yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
UK: multi-language splash screens at power on and off, dictionary is Oxford English, keyboard design is slightly different but with same function. You get to choose UI language (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian).

US: "Read Forever" splash screen at power on, dictionary is Merriam-Webster, keyboard design slightly different but same functions (including entry of letters with diacritical marks). UI language is "locked" on US English and Time Zone locale is limited. Some re-worked Settings apps (mine for example--shameless plug) offer UI language change and full Time Zone locale range.

I think you'll find a chess app in this package: https://xdaforums.com/t/working-games-apps-pack-for-the-nst-nstg.2661366/

I just checked the link and it seems to work but Mediafire is currently behaving oddly, with a brief flash of the download option and then nothing. I'll check again later. You can too. Otherwise, we'll find another one.

Edit: OK, I got it to download, but it didn't like my adblock. Not al mediafire links are like that, but this one seems to be.

No, I know. There is a lot of information on this forum, but much is out of date and some things are so briefly mentioned and turn out to be really important or useful. I still come across stuff that I can't believe I missed.

The big question is: what kind of device do you want to end up with? If you want a functioning e-reader with the B&N interface, then your best bet is to update to FW 1.2.2 (I've given you the two options above but may have confused the issue a little; if you go the UK route, you will already be at FW 1.2.2, though you need to set up a B&N account before you start; if you go the US route, you will be at FW 1.2.1 and need to update to FW 1.2.2, then register with a new or existing account) and then--if you want additional stuff--root with the updated NookManager.

And even there, my updated NookManager has three different packages. You can read there about the differences. Each will give a somewhat different user experience.

So consider what kind of device you want.
[Nook Touch General] westsenkovec:
Thank you for your help.

To be honest, I don't know what I want.

The stock reader was neat but I didn't use it much.

I downloaded some free stuff from B&N. I would side load .epub books from the SD card and manuals and stuff like that.

I guess the stock reader app is ok but from what I remember it's very limited for PDF.

I don't know that's possible with the hardware it has.

I would like to play chess since the screen is great for that, read books, maybe have a notes app.

My phone is light-years ahead of this thing but the e-ink screen is great.

I was hoping that by this time A4 sized e-ink tablets would be affordable and we could use it for reading magazines, books ans taking notes like on a notepad.

The devices that I saw are expensive and limited due to awkward design choices.
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
OK, so maybe some light reading and a few odd apps.

You're right about the stock reader and PDFs. To be fair, though, no PDF reader for the NST is very good at re-flowing text, so if you have a novel in PDF form, the stock reader is about as good as it gets on this device.

Manuals, magazines, etc., are a somewhat different story. There you would probably want to move around on a larger page, zoom in, maybe rotate the screen, etc. Also, a flicker-free screen would be nice. Those are doable on the NST with a number of PDF readers (I use an old version of EBookDroid) and the NoRefresh app which allows for smooth movement (scrolling and dragging) without flickering--with a small loss of smoothness in the font display and a reversion to strict B&W, so grey-scale images look terrible. But for text and diagrams, it's pretty amazing for the device.

Notes, I don't have personal experience with but I know a lot of people were fond of Evernote. We could probably find a copy of the app somewhere. Or you could just use the ES Note Editor that is part of ES File Explorer if your wants are very limited (just typing stuff, basically). Maybe a more versatile keyboard (I'm working on modding a pretty good one right now).

And chess, of course.

So here's the thing: if you want to use the stock reader, you need to update the FW and register. Anything else you read about like skipping OOBE (bypassing registration, basically) will give you a much shorter battery charge life. The device will just run itself down if the links to B&N are frustrated or incomplete. Unless you remove all the B&N stuff and install your own reader app and dictionary. One of my devices is set up like that.

As for the UI, you have three choices based on the NookManager packages. I do not recommend the "Classic" option because it leaves you with no software that can access root, even though the device is rooted. Never understood that, but I just wanted to provide the option like the original (actually still very popular, based on the download numbers...).

You can have a much more Android type experience with a standard launcher and root-access file manager in the "Traditional" package. It is what I use. Seems about equally popular as the "Classic".

The other option is what I called "Stealth". The system looks and behaves just like the standard NST. But one hardware button is assigned to an app drawer which allows you to access things like a better PDF reader, chess, notes, etc. There is no additional launcher other than the standard B&N Home, but there is a root-capable file manager in the app drawer.

More to think about.
[Nook Touch General] westsenkovec:
I remember watching YouTube videos that were showing progress with the nook and it was quite exiting. I remember when someone upper the refresh rate and manage to play YouTube videos on it. Completely useless but very cool.

I think I kinda remember those nook manager packages as launcher previews that I watched online. Maybe the stealth option would be the best for me. Sounds good.

