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Root How I rooted B&N 1.4.1 and got the Android Market to work

I am new to this, just got a NC for my daughter, thanks to one and all for your answers to my rooting questions. Please help with my first questions, My NC has some apps loaded from BN. Do I need to save my apps and books before rooting? if so how?
 
sfczarko said:
I am new to this, just got a NC for my daughter, thanks to one and all for your answers to my rooting questions. Please help with my first questions, My NC has some apps loaded from BN. Do I need to save my apps and books before rooting? if so how?
Click to expand...
If all you're doing is rooting the B&N configuration, everything should be preserved. You won't lose access to any of the B&N apps as a result of rooting. Unfortunately, B&N's lock down doesn't really give you the tools to do backups. You might want to make a copy of anything you've copied over.

Unless she's got B&N content, or plans to use it, you might want to consider just loading CyanogemMod on it instead. I've been giving the B&N 1.4.1 software a fair shake lately, but I'm getting tired of the limitations. I put my son's NC on CM7.1 months ago, and he's had zero problems with it. You lose access to some of the B&N apps when you do this (Soduku, Crossword, etc.) but you can copy them over if you really want them, or find better, free equivalents in the Android Market. The biggest loss is the B&N Reader, which only matters if she's bought books or subscriptions from them.
 
jaustin said:
[...] I can't seem to get NHL game center to work because of a location error any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...
I didn't even get that apps to show up in Market on B&N 1.4.1. I found that the Bruins App took care of all my needs. :)

NHL Game Center is happy on CM7. You might take a look at AnyCut to see if you can find a (hidden) setting on 1.4.1 to use network locations in the absence of GPS. No guarantees, though.
 
Also, just b/c an app works on your phone does not mean it'll work on your NC. I like Weather bug on my DroidX and it's worked with every rom I've thrown at it so far, but it only FC's when I installed it to either of my tablets (NC or HP TP) with CM7.
 
colchiro said:
Also, just b/c an app works on your phone does not mean it'll work on your NC. I like Weather bug on my DroidX and it's worked with every rom I've thrown at it so far, but it only FC's when I installed it to either of my tablets (NC or HP TP) with CM7.
Click to expand...
Just for giggles, I installed Weatherbug on my NC now running CM7.2 RC0 Mirage again, and it's working. I did enable use wireless networks in Settings->Location & security settings and made sure Use GPS satellites is off.

I'm using clocksync to set my timezone and location based on my current external IP address, and that is working nicely.

I did some build.prop edits to make my NC appear as a Motorola Droid 3, but I'm not sure that made any difference.

Maybe those steps will help with the NHL app?
 
Following the directions at the beginning of this post I was able to successfully root my Nook Color running 1.4.1, install and download from the Android Market, and install and download from the Amazon Market. Have chosen, for the time being, to operate off of the stock launcher instead of the Zeam launcher (thanks to Nook Color Apps Manager). Everything is working fine so far but I still have some things I would like to do and some questions so any comments/answers to the below will be extremely appreciated.

- note: I know that some of these items would just go away if I switched to CM7 totally but at the moment I like having that connection to the B&N "infrastructure" and realize that will impose some limitation.

- still need to turn off the automatic updates. Anyone know if SQLite (or any other SQL database editor can be run from the SD card (I have rooted both my and my wife's Nook and would rather not buy the editor twice)

- I am still looking for a basic address book app that will handle phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and notes. You would think something this basic would be a dime a dozen but apparently not.

- I was not aware that so many apps could run on Android 2.3 but not Android 2.2 unless there are additional restrictions imbedded in the Nook stock 2.2 that are not circumvented by rooting. Examples include the Weather Channel app and Google Sky Map. Any way around this?

- plan on exploring over-clocking, starting to review discussions now so pointers to appropriate threads welcome.
 
Bobstro,

Thank you so much for this, it all worked great. The only thing that were cons (none of which have anything to do with your writeup) is:

Much more limited view of the Market. I have to go to Freeware Lovers: The Best Things in Life are FREE to download a lot of .apk files and install them from there. I could see much more with my rooted 1.1. Also, packages I install this way that worked under 1.1, don't work as well now under 1.4.

I lost my ability to connect ad-hoc to my DroidX. I need to find the fix for this that applies to 1.4. If you have a pointer, that would be great.

