Ok, here's a rough blog on the Glow4:
http://www.temblast.com/blogs/glow4/blog.htm
(It's a work-in-progress.)
I figured out how I killed the display.
The case is a bear to open and I apparently cracked a corner of the glass eInk display.
Over time and handling the crack propagated and gradually ruined the display.
The 6" Nooks all had plastic eInk displays.