yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nook Touch General] copota:
Anyone know how to root a Glow Plus that's already been updated to FW4.7?

Since Barnes and Noble disabled all the older firmware's, it appears there's no way to access the device since you can't turn on USB debugging in the current firmware's.

Is there a work around for this to get USB Debugging enabled in firmware's later than 4.7?

Any help is appreciated.

I was able to get Developer Settings in firmware 47 and 49 by going into...

All Settings > Page 2 > About > and from the About page, rapidly tap the Nook logo icon near the center top of the screen until a hidden setting page appears. From that hidden page, do the following to enable USB Debugging...

Tap "Android Development Settings" and then tap the USB debugging check box to select USB debugging.

Go back to the main Development Settings page and tap "Allow Debugging". This will enable Debugging and allow ADB access.

***NOTE:*** There's no confirmation that the button activated USB Debugging, so just tap it, and you can verify ADB is active by typing the "ADB devices" command from a command prompt, and it should return a message listing your device number with the word "Device" listed next to it. If it returns a message that reads "Unauthorized" then USB debugging was not activated.

I successfully rooted my Nook Glow Plus after updating to Firmware 49 by doing the following...

Download rootGLP-3.zip from here from here >link<. You'll need this to run ADB from a command prompt on Windows or Linux. It also has the script to root your Nook.

Enable USB Debugging by ticking the checkbox found in Android Development Settings (see above).

Once USB debugging is activated, you can run the "rootnook" script found in the rootGLP-3.zip. The script is run from a command prompt in either Windows (rootnook.cmd) or Linux (rootnook.sh).
[Nook Touch General] bonchien:
Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I received a refurb Nook GLP and side loaded Nova Launcher and several other apps. FWIW, the Kindle app linked in this thread seems to work without any issues on the Nook GLP: https://xdaforums.com/nook-touch/general/15-mins-to-install-kindle-to-nook-t3304847 It's the only version of Kindle I've tried that worked.
[Nook Touch General] bonchien:
Glad I saw this. After installing MoonReader on my Nook GLP, battery went from 100% to 13% in one day with very little use. I though the battery was shot. Since uninstalling MoonReader, turning off wifi and the backlight, battery has been fairly stable, decreasing a few percent per day with about 30 minutes of use per day.
[Nook Touch General] jonals:
Keep up the great work, I'm really excited about this since my old glowlight is getting limited by the old Android.

I'm really grateful!
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Alright, I've had enough of you lot.

The next thing is that somebody will insist that u-boot was compiled with the I_AM_A_XYLOPHONE flag set

and it will go into fastboot if we play chopsticks on it. I'm tired of taking my Nook apart a zillion times.

So I did something about it.

I'll try your experiment after dinner. :laugh:
[Nook Touch General] dnastase:
Right, that's what I was afraid of !!! :eek:
[Nook Touch General] Windsor1959:
And I was just going to suggest THE_NOOKIE_MACARENA...
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
I tried to see if the OTG with a flash drive would do something.

It didn't vary at all from the normal boot sequence.

I didn't expect much because the host mode was not working in normal operation.
[Nook Touch General] rupor:
In my experiments results are slightly different (I just got the device). I am on Windows 10 (x64) at the moment.

1. Without OTG cable (with normal one) I see Windows 10 reporting malfunctioning USB device (Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)) and then in 10 seconds Nook gets recognized and MTP gets connected. Device is charging.

2. With OTG cable I see Windows 10 reporting malfunctioning USB device twice (Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)) - MTP does not connect at all, but device is charging.

3. Same OTG but now ID pin pulled down with 130K resistor. I got malfunctioning USB device twice, but this time it reports that MTP cannot start and Windows sees Nook connected (Unknown USB Device (Configuration Descriptor Request Failed). Device is charging.

May be I am imagining things and this is dead end... I will open device a bit later to get memory dumps for analysis - would like to poke around a bit first.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Hmm, why did you pick 130K?

I tried from zero to 100K (with a pot) without seeing anything on the console.

I was looking to see if the UART muxed into the USB connector.

