[ale] I Win, I Win!

[Charles Shapiro]

$40 Amazon Kindle Fire, rooted and running Nexus Android 5.1.1 ( kernel
version 3.10.54+).

Took me about half a day. Steps:

   * Downgrade Kindle OS from 5.3.2.0 to 5.3.1.0
          ( 5.3.2.0 is not rootable, the latest & greatest 5.3.2.1 is not
downgradable. 5.3.1.0 is vulnerable to KingRoot)
           Place device in recovery mode by holding down volume down key,
select side-load mode, use ADB to side-load older OS, reboot)
   *  Use RootJunky.com's excellent AmazonFire5thGenSuperTool (
http://www.rootjunky.com/amazon-fire-5th-gen-supertool/ ) to:
      *  Root phone with KingRoot
           Load KingRoot on phone with ADB, bang on it repeatedly until it
starts correctly and grants root permissions -- this was about 3 hours of
repeatedly running the program and rebooting until it 'caught'.  I read the
paper while restarting the program over and over.
       * Install SuperSU after rooting phone
        * Install Amazon Play Store
   * Use Amazon Play Store to install the latest version of FlashFire (the
one in the SuperTool is a couple of versions out of date)
   * Find the Nexus Amazon Fire ROM ( courtesy of ggow on XDA-Developers (
https://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/orig-development/rom-fire-nexus-rom-lmy49f-t3300714
)
   * Install the Nov 2016 version of this ROM with FlashFire (the newest
one appears corrupt). After adding a camera app, a gallery app, the Dolphin
browser, and the DuckDuckGo app, I currently have just over 5 gb of storage
free on an 8 gb device.

All this just to gain control of my Own Device.  Amazon's Android build as
shipped forces advertisements to the lock screen, locks you out of basic
functionality until you register with Amazon, and won't let you change the
home page on your browser. Of course, it also won't allow you to delete the
plethora of Amazon bloatware shipped with the device. It also will
auto-update to the latest (non-rootable, non-downgradeable) build when it
gains a network connection and thinks you're not looking.  You cannot
change this behavior unless you have already rooted the device.

OTOH, for $40 or so it is a right nice piece of hardware, once you have
wrested control from those who would exploit you. So it Goes.

-- CHS
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