User Guide
Nook E-Reader
Custom configuration by XDA @nmyshkin
2024
Contact:
nook.simple.touch.forever@gmail.com
or the XDA Nook Touch forum
1. Initialization of your NST
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Set up WiFi and time zone
Personalize device
Set up Weather widget
2. Features overview
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Tour of custom UI elements
App drawer
3. Device Settings
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Settings app
4. File Storage for Readers
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Folder structure
Book storage
5. The Apps
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Brief tour of major user apps, including readers
6. Customizing the UI
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Tip for making further changes
Adding new Simi Folders to the dock
7. About the Widgets
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Power consumption issues
Description of widget functions
Removing the Weather widget
8. USB Audio (and Host)
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USB Host vs. USB Audio
Additional hardware
Brief description of audio apps
Appendix: Firmware 1.1.5 vs. 1.2.2
Nook E-reader User Guide
Initial Set-up: Localization and Personalization
There are a few additional steps to completing the initial set-up of your device.
1. Tap on the "tools" icon and select "Settings".
Tap on the first item, "Network & Connection".
Tap on "Wireless" and then on the empty check-box to turn on the WiFi radio. You should see
your home WiFi source listed.
Tap on it and enter your password. This completes WiFi setup for your device. Uncheck the
checkbox and turn off the WiFi.
2. Using either the status bar "back" button (and/or a back arrow on the Settings page if it
exists), return to the main Settings screen. Tap on the last item, "System". Tap on Time Zone.
Tap on "Select time zone" and select yours. Also, select the time format you want (12-hr or 24hr).
Some time zones may have default time formats associated with them, but you can override
that if you wish. If you are outside the US, be sure to check the “show all time zones” at the
bottom of the time zone selection screen.
3. Go back to the "System" screen and tap on "About".
There are fields there for your name, etc. Some information may have been discovered already
by the device. You can edit fields by tapping on the last item. When you are finished tap the
back button until you reach the main Settings screen and then one more time to exit the app.
Always exit the Settings app in this way, never by pressing on the "n" button.
4. From the home screen, tap on the app drawer button.
Tap on "Minimalistic Text Preferences".
Tap on the Greeting widget.
Scroll down to the "Layout" section of Settings. Tap on "Custom Layout"
You will see the four components that make up the widget.
The last component which is Static Text is where your name goes. Tap on that grey box that
says "Static Text" and editing fields will appear.
You will want to replace "YourName" with your actual name as you would like it to appear.
Preserve the punctuation when editing. So tap in the field that is displaying ",YourName." and
use the keyboard to delete "YourName" and replace it with your actual name.
Then use the status bar "back" button to dismiss the keyboard and tap it one more time to
leave the editing screen. Finally, tap on the status bar "menu" button (the three lines) and on
the menu that comes up from the bottom of the screen, tap on "OK".
This saves your changes and returns you to the initial screen where you will now see your
name properly displayed in the widget. Use the status bar "back" button to return to the home
screen.
5. Now we’re going to activate the Weather widget (and then we’re done!).
On your PC go to https://www.openweathermap.org. You will see a “Search” field on the page.
Type in your city or town.
Below is an example showing a search result for New York City.
Notice the two values in my red box. These are latitude and longitude (respectively) for the
weather station in New York City.
Sometimes there is more than one station. If that’s the case and you know your GPS
coordinates, you want the closest one. Write down these two values. Be sure to include any
negative signs.
Back to your NST. On the home screen you have a tiny hint of the weather widget, just a
degree symbol (in some cases there may also be a variable displayed for location).
Tap on this to enter the Weather Settings screen.
Tap in the Latitude field and enter the value you obtained from OWM. There is some funky
business with the stock keyboard here. Every time you return from the number/symbol
keyboard to the letters, the keyboard is in SHIFT-LOCK mode (notice the big black arrow at
the left side). You need to tap this twice before you can access the “dot” (period) under the “?”.
It’s very bad programming, but it’s what we have (there is an alternative keyboard installed—
more about that later).
Continue with the Longitude value—don’t forget the sign if there is one. I have provided my
developer’s API key for you to try out the widget, so you can skip that field. If you continue to
use the app, I hope you will get your own key (it’s free). You can see how to get one back on
the image of the OWM home page. There is an “API” section in the menu bar at the top. With
enough people using this one key there may eventually be problems.
Select the next two options (units and time format) to suit you. You must check the two boxes
in the lower section for the app to function properly.
