[Q] Going to root wife's nook, what do you suggest? - Nook Color General

So we just bought a nook color and she is still new to it. Obviously, she reads lots of books and I... well, want to make this into a tab and play w/ it. She might want to do web browsing and install some games/apps, but primarily will be used as an e-reader.
What rom (if any) do you suggest I flash? Or will I be better off just rooting the device and leaving it as is (w/ market)? She has no patience for developmental stuff so looking for something stable but also something I can play with

stevedawg85 said:
So we just bought a nook color and she is still new to it. Obviously, she reads lots of books and I... well, want to make this into a tab and play w/ it. She might want to do web browsing and install some games/apps, but primarily will be used as an e-reader.
What rom (if any) do you suggest I flash? Or will I be better off just rooting the device and leaving it as is (w/ market)? She has no patience for developmental stuff so looking for something stable but also something I can play with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root the Stock and leave it. its the most stable rom.

Make your own SD card, running Nookie Froyo or CyanogenMod. When you take the card out and reboot, her machine is completely back to normal, or so I'm told. You both get to have what you want.

I can run CM from SD card w/o rooting the device!? if so... sweet, I saw sum tuts but still educating myself. Rooting and leaving stock is also a good idea, however I heard B&N is able to update your device thus losing root... Is this true?

For her, it sounds like just rooting would be the best option, since it has the market, all of the B&N features, and is stable. As mentioned above, running a ROM from the sd card is a good option for you. After rooting it, you could format the sd card used to root, and then load a ROM such as CM7, Froyo, or Honeycomb from the SD card to play with.
This way, she has her mostly stock setup, and you have your tablet setup that you can load by just popping in the sd card and rebooting. When you're done playing with it, power down, pop the sd card out, reboot, and it's back to her setup.
If you do decide to run a ROM from the sd card, make sure to get at least a class 4 (sandisk class 4 4GB works well for me). Then, if you find something that would work for both of you, you could look at flashing to internal EMMC for better speed/performance. Another option is dual-booting between ROMs, which you can find more about in the development section.

stevedawg85 said:
I can run CM from SD card w/o rooting the device!? if so... sweet, I saw sum tuts but still educating myself. Rooting and leaving stock is also a good idea, however I heard B&N is able to update your device thus losing root... Is this true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a thread in the dev section on how to block the updates. Here's a link to the sd card version of CM7 you asked about. You don't have to root first, but you can.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637
Sent from my X to the interwebs

As suggested I'd root the stock software for the wife, and when you want to play choose a ROM that can run from the sdcard and you will be good to go.
Currently I run 4 different setups. Stock rooted on internal mem. Then I setup 3 different sdcards to mess around with Honeycomb, CM7, and Froyo from time to time.

C Dippa said:
There is a thread in the dev section on how to block the updates. Here's a link to the sd card version of CM7 you asked about. You don't have to root first, but you can.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637
Sent from my X to the interwebs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not have to root it first. All you have to do is create a live SDcard with Clockwork ROM manager put the SDCard in and boot it up holding the n and the power button in > wipe > flash CM7.
With this device reading off the SD first you do not have "antonoot" first.
I've ran CM7, Honeycomb and a few others. My personal choice is stock rooted device is perfect.

stevedawg85 said:
I can run CM from SD card w/o rooting the device!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know! I couldn't believe it was that easy either. I'm going to add a notice to my signature. This kind of great capability should be right in people's faces..

Nookiefroyo runs great off an SD card for me.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Thanks for everyone's input...
She gonna be using it 75% of the time, so I decided to root and leave it as is. Everything works good. I tried to do nookie froyo off SD card but had too much trouble w/ adb, i'll save it for another week. But for now, stock root works good. Got Zeam and Home switcher to help both of us out

I wanted to point out the only downside of rooted stock is that she cannot use in the in-store B&N features! If she plans on using that (i've heard they have not only the hour of reading free, but also sometimes offer deals and events) then you might wanna not be rooted and use the SD card. I know this is a little late to tell you as you already did it, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.

stevedawg85 said:
Thanks for everyone's input...
She gonna be using it 75% of the time, so I decided to root and leave it as is. Everything works good. I tried to do nookie froyo off SD card but had too much trouble w/ adb, i'll save it for another week. But for now, stock root works good. Got Zeam and Home switcher to help both of us out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll throw this in for whenever you feel like creating a bootable SD CARD to play with. I've found that higher class sd cards make a much bigger difference in how fast/well the rom operates than you might think.