The android UI sounds like the old android cupcake app drawer that I had. I would like to forget that part of experience 😂

I've read about the short battery too if you don't register. The system is pinging the servers which causes the battery drain if I remember correctly.

I also remember that sourcing a replacement battery was almost impossible. Thankfully mine seems ok.

Are the aftermarket reading apps better? How are they integrated? Do the page buttons and other stuff work as on the stock version?

I think the biggest fraud or maybe disinformation about this product was that it was marketed as super energy efficient, great contrast, paper like screen and so on which is not incorrect but everyone was using the e ink as a selling point. You only use the battery to turn s page, unlike a LCD screen. The problem is that this wasn't true. Reading would drain the battery. There's a screensaver timeout. You can't leave the thing next to you on a page while you're doing something and then reference it because the screen locked in the meantime.

You can't leave a note up. You can't leave the chessboard up while you're thinking through your moves.

That's a shame. I don't know how the newer ones are but I doubt there's a huge difference. The screen is barely bigger.

When I had a 3.5 or 4" screen on my phone the nook seemed great but now my phone screen is almost the same.

Let's not forget that we've been promised a foldable e ink reader for god knows how many years.
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Yeah, I have a little app that allows you to watch CBSN (and listen with USB Audio) but the video leaves a great deal to be desired, even with NoRefresh. So, sorta useless, but pretty "cool".

I've been helping another member get his device set up and he is the "Stealth" package ultimate booster. My download records show that the other two packages are equally popular and far and away more popular than the Stealth version. His idea was the device was a

reader

, and he only wanted a few other odds and ends. So the MIUI app drawer in the Stealth version was exactly what he wanted. I cooked up an app for him that takes the place of the "reading now" status bar button and drops down a menu he has customized with the last read Nook book, the last read Kindle book, the last read PDF, and the app drawer. Otherwise the device is just as you might get it from the store--about 10 years ago!

I have three of these things and all the batteries seem fine. I think using and recharging them is actually good for them but I've never gotten the kind of life for a charge that B&N touted. Of course, my devices are somewhat modified :-)

"Better" is a tough word here. The major competition is FBReader (which has a special NST version), AlReader (very NST-friendly) and CoolReader. To those I would add Mantano only because I did a mod on it recently. It lacks any font support, although the default is not bad. It's the only reader that has all the features of the stock reader AND the ability to read PDF files that are not book-like, zooming, panning etc. It can also read Adobe DRM books. The others, which have riotous settings and font support, can't, and I don't think they can even read PDFs. Each one has its partisans. Not sure abut the page buttons which I don't use for reading. I've used all for awhile on the one device I have with B&N system removed. For the time being, I've settled on my Mantano mod.

Well....not with the device "as-is". There have been a number of schemes to leave an image of the last screen as the screensaver. I have not followed these closely but I have something that is manual in that respect. I'm one of those crazies that likes the current bookcover to be the screensaver. CoolReader and AlReader can do this. I wrote a little app to help Mantano do it and eventually figured out a way to do the same for the stock reader--but only for side-loaded epubs. For the rest, I have a hard key assigned to take a screenshot and put it in the bookcover screensaver folder. So if I'm reading a Kindle book I can wait till I'm on the cover screen and take a screenshot. Or....if I'm stuck on a chess move....

Yeah, I've seen videos of the newer readers but they still flicker when screen change. There's really little progress. I guess that's one reason I stick with my NST. So much was done in the far past by people who really loved the device, so there's a good foundation of mods. I've tried to carry on now that most of those folks are gone. I'm not a java programmer but it's amazing what can be done with Tasker and App Factory.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Huh? It's been a long time since I've seen a screen flicker by page turn.
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
My 69 year-old bifocal-enhanced vision detects behavior consistent with e-ink displays when changing from one view to another. I agree that

page turns

have improved over time, although I can't say that this was ever a huge problem for me with the NST. I actually remember turning the pages of a real book, so visual "distraction" of that sort is familiar.

And...if it's really a huge deal, a third party reader app with NoRefresh will make amazingly smooth page transitions.
[Nook Touch General] keo92:
DELETE
[Nook Touch General] broreader:
Hello there,

first of all, thank you to @nmyshkin and others for all the resources in this forum.

I'm a bit late, but I recently rooted a Nook simple touch w/ glowlight running 1.2.2 using the NookManager "classic" version. The process went smoothly but I have a few questions about running FastMode and/or NoRefresh.

1. Are NoRefreshToggle-debug2.apk and FastMode2 the most recent versions?

2. Is this process of installing the appropriate kernel still the accepted way?

3. How can I check if FastMode is running? noFrillsCPU?

4. I can't get FastMode to work (there is still considerable ghosting before and after activation). NoRefresh seems to work, but it makes the text a bit grainy compared to normal. Is there a way to combat this?
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Yes.

Yes, but if your kernel does not support USB Host you don't need the USB app shown in that sequence.