Finally, tap on the last box. The Settings page closes and you return to the home screen. You
will notice the addition of the temperature units to the widget and see WiFi come on briefly.
The app is collecting a 5-day/3-hr interval forecast from OWM. Then WiFi turns off. The
processing of the data takes from 3-4 minutes. It’s better not to do anything else while this goes
on, but not absolutely necessary (snack time?). Normally the data is acquired automatically at
0330 local time so you’re probably not interacting with the device at that time and you never
notice anything going on.
Eventually you will see the widget filled out. The app is still working, however, on the forecast
panel. When it is done you will see a notification.
Tap there and you should see:
You don’t actually have to “build” the widget. That’s for people who install the app on their
own. I’ve done the “building” for you. The app is now finished processing the weather data.
Clear the notification. Tap on the widget to view the forecast panel.
Your panel will likely be “incomplete” based on the local time you accessed the data. OWM
does not send out “backcast” data. After 0330 local time the following day the panel will be
complete (assuming you don’t shut the device down at the end of the day).
The “X” at the upper left of the panel will close it. The “cog wheel” at the upper right of the
panel will open Weather Settings in case you want to alter anything. Alterations require a
manual weather retrieval to take effect (i.e., tap on the bottom box).
The widget will update from stored forecast data at the intervals shown in the forecast panel (3
hrs) and also within 15 minutes before local sunrise and sunset.
Occasionally the widget and forecast panel will display a nearby city rather than your own. This
can be fixed in a number of ways. Please see the section “About the Widgets” for more
information about the weather widget.
Congratulations! Your device is ready to READ!
Features Overview
Launcher app drawer features
The app drawer shows many of the major installed
apps, but not all, especially not those you will never
interact with. This is a choice and you can change it.
The three-dot menu at the upper right (red box)
reveals a number of useful options accessible from
the launcher app drawer.
Option #1, “Setup Group”, allows you to hide/show apps in the drawer.
Option #2, “Manage Groups”, allows you to create and arrange additional groups of apps
(tabs). For example, you might create a separate tab for the various apps that concern the
custom UI. These apps could then be hidden in the main drawer tab.
Option #3 is a shortcut to the device App Manager and is probably the fastest way to get there
(other options include from Settings>Apps and also from the AppMgr button in ES File
Explorer). This is where you can force-stop misbehaving apps, uninstall unwanted apps, and
clear defaults you may have set for an app.
Option #4, “ADW Settings”, opens the Settings for the launcher. I recommend caution here.
The UI is fairly complex and a lot of things must be set certain ways to make it all work
together.
Other options involving the launcher may be accessed from the “Menu” button on the status
bar when viewing either the home screen or the app drawer.
If you are one of those persons (I’m married to one) whose devices frequently behave in novel
ways (icons go missing, display items get scrambled, etc.), you might want to consider the “Lock
Desktop” option. It’s a bit of an inconvenience because it blocks the first two three-dot menu
options until you unlock the desktop, but it might save you some frustration in the long run.
Just sayin’.
Device Settings
You should explore the Settings options as needed, but there is one important thing to
remember: this is a “frankenapp”. It combines screens from the stock B&N Settings app with
custom screens, depending on what items I was able to develop an independent path to and
what items were so obscured that I had to default to the stock system. As such, there is
sometimes a peek-through of screens behind during transitions. It depends on how busy the
device is. Most important, the status bar “back” button is frequently altered in behavior by
invisible overlays to facilitate the transition from a custom screen back to the previous screen
of the stock app. This means it is very important to always use the status bar “back” button (or
the back arrow within the app, if available) to back out through the app until the screen that you
see above, and then one last time to exit. NEVER use the “n” (home) button to leave Settings.
Any one of a series of overlays may remain over the status bar “back” button if you do.
Just a few quick comments on some of the sections of the app:
“Apps” opens the App Manager. This is the slowest approach to this system function. Other
ways to get to the App Manager include from the launcher app drawer (3-dot menu) and from
within ES File Explorer. Here you can clear app defaults, force-stop misbehaving apps, and
uninstall apps.
“Display” contains the usual items from the stock app as well as access to Nook Touch Mod
Manager for the display/screen options (control over slide-to-lock, etc.). Nook Touch Mod
Manager is more limited in FW 1.1.5. See the Appendix for more information. Also included are
screensaver options and screen timeout settings. These screens are synthesized to work with
FW 1.1.5 in the custom Settings app.
