Database Develop

[Q] Nook Questions

Hi all,
I'm contemplating getting a nook but I have a few questions first.
When rooted, what exactly is the nook capable of? Aside from angry birds, that is. Can I use it as a doc editor/viewer? Will I be able to track down an app to make it like like the notepad on the ipad (the one were you can write things directly on the screen with a stylsu)? Or something similar, for taking notes.
How does the ereader work? I was curious about how the B&N stuff works on it, specifically the function where you can read books for an hour in the stores with it. Is this an app or something that works throught the browser, that detects the in-store wifi?
That said, I'm most likely going to get one. I just want to make sure it fits my needs and doesn't break my grad-student budget.
Oh, one last thing: does it read comics/graphic novels?
Thanks!
-- Grey

Well it has the market enabled so you can load any app that you want.
You can use it to edit and view documents if you load an app with that ability. (Documents to Go?)
I loaded aldiko for reading books but you should be able to continue using the B&N reader.
Can't answer the question about 1 hour of reading in store.
XDA app, K9 email, winamp, facebook and Dolphin HD web browser are a few of the handy apps I've loaded.

Thanks for the quick reply!
So, in your opinion, is it worth the price?
I've been checking the various fora; I've learned a lot about the nook. I want to ask are there any, let's say, "game-breaking" bugs? It seems like many minor things, but nothing catastrophic.
Thanks,
-- Grey

If you like to tinker, this is a good tablet for you. If your looking for something that just works, and is simple to setup, then you probably want to look elsewhere.
Its worth whatever price your willing to pay.
Is the hardware good? YES
Is the build quality good? YES
Is it missing features of a full tablet? YES
Its up to you if the things its missing is a deal breaker or not. (dedicated hardware keys,bluetooth,gps,etc...
If you don't like it, you can always return it. Thats the beauty of buying from a local store.

If you root it you will open up a lot of possibilities, such as installing apps from the regular market, side loading apps that you have the apk for, etc. From that perspective it can be quite functional...I have Docs to Go and use it in conjunction with my DropBox.
However you will lose in-store features with root...no special coupons, no in-store reading, etc. I don't know anyone rooted who still kept in-store features.
The one ding I give it is that I can't stand typing on it. It's too big to hold "phone style" and I find it awkward to hunt and peck with one hand. This desperately needs Swype, however so far no go with that.
The Nook does magazines with color/graphics so I don't know why it wouldn't do comic books.
The reading experience on it is good in my opinion, and even better I loaded the Kindle App as well so now I have access to the Nook books AND Kindle books. And the Kindle app was just enhanced to allow magazines/newspapers, and I think you can now annotate, etc.
I would say this...if you are buying it as an ereader with the hopes you can do some tablet stuff on it, you'll love it. If you are buying it as a tablet with the thought you might read on it, maybe not so much.
It is wifi only so if you don't have constant access to wifi you are going to need a phone capable of wifi hotspot (or a mifi)...these features cost more money to activate with your cellular company (unless you have a rooted Android phone in which case there is a fix posted in the forums on how to get wireless tether working).

Again, thanks for the advice.
I just played with one in-store. It seems kinda neat, I would say missing features but there wasn't an employee there to show me how to use it. It's possible I overlooked some stuff.
Is there an sd card slot on the device? I didn't see one on the test nook, but perhaps under the back cover. Can the back cover be removed?
I'm going to keep playing with it to see if I like it. And I'm definitely going to keep reading the fora here and at nookdevs to see how this device evolves over time.
Thanks!
-- Grey