That would have been a win too.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
As far as ** mode messages that are actually in our u-boot:

0002CD0F ** fastboot mode OTG USB **
0002CD35 ** 0. fastboot mode (NO Key Model) **
0002CD84 ** Boot recovery (NO Key Model) **
0002CDAA ** fastboot mode (NO Key Model) **
0002CDD0 ** fastboot mode **
0002CDF6 ** fastboot mode (HOMEPAD) **
0002CE35 ** Boot from ESD **
0002CE53 ** Boot from SD quick recovery **
[Nook Touch General] rupor:
130K was on the board from my previous experiments with other device and I was lazy and hungry to go for the box... Did not look for console - would be too easy, have not heard of single reader device with usb console :)

[MENTION=1584006]dnastase[/MENTION] & [MENTION=4020282]Windsor1959[/MENTION] - never fear, if I am producing too much meaningless noise for you, just let me know, I will shut up.
[Nook Touch General] dnastase:
Actually I would appreciate it if you could both be more verbose :) That's one way to learn.

And don't worry, I'm a programmer, it's not noise nor meaningless. I just don't have so much low level experience.
[Nook Touch General] spedinfargo:
I concur. The more chatter the better - it gives us hope ;)
[Nook Touch General] Windsor1959:
Chatter away! I always talk to myself when doing a project. This also helps us see, first hand, the real work that is involved in trying to root a device for the first time.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Chatter is nice, it makes things more fun.

The connector I installed on the back of my Nook is a standard 0.1" (actually 2.5mm) pitch JST XH connector.

It is actually soldered directly to the back of the Nook's PCB.

I drilled first through the unoccupied holes of the PCB into the frame to transfer the position.

A bit more drilling and filing and I had the rectangular hole in the back of the Nook for the connector to poke out of.
[Nook Touch General] dnastase:
Uhmm, no chatter. Are you guys slacking ? :D
[Nook Touch General] rupor:
I am really contemplating further steps.

Here my 2 options:

1. open device, take dump of memory and continue analysis.

2. return it to the store before it is too late.

I'll sit on decision for a couple of days but so far I do not like this reader at all (I tried to use it as a reader in the evenings) and that is a pity...
[Nook Touch General] Kramar111:
Oh, no! From all Russian-speaking community, don't do it :)
[Nook Touch General] yegoshin:
So whats the deal with the J9, J4 and J1 can any of those be used to UART GPS? Im tired of the old NST.
[Nook Touch General] onna:
If making it work to your satisfaction is what you enjoy- keep it.

If device has hardware promising functionality well above currently existing devices- then maybe even if it is a pain to deal with now, it would be worth it.

If neither is true- don't waste your time. You get more opportunities to get better built and designed device that is not endowed with horrible "nightware" elsewhere.
[Nook Touch General] yegoshin:
BTW, the following made opening the Nook REALLY easy:

little bit of even heat along the edges (the aluminum back only, not the plastic front) and then pry with several razor blades against the sides no nicks or anything. (use top, bottom and right edge (non button side) as to not damage the ribbon cables, but heat gently all of them so the glue get softer)
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
The processor itself has 5 UARTs, 3 of them are brought out to connector positions, 1 of them is enabled by default.

Yes, you could figure out how to enable them.

In the simplest case, you can just not use the active one for console and speak to it as /dev/ttymxc0

Unrelated, there are 4 ttyGS0-3, they are gadget serial lines over USB.

They exist in /dev but are not visible on the USB.

I see only MTP and ADB.

I tried to config the USB for ADB without MTP and it didn't work.

Hmm, using a heat gun would certainly loosen up the adhesive quite a bit.
[Nook Touch General] joshnat:
I forced an update to 49 by flashing in TWRP because I wanted to return to stock. But I still want to sideload, so I need USB Debugging enabled. The method above only gives me a properties page with text readouts of development settings. The only button available is "Kill Process" which takes me back to the About page. Not sure why I'm not getting the Developer Options screen. I found it takes only 3 quick taps of the Nook logo to get to the hidden setting screen.
[Nook Touch General] daneland:
My Glowlight has 47.0.29 FW.I have not turned the wifi on for along time but to be able to access a Dropbox account I turned it on and it started to download the update.I disconnected from the wifi before it was downloaded fully.