“Buttons” includes access to Nook Touch Mod Manager to change the functions of the
hardware and software buttons, again more limited in FW 1.1.5. See the Appendix for
information on changing the side button assignments. Access is also provided to QuickTiles for
customizing the options. This same function is available directly from the QuickTiles panel.
“Security” includes the option to set (and remove) a lockpin for your device. You cannot have
both a lockpin entry and the slide-to-unlock entry.
“System” does not include the “locale picker” in FW 1.1.5. The intent is missing and there is
not sufficient code to get it working.
The “Input” option allows you to change keyboards (a similar option is available as one of the
QuickTiles). There is an alternate keyboard already installed and configured, a modified version
of AI Type. It’s useful to me because it can access the copy/paste buffer. It also has other nice
features. I’ve not had any luck chasing down language packs.
“Developer Options” includes settings for USB debugging and File Transfer mode (UMS). It is
possible to switch off UMS so that the device will only charge when connected to USB. This can
be helpful if you are doing something with ADB (over USB) and still want to have access to the
screen.
File Storage for Readers
When I developed this UI I opted to use the sdcard for primary storage. Some people may not
like that, either because they have never used an sdcard in the device before or because they
feel bad about not utilizing the 250 MB of storage in /media.
An sdcard is needed by a number of apps. For example, the Kindle app stores books and
housekeeping files on the sdcard. There is no option within the app to change this. Other
reader apps generate housekeeping files on the sdcard. The same is true for some of the nonreader apps. In addition, the sdcard can also be much larger than 250 MB!
That said, if you feel bad about ignoring /media, you should know that I have used a tiny bit of it
to store some housekeeping files for the UI (please don’t delete those folders/files!). Also, with
this particular device build you may use /media for some book storage (except the Kindle app)
by simply telling the reader apps to look there rather than on the sdcard.
(I have also placed a folder containing apk files for potentially useful apps for those interested in
using USB Audio. If that’s not you, delete the folder and contents.)
The folder structure of the sdcard looks like this:
Each reader app has its own folder for book storage (the Kindle app will create a “kindle”
folder if you register it). This may seem fussy and you are welcome to change it. I felt that
because readers overlapped in their ability to open certain types of files but not in their deft
handling of said files, it might be better to keep things separate.
Other folders, typically app housekeeping folders that you never interact with (even some inside
of the folder for readers), have been hidden. I was looking for a clean look that focused on the
READER. Hidden folders and files can be restored from within the ES File Explorer Settings
options (more under “Apps”).
The “Pictures” folder contains a “Screenshots” folder and that’s why it’s there. Screenshots are
stored there. If you never use that function (via QuickTiles), you can hide the folder.
The “dictdata” folder is where the ColorDict app stores dictionaries (for AlReader or general
lookup outside the reader app). The app has been initialized already and contains both a US
dictionary (Merriam-Webster) as well as an Oxford English dictionary. Additional StarDict
format dictionaries may be added. For more information on using the app, see “Apps”.
The Apps
This is not meant to be an exhaustive exploration of the major user apps on the device, just a
quick tour and some possibly useful tips.
QuickTiles
QuickTiles is a realization for the NST of a quick-settings panel or drawer, a feature of modern
Android systems. The drawer or panel is opened by tapping on an invisible overlay which
covers the status bar from the right edge of the “Menu” soft button to the left edge of the
clock display. This all but blocks the system WiFi dialog, although there is still the area over the
clock which will open the stock WiFi control. I did not disable this using Nook Touch Mod
Manager, but you could, or you could assign something else to that corner. The reason for the
incomplete coverage of the stock “hotspot” is so that the bookmark function in the stock
reader (and others like Kindle) will not be blocked by the QuickTiles overlay. QuickTiles,
because it is an overlay, will ALWAYS be available, whether the status bar is visible or not.
Overlays are tricky because you never know what app might use that screen real estate. So far I
have only found one that is on the device: QuickPic (a gallery app in “Tools”). When it’s in
editing mode the options appear right where the blocking overlay is. To address this and other
potential conflicts, QuickTiles can be disabled for 1 minute by long-pressing on the overlay area.
The panel can display up to 8 options. Most options will auto-close the panel after they are
selected. A few have the option to keep the panel open for additional choices. My choices may
not be your choices, but I’ll take a moment to describe what’s visible. First, though, the marks.
The small black triangle at the bottom is for closing the panel (you opened it by mistake). An
upward swipe is also possible but difficult with so short a distance (even harder if you only have
one row of tiles). The tiny pencil at the lower right of the panel is for changing the tiles. A
LONG-PRESS on this icon will open the text file which configures the panel.
