yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nook Color General] jm20:
Got mine a few hrs ago, I am actually posting this from the nook.

I am impressed, considering the price and the fact that it is only marketed as an ebook reader (which is actually what I bought it for) it handles the web quite well. If we can crank the cpu up to 1.2Ghz with set cpu this thing would be almost perfect. When this thing gets rooted it is going to be awesome. Even if it never gets rooted, I will still be glad I got it. So far no luck getting it to install any apk's but I've only been messing with it for an hour or so. I'll post any progress or info I find on the web that might help.
[Nook Color General] brandonc_mail:
WOW didn't think it'd hit the street yet. Did you get it from B&N directly? Wondering if their weekend discount will work for this...

I'm very interested in getting one for the wife- but want to know about rooting and .apk sideloading.

They advertise reading email- do they have the stock Android email app and you can add multiple accounts or do they just mean via using the web browser?

Has anyone compared this to the Pantech 7" tablet? I know that runs an older android- but I think it's got a few more dedicated apps (like calendar/mail etc) and I'm wondering if the Nook will be too Nook specific for my needs.

Please keep us posted!
[Nook Color General] aludal:
Sorry for repost, but maybe you here will find it interesting:

Hi, NC people:

In my blog fineoils.blogspot.com I presented a way of rooting attack for NC, have a look.

There's also quite a collection of reviews of those who had a "professional" hands-on experience, with my comments.

My opinion is the toy will be a smash hit, and after some hopefully light hacking it could outperform Galaxy Tab (antiglare screen outperforms it already, LOL)
[Nook Color General] rutter9:
ok well it looks like the factory reset is sitting on top of recovery. When I do it I notice the recovery (green and red bg) flash up for a second. Maybe there is some sort of other key combination we need, or something to click quickly before the reset box pops up.
[Nook Color General] jm20:
Yep, I got it from B&N directly they said they got them a few days earlier than expected. Still no luck on this end getting this sucker rooted but the more I use it the more I like it. I am still very happy with it even if it never gets rooted. My wife has a kindle and this thing makes her kindle look like a childs toy. The nook color is by no means perfect but for the money it can't be beat.

I have two of the other android tablets, the 7" $150 generic ipad looking thing running android 1.6 and a newer 7" one that runs android 2.1 and linux (dual boot) and neither one are anywhere close to the nook color. Both of my other tablets are rooted and I tried those methods on the nook but with no luck.

Anyway, I like the new nook and think it would make a great gift, B&N has them on display to play with if you still aren't sure. Lastly, for email I have been just using the browser (multiple accts) and it works great.

Let me know if you have other questions.
[Nook Color General] TheDoctor1971:
The original Nook was rooted so I'm sure its only a matter of time. I've been playing with my Nook Color and so far I like it quite a bit. My HTC Evo feels small now.
[Nook Color General] dirtygreek:
What do you think of those tablets for the price, though? Are they worth buying?
[Nook Color General] rutter9:
First things first is that we need someone that is good at doing usb sniffing. That way we could obtain the PID and VID of the device. From there we could add it to ADB's android_usb.inf file system.

For example we would be adding this into in .inf file:

;B&N Ebook

%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX

%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX&MI_01

then save and run command to place into adb by the following command:

echo 0x955 >> "%USERPROFILE%\.android\adb_usb.ini"
[Nook Color General] bobdude5:
if you're a good usb sniffer i'd more than willing to borrow your nose to sniff my color
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Vendor is 0x2080 and device is 0x0002 but it only has a mass storage interface descriptor, AKA debug isn't enabled. In the "factory reset" mode USB isn't even enabled.
[Nook Color General] sudermatt:
Needs it

I just got mine tonight and...yeah...we gotta open this puppy up....I'm not too happy right now.

If you guys don't get this thing rooted soon I'm gonna have to take it back.
[Nook Color General] axe2:
It's already been cracked open, but all the chips are hidden under shields:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=825174&page=6
[Nook Color General] rdbwpb:
picked one up today

I just picked one up today and I'm impressed so far. It would be nice to install some apps. The salesman said they were promising flash early next year. Sounds like froyo is in the works..
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Nook Color boot over USB

I think I found a way we can bend this shiny toy to our will.

