[Nook Color Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] vulariter:
I"m happy to report that my internal CM7 Nightly install went well. I chose to go with a 2 GB apps / 4 GB media internal partitioning scheme. I like breathing room, on both sides..lol.. I also like doing things the difficult way, sometimes.. (just being honest)...

Minus the unnecessary convolution of my rooting the stock OS, 50+ complex character WPA2 key, static IP WIFI network, and email address fiasco, here's basically what I did. Again, I'd love to share the external links, but I don't think it will let me do so.

Oh, and always check MD5 sums on the files you download, wherever possible. Corruption in these files will surely eat your Nook alive, at least a little. lol.. Yes, be very scared of that.

Also, don't forget to backup your ClockworkMod backups to a better medium than the microSD card. I used 7zip to archive them on my laptop's internal drive. A cloud backup of them would probably be better (e.g. Dropbox). Just remember, you're putting potentially personal info out there, wherever you put these backups.

Thanks to all the people who figured this stuff out (see the links / websites below, to give them credit).

Bought a NookColor at my local B&N. (I later read about the "blue dot" thing and realized mine had the "blue dot" on the back of the box.)

SIDE NOTE: My understanding is that the "blue dot" signifies only a few important things. 1. a 5 GB apps / 1 GB media partitioning scheme... 2. U-Boot 1.2, with the "Read Forever" logo..... 3. Maybe an unlocking of a few more cylinders (about 250 MB)??? I've only read a little on this..... 4. Maybe a different chip revision or two, inside.

Bought a SanDisk Class 4 (class 6 would have been better) 8GB microSD card.

Located my microSD to SD adapter, which is a priceless item to me.

Located my USB many-in-one card reader, because my Lenovo R61's internal SD reader is unstable.

Located my 2GB class ? microSD card, which I once used in my old LG env2.

Connected my USB card reader to my laptop.

Inserted the 2GB mSD into my USB card reader.

Copied all of my old music, etc, on my 2GB microSD to a directory on my laptop for posterity.

Downloaded the latest version of Win32DiskImager. (Link 1)

Downloaded the latest version of ClockworkMod 2GB SD image. (Link 1)

Imaged my 2GB mSD with the ClockworkMod image.

Created "clockworkmod" and "clockworkmod\backup" directories, inside of the 2 GB mSD (whose disk label is now "boot").

Downloaded the "Custom: 2GB for Apps and 4GB for Media" partitioning file from mrm3.net and placed it in the root directory of my 2 GB mSD.

Downloaded the "Mandatory Data Format File" from mrm3.net and placed it in the root directory of my 2 GB mSD.

Downloaded the latest CM7 "encore" Nightly from cyanogenmod.com and placed it in the root directory of my 2 GB mSD.

Downloaded the latest "encore" Gapps from mrm3.net and placed it in the root directory of my 2 GB mSD.

Confirmed my Gmail and Youtube accounts were linked. This is also the same address which I'm using for my B&N account.

SIDE NOTE: I had to change my B&N account's non-Gmail email address to align my email addresses. I think this may have caused a problem with my obtained-at-Nook-purchase B&N Membership Card, because it no longer works... (I've contacted them about it...and their answer is unsatisfactory. Beware!)

Unboxed my NookColor and began charging it, via the wall plug.

Booted my stock NookColor, signed into my WIFI network and registered my device to my Gmail email address.

Played around with the stock OS and Nook apps, because I'll probably never ever see them again.. The Crossword game was awesome! I didn't allow myself to become attached to their reading apps, to be honest..lol.. (I would have probably been attached, had I not been proactive in my "hacking".)

Powered off my NookColor.

Inserted the 2 GB mSD into my NookColor.

Booted my NookColor into ClockworkMod.

Saved a backup of the stock system to the "backup" directory I created earlier.

Followed the instructions at mrm3.net to repartition my NookColor (rebooting, as directed).

Removed the 2 GB mSD card.

Rebooted again, allowing the Nook to recover from the repartitioning. I did not reregister the device in this step. I just waited for the woman's face to appear and shut it down.

Inserted the 2 GB mSD card.

Booted my NookColor into ClockworkMod.

Saved a backup of the NEWLY PARTITIONED stock system to the "backup" directory I created earlier.

I followed the mrm3.net CM7 Nook Nightlies instructions, but I'll paraphrase here. (Definitely seek this article out, and don't take my word for it.)

Still in ClockworkMod, I reformatted the "data", "system",and "cache"partitions.

Used "install from zip" to install "cm_encore_full-xx.zip"

Used "install from zip" to install "Nook_Color_Google_Apps.zip"

This may be a good time to obtain another backup, if you're paranoid. I did not and wasn't...

Removed the 2 GB mSD card.

Rebooted again, allowing CM7 to do its thing.

Signed into my WIFI network, using the menus.

Signed into the Google Market, selecting all of the Gapps, when prompted. (I figure I can uninstall them, if I find them totally useless.) (e.g. Facebook

app, since I quit it..lol)

Inserted my 8 GB mSD card in the NookColor for the first time and formatted it, from within CM7. I could have made a Win32DiskImage image of the 2 GB ClockworkMod mSD, wiped it out and formatted it for general use, but I like having my own data (media files / apps) separate from my "live recovery environment(s)." Point being, I could have gotten by with just a single mSD card, as tiny as 2 GB and the cheapest class, but I splurged, because I want to keep some music and things on tap, wherever I go.

Rejoiced in the open source goodness.

This would another good time to obtain another backup. I should go do that right now..

Please keep in mind that I might be taking some things for granted. My mind has been altered by being a *NIX System Administrator...

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

-v