[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] DaEvangelist:
Next2 = Archos 70b = BQ Reader Voltaire = Winning!

Hey Vogfather, a few questions for clarification:

1) When you say "it seems to detect it fine", do you mean it (the computer) detects it (your next2) when you turn off your next2, plug it into the USB, then press the right [>] button and power button at the same time for at least 5 seconds? That's the process to start the flash. I have found that putting the update.img file onto the sdcard never works for my next2. I had to use the RKBatchUpgrade program. This process should have given you the happy green square in the RKBatchUpgrade program. The way I find out if the tablet is ready to flash is I have the RKBatchUpgrader already running on top of all the screens, I then plug in my turned off tablet into the usb, then press the right button and power button at the same time for 5 seconds at least or until the green square appears on the RKBatchUpgrader.

2) When you say "I try using the driver", do you mean you tried to install it after the computer fails to find the driver when you do step 1? When it failed to install the driver, did you go to device manager and install the driver specific to your system manually? Now unfortunately, if you have actually read the first part of the instructions in the document (the word document SOP*.doc), it says "ROCK USB driver might not work in x64 Windows version. Try to use 32-bit version." That might be where your hangup is for the driver install, you have the 64-bit version of Win7.

3) Once you have that cleared up (you have a computer with a 32-bit version of windows lying around?) you can now load the Nextbook 2 ROM listed in the first post of this thread. Mad props to Delimeat52 for making the Next2 version though. None of the Next3/Prestigio/Genesis ROMS work for Next2 since they all have a larger screen. But we want more don't we, we always want more. For me, I wanted the Market, so I kept on searching.

4) What I found through my searching though was that the Archos 70B ROMs work for the Next2 as reported here:

tipstir.the-talk

.net/

t2498-nextbook-next2-rooting-and-upgrade-to-eclair

Then I found that the Archos 70B was a clone of the Voltaire tablet by BQ Readers as reported here:

forum.archosfans

.com/

viewtopic.php?f=82&t=54571

If you just Google "Voltaire bqreader", the first link will take you to the manufacturer site. It's in Spanish, but you don't really need to read the site. All you need to see is the pic of the bq tablet front and center to see that other than the bq logo, it's an exact match for the next2.

5) Which leads me to conclude, from my elementary math that if a=b and b=c, then a must = c. I downloaded the bq ROM located here

www

.mediafire

.com/

?ml82u60o3celzyp

flashed my next2 and ...

6) The Market Lives!!! (from 1 test only, I didn't try to buy anything from it, just downloaded and installed the Kindle app. I didn't want to push my luck and anger the tablet gods tonight. I'll probably play more with it later, but I was able to download and install Kindle and read my Kindle books)

update: Coolness! Android Market was smart enough to know some programs were installed already and offered to update them OTA (Google Maps, FB Reader, Aldiko Reader). I updated them with no problems.

Sorry for the way the links are formatted, I couldn't insert links, so that's the best way I could think of for you to check out what I found.

Warnings:

1) Initial boot from flash upgrade is really slow, 5-10 minutes. I thought I bricked my tablet when the bq logo stayed on there for the longest time. I couldn't shut it off and was even tempted to reset the darned thing. Luckily, by the time I found a needle small enough to insert into the reset hole, the home screen came up. Subsequent shut downs and reboots were pretty quick, so it must have been just for the initial boot.

2) The initial ROM localization is German, but it was easy to go to Settings, find Keyboard and Language option (has the letter A icon beside it, 7th line down), click it, then click the first line in the next screen the pops up which is German for Select Locale. Choose your locale of choice and you're off to the races.

3) I do not guarantee that any ROM you flash will work with your Next2. I have tested with Archos and BQ Voltaire ROMS, Android 2.1, and they have both worked for my tab. Haven't found any Froyo versions yet, but I'll try those next.

Mucho thanks to everyone else who created the ROMS and such. I just gathered the information. Hope this helps someone out there and makes them as happy with their Next2/BQ hybrid as I am with mine now. If you don't like the ROM I linked to, just Google for other custom ROMS for the Archos or BQ. There must be something else out there. For me though, I love this ROM. Sorry for the long first post here, but I wanted to contribute as this was the thread that started me on my way to get a tablet that I wanted.