The OMAP3 series parts can be configured to boot from USB depending on how the sys_boot pins are strapped. The Pre folks use this to send a recovery flash utility to the OMAP on boot (see http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Last_Resort_Emergency_BootLoader_Recovery). Changing the PID to 0xD00E (OMAP36xx bootloader uses a different VID/PID), then powering off and powering on resulted in the utility catching the on-chip bootloader and interrupting the boot process.

It seems that B&N hardwired the OMAP to boot from USB before flash.

There are two paths we can take with this. The Pre has no microSD, so this utility sends a payload that runs from on-chip SRAM. We could build off their work and make our own fastboot workalike. However, one cool thing about this USB break-in feature is that you can choose a different boot device rather than sending code to the chip. The OMAP can boot off of either of its MMC/SD interfaces, and you can choose which one using the USB bootloader.

That means that a possible rooting / flashing scenario would be to copy a recovery image and bootloader to a microSD card, put that in the Nook, hook up USB and do boot redirection with a small utility.

For reference, the datasheet is here (16MB zipped PDF) and the USB boot documentation is in section 26.4.5.3.
[Nook Color General] dirtygreek:
Fantastic! Is this something you have the ability to do? I'd gladly throw someone a few bucks who thought they could pull this off.

BTW, bless the guys at webos internals. I have a Pre, and they have just been awesome for me and many others.
[Nook Color General] bobdude5:
this thread and

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=825174&page=11

need to be combined..come on pokey you can do it man!
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Boot utility, yes. You only need to change two values in omap3_usbload.c to make it do boot redirection on the Nook.

Bootloader and recovery, probably not. I don't have any experience with OMAP other than the last hour's worth of tinkering, and I should really be working on a class project right now. I was hoping I'd catch the attention of some more skilled devs around here.

It would help a lot to know generally what hardware is hooked to the OMAP, like the RAM amount and configuration, flash type, and what MMC port the external microSD slot is on.
[Nook Color General] dirtygreek:
I have a feeling you're on the right track, and you may in fact have clued someone with the right skills into this... I wish that someone was me... Thanks!
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Ok, tried this:

-Formatted a microSD card using the instructions here.

-Copied the boot file MLO from here to the FAT32 partition.

-Put the card in the Nook

-Set up the USB boot redirector to try MMC2 (first guess)

-Powered on Nook

The redirector saw the OMAP and told it to boot MMC2, but all I got was a blank screen just like when I sent the dummy bootloader. But it gets better: I unhooked USB and did the Vulcan nerve pinch to force power off and then back on again, and I got the blank screen again. As long as that card is installed, the Nook won't boot, presumably because MLO is stuck having not found a second stage (uboot). The card previously worked with the Nook so it wasn't somehow damaged.

That means that the Nook will boot off of microSD before the internal flash!

I used that fact and played around with the redirector a little more and discovered that the internal flash is on MMC1 , probably soldered down eMMC. The Nook boot order as far as we know is USB->external microSD->on board flash. This is hardwired on the Nook board and can't be changed by a firmware update. Given that someone can build MLO and uboot (or some other bootloader) for this hardware config, we can make a recovery SD card image that will always boot the Nook when it's on a microSD in the slot.

In short, not only could we make our own card to root and install custom fw, the Nook Color is unbrickable.

Now if only we had a serial port...
[Nook Color General] bobdude5:
im going to donate to you as soon as i get paid just for getting me excited ahaha
[Nook Color General] Kelvala:
lololololol!!!

+10000000000

:D
[Nook Color General] Mastiff:
The eyes of Norway are upon you, Pokey9000! :D
[Nook Color General] dirtygreek:
you have my praise and thanks sir.
[Nook Color General] madsquabbles:
would there be a way to make the back and menu buttons persistant?

i can get them to show up by doing this:

with a pdf open you'll see the back and menu buttons to the right of the read it now button.

if you leave the pdf as your last read book when you press the read it now button in other programs, instead of opening the pdf again it just pops up the back and menu buttons. the is great for web browsing since you don't have to scroll all the way to the top to access the back, forward, refresh, etc. buttons.
[Nook Color General] deeoh:
Ok, I guess I'm a little iffy on these steps. The MLO file is a binary that I can't edit, so what USB boot redirector are you changing to MMC2? I'm downloading the SDK for the TI OMAP L137 in hopes that comiling a u-boot setup for that architecture isn't that different than OMAP3621. I'm sure I'm wrong, but I figured that I might as well try since this is basically what I'm doing at work right now...