greymalken said:
Again, thanks for the advice.
I just played with one in-store. It seems kinda neat, I would say missing features but there wasn't an employee there to show me how to use it. It's possible I overlooked some stuff.
Is there an sd card slot on the device? I didn't see one on the test nook, but perhaps under the back cover. Can the back cover be removed?
I'm going to keep playing with it to see if I like it. And I'm definitely going to keep reading the fora here and at nookdevs to see how this device evolves over time.
Thanks!
-- Grey
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes SDCARD opening is back - bottom left as you face it...Go online to B&N and download the manuals - lots of good info...BTW, before I rooted it took about 3 hrs to charge - wall only - while B&N states NO usb charging after rooting the USB does charge. Yet takes about 6 hrs now on wall, did not see how long on USB next time I will try that. Not sure if I did something or that is the trade-off of rooting...
IMHO, the best bang-for-the-buck...Android, reads various formats, tons of apps and really can replace laptop for web/e-mail/music/pictures and up to 32GB of storage...Plus I can connect to my phone when not around wifi...

Thanks, and a few things that may help.

Just wanted to send out a thanks to the site and it's members here for rooting directions, it took a couple of tries (something tells me I should have had power on prior to rooting, and probably cleared cache before attempting...
But, seriously, my lady's nook color is AWESOME now, and I wanted to send on the thanks and tell about a couple of things we are using now for apps on her device. We did use her 16gb card to root after copying it's contents to our pc, and allowed the nc to format it back when we were done rooting- took a bit of searching but thanks to whoever suggested that bit of advice to regain it's full storage potential, as well...
ezpdf reader (awesome, 1000% better than the orig NC pdf format)
dolphin hd browser (mucho awesome, the fave of all we have seen)
angry birds (interesting, though she uses much more for reading)
gmail app is great
raging thunder (1, 2 wouldn't work)
astro for file browsing...
paint joy
beautiful widgets
Zeme works very well!
Youtube, as stated in another thread, did work better once NOT connected to the gmail account (just create a sep user if you have to and if desired, sign in under that sep account)
There's a few more, but seriously, intention in posting this was to send on how thankful we are for the help in tricking out her new device... we have been talking about why the developers didn't just go ahead and allow the device to be like it is now anyway? Oh well, maybe they'll catch a hint and take up doing it, seeing as it is 100% better now rooted, as opposed to non- they'll sell many more that way, and I hope people who are demo-ing it in B&N or best buy understand this can be done safely and successfully, and when you do, it will be MUCH better than it is in the store.
To those thinking of doing it, take your time, follow the directions, search for some good apps, don't give up... it's MUCH worth the time and effort to root it...
Thank you forum.xda-developers.com!!!

Thanks for point out Paint Joy. Been looking for a whiteboard/paint app.

[Q] New Nook owner questions

I searched the forums for this, but I never found any straightforward (or in plain and simple English) answers that helped me. I don't know how to root or how to mod my devices or even some of the terminology. I also know that some of you might laugh at me for my lack of knowledge, but I get that anyway for how I walk sometimes (I have MS) LOL.
I just bought a New Nook Color today (yay for me!). I have a Samsung Epic 4g. I used an app called Application backup that gets all of the APK files into a zip file on the SD card. I have a 16gb SD card. I transferred my info from my 16 GB card to another 16 GB card via my computer. I put the 2nd SD card into my Nook and the Nook did not recognize any of the Apps from my phone. I figured that since they are both running Froyo, that it would work. What did I do wrong?
Also, I figured that since I upgraded the Nook to B&N's new Froyo, that I would be able to get onto the Android Market, not just B&N's somewhat crappy App store. How can I access the Market from my new Nook Color?
Also, can I run Google Voice and make calls from my new Nook? Just wondering, it's not necessary, but I would like to at least text message from it, if possible. Also, can I really get that Playon app and play Netflix and Hulu content as well? That would be amazing!
Thank you in advance for taking the time to help this big ol' dummy!

There's plenty of easy to follow guides about how to root, flash custom ROMs, etc all over this part of the forum, just gotta go looking. You'll need root to watch the Netflix app on your NC, same with getting the market.