I think, but not sure, that the light on my charge cable no longer turns green when fully charged. Nothing big, just noticed it.

But it is great being able to finally watch video's on new sites and youtube. On, that's another odd thing, the Google News and Weather app doesn't work anymore, just opens and closes.

I wish there was a way to "fool" the market into thinking the device is a phone, but haven't found one yet.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write this up.

-Jim
 
Noticed the charge light "issue" also. Even when nearly drained the light is green when I plug in the USB cable and not orange.

jtpryan said:
Bobstro,

Thank you so much for this, it all worked great. The only thing that were cons (none of which have anything to do with your writeup) is:

Much more limited view of the Market. I have to go to Freeware Lovers: The Best Things in Life are FREE to download a lot of .apk files and install them from there. I could see much more with my rooted 1.1. Also, packages I install this way that worked under 1.1, don't work as well now under 1.4.

I lost my ability to connect ad-hoc to my DroidX. I need to find the fix for this that applies to 1.4. If you have a pointer, that would be great.

I think, but not sure, that the light on my charge cable no longer turns green when fully charged. Nothing big, just noticed it.

But it is great being able to finally watch video's on new sites and youtube. On, that's another odd thing, the Google News and Weather app doesn't work anymore, just opens and closes.

I wish there was a way to "fool" the market into thinking the device is a phone, but haven't found one yet.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write this up.

-Jim
Click to expand...
 
Re: market issues, there's always Amazon's app store: Amazon Mobile App

Re: power cord issues... bear in mind the usb cable is fragile and if you kink it too much/too often, you could break one or more wires in it, which will greatly affect charging time or the led indicator.
 
Thanks for the pointer to the app store, I'll check it out.

The cable thing started only after the update so I don't think it's a hardware issue. But it doesn't really bother me.

The Ad Hoc issue is my primary concern right now.
 
The charge cable light is not software controlled. I had the "always green" problem, so took it to a B&N store and had it replaced. I've read that this is a symptom of a bad or failing cable. Since the bloody thing costs $25 to replace, I didn't want to keep using it until it failed.

In some cases (e.g. NHL GameCenter, Facebook), I've found that I can install the apk just fine if I get it from another source. I fire up CM on SD, download and install the desired app, then back it up using Android Assistant from the Market. I push that up to Dropbox, reboot into stock B&N, then pull the file down from Dropbox and install it. I prefer AA since I don't have to install anything to load the resulting apk.

I've played with some build.prop mods to spoof another device, but some apps (e.g. FaceBook) still don't show up. I'm not sure what they're using as criteria for compatibility. I've tried clearing Market data etc., but still no luck. The workaround works, but it is a PITA.
 
Dalingrin's 1.3 kernel that Colchiro pointed to works well. I do get the occasional hangup, but I think that's more of a B&N firmware issue than related to the kernel.

I will be updating the howto post soon with the latest updates.
 
Hi brother. could you please to help me where to download the Manualnooter 5-12-XX. I 'm the newbie of NC, and My Version 1.4.1.
 
colchiro said:
Everything should be in that link. :D
Click to expand...
I updated step 4 in the procedure to point directly to GMPOWER's latest post announcing 5.01.24. I also tested the link, and it's still working.

This version fixes the APPS2SD problem. I believe you can install it over previous MN 5.x.x installs, but I haven't tested that myself.

MN does NOT include an overclocked kernel, so you'll still need to install Dalingrin's 1.3 per the previous posts in this thread.

If anybody's looking to keep up with "the latest", follow the ongoing discussion at XDA. GMPOWER drops in now and again with much-appreciated updates, and my howto isn't always up to date (though nothing in it should break anything).
 
I just want to start off by thanking everyone for their help. It took me some time but I finally got my NC 1.4.1 rooted.

My question is I am going to disable the OTA updates but when I go onto the Market to find both Root Explorer & SQLite Editor they are both paid apps. Are there free ones and if so are they under different names. If worse comes to worse I will pay for the apps because the last thing I want happen is an OTA that breaks my root. I worked too damm long on this thing! Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again!
 
I think there are unpaid equivalents for both, but I can't vouch for how easy they are to use. There are some installable .zip versions of OTA blockers, but I think they can be a bit heavy-handed in their approach, and some don't seem to have worked recently. All I can say is that my NC has not auto-updated since I rooted it.
 
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