Edit: This is going to take awhile, I'm downloading a 1 Gig installer from TI.

Edit2: It's not downloading and I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have worked anyways. pokey, if you could elaborate on what you did, that would be great. I have a feeling that this will lead to something!
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
The redirector is the Pre USB boot tool with the PID and boot configuration changed. I built MLO and uboot from source using the guide from the OMAP wiki link I posted. I used the omap3630zoom3 target for both.
[Nook Color General] axe2:
This is great if it really works! How hard would it be to build a boot rom that simply echos something to the screen? If that works, we could use that as a springboard start poking around the existing rom and install a shell of some sort.
[Nook Color General] clockworx:
Sorry if I missed it, but have you tried booting the Nook with just the specially formatted SD, but without any additional files? I would think it should boot properly, right?

I was just wondering if there's a way to properly verify the working assumption that it is booting off the SD due to the MLO vs it just hanging because it doesn't like the card format.

Awesome work regardless :)
[Nook Color General] occip:
usb serial console !

Hi,

This first step for me is to build an u-boot for the nook colour

According to this link : http_ elinux.org/U-boot_musb_gadget_support , it is possible to use the usb port as the serial console.

A standard u-boot config ( with support for omap 3 ) with the right memory layout for the NC can do the tricks.

After that , we will be able to dump internal memory and customize the root fs.

I will receive my nook colour next week. I own two omap 3 boards ( devkit8000 and igep v2), l'm going to test the usb console mode .

Cheers

Occip
[Nook Color General] drmazu:
Thanks for your hard work mate. These are the first steps to bigger and better discoveries. Lets hope we get this cracked!
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
I noticed that too, and tried building in MUSB and usbtty support, but I couldn't get the build of the OMAPZoom repo to finish with this turned on. If you can get that to work, that would be huge.

Part of the trouble is that x-loader (MLO's payload) seems to do most of the platform initialization (memory, etc) before we even get to u-boot so we would probably only be able to get UART output at that point. If we had pictures under the RF shields of the parts and part numbers we could better guess at the memory config.
[Nook Color General] PHiZ:
Great work man, I am also allowing myself to be distracted from school projects. I appreciate how you layed out your process of elimination.

I have a request into Ifixit.com to scrutinize where the additional uUSB pins go to on the logic board. It could use a bump if anyone has an Ifixit account. http://meta.ifixit.com/View/1108/Nook+Color+Teardown+Request

I poked around the the FCC, and there are no relevant photographs. The schematic diagram has been requested to be withheld indefinitely. Interior photos may be forthcoming, but they are under a 60 day hold, from 26 Oct.

http://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/

Grantee: XHH

Product Code: BNRV200-A

Note, there is a letter claiming that 3G functionality has been disabled on the device. Don't get too excited about that, it does not mean that a 3G radio is populated on the device. All of the SAR (radiation exposure) testing is confined to 2.45GHz ISM band (Wifi).
[Nook Color General] cabbieBot:
I did read that while there is no enabled 3g on the device, the processor does support 3g.

However, unlike the original nook, the back doesn't come off and give access to a SIM card which it would need if my logic is correct.

And this would also mean that it was shipped with a 3G radio, sort of like how the nexus1 had an FM radio but it wasn't enabled until someone got it turned on. You'd need to open it for this as well to see if it was included in the hardware I'd imagine.

I'm watching this with great interest and am certainly going to donate if I can root one.

I have a contact inside B&N and there is a planned december update and it will also receive froyo early next year. I'm sure the december update is going to be a lot of bug fixing and performance boosts (and hopefully giving pinch-zoom to the browser, and adding more 'back' buttons from within menus).