As far as I can see it will just give me a headache and I am happy with the current shape and form of my device. So, will you please help me how to cancel this update and permanently prevent its auto updates?

Thanks in advance
[Nook Touch General] tarnagy:
Dear Renate

You recently helped me set up the Nook Glowlight PLUS and thank you very much!

Now, unfortunately, I would like to ask your help again.

I've also been upgraded to version (49.2.37 / 4.9.2.24) and everything I lost was what I did with your help.

I've been trying to browse the posts that have since been released, but unfortunately, my English and my software knowledge is not enough to understand everything.

Please be grateful if you can write a concise summary of what I can do with the device again, if it is possible:

NOW no adb - no root - no software, nothing.

I read in ˝585 "comment:

--I was able to get Developer Settings in firmware 47 and 49 by going into ...

All Settings> Page 2> About> and from the About page, quickly tap the Nook logo icon near the center top of the screen until a hidden setting page appears. From that hidden page, do the following to enable USB Debugging ...

Well, I'm just trying to do this, nothing happens ...

My laptop does not see an MTP connection if I connect NGP, but a media player.

If you could help me, I would be very happy.:o:o
[Nook Touch General] tarnagy:
Dear Renate!

Still succeeded!

I started again and thoroughly read the whole topic. Adb, root, install!

You gave inspiration, so thank you very much again!
[Nook Touch General] tomic22:
Since i did a stupid move to delete the app called "Home" from my Nook Glowlight 3 running the latest software i cannot change the glowlight settings (or get into the Nook launcher).... :(

Can someone post a copy of their Home app so i can install it again?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: i did make a backup using Renate NST excellent fastboot backup utility. Which is confirmed working ;) Since i have the app back, its all good now; Thank you Renate !
[Nook Touch General] swd1:
My NGP has been running really slow. Not rooted but had installed a bunch of apks. Had Novalauncher and uninstalled it due to the slow response. Finally uninstalled most of the apks and nook runs fine now. I saw one app called "Sleep" : com.urbandroid.sleep-1.apk was on my NGP.

Anyone knows if this a standard nook app or was it stealthily installed by some other app?
[Nook Touch General] kazakore23:
I've installed a new launcher, in fact have tried two (namely Nova Launcher as reported used by many here, and my preferred Evie Launcher) and adb reports they are installed correctly but no matter what I try can I get my Glowlight Plus to give me the option to open them, or use one as the replacement for the homescreen, so it appears useless! What do I need to do to get it to actually use the installed launcher?

EDIT: Tried again and Nova is now working, still doesn't recognise Evie but I guess that means it's incompatible (which surprises me for such a lightweight launcher but never mind.) Sorry for false alarm.
[Nook Touch General] Cmarois:
Hi, I am entertaining the idea of installing samba on my glowlight plus to share it's internal storage across the home network. I do not wish to turn the nook into a full android tablet, I want to keep the UI as it is, but having samba serving the folder sharing.

I have done some research, found some pages on how to install samba on other nooks colors or something of the like, but everyone always installs a launcher, which might be needed to run apps outside of the nook environment, but I don't know if that changes the ui also.

I would like to know if it's possible to run the samba server without touching the Nook e-reader UI, and I am also afraid to mess something up in the UI. So I prefer to ask before hand.

P.S. I am a cloud app programmer, so I can be quite technical. I am just not familiar with android at all.

Thanks.
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
About the ui:

The nook ui acts as a launcher.

If you install another launcher you'll get the option to choose between them every time you press the home button, unless you set one of them as default. Choose the nook launcher and you'll always get the nook ui, choose the other launcher you installed to get whatever ui it provides. In any case, no permanent harm to the ui, you can always switch back.

Regarding installing a samba server (without any specific knowledge about what you plan to install):

Assuming this is just another app you install, you can install it via adb like you would a launcher (using "adb install").

You would then need to open the installed app in order to configure it.

If you don't have a launcher installed, the trouble would be configuring the app, or more precisely opening the app without a ui (launcher) that allows you to open apps. This is easily solved by either installing a launcher or by starting the app using adb commands "am start" or "monkey" plus the app package name, do some searching, there's plenty of info on the web.

