I didnt watch the newest videos but do I need to buy a memory card for it then or does it have one? I really dont know lol.
WHAT? You mean I spent my weekend doing this for you guys, and you didn't even watch it? I'm crushed.
JK, yeah you'll need a micro sd card. And it HAS to be a Sandisk card too. Oddly enough, the lower the class of card (class 2 if you can) the better. I have a step by step written up I'll post also.
---------- Post added at 2:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 2:05 PM ----------
Here's the written instructions
Project N2A (Nook to Android)
DISCLAIMER: I am more than willing to help you guys with a write up / how to on this subject since there seems to be some interest in it. I will host the files as well, to speed up your downloads. However, I will not provide any cracked apps / games, or anything else that could be deemed piracy, or illegal activity. I am not here to help you break the law, and the last thing I want is to drag Woodie and RCNT into something in violation of any IP laws, or regulations. I just want to help others get the enjoyment that I’ve had from my low buck tablet. Also, since we are not rooting, nooting, or modifying the stock B&N ROM on the device in any way, but only booting an OS from an SD card, there is virtually zero risk to your device. If it all goes to crap (or you just wish to hang out at B&N or something), simply power down your device, remove the card, and reboot and you will be back to a stock B&N nook color. That being said, I’m not responsible for any damage or lost books, data, etc. If you’re not comfortable messing with it, close the thread now, and go back to reading about airplane motors and superchargers.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get started. First things first, you will need the following tools / software / files before you even begin.
Not a necessity, but handy to have, mini tool partition wizard home edition – also free, get it here:
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html
7 zip – also free, get it here:
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Important tip #1
Files from me that you will need. I have hosted in my dropbox to save you download time. Please PM me for login credentials. I simply won’t post them in public, but am more than happy to give you access, as I’ve done for others here at RCNT in the past. All I ask, is please don’t delete anything, or crap in my dropbox. I consider you guys my friends, and I trust you.
Once you get logged in, click on the Nook folder, then the RCNT – N2A folder. Download every file in this directory, and place them in a folder somewhere on your PC. Here’s a list of what you should see in there.
win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.2-r23-win32.zip
(Right click the file once downloaded, choose 7 zip, choose extract to “win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.2-r23-win32.zip”
DO NOT unzip the following files
gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
cm_encore_full-253.zip
generic-sdcard.img
Important tip #2
Next up, you’re going to need a micro SD card. After beating my head against the wall for hours my first night doing this, I find out that basically, only a Sandisk card will work. Oddly enough, the lower the class of card, the better it works and performs (I know, didn’t make any sense to me either. But it has to do with the way they are optimized for reading / writing large blocks of data, vs random small reads / writes as is our case. Just save the headache, and go get a Sandisk low class card and be done with it. I used a 16GB card myself.
Okay, so you have your SD card in hand, and all the files downloaded. Let’s get cracking.
Fire up Win32imager – click on the drop down on the top right where it says device and choose the appropriate drive letter for your SD card. Then, click on the folder icon just to left of that, and choose the folder where you put your generic-sdcard-img and chosse that file and click save. Then click the write button and you should see the progress bar start to move.
IMPORTANT!!! – When it finishes the progress bar will simply go away, and other than that, you don’t get any confirmation that it’s finished. MAKE SURE that you safely eject / stop your SD card always before removing it. Otherwise it will erase the img file you just burned to it. So, eject it, wait a couple seconds, then put it right back in the PC. Now, under My Computer you should see it pop up as boot:/
Double click to open it, then drag the cm_encore_full-253.zip into the root of SD card, DO NOT unzip or extract it, just drag and drop. Now, ONCE AGAIN you need to eject / stop your SD card safely, then remove it from the PC.
At this point, you need to insert the SD card into your Nook with it powered off. Then hold down the power button until you see the backlight come on and release it. After a few seconds, you should see the Linux penguin at the top left corner (landscape mode) of your screen and lots of text letting you know he’s doing some work. This will take a couple of minutes, and then the device will shut off. Power the device back up, and you should get a loading screen that says cyanogenmod on it. After a little bit, this will be replaced with the android guy on a skateboard. Then it will boot to your desktop, but we’re not done just yet. Click on the launcher button at the bottom center (in portrait mode) that looks like four squares, then click on settings towards the bottom, then wi fi settings. You need to make sure that you’re connected to your wifi, and verify it by browsing the web, before proceeding. You need an internet connection from here on to finish the setup.
Now, this is where I had some issues on my first install. So, I came up with what I think is a much easier method / workaround than trying to mount a linux partitioned SD card on a Windows PC (you can imagine they don’t exactly play nice together, even with a lot of disk utils and drivers for reading Linux volumes)
Once you are connected, launch the web browser and go to the dropbox website and login with the credentials I gave you. Then go to the Nook / RCNT – N2A directory and download the following file:
NookColorUMS-0.3b.apk
Once it finishes downloading it will prompt you to install it, click OK. Once it finishes installing, launch the app and you’ll need your USB cable that came with your device.
The app is going to launch in a small window the size of a phone screen, but it’s no big deal. You want to choose the second option down from the top, which is mount sd card. Then scroll all the way to the bottom and click confirm. You’ll see a progress meter running, and only when it’s finished should you plug the nook into your PC via the USB cord. At this point, open up My Computer and you should once again see the boot:/ drive. Double click on it, and drag and drop the gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip file into the root of the boot:/ directory. DO NOT unzip or modify it, just drag and drop. Once it completes copying the file, MAKE SURE you safely stop / eject the nook before unplugging it or you get to start all over.
Now, power up the Nook and it should again boot to CM7 (cyanogenmod). Once it boots up all the way, hold the power button until it prompts you for what action you want to perform. Choose reboot, but when it offers you the two choices, choose recovery and hit OK. It will now boot into recovery mode, and you’ll once again see Tux (the little penguin guy) doing some work, then it will shut the device down. Once it shuts down, power it back up and it should prompt you to login to the Android market place (this is why you needed wifi working beforehand).
And that’s pretty much it fellas. I know it’s long winded, and it probably seems like a lot, but it’s really not that much actual work. I wanted to make sure I covered everything including things that tripped me up the first go round. Less than an hour probably the first time, and now less than a half hour for me. I can honestly say that after a few days with it, I no longer have the urge for that iPad. For 90% of what I do with a tablet, this is more than adequate.
If you have any trouble or get stuck, send me a PM, and I’ll my best to get you fixed.
Happy Modding,
Randy