The top line(s) is the configuration. Each tile is separated by a comma and there must be either
4 or 8 entries (“blank” is used to pad out the line or to increase spacing between tiles). A list of
function names is included below that for easy reference, but you really need to know more
than that to make choices. Some tiles may require installation of a helper or plug-in app. The
complete reference is the original app posting on XDA.
Once you’ve made your changes, just use the status bar “Back” button to exit and you’ll be
asked if you want to save changes. It’s that easy to reconfigure the panel.
As configured, the panel contains:
--a WiFi toggle tile. The small triangle “superscript” indicates that a long-press on the icon will
do something related, in this case opening the Setting WiFi page if you need to find a new
source of WiFi because you are not at home.
--an FTP tile. This uses the FTP function of ES File Explorer to initiate an FTP server on the
device. This is a painless way to transfer files wirelessly and save wear and tear on the USB jack
which you absolutely need for charging. I can only speak about Windows, but it is possible to
type in the FTP address (tap on the notification to see the address) into the address bar of File
Explorer and see the contents of the sdcard:
What I actually typed into the address bar was ftp://192.168.1.246:3721/ .The address as
displayed by Windows is simplified. You can even right-click on “Quick Access” while you have
this FTP window open and pin it there so you can access it with a single click. ES File Explorer
is set to default to the sdcard, but you can change this to the root of the device (/) if you want
access to /media as well. You may be able to see folders and files at the root level but you will
not be able to interact with them by this method (except for /media).
There is one drawback to file transfer this way. You see all the folders including hidden ones.
No big deal, but don’t confuse “Perfect Viewer” (where books go) with “PerfectViewer” which
is an app-created housekeeping folder. All the reader apps (except Kindle) require you to scan
the default directory. Some can be set for automatic, others are always manual.
To exit the FTP server, tap on the notification and you’ll get a small dialog window.
--a Rotation tile. This toggle works in conjunction with the RotationLocker app to change the
system-wide display orientation (and lock it there with a notification). Because there are some
static elements of the UI that are part of the wallpaper, QuickTiles has been customized for this
build to initiate a wallpaper change when the display is rotated.
Some apps (like Perfect Viewer) have an excellent in-app rotation mechanism and in those cases
it’s better to use those. Perfect Viewer can be set for landscape, for instance, and only the
reader is rotated. The bookshelf stays in portrait and the device itself remains in portrait when
you leave the reader, but when you return to the reader you are in landscape again. You can
experiment with other readers to see what works best.
--a Screenshot tile. When tapped, this closes the drawer and then takes a screenshot of the
current display and places it in /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots. There is also a brief display of a
smaller image so you know something happened. Nice for sharing a book page with someone
or for showing me what’s become an issue with your system (probably never happen…).
--a NoRefresh tile. This tile works in conjunction with the NoRefresh app to change the display
to A2 mode. This mode features flicker-free page changes or scrolling. The original B&N stock
reader actually used this very briefly when changing pages (and that made the stock reader
incompatible with NoRefresh). The original app has many “automatic” features, most of which
work either poorly or erratically. I’ve reduced all that down to “turn it on/off now”. NoRefresh
should be turned on when the screen features only (or at least mainly) text. This is because it
flattens all colors and shades of gray to 2 colors (black and white) and makes a contrast
judgment in doing so. Pictures may distort that automatic adjustment. When the tile is tapped,
the drawer closes and a manual contrast selector appears briefly. This is generally not needed
but I left it there to indicate that something is happening.
NoRefresh will die when you change applications or when the screensaver comes on so there
is usually no need to turn it “off”. It works well with the Kindle reader and EBookDroid, less so
with Perfect Viewer (especially in landscape where there seems to be some issue). It also works
well with Opera Mini (again, best for text).
--a Reboot tile. Feel like something’s not quite right with your device? You could shut it down
and restart. Or you can reboot, and that’s what this tile does. I use it in development a lot. You
may not find it helpful.
The Readers
This is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of the four reading apps. For that, experience and
poking around is your best bet. You can also ask questions in the forum and someone will come to your
aid. Maybe even me.
First a few general comments about all the reader apps. I have attempted to get all the entries
to the various readers be as similar as possible, i.e., through a library or bookshelf. In contrast,
the “reading now” button (and/or home screen book cover image) should directly open the
current book you are reading. By modifying the Manifests of some of the apps and writing little
helper apps for them, I was able to succeed almost 100%. Some accessing is slower than I
would like, but it may also just seem slow because there is nothing to look at while all the
“stuff” is going on except a screen to hide that!
