Guides and wiki's for new NST owners

[slack04]

This thread is for folks to post noob-friendly guides for hacks, mods, and other awesome tweaks for the Nook Simple Touch (NST). I'll update as I learn more or as folks post more interesting stuff, or if people have corrections or suggestions, and also to take account of new developments.

BTW- please don't quote the first post (or any really long post for that matter). If you accidentally do, please edit it out of your post.

GUIDE ONE) Enable multitouch and norefresh

1) What you need:

• nook simple touch
• microSD card and a way to write to it (USB adapter or SD adapter and a card reader)
• sd card with clockwork recovery image (from mali100) (I'll write my own guide for this soon)
• A root file explorer (I suggest ES file explorer; free, simple, awesome)
• both of these files on the root of the CWR SD card: norefresh (toggle version), and multitouch

2) Install multitouch:

• Boot into CWR (insert your SD card and restart!)
• choose "install zip from SD card" and then "choose zip from sd card"
• select "multitouch.zip"
• click "yes" (hint: it's the only one that isn't "no")
• remove the sd card, then select "reboot device now"

3) Install norefresh apk

• open ES file explorer
• select norefresh.apk
• click yes (did you really need a guide for that?)

That's it! Now, how do you use it?

4) Using your awesome tablet-esqe combination of norefresh+multitouch:

• find the norefresh app in the drawer and open it. It won't do anything except flash the screen
• Now, open a program you might want to use it with (pdf readers and simple games)
• tap the screen four times, in a line starting from top left moving to bottom right (watch this video from marspeople if that doesn't make sense)

5) Stand back in awe. Then go thank the devs in this thread for norefresh (I think it's a combination of Bardo8430 and Marspeople's combined work, correct me if I'm wrong and I'll update); and this thread for multitouch (It appears to be some combination of wheilitjohnny and mali100; again correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Googie2149]

Welcome to the NST community! Oddly enough, I was thinking of creating a thread that will (hopefully) become stickied with quick-start stuff for new people. Might as well start here

GabrialDestruir gave a pretty good explanation about the different rooting methods, which can be found here (just ignore the part about TorimuNooter, development has been stopped and the links have been pulled).
I myself used MinimalTouch (called MinimalNooter on that page) before my Nook broke. It's a little more involved than TouchNooter, but in the end you'll be able to use the Market (Google Play?) sooner. I think there might be some issues with the 1.1.0 vs 1.1.2, but I didn't get the chance to update to 1.1.2 to see for myself.

Be sure to create a backup before you root in the off chance something goes wrong or you decide you don't want your Nook rooted anymore. Here is a link to the backup thread.

Once you feel like you know your way around your Nook well enough, you might consider some of these fun hacks:

NoRefresh - Makes the screen B/W, but will make the screen update MUCH faster and removes the ghosting for the most part
Multitouch - As the name implies, it enables multitouch. You will probably want to use this with NoRefresh.
Flash Player - Flash Player. On the Nook. You will need NoRefresh unless you like seeing ghosts
Video Players - Sure, there's no sound, but it's just fun to have a video on an E-Ink display.
USBHost - This will allow you to plug a keyboard or other USB device into the Nook's micro-USB port and have it actually do something. I think someone got a GPS working at some point... There's also a work-in-progress guide here.

Edit:
There's also this index for manually rooting and doing some other cool things with your Nook, such as changing the shutdown screen.

 

[brendan10211]

Thanks for putting your time into this, Googie. That response could become a thread itself if written as an OP. This is really helpful!

 

[slack04]

Hey googie- Thanks for the great start! I'll update the OP and the title; I agree, hopefully this will get stickied.

So does the "broken nook" mean that you are not going to be a part of this community any more? that would be a shame. I hope you can find another! Best of luck!

BTW- if anyone else has more information I'd be happy to add it to the OP. Depending on the amount of complexity of information received, I may not be the best person to have control over the new user sticky; if you want to write a full guide, you should probably do so in a new thread (to replace this one, assuming it gets stickied).

