Project: E-Paper Tablet (touch-typable!)

[Graham]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Check out the Sony PRS-T1. It already lets you take notes with the stylus and it is eink.

Indeed, as did the previous generation of Sonys, like my PRS-650.

The speed and resolution, though, suffer in comparison with, say, a pencil and a cheap paper notebook. I can see eInk getting there, but I don't think it's there yet.

Graham

[Kumabjorn]

This thread is about attaching a keyboard and being able to type on an e-ink device, not doodling with graphical input.

[Renate]

Hi all. Newbie here.

Verygreen has done nice work and the kernel is an improvement.
It appears that to get a keyboard working directly on a Nook you will need to be rooted and have the new kernel installed.

But...

If you can make do with using a powered hub then you can get it working on a stock Nook without even being rooted.

Ok, but...

It requires a bit of a hardware hacking, but not on the Nook itself. I've played with this a million ways and it hasn't blown anything up. Still, be careful.

To make a powered hub, open up a cheap hub, look for the big diode, trace it back to make sure it goes to the input USB jack. Replace this diode with a jumper. Put a big warning sticker on the top of the hub that it back-powers. See the schematic:

If any of this sounds above your level, don't do it!

Plug the wall wart into the hub, plug a keyboard into the hub, plug the hub input through an OTG adapter into the Nook. The keyboard should be functional. Try the num lock to see if it turns the led on and off. Type away.

Total cost: Nook $99, cheap hub $10, cheap keyboard $10, cheap OTG cable $10.

If you like this you can graduate to rooted and the verygreen kernel which allows plugging in a keyboard directly.

[Kumabjorn]

Been a while since any updates, is nothing happening?

[andrewed]

@Renate
Thanks for stopping by. As the guy who started all this a few months ago, I've been following the xda thread, including your posts there. Thanks a lot for your grappling with this project and your discoveries.

That said, I kind of grimaced at mali100's suggestion that you post your developments here. Not because you aren't welcome, but because:

1. we are mostly users here, not developers
2. we are aware of the xda thread
3. the dust has not settled over there

Until the process becomes really clear and repeatable, and instructions simple and easy for non-hackers to follow (which I, as a designer and non-hacker, aim to ensure), it doesn't make any sense to me to say anything here of a technical nature. Everybody here is a grown-up, but I don't want people to try prematurely, fail, and get discouraged, either.

I'm still waiting for my hardware to arrive from the US and China, and I don't have posting privileges at xda. So I am just lying low for now. Verygreen, ros87, and I had a lot of private communication about this. Now they seem to be waiting for me to get my hardware together before saying much more.

Does that make sense? I don't want to discourage you. Probably a wiki page will be in order soon, and I'd appreciate your help with that. Not sure where. Here or maybe nookdevs.

@Kumabjorn
See my reply to Renate above.

[Kumabjorn]

Yeah, making a powered hub is not in my realm of capabilities. In the end I suppose it will either end up as a hack, or if possible a stand alone app that you download to your Reader.

[DuckieTigger]

@Kumabjorn
Yeah me too on hacking hardware.

@andrewed
I somehow missed the xda thread. What is the current link for it, or do I just need look through this thread here?

And even though hardware hacking is not one of my strong points, I am still interested in hearing about big breakthroughs here.

@Renate
Good job on your findings. Makes me wonder since the keyboard works on unrooted / unmodified Nook if that will work on other Readers as well. Did you try plugging in your powered hub into e.g. a Kindle or PRS-T1?

[andrewed]

My device arrived. Swedish customs, which I tried to avoid, quite unfairly wants $28 to release it. Naturally, I'm broke at the moment. If anyone wants to speed up our little project, throw me a bone via PayPal at:
info@andrewdurham.com
Otherwise, I'll get it when I can in another week or two.

Renate has been hard at work at xda with two more upgrades. Very cool.

@DuckieTigger
I just discovered the xda link was not labeled as such. Now it is. See my post #63 on page 5.

[nealsharmon]

I'm really looking forward to a version of the USBHost hack that isn't over my head!

I will install it on my rooted Nook as soon as I understand how to do it. I'm not an android developer.

Thanks for your work on this verygreen!

And thanks for following up Andrew, I've sent you $28 to your paypal account, please get me something easy to install for a guy who doesn't develop on Android but managed to root my Nook.

Thanks,
Neal

[andrewed]

@nealsharmon:
Thank you very much. More news Monday.

[andrewed]

Ok, Nook is in hand (@nealsharmon, the Swedish Post Office won. Thanks again for your support). I have a USB OTG adapter.

I don't really have my health, so my progress may be slow. But I will keep trying and posting as always. Everyone is invited to help sort this out. The goal? Insanely simple instructions. No brainer. Foolproof.

If we shoot for that, we could get something reasonable.

[nealsharmon]

You bet...anything I can do to speed up the process. I am super anxious to use a keyboard on the nook

[Renate]

Originally Posted by andrewed

The goal? Insanely simple instructions.

Things may not get a lot simpler any time soon.

I've played with this a lot.
At my desk I have my Nook docked to my back-powered USB.
About the house and elsewhere I use it alone or with a USB keyboard or a footswitch for scrolling.

As things stand right now, there is a random element to getting this to work immediately every time you plug in.
You may plug things in and it works immediately or you may have to fumble with settings and retry.

The problem is that the driver has a very difficult job figuring out what is plugged into the USB jack.
There may eventually be improvements in the driver from verygreen or others, but right now, it is what it is.

Without rooting the Nook, a keyboard doesn't have much utility.
If you can handle a bit of fumbling, install the verygreen mod and a host mode app.

[andrewed]

Hi, everyone,

I finally got my NST working. Had to install 1.1.2 update to make wifi connection work.

I just started a wiki at xda so that a coherent set of instructions for installation and use of the hack could take shape. The idea is to take things to the next level by making it possible for adventurous non-techs to get involved.

See my xda post about it here:

[Q] USB Host for non-techs

@Renate
Hey, thanks for the update and all your amazing investigations and contributions at xda. Tons of friendly tweaks! I understand the hack is unstable at the moment. Just sent you a pm on xda about the wiki. Maybe if we do some work, verygreen would jump back in and refine the driver. He's a bit buried at the moment, but we could get increase the momentum in the meantime.

[Kumabjorn]

Will that be implemented on Kindle and Sony as well?