As the device is now, its definitely enough tablet for most people and the price is killer at $249. Once its rooted, I think geeks everywhere will pop champagne...a 7" rooted overclocked android tablet with a BEAUTIFUL screen at half the price of an iPad or Galaxy Tab?

Yea, I'm excited. :)
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Not to dash anyone's hopes, but I noticed the scare over the Droid X e-fuse and it looks like the OMAP3621 has the same security module. It's undocumented, presumably some security by obsucurity restricted document available only to paying customers, so I don't know how it affects booting from alternate devices or reflashing. My gut feeling is that the MLO I've tried wouldn't interrupt the boot to Nook OS if any of the security features were turned on.

But this does leave B&N the option of enabling it at some point.
[Nook Color General] yerand:
would this be any help? http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/10/ti-omap-ebook-10-28-2010.jpg
[Nook Color General] aludal:
A more detailed diagram

For the OMAP3621 variance, there's no 3G/4G modem, so you can cut it out. Later, maybe a 3G USB dongle could be made accessible. But for now, it's not an option for NC. So it's only WiFi radio there (as the primary autopsy has shown) from which one can expect "malicious" and stealthy update.zip intrusion which will deny root, deny USB boot, or just brick the device.

Some scanning and listening to some suspicious ports on TCP/UDP might help to detect intrusions by B&N. So, I'd recommend WiFi is out during all time of research, plus all the suspicios ports are closed
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
There's no built-in radio on any of the OMAPs, so like the diagram shows it would have to hook to the USB host or McBSP (Multichannel Buffered Serial Port). If you look at the teardown forcedfab did a few days ago, there are two big unpopulated spots on the PCB. One looks a lot like the footprint for a SIM slot, and the other looks like some surface mount GSM modules I've seen. Look at the pics and this GSM module. Not the same footprint, so probably not the right module, but it's likely that's what the pads are for.
[Nook Color General] aludal:
If I recall it right, you were also looking for Serial port. Which is, at this stage, might be more useful than investigating NC 3G capabilities.

In this context, for those who succeded to open their NCs: is there any possibility to find a footprint for this header:
[Nook Color General] axe2:
There's pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/henxing...OH5ju7SXQ&feat=directlink#5541397294046056178

, but there's not much that's exposed.
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
There are about 15 test pad sites just to the side of the metal can by the USB connector. I'm pretty sure that the CPU and memories live under there, and those pads are for factory test on a bed of nails fixture. Meaning: some of those pins are likely JTAG. IIRC you only need about 8 of those signals to make ARM JTAG debug work, and only 5 if you want to just do boundary scan flashing.

Odds of finding the full-blown 20 pin MultiICE header on any portable consumer electronics nowadays is pretty much nil. I'm still betting on serial being brought out through the extended USB connector, so once stores start to stock the spare sync cables I'm getting one to cut into.
[Nook Color General] aludal:
Thank you, I think I've seen this photo. What is to be searched for is tentatively a two (one long?) rows of holes similar to these of Pandigital Novel:
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
If that were a reformatted MultiICE header it would either have every other pin as ground or half of the connector as ground. Looking at the traces coming from the pads that doesn't seem to be the case. More likely it's got JTAG and some other signals (serial?) that go to a debug breakout board.

The canonical 20 pin MultiICE header is .1" spacing dual row. You find this sometimes in routers and so on. It's a little big for an ereader, even when not populated...
[Nook Color General] aludal:
I'm not about exact geometry, or even exact number of pins. Just something of a row (better -- two rows) of holes via which the NC was initially flashed/tested at the manufacturer's would be enough.
[Nook Color General] TheDoctor1971:
There's already one tear down site that has their Nook Color so I'm sure it won't be long before someone does a tear down and posts it.
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Like I said, there are plenty of test points on the board. Most likely these boards get tested in a bed of nails.
[Nook Color General] PHiZ:
Guys, Pokey shouldn't need to spend his own money on this project. Who's got $5 to chip in to get the cable he needs?

