[Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet] Cubanluke88:
Okay, this thread is going to have A TON of info. I recommend that if you are new to Android you read this thread and any questions you have I will attempt to answer to the best of my knowledge or I'm sure someone else will.

It is, in my opinion, imperative that you understand the material of this post prior to playing around with your new Android device. Much of this topic is general purpose, i.e. it could apply to any Android device but I will be making specific references for the Nook Tablet.

Root: The Android OS is a linux based OS. Thus "root access" is a term that signifies full access to the file system of the OS. Consider root access similar to "administrative privileges" on Windows. An even more extreme analogy may be if you were to buy a Windows computer and find that you only had access to "My Documents;" the Android equivalent would be buying a device like the Nook Tablet (or pretty much any other android device) and not having root access.

Root for the Nook Tablet: We have various methods for rooting the Nook Tablet. The best method, IMO, is the sdcard method found here. This method will allow you to create an external microSD card that allows you to boot into a custom recovery (more on this later) and run a script which will get you "root access."

Why do I want root?: Root access allows you to do things you otherwise would not be able to do. Installing google apps is probably the biggest reason, but other reasons include making certain modifications to the device to allow you to do more "stuff." Another big reason is to install indirect's app which will allow you to flash (fancy word for install) a custom recovery to the internal memory of the Nook. He even has an app that will allow you to unroot the device and restore it to stock (I believe as of this post the unroot app only supports the 16GB model).

Custom Recovery? What's that?: A custom recovery is, IMO, the number 1 priority when tinkering with Android. The first instance of a custom recovery you may encounter is the one I mentioned previously, the sdcard version. I actually have a card that I keep imaged with the custom recovery (Clockworkmod Recovery) ready to go should I ever need it.

Within Clockworkmod Recovery or any other custom recovery, you will be able to do a few things: install zip files, make a backup of your current OS (and restore said backups), wipe data/cache. The key here, as with a lot of this stuff, is DO NOT START SELECTING THINGS YOU DO NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND. For some reason a lot of users have a habit of wiping system and other things within CWM thus resulting in broken partitions and other issues. Follow directions. If you are unsure of something, ask a question.

Custom ROM: ROM stands for Read Only Memory. It is the operating system of Android that is on your device. The stock ROM that comes with the device, a modified version of Android by B&N is very restricting. Getting root access on this rom will open up many options for users. However, as Android is open source, we have the ability to create custom ROMs that provide even more freedom and a "pure" Android experience.

These ROMs almost always come "rooted" as well. What I mean by this is that a developer could create a ROM that does not allow the user root access. In fact, the newest policy of Cyanogenmod (a very popular and hard working ROM development team) is that ROMs will no longer come "rooted" by default. Users will have to toggle root access in settings.

Custom roms are flashed (installed) via a custom recovery like Clockworkmod Recovery. Basically, if you have CWM on your external sdcard or flashed internally, you can store the ROM zip file on your internal memory (or the external card should you choose), boot into recovery, flash the ROM and voila you will be ready to boot into a new OS (you should probably wipe data/cache as well if its a new ROM). I must stress here that it is IMPERATIVE that you make a backup of your current OS prior to installing a new ROM. This way, you can restore your previous setup should you not like the new one or if there are any issues with the new one.

Boot from sdcard? Yes we are quite lucky with the Nook such that we can boot from the external sdcard. I have already mentioned booting into CWM from sdcard but we even have the benefit of booting into a custom ROM (CM7 only currently) from external sdcard. What this means is that you leave the internal OS completely intact. This would thus allow "dual booting" i.e. you can boot into internal or boot from external.

Back to stock: Getting back to stock is incredibly easy with the Nook Tablet. I've done it myself a few times on two devices for various reasons. Many people are afraid to root or flash custom ROMs because it voids the warranty. While true, if you are able to return the device to stock conditions, B&N has no way of knowing that the device has been tinkered with and thus the Warranty remains intact.

To wrap this up, I must stress how important it is that you read, read, read and read more when doing this stuff. Follow directions to the T. Ask questions if you aren't sure about something. I know this is a long post as well but I can't stress how important it is that users understand the information I have put forth here when rooting and/or flashing custom ROMs.

Also, if someone wants to add benefits to why rooting the stock OS is useful please feel free to do so (I admittedly have little experience with the B&N stock OS and thus am not 100% positive of the benefits of rooting the B&N stock OS).