New Nook Glowlight 4?

[bingbong]

Hi guys! I installed Nova launcher following @downeaster59's instructions. But so far I've been unable use standard Android functions like back or the app switcher. Does anyone know how to activate these in the Glowlight 4? Thanks!

[Renate]

Mmm, are you looking for a navigation bar at the bottom or do you want to use the physical buttons?

I haven't been paying much attention to the Glow '21. I'm still using Magisk on it (while my Poke3 has gone Magisk-less).
I remapped the physical buttons on the Glow '21 in /system/usr/keylayout/Vendor_0001_Product_0001.kl
You need Magisk or something else to modify /system

#
# Key layout file for physical buttons
#

key 116  POWER
key 102  HOME

key 191  APP_SWITCH  # top left
key 192  PAGE_UP     # top right
key 193  BACK        # bottom left
key 194  PAGE_DOWN   # bottom right

The default B&N keys are F9-F12

[bingbong]

Mmm, are you looking for a navigation bar at the bottom or do you want to use the physical buttons?

Either actually, I just need the functionality to navigate Android. Thanks for the suggestion, will look into Magisk

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

Very nice. I would be tempted if I hadn’t just bought an Oasis.

You might find that going back to a 6" screen is not all that nice. I find reading better on a larger screen.

[bingbong]

Is anyone else having trouble setting a wallpaper in nova launcher?
I just want a white background

[Renate]

Eink builds tend to do goofy and strong-armed things with wallpaper.
Your friendly neighborhood wallpaper setter will set /data/system/users/0/wallpaper correctly. You can pull that file and check (it's a PNG).
Unfortunately, the Glow '21 never renders that as background, it uses black. Period.
(Semi-unrelated: The Poke3 lets you set wallpaper but it always renders background as white.)

You can try my simple wallpaper setter in my sig.
If you load it on a phone you can see how the background in the app itself changes instantly.

Edit: Also, the Glow '21 doesn't respect wnd.requestFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE)

[bingbong]

Dude thanks so much, will try your app

[Renate]

I don't know Nova Launcher (as you see, I use "Lunch") but you can just mod it with a fixed white background.

[token_01]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

OK, here's how to root the GL4. What I've done is taken Renate's post #37 from the XDA thread referenced in my previous post and fleshed it out a bit:

This presumes that you have ADB working and have already installed an alternate Android launcher on your GL4. If you haven't done any of this, check out this post before proceeding.

Here we go. Note that our Nook can be a bit stubborn about responding to ADB commands, so if it doesn't work the first time, try again and/or ask for help!

1) Download the GL4 firmware to your desktop or laptop from here.

2) Unzip the file.

3) Look for boot.img in the unzipped file and transfer it to your GL4.

4) Download the Magisk app from here and install it on your GL4. (Note: that link is also a very helpful source of info for Magisk.)

5) Run the Magisk app.

6) You'll see two slightly shaded boxes, entitled Magisk and App, respectively. In the Magisk box, directly to the right of the word Magisk, tap Install.

7) Under "Select and patch a file", select the boot.img file you just copied to your GL4. If you don't see this option in the first Magisk window you arrive at after tapping "install", tap "next" and you will.

8) Once Magisk completes its work on your boot.img, it will say so and will tell you where the patched file is located.

9) Copy the patched file back to your desktop/laptop. You can use ADB pull if you wish.

10) Enter the command adb reboot bootloader on your desktop/laptop.

11) Then, this command: fastboot flash boot the name of your magisk-patched boot.img. (I italicized that to indicate that you type the name of your Magisk-patched file instead of what's in italics!!) You can copy and paste the Magisk-patched file instead of typing out its full name. Tap Enter or Return, depending on what laptop/desktop you have.

12) Reboot to system. You can try adb reboot system or simply turn off your GL4 and turn it back on. You should be rooted now. Check by running the Magisk app once you are rebooted. Under the Magisk heading, besides "Installed", you should see a number. If you see "No", it didn't root properly. You can also install a root checker app to check root.

I hope I haven't missed anything!

Followed instructions. Device will not power on.

Definitely missed something...

[Renate]

Grr, maybe you flashed something bad?
Post what you flashed as an image, the Magisk.
(There's no personal info in a boot image as long as it's actually a boot image.)

[token_01]

I was able to restore the device to its previous state.

As far as I can tell the instructions caused the device to malfunction.

I used the links provided.

I did not amend anything. There is definitely something wrong with the information provided.

[token_01]

Duplicate.

[keitaro26]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

10) Enter the command adb reboot bootloader on your desktop/laptop.

This is as far as I can get. My device locks up and never reboots to the boot loader. Trying to proceed to the next step just gives me <waiting for any devices>. Any suggestions?

[Renate]

Maybe you're missing the driver for fastboot?
Check in DeviceManager for a device with exclamation mark.

[downeaster59]

I note that a few people recently have had issues when following the instructions I posted. These instructions worked flawlessly for me and for many others at the time I posted them. If they are not working for you, let me offer a few things to check on as a start:

1) Did you enable USB debugging on your GL 4?
2) Following up on Renate's suggestion, check to see that adb and fastboot are properly installed on your desktop/laptop.
3) It is possible, though unlikely, that a Nook firmware update could have changed the way your GL 4 responds to some commands. I can't test for this as I blocked Nook firmware updates, to save myself the hassle of re-rooting every time there is an update. If someone else wants to test for this, thank you!