There's an easier way to install the apps on your NC. Just download the Appbrain app on both NC and your phone, then you can see the list of apps on your phone and install them on your NC as well.
I've got a rooted NC with phiremod installed, so I can't tell you how to access the market on any unrooted device. Hope someone else can help you with that.

holgalee said:
There's an easier way to install the apps on your NC. Just download the Appbrain app on both NC and your phone, then you can see the list of apps on your phone and install them on your NC as well.
I've got a rooted NC with phiremod installed, so I can't tell you how to access the market on any unrooted device. Hope someone else can help you with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A completely stock NC can't access the marketplace.
OP, look for the "manual nooter" thread, probably in the Dev subforum. Nootering is the closest to stock you can be and use the non-B&N marketplace.

so i just got a gtab and was playing around with it. got a custom mod on there(vegan 5.1.1, love it) and my mom saw me saying "is that an ipad?". told her no, showed her some of the features and she suggested we get something like that for my grandma. without knowing really much about the nook color at all i do know this would probably be a better option for her than an ipad or gtablet.
just wondering if there are stable enough roms out there where i could do everything at once when i buy it and kind of show her how to navigate websites, email, watch videos, etc(pretty much basic computing, shes old lol) over a weekend when shes here(she lives 6 hours away and coming to visit next week)? because once she leaves i won't be able to update or help her troubleshoot it till like Christmas.

nuttybardude said:
so i just got a gtab and was playing around with it. got a custom mod on there(vegan 5.1.1, love it) and my mom saw me saying "is that an ipad?". told her no, showed her some of the features and she suggested we get something like that for my grandma. without knowing really much about the nook color at all i do know this would probably be a better option for her than an ipad or gtablet.
just wondering if there are stable enough roms out there where i could do everything at once when i buy it and kind of show her how to navigate websites, email, watch videos, etc(pretty much basic computing, shes old lol) over a weekend when shes here(she lives 6 hours away and coming to visit next week)? because once she leaves i won't be able to update or help her troubleshoot it till like Christmas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might be better in its own thread if you want more replies, but I can tell you my own experience with customized tech devies as gifts to people who aren't tech savvy and can't or have no interest in learning. Never works out well, for me.
If your grandma likes to keep up with and learn about the latest gear, or if she's interested in starting, a rooted or moded NC would be good. But if she's not, you need a device you can set up for her once and have it run without need for updates or maintenance for a long period of time. Something she can just use. In that case the extra expense is worth it.
Also, a screen larger than the NC's would probably be easier for her, depending on her sight.

Nora D said:
Also, a screen larger than the NC's would probably be easier for her, depending on her sight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a very good point. I thought about getting a tablet for my dad, and the same considerations occurred to me. If your grandmother is using it primarily to read books, then the small screen isn't as much of an issue, since the fonts can be sized up in the reader app without much detrimental effect. But scaling up a large font in the web browser will likely make the web browsing experience painful, since many websites are so tightly formatted. "Zoom in and pan around" is a horrible way to use the web... Also, the smaller the screen is, the finer the motor control necessary to operate the touch screen controls, which may be another issue for an older person.
I came to the conclusion that a 7-inch tablet just isn't going to be very useful for an elderly person, and the Nook has enough little quirks when used as a tablet that it would likely be a frustrating experience for a non-techie person.