Related

The Ultimate Noob Guide-Need Help Please

Hi guys,
I recently bought a Nook Color and i want to root it. I am hearing things about Autonooter and putting an image on my micro SD card. Personally i just want the best option to root my Nook, i want to overclock it aswell .
Really sorry if someone has already posted a thread like this, i tried searching for one.
I havent opened my Nook Color yet so guessing the software would be 1.0.0 so how would i root it to 1.1.1 and also stop OTA and install a overclocking software.
Thanks, XDA is amazing, recently rooted my Notion Ink Adam
I too would be interested in such a thing. There is information all over the place, but most seems to be geared toward people that understand the "lingo" and such...
I agree
reading MD5 hash
I'm pretty new to this- I have my NK running 1.0.1 using autonooter and want to update to 1.1. I think I've got a grip on using ClockworkMod, but in the instructions for downloading the 1.1 kernel, it says to "check the MD5 hash"- how do I get this info from the downloaded ZIP file? I don't want to even try and do the update without making sure the download is not corrupt.
Thanks!
rcsrich said:
I'm pretty new to this- I have my NK running 1.0.1 using autonooter and want to update to 1.1. I think I've got a grip on using ClockworkMod, but in the instructions for downloading the 1.1 kernel, it says to "check the MD5 hash"- how do I get this info from the downloaded ZIP file? I don't want to even try and do the update without making sure the download is not corrupt.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/check-md5sum-in-windows-7/
I have to say though, to the OP, that reading through all the guides (and some comments) in the dev forums would be the best because you'll learn all the ins n outs. Having a noob guide is fine but it's fun searching for the info yourself and you'll learn/remember a lot more about your device. having a noob guide that is not comprehensive enough just promotes needless questions when the info is all over the place elsewhere.
Thanks for the link superkevx! Additionally, is there any way to do the check on the Nook itself? I downloaded it using the stock browser & can pull the SD card and check it on my 'puter, but it would be nice to be able to just do it locally.
I agree with you comment about the noob guide- I've learned so much trolling the dev forums...
i do try to find everything its just some things i dont get:
like clockworkmod, i think its to do with disabling OTA but im not sure
which is better,autonooter or installing on SD
,if you could answer these questions i would be really grateful thanks
From one noob to another...
Patrikc8 said:
i do try to find everything its just some things i dont get:
like clockworkmod, i think its to do with disabling OTA but im not sure
which is better,autonooter or installing on SD
,if you could answer these questions i would be really grateful thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Patrikc8- from my experience (have ROM Manager & Clockworkmod installed in prep for 1.1 update), Clockwork mod is used for making system backups and doing system restores (including installs of custom ROM's)
As far as the SD vs autonooter- installing to the SD means that you typically don't touch the original system files on the Nook itself- good for trying out a ROM that you are interested in but not sure you want to keep. There may be a performance hit though because you're constantly reading from the potentially slower SD media (correct me if I'm wrong on that anybody). I used autonooter to root my Nook and it has worked great since- it is apparently a very easy way to root and I had no trouble doing it.
Aha!
rcsrich said:
Thanks for the link superkevx! Additionally, is there any way to do the check on the Nook itself? I downloaded it using the stock browser & can pull the SD card and check it on my 'puter, but it would be nice to be able to just do it locally.
I agree with you comment about the noob guide- I've learned so much trolling the dev forums...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For what it's worth- did a little investigating & you can use Astro file manager to get the MD5sum- just do a long touch to the file in question and choose "Details".
SHould i use auto nooter 1.0.1 or the nook color v1.1.1 ROM?
and im guessing you have to root it first then install a rom then install a kernal?
would there be a big difference in 1.1.1 and 1.0.1 ?
I bought my Nook Color a couple of weeks ago. It was on 1.0.0. The first thing I did was update to 1.0.1. I then downloaded the Autonooter for 1.0.1 on my pc. I also installed Win32DiskImage.exe on my pc, and followed the directions to burn the image to my sd card. I followed the instructions exactly as they are laid out on nookdevs. I then reformatted my sd card back to normal to use for storage in my device.
One thing that happens when you run autonooter is that clockwork recovery is installed. This is simply a tool that will allow you to perform functions at a lower level than the android interface will allow. It my look a little intimidating at first, but go slow, and make sure you are absolutely sure that anything you do in CWR matches what it is listed in the instructions posted. Every action requires a confirmation, so, again, go slow and think it through.
A few days later, the 1.1.1 update came out. I used the updated Rom and instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=932145
Something that I found confusing is using alternate home screens. I finally determined that Zeam was the right choice for me. It is free in the market. The other tool you should download from the market is called Home Switcher. It will let you switch between different launchers (e.g. Zeam, BN stock home, etc.). Again, you will probably have to experiment a bit to get things working the way you like.
Lastly, to improve the performance overall, I flashed a few different kernels. You may want to play with your nook for a while to get comfortable first. When you choose to flash a kernel, you will boot into recovery (this brings up the Clockwork Recovery program), and pick the zip file that you download to your sd card. My recommendation is to start with the 900mHz kernel first. Make sure your nc is stable, then try some of the faster ones.
As far as MD5s, I have not ever checked after downloading, and have not had any problems as a result. It is something I need to investigate further and start doing.
Hope this helps. I do agree with superkevx above. Browse and search and experiment. It is very unlikely that you will do any permanent damage to your nook, although it is possible. Everyone needs to have at least one bricked device along the way. I have learned more by rendering my devices inoperable and then figuring out how to get them back again. You know you're doing it right if your palms are a little sweaty as you wait for your device to reboot.
you guys have been great , thank you

