Jan 22

Written by:
1/22/2012 9:46 PM 

When I received my Amazon Kindle Fire for Christmas I immediately wanted to make programs for it. I am a Microsoft stack programmer and creating Android programs in Java using Eclipse is new to me.

The following are the steps I used to get my first Hello World! application running on my Amazon Kindle Fire.

Set Up

Install Java JDK: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

Install all the Android stuff on this page (including Eclipse and the ADT plug-in): http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html

I do recommend using a short directory name for the Android SDK. I tried putting it in Program Files and I was unable to get certain additional components installed until I moved it.

After the Android SDK installs the Android SDK Manager will pop up and ask to install the SDKs and drivers. As of 1/1/2012 the Kindle Fire only goes as high as Android 2.3.3 (API 10), so you want to install that, the tools, and the USB driver.

You have to hit the install button a few times to get everything selected installed.

The USB Driver

Trust me you want to debug on your Kindle Fire not an emulator (the emulator is very slow and buggy), so you will need to hook it up to your computer using a USB cable. Communicating with the device using Windows 7 is easy, but debugging using it requires the USB driver.

Follow the directions at this link to enable the USB driver:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/sdk/Connecting_your_Kindle_Fire_to_ADB.pdf

Note: if you cannot find the .ini file to edit, see; http://superuser.com/questions/364270/i-cant-find-adb-usb-ini

Enable Running Your Own Apps

On your Kindle Fire, open Settings them More.

Select the Device section then turn on Allow Installation of Applications.

Creating Hello World!

Go through the Hello World tutorial at:

http://developer.android.com/resources/tutorials/hello-world.html

You can skip the Create an AVD part because we will be using the Kindle Fire not a emulator to run our program.

Make sure you select Android 2.3.3 when you see the screen above.

After you have finished creating the code in the tutorial and you run the application…

Select Android Application when you see the screen above.

Your Hello World! (ok Hello, Android) is complete.

Links

Getting Started With Kindle Fire Development

Connecting your Kindle Fire to ADB