I really would not recommend CM7 NC or even rooted stock NC for an elderly person or technologically illiterate person for a couple of reasons:
1. The default UI is nowhere near as non-techy-user-friendly as iOS (I'm OS-agnostic, hate proprietary software, but hey, it's true) and there's no locking down of features (admin mode vs limited user, etc) to prevent someone accidentally damaging the install or removing something they shouldn't. Maybe you could find a heavily modded theme to be friendlier.
2. The screen is, at 7", perfect for me as a reader but my (elderly) mother complained about the small screen size (needing much bigger fonts). You can fix that somewhat by (obviously) using bigger fonts in CM7 and also by editing the lcd density, but the latter can cause issues with some apps. It's not exactly difficult to fudge fingering through the menus and opening apps by accident, or just mistyping because of the smaller keyboard.
I told my mother, who was liking my (CM7) Nook despite complaining about eye strain and fingering issues, that she was probably better off spending $100 more on the upcoming 9.7" Amazon tablet this fall if she could wait. While it's probably going to be as locked down as the iPad to begin with, I won't have to worry about bugs in nightlies (or even stables, e.g., no deep sleep in pre-.32 releases) or whether or not she'll accidentally break some app etc. While it sucks to be limited to 1 ereader store (technically), if Amazon allows generic ereader apps like Bluefire or Aldiko she could still have access to epubs from competing stores if she needed it. If it ends up being rootable to allow 3rd-party apps and Google Android Market then it's a win-win with a polished, user-friendly modded android OS from Amazon.
I'm not bashing the Nook or CM7 - I love mine and I love being able to tweak and experiment with it, but it's not something that a non-techy would be able to tread fearlessly in -- look how many threads here are posted with people being lost about doing a basic SD CM7 install or following one of the step-by-step rooting guides.

Responding to the grandma tangent, I think everyone is underestimating the appeal of the stock Nook Color for people who don't know what they're doing. There are plenty of non-tech-savvy people over at mobileread (well, tech savvy enough to post on a forum, but otherwise...) who are thrilled with their stock NCs. Three-million-plus of these things have sold, and most of those people are not rooting them or putting on custom ROMs.
Someone familiar with Android devices who goes into it expecting an Android device might find it limiting, but for someone with no clue, the fact that it only does a few things is a pro, not a con.
Skunkeye said:
But scaling up a large font in the web browser will likely make the web browsing experience painful, since many websites are so tightly formatted. "Zoom in and pan around" is a horrible way to use the web...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't remember just how the NC stock browser works, but most Android browsers are smarter than that. Often a double-tap on a column of text will get it centered at a manageable size, and if not you can zoom to the desired text size and double-tap again to reflow it just like a book. Whenever I come to an article of more than a few paragraphs on my PC, I stop and pick up the NC for a more comfortable reading experience (or send the link to the NC for later, depending on what I'm doing).

I don't think anyone is underestimating the stock Nook Color for what it is. But the original question was about "stable ROMs" and the comparison of the Nook vs. a full Android tablet or iPad. I'd have no problem giving almost anyone a Nook Color if it was left as an unrooted, stock device (because tech support would then be B&N's problem!), with the understanding that it was going to be used as intended: as an excellent e-reader that happens to do a little bit of internet stuff sort of passably well.
But if you're talking about putting Cyanogen or something on the thing and sending it to grandma's house six hours away and hoping for everything to go smoothly (which was, I think, nuttybardudes's intent), I think that's very likely to end up in frustration for everyone involved.

Agreed. I'm saying he's overthinking it--just buying a NC and handing it to her (well, maybe helping her register it) may be his best option. .

