Someone connected a Raspberry Pi 4B to an old, unsupported Kindle, and now it’s an e-ink board

In May, Amazon officially cut support for its older Kindle models, preventing them from using the official store. While some people have found new uses for them, one person had the brilliant idea of ​​plugging a Raspberry Pi 4 into it. The result is an e-ink control panel that repurposes perfectly good Kindle technology.

The Kindle Carousel gives new life to your old device with a Pi

Don’t throw away that old e-reader just yet

Beyond the Raspberry Pi subreddituser Qadzek gave us a look at the Kindle Carousel. This turns a 2011 Kindle into an interactive e-ink pad that you can play with to your heart’s content. To ensure everything runs smoothly, Qadzek used a Raspberry Pi 4B to enhance its capabilities:

The Raspberry Pi runs two parts: a web server that hosts the web applications (news, weather, calendar, anything you create) and a Node.js tool that takes screenshots, since this Kindle is too weak to run a browser. On the Kindle side, a Python application downloads the screenshots on a schedule and displays them.

When you want to switch apps or navigate between pages, you can use the Kindle’s physical buttons to move. It basically turns your Kindle into a big e-ink display for your projects, which is a lot more fun than letting your device collect dust in a drawer somewhere.

You can see how to make your own in the Kindle Carousel GitHub Page. However, you need quite a bit of setup to get this project off the ground. Obviously, a Kindle is required, but it must also be jailbroken. You will then need your Raspberry Pi to run as a server, but you can also use a Virtual Private Server (VPS) in the cloud if you wish. So, you need a stable Wi-Fi connection to your Kindle’s location. If you can check all those boxes, then the Kindle Carousel can give your Kindle a new life.