 

[fufutos]

I've searched a lot, but I can't find a "newbie comprehensive guide"... For example I've found how to root manually my nook simple touch, but I still can't find a way to install manually various .apk's

A sticky with all this basic stuff, would be perfect

 

[slack04]

I've searched a lot, but I can't find a "newbie comprehensive guide"... For example I've found how to root manually my nook simple touch, but I still can't find a way to install manually various .apk's

A sticky with all this basic stuff, would be perfect

That's what I'm hoping to create here. If I get some more suggestions, I'll update it. With all the development going on around here, it would be nice to have a newbie sticky! In particular, what I think what many people will want is a guide (or an all-in-one package) that gives root, installs gapps, and enables norefresh and multitouch. I love the devs, but sometimes the "how-to" threads get a bit complex or give too many options (think about how simple it is with an apple product; they dumb it down to one way to install. Give people a choice on anything and they'll get confused and won't do it. Sad but true). And without any stickies, this forum is... frankly, it's a jumbled mess of complex and often overlapping guides.

Once I get up to speed on this I'll try to create my own guide, but until then, I'm calling for you NST experts to link here to the most interesting stuff available; I'll sort and package it when it's ripe!

 

[fufutos]

I'll wait impatiently

 

[slack04]

I updated the OP with a noob guide to getting norefresh and multitouch running. Anyone know who the mod is for this forum? If so, mind messaging him to sticky this thread?

 

[don't know]

I updated the OP with a noob guide to getting norefresh and multitouch running. Anyone know who the mod is for this forum? If so, mind messaging him to sticky this thread?

Thank you very much Slack. Just received the Nook color and Touch and I don't have a clue about anything Android or coding but do want to make my Nooks more 'productive'. Some 'hand-holding' is much appreciated.

 

[slack04]

Thank you very much Slack. Just received the Nook color and Touch and I don't have a clue about anything Android or coding but do want to make my Nooks more 'productive'. Some 'hand-holding' is much appreciated.

Me too! I just got mine Friday, so I figured if I'm going to spend all this time figuring it out, I might as well write it down. I think sometimes the devs get sort of wrapped up in all of the options, so that when you read their guides you have to choose between 4 or 5 options at different steps. As nice as that is to have choice, for most of us (especially those of us who just joined) just want a few simple hacks to start, and are willing to add stuff once we get comfortable. Additionally, the devs don't usually explain the choices (because they're usually explained elsewhere) so you have to track them down, and all the open webpages end up overwhelming your brain and you screw something up.

BTW- If you come up with your own noob-friendly guides, pop them in here and I'll continue to update the OP.

 

[fufutos]

Good job slack, one detail only: in some cases (like mine) nook is set NOT to allow application installation from other sources than market, so you have to change this setting from "nook color tools" , and if this doesn't do any good things get a little complicated http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24302191&postcount=114

 

[brendan10211]

Awesome! This is cool. Once I get back from the beach I will be following the guide.

 

[slack04]

Good job slack, one detail only: in some cases (like mine) nook is set NOT to allow application installation from other sources than market, so you have to change this setting from "nook color tools" , and if this doesn't do any good things get a little complicated http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24302191&postcount=114

Hey fufutos- I didn't have this issue. Can you write a little noob-friendly guide explaining where and when this needs to be done? If that's too much, just tell me where in my guide I should add a note about this.

 

[fufutos]

I think a mention and the settings change would be o.k. for start. For the rare unlucky guys like me you can provide the link , but they have to set up an adb server... not the easiest task for the occasional newbie...

 

[viny2cool]

oh great was looking for something like this...just got my nook simple touch...and as being a flashing whore..i cant stand using stock on any device

 

[brendan10211]

I am going to try my hand at creating a noob tutorial for MinimalTouch rooter, maybe with screenshots. I may even try to get a screenshot of CWM

Anyway, I will post it when it is done.

 

[slack04]

It's been a while since i updated this thread. Sorry, doesn't appear there's a mod for this forum (explains why there's no stickies anywhere...). If anyone want to write a new guide, please do so. One suggestion would be a guide for unrooting and returning to stock...

 

[eded333]

It's been a while since i updated this thread. Sorry, doesn't appear there's a mod for this forum (explains why there's no stickies anywhere...). If anyone want to write a new guide, please do so. One suggestion would be a guide for unrooting and returning to stock...

Actually to unroot or return to stock easily just use the Touchformatter, also on my sig.

 

[brendan10211]

There is a mod (Mr. Highway)

 

[serupento]

Good job slack, one detail only: in some cases (like mine) nook is set NOT to allow application installation from other sources than market, so you have to change this setting from "nook color tools" , and if this doesn't do any good things get a little complicated http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24302191&postcount=114

Did you ever figure out what to do with those lines of code?
Also, I spoke to some friends and they told me that those security blocks are usually removed from legitimate root ROMs... does this mean that the NTG ROM on this forum is bad?