[Q] Booting to stock ROM on MicroSD card

I have CM7 running on my NC, but I find that I'd like to read the magazines that I subscribed to (dumbly, without noting that I'd be unable to read them after the transition). One possible solution would be to use an old MicroSD card as a boot point for the stock ROM. Is that possible? Can I put the stock software on an SD card in such a way that it will boot and save state when it's inserted, but will otherwise boot to CM7? I've looked for this... I've seen similar scenarios, but not quite this one. Many thanks in advance, whatever the answer ends up being.
Does the Nook App not work for your magazines?
No, sadly, it doesn't. From everything I can find, only the Nook Color can read them, not the other forms of software such as iOS, Android and PC.
Just do the dual boot option. I have cm7 on partition 1 and stock rooted on partition 2.
Hmmm.... good thought. One question, though... what method do you use to update the CM image? Thanks for the replies... I'm glad there are people that know all the options.

Request: Stock SD

Is there a Dev out there that would be willing to check into the possibility of making a copy of the Stock B&N ROM available from SD partition OR figuring out a way to dual-boot to both stock and CM7 without having to run CM7 from the SD? I hate running CM7 from the SD it's fairly fast considering but still makes me want to pull my hair out at times. But I, like many others, cannot be without Stock Rom on my Nook(my daughter loves the interactive NC books like Dr. Suess and some of my books don't seem to work on the Nook App for Android which BTW is buggy as hell on CM7). If there is a way to run both from internal flash or just run Stock from SD card that would be amazing! I wouldn't care if it were a little buggy as much as I do with CM7 since I only use it to read books. But I asked on these forums and was told that there is no way to have both CM and Stock on your nook without running CM7 from the slot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1061523
Thanks so much Mr Frosty! I searched but I guess I chose my words poorly, cuz I didn't find that. Then someone else said it couldn't be done. Anyway you are the man!
no probs

[Q] Nook Root

Hello,
I have read and watched and searched different ways on rooting the nook and they all either don't seem to work or are confusing. Can someone point me in the direction of complete step by step instructions for rooting my nook on a micro SD card. I feel dumb while trying to do this because its my first ever root even though I have assembled computers. Its the software that makes me nervous. Thanks for any advice.
I totally understand how you might be hesitant to jump in. I came here a few months ago from a windows phone and had no clue about Android devices. Get yourself a Sandisk card (4 or 8gb ought to do the trick). I went with a cheaper card at first and was very disappointed with the way it worked.
Follow the directions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957
and you should be fine. good luck!
It may be a little daunting at first (I'm a new NC owner myself). But just keep in mind, the NC is setup to boot off the SD Card first. So you essentially always have a recovery method there. Also, if you don't flash CWM (Clockwork Mod) to be your recovery, you can always use some methods to restore the device ( 8 failed boots for example). The methods are listed on the forums quite a few times. But, basically... android is just another flavor of *nix. Though it does have its own intricacies.
As long as you backup your current setup through CWM's backup operation (AKA: nandroid). You can do pretty much anything and just do a restore to get back to where you started. It's almost like ghosting a computer... It just doesn't redo your partitions.
Get yourself a copy of CWM Here's the most recent 1gb image. This basically gives you a bootable SD Card that can backup/restore the internal memory, format it, and flash images.
You can get the latest cyanogemod rom's nightlies here. You also need Google Apps if you're going to flash the new rom though.
And here's a guide to revert to stock.
Personally, I wouldn't bother with the SD Card system... I would just root the internal rom and flash back if you don't like it.... or flash a different rom, like CM7, if you want the nook to be more of a tablet than an e-reader... just keep in mind... it wasn't meant to be a tablet...
Hopefully this helped.
Ya just wanted to chime in. Its pretty hard to mess up on the process of rooting and if you do there's ton of threads to help you out along the way! Even the NC wasn't meant to be a true android tablet it does the job well and well worth the money. Maybe ill go better later down the road, but after what I paid for this NC brand new on CL I SOOOOO happy!
Sent from my NookColor using xda premium