If you can't tell whether FastMode is working then it must not be. The dithering or stippling should be immediately apparent.

Unfortunately FastMode is all about ghosting as I recall. You don't get any screen refreshes so there's no flicker as when changing screens or scrolling in normal mode. But since you don't get screen refreshes, ghosting gets worse and worse, especially with video.

AFAIK, NoRefresh does not require a kernel change. However only one kernel that enables FastMode does NOT disable NoRefresh. That's kernel 166.

For reading, NoRefresh is the one you want. Yes, the fonts can look a little scrappy, maybe worse depending on the font you are using and perhaps the size. Best results are had by toggling the mode on a screen containing only text. I find it is really a plus for the Kindle reader as the page changes are so drama-laden. It's also good for pdfs in something like EBookDroid where you have one continuous vertical scroll. Useful in Opera Mini as well if you don't care about images.

FastMode should be a slam dunk if you have installed the correct kernel. You could check with NoFrills CPU to see if the device is actually overclocked. If not, the kernel was not installed correctly. Also be sure NoRefresh is not running when trying FastMode. The two are incompatible.
[Nook Touch General] broreader:
Thanks for the response! Yes, I think I did it properly now, and I notice the dithering immediately for FastMode.

Just to confirm, both FastMode and NoRefresh should result in this effect, correct? with the default appearance being the most complete? I was trying EBookDroid with both FastMode and NoRefresh and the text is a tiny bit “fuzzy” compared to when everything’s off. I do notice the lack of refreshes which is nice. I can show comparison pics when I return
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
It's been years since I used FastMode but my recollection is that text appearance is more degraded with it than with NoRefresh. For the length of time it would take to get through a book, my eyes prefer the latter.

For anything with motion or a lot of images, FastMode may be better (although there is ghosting...) since it can simulate half tones better through dithering. You can get something like half tones with NoRefresh using the initial contrast control, but at the loss of text clarity. I once played around with an IPTV source via MX Player and compared the two display modes. Initially FastMode delivered a more "normal" image, although dithered and fuzzy looking. But after a minute or so the screen was filled with swirls of ghosting as the image moved and pretty soon there was just a mess.

NoRefresh required an initial contrast adjustment to lighten up the image and make details more recognizable. The end result was not really "normal" B&W, but it did not continue to degrade as the images continued to move. I preferred that. But that's just me.

I don't play around with video any more but I do use USB Audio so that decided the issue for me since kernel 166 does not support USB Host. With that option you can only have one of the display modes and I chose NoRefresh for some reading situations.
[Nook Touch General] jewelie:
Hi.

I've a Nook Simple Touch Glowlight (BNVR350 - Firmware 1.2.1 UK) which I love!

Battery drains from full in about a week if left on/standby without being used.

I removed the battery to properly test it and the battery seems fine (capacity is 1500mAh @ 500mA and it has less than 2% self-discharge per week at 2/3rds full.)

So it's either an odd hardware issue (doubtful) or a software issue (more likely - as this seems quite common); however,-

It is registered, and

I don't use WiFi (B&N dropped out of UK so the shop doesn't work for us.)

I've no real interest in rooting it or changing the software unnecessarily as I really like the built-in reader, especially for PDFs.

The only thing I can think of is that I do tend to manually tap the power button to put it into standby when I've finished reading, which I gather can sometimes cause issues?

Any thoughts?
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Actually it is no longer "registered". There are probably things happening inside because it can't phone home.

Manually invoking the screensaver will not help.

You can either remove all the B&N stuff or flash the unofficial FW 1.2.2 for the UK version and register with US servers. No rooting required.
[Nook Touch General] jewelie:
Hmmm. I've been working on the assumption that if the WiFi is off then it doesn't know it can't connect to the servers. But even then, it only needs me to turn WiFi on occasionally for it to try and fail to phone home and therefore cause issues. Sounds like it's maybe worth me doing the unofficial UK firmware update after all then. Thanks.
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
And you had it on at least once back in the day to register, etc.

It could be an aging battery too, but I have four of these things and they hold a charge pretty well.

The UK update is here: https://xdaforums.com/t/nst-g-update-fw-1-2-2-uk-unofficial.4360889/
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
Hello, well posting my noob question here...

I have a nook glowlight plus (the glow 2), and I am stuck with android 4.4.2...

Is there any rom out there that would allow me to update it? (even just a little bit)

My main issue right now is the version of webview (30) which makes many web HTML things unusable :(
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
The only way to get anything other than KitKat is to build it yourself (Lineage OS, I assume) or cajole someone into doing it for you. I think you'll have a hard time tracking someone down for that particular task.