Is there anything else you need pokey? I don't know if we can scrape together enough $$$ to buy you any hardcore appliances, but if some interface boards or whatever would be helpful, holla!
[Nook Color General] pokey9000:
Don't worry about it. It's likely I'll either wreck the connector taking it apart or nothing will come of it. If you've got the urge to donate, send it to to Cyanogen. Maybe he'll get enough to get a development NC once we get root.
[Nook Color General] syncron:
You do realize the nook's serial number is exposed in one of the pictures right? A B&N employee could easily pull the device up in EDM and have it blacklisted, just to be a jerk.
[Nook Color General] nikescar:
Three things:

1. Thanks for everyone's work thus far. It's exciting to watch this develop.

2. A replacement cable can be had from B&N for free no questions asked. My cable was a manufacture defect that wouldn't make a connection and my new cable is on the way.

3. Because of that I had to use a different micro usb cable to charge my nook until the replacement arrives. The battery status changes from discharging to "not charging" but I assure you it takes the charge. Sneaky bastards
[Nook Color General] BoxBot:
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere (possibly in the manual) that the special micro usb cable and the extra pins are needed for fast charging (out-of-spec for the USB Standard). Using a regular cable will still allow for charging, but at a much reduced rate.

Anyhow, it's great the see the progress being made here. The NC is actually my first android device so I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like this. Thanks to everyone contributing.
[Nook Color General] dirtygreek:
Correct. The charging indicator will tell you it's not charging, but it will still charge using a generic microUSB cable plugged into a computer. Supposedly if you're using it at the same time it will still discharge faster than it charges, so that it basically discharges more slowly than it would when unplugged. I haven't tested that, but I have successfully charged from almost empty to totally full using just USB. It does take a long time, of course, but it works. I think that's just a testament to the awesome battery.
[Nook Color General] madsquabbles:
it's just like the ipad. you need about a 10watt charger instead of the usual 5watt.

it'll charge with a 5watt source but slowly and only if you're not using it. it seems to "fast charge" with my 10 watt adapter. i haven't done a full test to see if it'll charge fully from empty in 3 hours yet as the lowest i've let it go was 65%. it too about 2hrs 15 min. if this is like other batteries then i'm guessing it'll fast charge to 80 or 90 and then slow down.
[Nook Color General] rogerperk:
OK, smart guys n gals, get to work! I need the NC cracked and doing great things for Christmas so I can play with it and ignore the parades. :p
[Nook Color General] Paul22000:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=9488042&postcount=423

:D
[Nook Color General] rljohnson:
thanks

Tanks again to everyone working on this. I told my wife Saturday that if this thing got "fixed" it would be the best thing on the market. I am using a Viewsonic g-tab which I "fixed" thanks to the work on this site and I look forward to the Nook.

Thanks again and I look forward to more information.
[Nook Color General] discourse:
Well done on the work done so far guys. I just ordered a NC and should receive it in Europe in about a week.
[Fascinate General] swerve12:
I flashed my fascinate back to stock with odin and now when i boot up i just get a ton of force closes and they keep coming up and wont let me continue. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
[Fascinate General] imnuts:
You should have posted this in the General section.

Now, what did you flash to stock from? Were you using voodoo beforehand?
[Fascinate General] PhoenixPath:
IME, FC hell after an odin restore is due to the PIT file not being used.

Open Odin

Go back into Download Mode on your phone.

Hit the PIT button and select the PIT file you downloaded from the OP of the odin topic.

Hit the PDA button and select the "system" tar you downloaded from teh OP of the odin topic.

Hit Start.

Wait for it to finish (system takes a bit).

Reboot into recovery and wipe data/cache.
[Fascinate General] swerve12:
Sorry for posting in the wrong section and i was on vodoo and removed it and flashed a differernt rom was most recently on the zinc rom. i also tried to re run odin with pit and still force closeing. thanks for the help so far
[Fascinate General] PhoenixPath:
Only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is wiping data/cache from both Stock and CWM recovery. You could also try wiping dalvik cache (CWM-advanced) or nuking the contents of dbdata...but that requires either adb or root access and a phone that isn't constantly fc'ing on you. ;)

Have you tried restoring a nandroid backup?