Let me make sure I have this right

OK, I am going to be getting a couple NCs for the wife and I. So I have been doing a lot of reading and want to make sure I have a handle on evrtything. I have decided that CM7 is the way to go. If I am understanding correctly I basically create a CM7 image on an SD Card (cheap Sandisk seems to work best???) and then I can run it from the SD card without installing it on the internal memory of the NC. That way I can pull the SD card, reboot and have a stock NC. Is that right? Will the performance suffer from running it from the SD card? Are there benefits to installing on the internal memory? Also, if I do install it to the internal memory, how do you use it as a normal NC? Do you just get the Android Nook app? How does that compare to the actual Nook software? Do you lose any functionality? My wife will use hers primarily as an e reader whereas mine will be a tablet first. Does anyone have experience using different browsers like Skyfire and Opera? Those are what I use a lot on my phone. I have seen the name Dolphin HDused alot, but I don't know anything about it. I am sorry for all the questions and if my terminology is not 100% accurate. I am, as the welcome video says; a noob.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Nard Dog said:
OK, I am going to be getting a couple NCs for the wife and I. So I have been doing a lot of reading and want to make sure I have a handle on evrtything. I have decided that CM7 is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only stupid question is the one unasked.
Nard Dog said:
If I am understanding correctly I basically create a CM7 image on an SD Card (cheap Sandisk seems to work best???) and then I can run it from the SD card without installing it on the internal memory of the NC. That way I can pull the SD card, reboot and have a stock NC. Is that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct; with one exception. CM7 will mount the "Media" partition, and changes there will be reflected on the stock OS (this partition just stores your files, pictures, music, etc; nothing related to the system).
Nard Dog said:
Will the performance suffer from running it from the SD card? Are there benefits to installing on the internal memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, performance will suffer. I used to run from SD card, until i finally gave up and tried internal. Internal is much faster, and of course makes it easier to use you SD card for pure storage.
Nard Dog said:
Also, if I do install it to the internal memory, how do you use it as a normal NC? Do you just get the Android Nook app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normal NC? You mean as just an eReader? Yes, you would just use the market version of the nook app.
Nard Dog said:
How does that compare to the actual Nook software? Do you lose any functionality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what i have seen, you will lose the "Read to me" functionality, and the look and feel of the market version is different of that of the stock version. But, by using CM7 (or rooting stock), you can gain access to Kindle and Google books, which kind of makes up for it.
Nard Dog said:
My wife will use hers primarily as an e reader whereas mine will be a tablet first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say for you, CM7 internal would be good (remember, you can always put the stock OS back on if you change your mind), and the stock OS best for you wife.
Nard Dog said:
Does anyone have experience using different browsers like Skyfire and Opera? Those are what I use a lot on my phone. I have seen the name Dolphin HDused alot, but I don't know anything about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera is by far the best browser; it is the only browser with renders web pages with the GPU; this is what allows smooth scrolling and page views (like the iPad has). Dolphin is nothing more than a skin of the stock browser, and isn't worth worrying about.
Nard Dog said:
I am sorry for all the questions and if my terminology is not 100% accurate. I am, as the welcome video says; a noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, we are ALL "noobs" at one point in our life. Being willing to ask and learn is how you stop being one.

Nard Dog said:
Also, if I do install it to the internal memory, how do you use it as a normal NC? Do you just get the Android Nook app? How does that compare to the actual Nook software? Do you lose any functionality? My wife will use hers primarily as an e reader whereas mine will be a tablet first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android Nook app loses:
* Read To Me
* Shelves
* A quick shortcut to the current book you're reading
It gains a couple of features: a fancy page-turn animation, and a true black & white "night" mode. (The stock reader's night mode is more of an off-white on dark gray, if I remember right.)
If your wife has a lot of nook books, she may really miss the shelves feature. Without it all books are listed on one page, ordered by Title, Author or Most Recent. That's most recently purchased, not most recently read.
With no shortcut, every time you return to the app you have to scroll through all the books you have downloaded to find the one you're currently reading. That could be annoying if you've got a few dozen or more loaded.
I get around both problems by using a third-party reader. But to use it, I have to strip the DRM from the books I own, which is at best a gray area legally.
Most people who read a lot will probably get more out of a stock nook, or better still, a nootered nook. If it's nootered (rooted), you get all the features of the stock reader, as well as the ability to download any number of other applications including Kindle and Overdrive (the library lending app.)