Once you configure the app, so long as it runs at startup you probably won't need to open it again so you can stay with the nook ui/launcher.
[Nook Touch General] Cmarois:
Thank you very much! This is good feedback and it should send me on the right path.

I'll investigate more of what you mention, and try to do this.

Christian.
[Nook Touch General] 7596ff:
Hello all,

I've been out of the root game for an extremely long while. I do not have the time to read through this entire thread but I'd like to know what the gist is. Is the Nook Glowlight 3 the same or similar hardware to nook touch? Anything else I should know?

Thanks so much!!
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
This is the nook glowlight plus thread.

Glowlight plus and glowlight 3 are two different devices.

Try this:

https://xdaforums.com/nook-touch/general/how-to-root-set-nook-glowlight-3-t3802331
[Nook Touch General] Cmarois:
Pushed Files not showing in books

Hi, it's me again.

I did rooted my nook, installed a launcher, and installed Samba on it. Although it's a client and I thought it was a server, but ah well. I'll deal with it.

There is something I don't quite understand...

When I plug the Nook on a windows PC through USB, in Windows explorer I see the Nook and then internal storage and then all the books. I remove / add books from windows explorer, they are added or removed from the Nook (interface), and when I find the files in abd shell, I see the file listed in 4 directories (I assume links to one in particular). Anyway, that all works as expected, since it's the default way.

What I don't understand is this: If I Push the book through adb push, or if I use the Samba 'Sync' feature, when I list the files in adb shell, it finds the file in the four places it finds all other books.

BUT, in Windows explorer, the files aren't showing up, and the Nook ereader UI is not adding the books either. Is there some kind of database keeping records of what's being added? I thought the presence of the files would suffice.

FYI, the folder I am pushing is /mnt/sdcard/NOOK. I tried another one which one is /storage/emulated/legacy/NOOK. I even found, as root, another folder in /data/data/bn.ereader/files/<some other subdir> I don't recall the whole thing, but in anycase, I touched a file in there, and still does not show in Windows Explorer.

I am so close to what I want. I don't know if any of you would have an idea why those new files aren't showing up.

Thanks

Christian.
[Nook Touch General] David0226:
Open an ADB shell and check the permissions (ls -l) of the books you have added and compare them to the books that can be seen. My guess is that you are missing read permission for the user needed for Windows and the UI to see it.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
The Nook infrastructure may rely on the MediaScanner and associated database to keep track of media.

I'm not sure, since it's been so long since I've used any of that.
[Nook Touch General] Cmarois:
Yes, that's what seems to happen. I pushed a book through the Windows Explorer / NOOK internal storage (the "proper way"), and after that checked the files that got changed on the NOOK, and along with the book, I got nookmedia.db and .journal and external.db and index files. So there is a database that needs to be updated somewhere.

Thanks for the help
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
Take a look at this:

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/51784/can-i-trigger-a-media-scan-via-the-command-line

Not sure if this is the right direction but probably worth a try.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure media scanner is launched on startup so a reboot should have caused the books to appear...
[Nook Touch General] jptiger:
[MENTION=696999]P3TR[/MENTION] did you ever manage to get this working? I'm now having the same problem on my Nook Glowlight 3, and the only responses I see downthread just say something about the apps being signed improperly, no fix (at least not one that I could follow).
[Nook Touch General] P3TR:
Unfortunately, I did never get it working. I moved on to a Nook Glowlight 3, and face the same problem. It's really annoying, and to resolve it, more than my knowledge of the inner workings of Android is required.
[Nook Touch General] RyogoNA:
You can retrieve DownloadProvider.apk from firmware 4.2 and just copy it into /system/priv-app ;)
[Nook Touch General] jptiger:
Tried that, but the issue isn't resolved. Specifically I downloaded an AOSP 4.2.2 Rom, found DownloadProvider.apk (and DownloadProviderUI.apk for good measure), put them on my Nook, installed Root Explorer, and used it to move the apks to /system/app/. Nothing changes. I can try to download something but it still silently fails.

