08-31-2023, 05:49 AM | #1 |
eReader Wrangler
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Liberating your Nook books with a Mac
I bought an inexpensive 2012 Mac Mini a few months back to test a some Mac writing applications. Then I found I could use OpenCore to install Monterrey (or Ventura) and that worked pretty well (Catalina had reached EOL). Then I added a second SSD that I could dedicate to Linux. With 16 GBs of RAM and two SSDs, this old Mac is a pretty good machine.
So, tonight I decided to see if Windows 10 would run in VirtualBox under the Mac OS, and it does. Not much good for streaming videos on YouTube, but I've already got the Mac's native OS (or Linux) for that. So then I thought that maybe I could run Barne's & Noble's Windows Nook App. And it runs well. I was able to download ten of my Nook eBooks (more or less at random), send them the shared folder between Windows 10 and the native Mac OS, and liberate them in Calibre with DeACSM and DeDRM on the Mac side -- then move them to my PocketBook Basic Lux 3. (I also did the same in the Windows virtual machine and that also worked. I didn't try connecting Windows in the virtual machine to my eBook, however.) I didn't know until I watched a couple YouTube videos, but apparently the Windows 10 download is now free -- though they may nag you or put a watermark on the home screen. VirtualBox is also free (always has been). So this cost nothing, except for time. The Windows install takes a while using about half of this Mac's resources. I imagine it would be much faster with newer machines. Apparently Oracle now supports VirtualBox on Apple ARM chips (as well as Intel ones), but it's fairly new and I think it's only available in the "Preview" version. (I guess that's kind of like a beta.) Anyhow this is one option to free your Nook eBooks on a Mac. I felt kind of sorry for the Mac owners. It works well, even on an old Mac hardware. Last edited by rcentros; 08-31-2023 at 05:52 AM. |
08-31-2023, 04:31 PM | #2 |
the rook, bossing Never.
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Win10 download is free, but unless you buy a licence the desktop goes black.
I do have licenced versions of XP (a clone of my 2002 laptop done with Disk2VHD (free MS Tool) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sy...loads/disk2vhd though instructions aren't accurate. It will even clone installs on EFI bios machines, if Windows was installed in Legacy Bios mode. Also Win7 Ultimate (cloned off a PC) and Win10 pro. All on VMs using the Virtual Box that's part of my Linux distro. Windows downloads were free years ago from MS when they ceased CDs / DVD for Technet and MSDN. You still need a licence. |
08-31-2023, 07:21 PM | #3 | ||||
eReader Wrangler
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08-31-2023, 09:04 PM | #4 | |
Bibliophagist
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08-31-2023, 09:42 PM | #5 | |
eReader Wrangler
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As for using Windows 10 unactivated indefinitely, apparently it is common knowledge. (Not for me since my only use for Windows is Barnes & Noble -- and sometimes testing applications.) Apparently you even get some (I guess the most critical) security updates. https://computerinfobits.com/disadva...ng-windows-10/ https://windowsreport.com/windows-10...ut-activation/ https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you...se-windows-10/ https://softwarekeep.com/blog/what-h...ate-windows-10 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...8-0c7199e90e35 It should definitely work for installing under VirtualBox on a Mac and using it to download your Nook eBooks. |
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08-31-2023, 10:40 PM | #6 |
Wizard
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Couldn't you just install WINE and run the Nook program that way? I gather there are some problems with running 32-bit applications under OSX, depending upon which version you have, but it would certainly be less work than setting up a full Windows VM, if it worked.
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08-31-2023, 11:01 PM | #7 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Not sure how easy it would be to download the Nook app, however, since it's a Windows App only available in the Windows Store. (Maybe there's a work-around for that as well?) |
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09-01-2023, 12:48 AM | #8 |
Wizard
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I suppose there would be other places to download Windows Store installers, assuming they're the same type of executable files you get for all other Windows programs. I use Windows 7, so the Windows Store doesn't exist. I would have liked to support B&N if it weren't so difficult to deal with their e-books, since I don't have a Nook.
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09-01-2023, 05:07 AM | #9 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Supporting Barnes & Noble is the main reason I was excited to find a way to download my books again (a few months ago) -- unfortunately I don't know any other way to do it besides using Windows 10 (I would imagine Windows 11 also). And I felt that Mac users were left out, that's why I was excited to find that VirtualBox worked in Macs. I just figured VirtualBox was a Linux or Windows thing. |
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