Divine_Madcat said:
I would say for you, CM7 internal would be good (remember, you can always put the stock OS back on if you change your mind), and the stock OS best for you wife.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the input. Your answers have highlighted the fact that I need to do a lot more research. I am not even sure what the NC can do out of the box. While the wifey will use it primarily as a reader, she also wants to be able to play games and download apps. Can this still be done on the stock OS? Can you install a different browser (opera) on the stock OS? I've seen the term "rooted stock" but haven't read up on it much since I figured I'd just have to root them to do what we both want. I'm guessing "rooted stock" is somewhere between being rooted and keeping the stock OS. Would this allow using the native reader intetface while still allowing access to apps via the Android market? If I can get it so she has a nice browser, can play games (Angry Birds, etc) and keep the native reader (which she really likes) that would be perfect. BTW, before anyone starts yelling "USE THE SEARCH NOON" like they do on some forums I have visited, I know these answers are probably all on this forum somewhere and I am continuing to research on my own. I have been and will be reading a ton of old posts, etc. But, it is also helpful to have one thread to list all of the questions that pop into my head.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

I was new to Android a couple months ago and hesitant to root so I decided to put CM7 on an sdcard. I bought a cheap card and the thing worked but it was agonizingly slow. I bought a Sandisk 8GB class 4 and it works GREAT - very fast. I have never overclocked (haven't gotten the nerve for that yet) and it is very speedy for my needs. I later rooted stock which is what I recommend for your wife. You put a launcher on (I like zeam) and then you have your B&N shelves and access to the Android market as well. BTW, you can also get the Amazon Appstore and check it out daily because they put up a free app every day - very cool.
Good luck with your decision. I love my Nook!

Cool, so it looks like it'll be CM7 for me and nootered for her.
One more question since I have your attention. Is there a way to tether the NC to my Droid X and connect to the internet? My Droid X is totally stock and I have no desire to root it or mod it in any way. I have used PDAnet to tether to my laptop, so I'm looking for something similar to that.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

I can tether my Win Mobile phone (getting an Android phone as soon as my contract runs out!) to my NC. My phone creates an ad hoc connection and I had to make a small change on the Nook to get it to work. I'm pretty sure you will have no problem. Just search and you will find the details specific to your phone.

The only (wireless) tethering you can do WITHOUT rooting is the paid Verizon service. No other wireless rooting will work (all need superuser). I gotta ask though - any reason you don't want to root the X? Its not really anything different from rooting your nook..

Divine_Madcat said:
I gotta ask though - any reason you don't want to root the X? Its not really anything different from rooting your nook..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it's really just fear. If I brick my phone, I am royally screwed. If I brick the Nook, it would suck, but it's more of a toy anyway. I know it's probably very safe and easy, but I just keep thinking of the horror stories I read when I thought about rooting my Q9m back in the day. That said it is very likely that once I root the Nook, I will end up rooting my phone. Baby steps
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