Best option for NC 1.4.3 unrooted

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before, but I searched and couldn't find anything.
I never rooted my Nook Color (firmware 1.4.3) because I like the simplicity of it and I only really wanted to read books on it.
However now I wanted to install other readers so that I could read other formats without having to convert to epub or pdf.
I tried downgrading to 1.2.0 but it still doesn't let me install other apps.
What would be my best option?
Is there any way to do this without rooting?
I'm not afraid of tweaking, I just prefer the stock firmware to use as an ebook reader.
Best regards,
Rita
Best Option According to me
Rita,
Sincerely the best option for you right now is to run CyanogenMod 7 off an SD Card, a port of Android 2.3 for your device. I have a Nook Color too. I used to love stock but the lack of functionality made me install CM7. There are many easy to follow guides available on the internet. If you would like I can tell you how to install CM7 on an SD Card. That way you can enjoy both stock and CM7. Cheers!
ritibelle said:
I apologize in advance if this has been asked before, but I searched and couldn't find anything.
I never rooted my Nook Color (firmware 1.4.3) because I like the simplicity of it and I only really wanted to read books on it.
However now I wanted to install other readers so that I could read other formats without having to convert to epub or pdf.
I tried downgrading to 1.2.0 but it still doesn't let me install other apps.
What would be my best option?
Is there any way to do this without rooting?
I'm not afraid of tweaking, I just prefer the stock firmware to use as an ebook reader.
Best regards,
Rita
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do what the prior user recommended (CM7 on SD) and also go back to the latest stock software on internal memory and root it. Then you can decide which you want to use. If you look in my tips thread linked in my signature you will see how to flash the lastest unrooted stock software with CWM recovery. Look at my item A12. Then you can root it with Manual Nooter 5.08.20. You can add other apps with unrooted stock but only from the B&N app store. If you want more apps than that, you must root.
@satya-1998: I've already tried installing CM7 on a sd card and I liked it, just not for reading. As an ebook reader I really enjoy the simplicity of the stock firmware.
@leapinlar: I've already put the latest firmware on the nook (1.4.3) and I think rooting will be my best option. Will rooting and using manual nooter 5.8.20 keep the B&N functions and allow me to install other apps?
Do you think following this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494901) would be the way to go?
Thank you both for your help, Rita
ritibelle said:
@leapinlar: I've already put the latest firmware on the nook (1.4.3) and I think rooting will be my best option. Will rooting and using manual nooter 5.8.20 keep the B&N functions and allow me to install other apps?
Do you think following this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494901) would be the way to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes to both.
I did it!!!
And as far as I can tell everythig is working great.
Now I just have to learn how to work with the android part of it.
Thank you very much for the help, Rita
What did you do? Bootable uSD or root?
bobstro said:
What did you do? Bootable uSD or root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the instructions in this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=22480277), so rooted and used manual nooter 5.8.20.
Ok, now that you have rooted your nook, you can keep it at stock and also keep CM7 on the SD card. If you like the B&N reading, download the Nook app for android onto cm7. Cheers...
ritibelle said:
I did it!!!
And as far as I can tell everythig is working great.
Now I just have to learn how to work with the android part of it.
Thank you very much for the help, Rita
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats!!!! You will never go back to straight stock!!!!
q
satya-1998 said:
Rita,
Sincerely the best option for you right now is to run CyanogenMod 7 off an SD Card, a port of Android 2.3 for your device. I have a Nook Color too. I used to love stock but the lack of functionality made me install CM7. There are many easy to follow guides available on the internet. If you would like I can tell you how to install CM7 on an SD Card. That way you can enjoy both stock and CM7. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you have a link for loading cm7 on a sd card so you could boot between stock and cm7. my firmware is 1.4.3
hotelbeehive69 said:
do you have a link for loading cm7 on a sd card so you could boot between stock and cm7. my firmware is 1.4.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use this simplified guide.
http://taosaur.blogspot.com/2011/09/running-cyanogenmod-7-from-sd-nook.html
You can try a dual boot from
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=959461&page=1
But I recommend going with booting off an SD card. Much easier, and although it can be a PITA swapping SD cards, you dont run the risk of losing partition space, or having a problem if you have to go to BN for whatever reason.

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