[Fire TV General] roustabout:
I tried this when I got home - plugged in a powered hub, plugged in my harddrive, fed it power also, restarted the fire: it booted up just fine.

Connected the harddrive directly -> no boot, sitting at the white Amazon logo on black screen now.

Disconnected the harddrive - and it's still sitting there, which is nice. Now to do up an a to a connection and see if I can see anything. Unfortunately, I think there may only be a three second window to send something, from what I've read about breaking into the bootloader on other Android devices.

Interesting - with the computer connected via the a to a cable, the fire halts in its boot sequence but I never see it appear in the device manager.

So, here's what's loaded so far:

shell@android:/ $ pm list packages

pm list packages

package:android

package:com.adrise.profilms

package:com.amazon.acos.providers.UnifiedSettingsProvider

package:com.amazon.ags.app

package:com.amazon.android.settings

package:com.amazon.avod

package:com.amazon.bueller.csapp

package:com.amazon.bueller.notification

package:com.amazon.bueller.photos

package:com.amazon.bueller.settings

package:com.amazon.client.metrics

package:com.amazon.client.metrics.api

package:com.amazon.communication.discovery

package:com.amazon.dcp

package:com.amazon.dcp.contracts.framework.library

package:com.amazon.dcp.contracts.library

package:com.amazon.device.bluetoothdfu

package:com.amazon.device.controllermanager

package:com.amazon.device.crashmanager

package:com.amazon.device.gmo

package:com.amazon.device.ims

package:com.amazon.device.logmanager

package:com.amazon.device.lowstoragemanager

package:com.amazon.device.messaging

package:com.amazon.device.messaging.sdk.internal.library

package:com.amazon.device.messaging.sdk.library

package:com.amazon.device.settings

package:com.amazon.device.settings.sdk.internal.library

package:com.amazon.device.sync

package:com.amazon.device.sync.sdk.internal.library

package:com.amazon.devicecontrol

package:com.amazon.dp.logger

package:com.amazon.identity.auth.device.authorization

package:com.amazon.imp

package:com.amazon.kindle.cms

package:com.amazon.kindle.devicecontrols

package:com.amazon.kor.demo

package:com.amazon.metrics.api

package:com.amazon.parentalcontrols

package:com.amazon.providers.contentsupport

package:com.amazon.storm.lightning.services

package:com.amazon.tcomm

package:com.amazon.tcomm.client

package:com.amazon.tv.device

package:com.amazon.tv.ime

package:com.amazon.tv.launcher

package:com.amazon.tv.legal.notices

package:com.amazon.tv.oobe

package:com.amazon.tz.webcryptotzservice

package:com.amazon.unifiedshare.actionchooser

package:com.amazon.venezia

package:com.amazon.wcast

package:com.amazon.whisperlink.core.android

package:com.amazon.whisperplay.cds

package:com.amazon.whisperplay.contracts

package:com.anddoes.launcher

package:com.android.bluetooth

package:com.android.certinstaller

package:com.android.defcontainer

package:com.android.inputdevices

package:com.android.keychain

package:com.android.location.fused

package:com.android.packageinstaller

package:com.android.providers.applications

package:com.android.providers.downloads

package:com.android.providers.drm

package:com.android.providers.media

package:com.android.providers.settings

package:com.android.sharedstoragebackup

package:com.android.vending (launches but can't get to network)

package:com.cyberlink.filemanager.HPF130219_01 (just a file manager that was 'under my fingertips' and free)

package:com.google.android.apps.maps (basically non-op due to screen rotation issues)

package:com.google.android.configupdater

package:com.google.android.feedback

package:com.google.android.gm

package:com.google.android.gms

package:com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox (the search is interesting: run it, and you have the Amazon audio search come up instead of the app)

package:com.google.android.gsf

package:com.google.android.gsf.login

package:com.google.android.location

package:com.google.android.play.games

package:com.google.android.street

package:com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts

package:com.google.android.youtube (Operable except screen rotates at end of video)

package:com.google.earth (looks good; not operable with the Amazon remote, didn't try with the mouse)

package:com.kebab.Llama

package:com.qello.amazon

package:com.qualcomm.cabl

package:com.qualcomm.privinit

package:com.qualcomm.wfd.service

package:com.qualcomm.wifip2p.service

package:flipboard.app (works but annoying to use)

package:org.chromium.content_shell_apk

package:org.xbmc.xbmc

Looks as if I uninstalled gmail.