300 CM7 Nooks Sent to Retail Locations as Selling Tools!

Hello everyone!
Thought i'd register an account finally and share a little project I've been working on for the past few months at my job. I'll try to keep this short, and answer technical questions about the process, if anyone is interested of course
I've been flashing various WinMo and Android devices for years, and had just recently picked up a Nook Color at the time. Well within a hour I was running CM7 on it, and just couldn't believe how much potential was unlocked on this cheap little tablet!
Months back at work, we were trying to figure out a better/more portable way to display product demonstration videos to our customers. We used TV's and DVD player to demo product videos, but that made it a pain to show specific items to customers, without changing the DVD chapter for the whole showroom. So we started tossing around the idea of a portable DVD player or tablet, and it took off from there.
Eventually we had the idea of doing a trial run of tablets in the showrooms with a video player and videos of the product formatted for the tablet. Initially we tried using Acer Iconia tablets, but they were way too bulky to carry around all day. So we settled on using Nook Colors because of the size and the fact that we could hook a lanyard on so the sales associates wouldn't drop them! Those features sealed the deal and we did a trial run of 7 Nooks in the Florida showrooms. Needless to say, being able to show products video demos on demand were a huge hit for our customers and ended up deploying about 300 nooks to all our nation wide retail locations!
It was a crazy few months, and we had a lot of technical hurdles to overcome, but the last of the 300 Nooks arrived in the showrooms at the beginning of the week, and they have had nothing but RAVE reviews from customers.
I think using these Nooks running CyanogenMod as a retail selling tool is a huge milestone for mobile computing use in the retail environment.
Would love to have hear feedback and like I said if anyone is interested in how we accomplished this technically i'll gladly provide details!
----
(Combined this from below)
I took a Nook and did the initial flash to CM7. Then I completely locked down everything but the Video Player, Calculator, and Screen Brightness Widget. This including disabling many APKs / processes that were not needed that would just sit in the background, wasting battery. Any other applications that couldn't be disabled such as the settings menu are locked down with a password app. Since we're using this as a selling tool, we didn't want anyone browsing the internet or playing Angry Birds, so Play and wireless settings were also passworded. Then I cleaned up the interface and used the launcher to hide all the applications that are either for diagnostics or were simply locked down.
Next I took a CWM Backup of our master Nook and copied that image to a CWM bootable card. I opted to leave the stock Nook recovery on there and go with the bootable to prevent... Tampering.
So basically once I got the process down to a science, we ramped up production and started flashing them in bulk.
For the last step, I put hundreds of product videos formatted for the Nooks native resolution onto a separate SD card and we used a card duplicator to create 300 cards that were installed into each device before we shipped them out.
So in a nutshell we take a Nook, pop in the ClockworkMod Recovery card, restore the Backup, and within 5 to 10 minutes I have a fully customized nook that just needs the admin password changed, video card, and then it's ready to go.
Ray Detwiler

WOW! I am impressed. What a great use of our Nook Colors. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Thanks!

Nice work! I bet you love your job. It must be great getting to play with all of those tablets, not to mention the innovating involved. Sounds like a real hoot!

This sounds awesome, I would love to buy one, in fact.

Awesome!!!! Are you at the Phantom in Kenosha? I'm making a Wisconsin trip (from Chicago) tomorrow for beer, cheese, and fireworks.

a1cshowoff said:
Awesome!!!! Are you at the Phantom in Kenosha? I'm making a Wisconsin trip (from Chicago) tomorrow for beer, cheese, and fireworks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great to hear! I'm at the corporate office in Youngstown, Ohio but if you're stopping in at the Racine showroom (looks to be about 20 mins from Kenosha) They'll have a couple of nooks on the floor for you to take a look at.

phatwila said:
It was a crazy few months, and we had a lot of technical hurdles to overcome, but the last of the 300 Nooks arrived in the showrooms at the beginning of the week, and they have had nothing but RAVE reviews from customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind expanding a bit, what are some of the technical hurdles you encountered?

Sure thing!
I took a Nook and did the initial flash to CM7. Then I completely locked down everything but the Video Player, Calculator, and Screen Brightness Widget. This including disabling many APKs / processes that were not needed that would just sit in the background, wasting battery. Any other applications that couldn't be disabled such as the settings menu are locked down with a password app. Since we're using this as a selling tool, we didn't want anyone browsing the internet or playing Angry Birds, so Play and wireless settings were also passworded. Then I cleaned up the interface and used the launcher to hide all the applications that are either for diagnostics or were simply locked down.
Next I took a CWM Backup of our master Nook and copied that image to a CWM bootable card. I opted to leave the stock Nook recovery on there and go with the bootable to prevent... Tampering.
So basically once I got the process down to a science, we ramped up production and started flashing them in bulk.
For the last step, I put hundreds of product videos formatted for the Nooks native resolution onto a separate SD card and we used a card duplicator to create 300 cards that were installed into each device before we shipped them out.
So in a nutshell we take a Nook, pop in the ClockworkMod Recovery card, restore the Backup, and within 5 to 10 minutes I have a fully customized nook that just needs the admin password changed, video card, and then it's ready to go.