I tried finding a 4.2(.0) build somewhere but couldn't. Did you mean something else by "4.2 firmware"?
[Nook Touch General] RyogoNA:
http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/4.2/1.45/update.zip
[Nook Touch General] jptiger:
Nice, thank you! I'm not seeing a DownloadProvider.apk in /system/app/ However there does seem to be one in /system/priv-app/ Any chance that's where it should go instead?
[Nook Touch General] RyogoNA:
Yes, it is in /system/priv-app/ and need to be there.
[Nook Touch General] jptiger:
Success! That did the trick. Thank you!

Now for bonus points - any idea how to change the default download location? It seems to be going to a folder far away from the default one that mounts when I hook the device up to my comp via USB. I tried setting it in the browser I'm using (lightning) but downloading by that or the stock browser seems to send the files to the following four places:

/data/media/0/Download/

/mnt/shell/emulated/0/Download/

/mnt/sdcard/Download/

/storage/emulated/0/Dowload/

I'd ideally like to send downloads to /storage/spsd/NOOK/Download
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
One of the things that always annoyed me was that the "Home" button was super sensitive.

It was always tearing you away from your book if you got too near or even sometimes screen updates could trigger it.

I decided to tear it down to size, by, erm, tearing it down to size!

Just get a sharp knife and cut it down to roughly a little square.

It's not very critical, the flex PCB has only one conductor.
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
Interesting. Does it actually help with the ghost touches?
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Yes, it works quite well and it certainly remains sensitive enough.

I figured it could be desensitized in software, but I also found the large sense area unnecessary.

Have you had problems with the "Home" button being hypersensitive too?
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
Yes. I got used to the button area so I'm careful around it, but I get quite a bit of ghost touches. The reader will just jump to the home screen without me touching anything. Sometimes several times a minute, sometimes nothing for a few days.

Never thought of reducing sensitivity in software, maybe I'll look into it sometime.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Eh, I'd just go for the physical mod, it works fine.

As a matter of fact, I think what I did was conservative, I think you could chop it down more without a problem.

Before I modded it, I got so pissed off with it one night, that I just pulled the flex PCB out of the socket.

(My button box has a back button anyway.)
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
Oh, and if you take your Nook apart too many times it's helpful to replace the tape.

Micro Center sells Tesa film: https://www.microcenter.com/product/507366/tesa-double-sided-tape-4-mm-wide
[Nook Touch General] PacDan16:
Updates?

Whoa, there was two new updates in the last few weeks out of nowhere. Actually improved the library menu a bit! Wish they would add custom screensavers functionality built-in. Found AP15 Launcher works great recently.

Xposed N+ Toolkit needs to be updated. DOING NOTHING FOR CUSTOM SCREENSAVERS AT ALL.

I still don't like this nook entirely. Needs more support. I don't know why no one has commented about the updates yet.
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
So what are they calling these new updates?

# getprop ro.build.fingerprint

I've always used the stock Google Launcher2.

Th only annoying thing was the gray gradient at the top and bottom.

I just got rid of that in a mod (and I should post it somewhere).

The problem with the Glow3 & Glow4 is that they broke the Wallpaper and the launcher looks ugly with a black background.

There's a patch for that too.

I've never even looked at Xposed. I'm not a fan of interactive themeing things.

User sleep images in rotation is available as a patch.

I have to reorganize and document these better.
[Nook Touch General] eriol1:
Just realized there's a new update. Haven't checked this thread in a while...

Haven't tried it yet myself.

Someone I know said the launcher he had was not affected by the update. Still waiting for news regarding adb access.

Here's a link for downloading manually if anyone's interested:

https://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/5.0/piper/0.118/update.zip

UPDATE:

adb working as usual
[Nook Touch General] Renate:
I installed the update. Since I don't do anything normal, here's how I did it.

I take update.zip and extract META-INF/com/google/android/updater-binary.

In recovery I:

# setprop ro.product.device ntx_6sl
# ./updater-binary 1 1 update.zip

FWIW: They reshuffled the mmc controllers:

mmc0 SD4 internal eMMC
mmc1 SD3 SDIO for WiFi
mmc2 SD2 soldered-in SD card

If you modified the hwcfg for the soldered-in SD card, it should be reset back to the original, i.e.

modfile hwcfg 4f 00 [color=red]// 02 -> 00[/color]