New Nook Glowlight Plus

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Windsor1959

Senior Member
Apr 27, 2011
380
95
According to B&N's fact sheet, this baby runs KitKat and has a 300 dpi resolution. I wonder if it will be hard to root it? There are a couple of apps I'd love to run on such a device. No microSD card slot, though, and 2.8 gb of free space in internal storage If it csn be rooted, I'd be tempted to buy one.
 

spedinfargo

Senior Member
Jul 11, 2011
52
15
Stoked! Esp. the amount of space available compared to the previous model. Definitely hoping someone can root this quickly so I can put Dropsync on it.
 
N

NOOK!E

Guest
Can't wait to pick one up - this looks pretty sweet! :good:
 

Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
Well, I bought my Glow Plus, turned it on and it said, "Let's Get Started".
So I did.

The entire display is simply glued to the frame.
You can work a knife carefully around the rim and detach the display, folding it gently to the left side.
 

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Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
Does it mean your new Nook is rooted?

It means that I have full control of my new Nook.
I still have to figure out a bunch of stuff.
Currently, to gain this access requires opening your Nook.
We may gain enough knowledge to make it possible to root without opening the Nook.
 

Windsor1959

Senior Member
Apr 27, 2011
380
95
I also have the Plus now, and I could be a tester, too.

I had a hard time getting my MacBook Pro with Android File Transfer to see my new Nook, but I finally succeeded. Then I tried Calibre. I got a "failure to communicate" error message from Calibre. I persisted and tried to send a book to the Nook. Calibre couldn't see the book on my Nook. However, it showed up in the Nook library after a few minutes. I also noticed that I can't create a new folder on the Nook using Android File Transfer. I only mention these things in case they might give someone else a clue in figuring out a rooting process.
 

Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
So, to let the cat out of the bag, getting a root console connection to the new Nook Glow Plus is quite easy.
There is a connector location, J4, which is quite clearly labelled with the pinout.
The output is 115200-8-N-1 on a 3.3V signal level.
TX refers to the output of the Nook, RX is the input, connect up ground, leave the V alone.

(Don't connect anything to this unless you understand the description above,
it's not anything related to a 9 pin RS-232 signal without a converter.
There are plenty of cheap USB-UART converters that run 3.3V that you can buy for $3.)

You can:
Code:
setprop persist.sys.usb.config mtp,adb
setprop sys.usb.config mtp,adb
Then you will have (unrooted) ADB over USB, which is still useful to load things.

Those who don't want to scuff up their new Nook would do better to wait a bit.
 

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Mikegrmn

Senior Member
Aug 24, 2013
619
199
I've been following this since I heard that a new nook is available. Funny that I stumbled over the waterproof Kobo h2o a week ago and thought, I could get me a new ebook reader (I had a couple of Sonys and then switched to LCD tablets). I just don't know if I should jump the gun and get one or if I wait until I see what you all can achieve. Tinkering with my toys is important to me, but loosing the waterproofing due to opening would be a bummer.
BTW, how does that aluminum shell feel. I like the front looks of the nook, but am not too convinced about the aluminum back.
Anyways, great work. Keep up with it. I'll probably see if the local B&N has them, and I may end up buying one without knowing about how this here will develop ;)
Getting new toys is just too tempting.
 

Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
I've thought about the latter problem of reassembling the Nook.
The edging is a double-stick foam tape.
That's easy and convenient for the factory assembly.
You could just press it all back together and it would be 98% so waterproof as before, there's a lot of stick still left.
You could also clean all the tape off and put this back with a thin bead of silicone caulking.
This would actually be better waterproofing and not impossible to re-open your Nook.
 
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rupor

Member
Aug 25, 2011
11
11
NYC
FreeScale i.MX 6SoloLite

I am sure you already have it, but just in case FreeScale documentation for MCIMX6L8DVN10AB is easy to find (I cannot post external links here) :)
 

Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
Here's the internal memory layout.
The good news is that there is no UMS and therefore no division of the useful space.

Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1  /boot      emmc    19 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2  /recovery  emmc    32 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p5  /system    ext4   384 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p6  /cache     ext4   384 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7  /device    ext4     8 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p8  /misc      emmc     4 MB
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4  /data      ext4  2925 MB

I tried, but I don't think that there are any UART muxes on the micro USB. :(
 

sunami88

Senior Member
Oct 8, 2011
134
24
There are only two things I'm waiting on before I upgrade from my beat to heck Nook Simple Touch.
1) Root- I know this will take a little while, I can be patient
2) I would like to know if the issues with the glow light have been resolved.

I've actually been looking for a new e-reader for a few months now, but couldn't find anything I liked on the market. But a Nook Glowlight with Android 4.4 + water resistant + metal case? I'm in :) . You should see the gouges my poor old NST's screen has lol. Thanks for your work so far Renate.
 

Renate

Recognized Contributor / Inactive Recognized Dev
That's for you to wire in your GPS to make a really cool hiking map. :p

Um, it's apparently unused.

Ok, just to make your Nook livable for now:

Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /system
cd /system/priv-app
mv partner.apk partner.bak

This gets rid of the forced registration screen.

There is a launcher installed, but the HOME intent was removed from the manifest.
Install your own favorite launcher and it will reboot on that.
Can't install a "Launcher2.apk"? Try this:

Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mmcblk0p5 /system
cd /system/priv-app
mv Launcher2.apk Launcher2.apk.bak
mv Launcher2.odex Launcher2.odex.bak

Now I throw on a few pretty fonts from my old Nook, install my Library and my Reader
and now I have the basic NGP that allows me to read the library book that I was reading.
That's the main point of this exercise.
 
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  • 22
    Nook GlowLight Plus rooting script

    It's pretty simple rooting script using local exploit found here:
    retme.net/index.php/2014/10/08/vold-asec.html

    Instructions:
    1. Enable USB debugging in Developer options
    2. Connect USB cable and make sure your nook is showing up in 'adb devices'
    3. Extract rootGLP.zip and run rootnook.cmd (or rootnook.sh on linux)
    4. Choose 'Continue' then 'Normal' when prompted for SuperSU binary update.

    Update: removed unnecessary reboot.
    10
    Well, I bought my Glow Plus, turned it on and it said, "Let's Get Started".
    So I did.

    The entire display is simply glued to the frame.
    You can work a knife carefully around the rim and detach the display, folding it gently to the left side.
    7
    NGP Toolkit (xposed module)

    WARNING: THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE APPLICATION, THIS IS A MODULE FOR Xposed Framework

    version: v0.9
    features:
    • (Glowlight Plus) full access to external memory (/sdcard/) from PC;
    • (Glowlight 3) access to /data/media and /sdcard partitions from PC;
    • enable/disable frontlight by home (nook) key long-press;
    • disable wake-up on usb connected/disconnected;
    • fully hide status-bar;
    • custom sleep screen with possibility to use own images;
    • disable default launcher;
    • enable default status-bar;
    • enable fast refresh mode;

    notes:
    • if you wish to use own images for custom sleep screen put them into /system/usr/sleep/custom, supported image formats - jpg, png;
    • home (nook) key long-press uses current brightness value, so if brightness is set to 0 it will do nothing;
    • status-bar requires FW version 4.7 and bnereader.apk and partner.apk installed and enabled;

    download page: https://bitbucket.org/…n-toolkit/downloads/
    7
    Yow! I could kiss B&N! :D
    Code:
    root@ntx_6sl:/ # getprop
    ...
    [ro.build.version.release]: [4.4.2]
    [ro.build.version.sdk]: [19]

    4G storage, only 512M RAM, no Bluetooth.
    7
    So, to let the cat out of the bag, getting a root console connection to the new Nook Glow Plus is quite easy.
    There is a connector location, J4, which is quite clearly labelled with the pinout.
    The output is 115200-8-N-1 on a 3.3V signal level.
    TX refers to the output of the Nook, RX is the input, connect up ground, leave the V alone.

    (Don't connect anything to this unless you understand the description above,
    it's not anything related to a 9 pin RS-232 signal without a converter.
    There are plenty of cheap USB-UART converters that run 3.3V that you can buy for $3.)

    You can:
    Code:
    setprop persist.sys.usb.config mtp,adb
    setprop sys.usb.config mtp,adb
    Then you will have (unrooted) ADB over USB, which is still useful to load things.

    Those who don't want to scuff up their new Nook would do better to wait a bit.