Do they have the Nook Colors at the Herculaneum, MO store? I may have to check them out when I go down that way to play underground Disc Golf.

mogators1 said:
Do they have the Nook Colors at the Herculaneum, MO store? I may have to check them out when I go down that way to play underground Disc Golf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, they do

Out of curiously did you talk to the cyanogen team about this? or donate any money to them?
For 300 retail nooks running cyanogen I hope you donated a good chunk of money to them.
As far as I know its for private use, not a retail company.

You guys need any more? I'm looking to let mine go on Swappa http://swappa.com/listing/GNP935/view

Great job!

were any of these nooks the "blue dot"? the newer ones with the partitions so that there is only a gig for "SideLoad"? i have been fighting with one for a long time...

phatwila said:
Sure thing!
I took a Nook and did the initial flash to CM7. Then I completely locked down everything but the Video Player, Calculator, and Screen Brightness Widget. This including disabling many APKs / processes that were not needed that would just sit in the background, wasting battery. Any other applications that couldn't be disabled such as the settings menu are locked down with a password app. Since we're using this as a selling tool, we didn't want anyone browsing the internet or playing Angry Birds, so Play and wireless settings were also passworded. Then I cleaned up the interface and used the launcher to hide all the applications that are either for diagnostics or were simply locked down.
Next I took a CWM Backup of our master Nook and copied that image to a CWM bootable card. I opted to leave the stock Nook recovery on there and go with the bootable to prevent... Tampering.
So basically once I got the process down to a science, we ramped up production and started flashing them in bulk.
For the last step, I put hundreds of product videos formatted for the Nooks native resolution onto a separate SD card and we used a card duplicator to create 300 cards that were installed into each device before we shipped them out.
So in a nutshell we take a Nook, pop in the ClockworkMod Recovery card, restore the Backup, and within 5 to 10 minutes I have a fully customized nook that just needs the admin password changed, video card, and then it's ready to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very cool. Thanks for responding!

Wow!
phatwila said:
Hello everyone!
Needless to say, being able to show products video demos on demand were a huge hit for our customers and ended up deploying about 300 nooks to all our nation wide retail locations!
Ray
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Click to collapse
Ray:
It's great to see that B.J. Alan is innovating in 1.4g sales. As you know, it's a weird business, and I have to congratulate you on an ambitious project that will doubtless help see more of the high-end 200g and 500g items. I am an APA member that does mostly 1.3g stuff, and I admire your foresight and hard work. Keep it up and thanks for sharing!
Best,
David Lynch

Berserk87 said:
Out of curiously did you talk to the cyanogen team about this? or donate any money to them?
For 300 retail nooks running cyanogen I hope you donated a good chunk of money to them.
As far as I know its for private use, not a retail company.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I can't comment on finances, I will say that CM is released under the Apache 2.0 and GPLv2 licenses, which allow for this type of deployment. Think of it this way: Tens of thousands of people over the next few months who have never been exposed to CyanogenMod and OSS are going to see these devices. That amount of free marketing is priceless. I do believe that either way, it is a win-win for all parties involved.

Pale_Flyer said:
were any of these nooks the "blue dot"? the newer ones with the partitions so that there is only a gig for "SideLoad"? i have been fighting with one for a long time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While all our nooks were pre-blue refurbs, our initial test run devices were blue dotted. There's scripts you can run to revert back to the original partition schemes if needed. For us, 95% of the data was on our 16GB SD cards so we weren't that concerned about the partitions, but I did test the re-partitioning scripts and they worked fine. That thread is located here if your interested:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1094371
Hope that helps!

dlynch said:
Ray:
It's great to see that B.J. Alan is innovating in 1.4g sales. As you know, it's a weird business, and I have to congratulate you on an ambitious project that will doubtless help see more of the high-end 200g and 500g items. I am an APA member that does mostly 1.3g stuff, and I admire your foresight and hard work. Keep it up and thanks for sharing!
Best,
David Lynch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the kind words David! It is really appreciated!