The Webview is a problem, to be sure. You have to get at least to Lollipop to have any hope of updating that. To some extent Opera Mini (will have to check the right version number) can "solve" some of those problems since pages are reformatted by Opera servers before you get them. But it doesn't catch everything.
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
Dont mind the challenge of building it my self... but is the kernel public ? I havent seen anything regarding this ^^
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Oops....forgot about that. Theoretically B&N "must" supply the kernel if asked. Now whether that exists somewhere already or not, you'd have to search out.
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
^^ ok,

well I'll look around but I may have to look into a different option ^^

Thanks!
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Wait, is that a BNRV510? If so, the fellow who produced the "alternative firmwares" for all the various Glowlight models has the kernel on his github. I think?

GitHub - Ryogo-X/bnrv510_kernel

Contribute to Ryogo-X/bnrv510_kernel development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
WOW great! thanks!

plus I had just installed his fw Version: 1.04.4140 and Its a huge improvement! (just shame that it still android 4.4.2)

I'll start looking into compiling my own ROM that may get me out of this android 4.4.2 ^^
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
Good :)

I've never done a custom ROM before, fearing that it just involves too much I don't know (which is a lot). Yesterday I started trying to set up my Win 10 machine for a Linux subsystem for Ubuntu, but I ended up with a machine that would not boot and just barely made it back to a working system restore point. Big WHEW!

I was actually aiming for LNOS 11 for the NST because the fellow who started and then abandoned a CM 11 ROM really left it in sad shape. It "works" but it drains the battery in two days :-(

If you make any progress, I'd like to hear about it (living vicariously!). Actually I'm sure many people would like to hear about it! Anyway, if you have a chance.

Good luck!
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
Well I think it's going to be a little bit more complicated ^^ we also need the device specific configuration to get LNOS compiled...

And well CM11 was based on Kitkat, and LNOS only starts with Marshmallow LNOS13... I would think that these version will be way too heavy for our small device which has only 512MB DRAM and a single CPU...

(and well I am not a full time developer, I am just a geek enthusiast )

I may have to rethink my approach and use of the device.
[Nook Touch General] nmyshkin:
And yet Googling around you can find here on XDA "unofficial" KitKat and Lollipop builds for Lineage, so the parts must exist somewhere--or did once.

The Unlegacy Android folks seem to have gone away, but there is always the Android Open Source folks (https://source.android.com/docs/setup/start/requirements) which seems to claim support all the way back to Gingerbread.
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
Help!

Sooo... I was playing around with my Nook... and I lost adb... ^^

Let me explain, it still works but I removed debugging authorizations... So my computer see the device :

List of devices attached
5070210020743157 unauthorized

and well I cant authorize it... as I dont get a pop up screen and I dont see any option in my developer options to authorize... and well I am lost (maybe too tired ^^)
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
well recovered it...

Had to reset my nook.... :|

go again into the adb initializating and authorize both of my computers (windows / mac)...
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
I just did a post sort of on this theme.

The popup is called up by adbd over /dev/socket/adbd

To get the popup the Android subsystem has to be running.

That's why you can't graphically authorize in recovery.
[Nook Touch General] emilic:
Does anyone knows if its possible to turn on and off the back light of the nook using shell? (adb) and how to do this?
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
It's trivial to turn the light off by the shell but to keep in sync with Android requires you to go through Android.
[Nook Touch General] Aizaz Ahmed Khattak:
I'm facing this issue OnePlus 8 after update Android 12 When I open the mic, the speaker volume is reduced.
[Nook Touch General] erikalin:
I know it. Well today, the woman whose device I was working on processed a warranty claim at the store, and they're taking her broken NST with Glowlight into their old device graveyard and going to ship her a "Nook Glowlight" which I think is completely difference device. She needs the "e-ink" for visual issues she has, so I'm glad they still make these simple devices. One more question for you Nook folks though: Are the utilities on this forum we're in now *not* right for the Nook Glowlight? :/
[Nook Touch General] :
There are some utilites here on this forum that are made specifically for the Nook GlowLight, but sadly, there are very few. If you want to try one, ask me if it'll work on the NGL.

Glad I could help you! :)
[Nook Touch General] sherif011:
Firmware version

Hi,

I want to root a nook simple touch running firmware version 1.1.0,

is it better to upgrade first to version 1.2.1 or continue with the current firmware?

Thank you,,
[Nook Touch General] :
It is not only better - it is essential to upgrade to 1.2.1 before rooting! :good:
[Nook Touch General] victorialeong:
2 week old nook glowlight cannot switch on

Hi there! Bought my nook glowlight from the barnes and noble store at nyc just 2 weeks ago. I switched off the nook for a few days and picked it up again. I tried to switch it on by press and holding the on/off button, but the off screen "your nook is turned off" is still displayed. The n button still works as glowlight can still be activated by oressing that, and I can still access my books by connecting the nook via usb to my mac. The device is fully charged too. Is there a way to switch on the nook by running adb commands or something like that? Please advise. Thank you for your help!