make them easier to find in my documents folder. Copy these images from your documents folder and paste them in the screen saver column for your Kindle. Eject the Kindle and restart.  Your new screen savers should be there, and the teens in your house will think you've done something amazing!

[brenjmull]

I am all set to do this but where do I get some new screensavers? I have not seen any or how do I create my own? thanks

[Ann in Arlington]

Go to the Kindleboards Photo Gallery down below.  Many choices on many themes.  I believe you can just copy the images to your hard drive and them move them to your Kindle. . . but don't quote me as I've never done it. . . . .but, clearly, the folks who have made the images can guide you!  

[DailyLunatic]

I've heard that some hacks cause problems for updates.  Is this true?

If so, is there any way to go back?  I just want to make sure that if this hack becomes a problem to future updates I can put it back to the way it was.

Sterling
92.5% Pure

[srmalloy]

Now (and here's the part I had a little bit of trouble with). Find the screen savers you want. Right click on each one of them. Choose "save image as" option. I chose to rename all of them "ksaver1" "ksaver2" to make them easier to find in my documents folder. Copy these images from your documents folder and paste them in the screen saver column for your Kindle. Eject the Kindle and restart.  Your new screen savers should be there, and the teens in your house will think you've done something amazing!

What I've done as an organizing tool is to create a directory where I put all the images that I've processed for use as a screensaver (as an aside, it's a pity that I've found that most astronomical images of nebulae do not render well on the Kindle 2; converting to greyscale and reducing to 16 gray levels wipes out most of the detail in, say, Hubble images; there are a few exceptions, like the Orion Nebula, but they're rare). I created a second directory to hold the 'screensaver set', and copy images from the 'Kindle Screens' directory into the 'Screensaver Set' directory, then prepend a sequence number (001_, 002_, etc.) to the filename so that they'll come up in the order I want in the screensaver rotation. By using 'View Thumbnails' in Explorer, this lets me see what I have as the current set of screensavers, and can fiddle with it by dragging images out of the full library of pre-configured images.

[SenoraG]

Thank you so much for instructions that even I can follow!  I appreciate you taking the time to do them!

[BethA]

does this cause any problems at all for the K2? I would love to get mew screensavers--does it remove all those that are there now?