Touch Saga of a semi-rooted touch Nook

[wafercat]

1. I have a new touch nook, which I love, though it does have problems.
It's native browser is lame and as purchased android is not accessible.

I tried to root my nook using http://nookdevs.com/NookTouch_Rooting
and got nowhere. For some reason the process would not complete.

I found http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/nook-touch-root.html and
this worked nicely. It appears (to me) that this not a compete Rooting
it is rather a bypass that allows use of Android (which BN doesn't allow)

I have been exploring what is possible with Android and it is very exciting.

I have looked at the Android Market and downloaded Opera, finding it
a far better and much more usable browser.

This brings me to my problem. When browsing I attempted to look at a
video. MISTAKE! My Nook is completely locked up, it recognizes nothing,
neither the touch screen or the power button.

HELP! I have no real idea where to go with this. It probably need a major
reset. How is that done? Do I need to let the battery to run out?

2. I backed up what I could, but as I am working with an XP Window machine, I know this is not everything. I presently don't have a working linux machine.

I tried to look at a video using Opera, looking as a news item video.

I have let the Nook idle for 2 days and found the locked screen had cleared to the normal idle screen and it appears to be operating normally.

thank to all

3. As noted with my past postings I have rooted my Nook with the easy method. This seems to be a bypass, not a full rooting. It is useful but not
complete.

I would like to do a complete rooting. I've tried the compete rooting with
it as is and found that doesn't work. This shows I need my Nook to
bereturned to it's original state to do the rooting. I've tried to do this
by powering down the Nook 8 times and this doesn't work. Apparently the
bypass I have makes this unworkable.

In addition to this I have made the mistake in locking the Launcher to
the stock Nook Home. This software is badly designed because this cannot
be easily reversed.

The basically I need to find out how I can return my Nook to it's
factory state, and if this is not possible to unlock Launchers Home.

I have restarted my old computer with Lubuntu 10.04 so I could work with
my Nook. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the Linux files on the
Nook. Some help would be appreciated.

4. I found that normally the nook would have a section
/rom/devconf/bootcount 8
(unsure of the format of entry of the 8. Should this be =8 ?)

I have been able to load both ES File Explorer and Boot Explorer and found
that this doesn't exist in my nook. I have tried but been unable to enter this. How is this done??

As my Launcher is locked on the Standard Nook Home, it is somewhat difficult
to get access to the Explorers. Generally I have to load other apps to get
me close enough to use them. Is there an easier way to unlock the Launcher??

Any help will be appreciated, note: most of this is separately posted in Nook thread, but not getting many responses.

[wafercat]

I have cleared my GO launcher problem, locking the Nook to its stock home page. I installed Easy Uninstaller then unloaded the GO launcher. Next I reloaded Go launcher from the apps site, not the same one but it is a later version, with more tools.

Working with a touch Nook the complete action using panel that shows using the GO launcher has an unmarked box, which I assume on a color Nook would have a red lettering advising that checking it locks the Nook into the stock home page.

My Nook is now working somewhat better, but I would like to do the Full Rooting.

[dorino]

It is a full root, technically. You're given full administrative access and have control over all aspects of the device and its file structure. That's what rooting is. It's not a traditional root, and is a bypass, but it's a full root.

[jasoraso]

There is a little confusion about what "rooting" really means.

To "root" means to enable access to the "SuperUser" account - so you can install other programs, such as a different launcher/home screen, different reader, or even installing the google Market, as well as modify/change system file. You might think of it in windows terms as the difference between a normal user account and an administrator account. With Windows 7, you can only install programs if you have access to the administrator account.

With Android, you can only modify certain programs if you have administrator rights, and in the android world the administrator account is typically called "root". There is a setting in Android that disables the ability to install programs. The Nook Color and Nook touch both are sold by B&N with that setting enabled. When you "root" these devices (i.e. with Manual Nooter) you are giving the account the ability to change that setting - thus allowing other programs, such as launchers, readers, or the Android Market, to be installed.

In the Nook Color world, people have taken that a step further - they are actually REPLACING the b&n android operating system with a DIFFERENT operating system (typically it is a variant of Cyanogenmod CM7); or they simply boot the Nook Color from their SD card into CM7, and the B&N software lies dormant, and unused. People often refer to this as "rooting" although that is not exactly correct, because it is possible to do this without actually rooting or modifying the B&N software. The substitute operating system (cm7) does have root access, however.

This option of replacing or running a different O/S for the Nook Touch is not available. You can change the launcher program, or homescreen. But the underlying o/s stays the same.

[dorino]

Exactly, jasoraso. It's worth saying that there's a few people trying to "take it a step further" with the Nook Touch at the moment.

[linux_author]

Originally Posted by dorino

Exactly, jasoraso. It's worth saying that there's a few people trying to "take it a step further" with the Nook Touch at the moment.

that would be nice, but i gotta say, the current state (aside from having to fix the broken market app) is pretty nice - i knew there was no way i was going to play vids on the Touch, so i didn't expect much and am quite pleased with the 'upgrade'

[wafercat]

To make this clear, as of now there are two methods of rooting and in essence they both allow access to altering the programming and loading applications. These methods are somewhat different but get the same results.

Overall I am pleased with the results I have, getting a good browser and very good WiFi connection.

Video cannot be expected with eink and this makes games questionable at best.

[azulmarino]

@wafercat could you be so kind to post here the links to these two rooting methods for the Nook Touch you've mentioned?

[wafercat]

The two methods I have found are:
http://nookdevs.com/NookTouch_Rooting
http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/nook-touch-root.html
I have used the second and I would like to know how they differ, if they do.

[Kralik]

I've used the method here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...php?p=14915570

On three nooks so far and it works great. IIRC, TouchNooter uses the Ramdisk/etc. from the NookDevs link but preloads some things for you (like Google Apps for the Market). If you don't go the TouchNooter route, you will have to figure out some of that stuff (GMail/Market/etc.) on your own after rooting.

[wafercat]

I've had no problem using Google Apps, though I noted many do not work on the Touch Nook. I suppose this is because this Android is basically designed for a cell phone.

[wafercat]

I have enjoyed for, some time, using the Wi-Fi in my rooted touch Nook running the mini Opera browser. Today I got a notification of an upgrade of Opera, which I down loaded and installed.

This seem to be a major mistake. The new browser attempts to load the web page, giving you a nearly compete view, then as it completes the app crashes leaving nothing at all. I ran this several times with the same results. It this time I rebooted my Nook, this didn't help. I even attempted the integrated Nook browser and found this one crashed, just like the updated Opera.

I will try to see if I can get the older version of Opera reloaded in my Nook

[wafercat]

I have reloaded the mini Opera and found it will not function at all. It shows a start screen with a running spinning timer that over time simply disappears with no output at all.

I think I may have to remove the rooting I have on my Nook and re-root it.

I have looked at this before and found the usual 8 off/on cycles reset that was built in by B&N was disabled by the rooting (touchnooter) I used.

I got this from http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/nook-touch-root.html.

I am not sure how to do this and need help.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by wafercat

I have reloaded the mini Opera and found it will not function at all. It shows a start screen with a running spinning timer that over time simply disappears with no output at all.

I think I may have to remove the rooting I have on my Nook and re-root it.

I have looked at this before and found the usual 8 off/on cycles reset that was built in by B&N was disabled by the rooting (touchnooter) I used.

I got this from http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/nook-touch-root.html.

I am not sure how to do this and need help.

These instructions tell you how to restore your nook touch to stock.

Instructions

[wafercat]

Thank you for your assistance, unfortunately I cannot get the web site to download the need software at this time. I will attempt this again later.