The EBookDroid “Bookshelf” app works in a way that you really don’t want to know about, it’s
so outlandish. I’d say 95% of the time it does exactly what I intended. The other 5% it requires
just a tap on a folder to expand the view.
AlReader’s “Al Library” uses a trick similar to the Kindle Library app. Since the app has no
“landing” or “home” screen, it’s designed to open a fall-back “intro” book in fb2 format if there
is no other book available. My app circumvents that and forces the Library screen to open
instead. AlReader can remember which Library view you prefer (authors titles, etc.) or it can
always start at root. You can change that in the app Settings. Once a book has been selected
then it can be opened immediately in the future by use of the “reading now” button on the
status bar (or by tapping on the Book Cover widget) as with all the other readers.
Where touch zones could be assigned I attempted to simplify things so that all the readers
would more or less behave in a similar fashion (less to remember!). So taps on the left or right
sides of the screen change pages in all the readers. A tap at the center of the screen opens a
menu or at least reveals the status bar so you can tap on “Menu” there. A tap at the bottom of
the screen reveals at least a page change option or slider.
Obviously you can add or subtract from these tap zones in the apps which allow that
(AlReader, EBookDroid and Perfect Viewer).
AlReader
Recommended for: non-DRM epub, mobi, azw
This is the principal reader on the device, taking the place of the B&N stock reader since all the
B&N stuff has been removed. The reader is capable of dealing with non-DRM epubs, mobi, azw,
and some less common formats like fb2. It may be able to open some azw3 books. It can also
read many kinds of text-based files like HTML, doc, txt, etc. If you never have any DRMprotected mobi books to read, you may not need the Amazon Kindle app.
I have modified the app in only one respect. It comes with a large user-made Help document in
HTML format—in Russian only (Menu>File>Info>Help). I extracted the file and used Firefox to
translate it to English and then put it back inside. It is much like you might expect, but perhaps
better than you might fear. It’s pretty small text (with no option to change), although landscape
does help. Still, it is difficult to navigate with all the internal links. For that reason I’ve also made
a copy available where you downloaded this document.
AlReader has two menu systems. There is a small one for when you are in a book and want to
exit or do something else very straightforward. Press the “back” button for this. There are
some other very minor menus in the Library view and elsewhere, but the main menu system is
found while in a book by either pressing the “menu” button or tapping in the center of the
screen. This menu system takes some getting used to. Items on the right are often sub-menu
links, not actual functions. So there’s a lot more there than you might think.
E-ink settings for screen refresh frequency are found at
Menu>Options>Addon>Tuning>Hardware and Main. The higher the screen update interval
value, the more likely you are to notice accumulating ghosting.
A long-press on a word will bring up a small context menu. One of the options is for dictionary
lookup. The app works in concert with ColorDict to use StartDict format dictionaries. Two are
provided, Webster’s Collegiate and the Oxford English. For more information, see “The Apps”
section.
None of the “Network Library” stuff (OPDS) works. That train has left the station. It is
possible to download books from Gutenberg.org using Opera Mini. See “The Apps” section for
more information.
TTS works, such as it is, and is probably the best of the different readers which support it. This
is chiefly because you can vary the speed of the reading.
AlReader automatically extracts cover images and saves them to
/media/screensavers/currentbook. This works with books which have embedded covers.
Unfortunately it also “works” with document files, for which the app generates an unsightly
cover image which then gets placed on the home screen and in the screensaver folder. I
thought about adding a manual capture routine for these types of files, but the app would just
overwrite anything that was captured (every time you reopen the document) so….best to
avoid all but epubs and mobis unless you can tolerate the ugly home screen for the time it takes
you to get through the document. The “reading now” button and book cover widget on the
home screen will only take you to epubs and mobis being read in AlReader. Document files
need to be accessed through Al Library (or a file manager).
The app stores working files for books in /sdcard/AlReader/AlReader. That folder is hidden. It
also stores the default fall-back intro book in /media/AlReader and insists on creating the
folders /media/Books and /media/Downloads. These I have hidden.
You can exit the reader using the “n” button or by pressing the “back” button and selecting
“quit”.
The Amazon Kindle app
Recommended for: non-DRM mobi, DRM mobi
If you do not wish to use the Kindle app, uninstall both the Amazon Kindle app and the Kindle
Library app.
In order to use the Kindle app you must register it. There appears to be no other way in. The
app will read books in mobi format, but not azw3 (Calibre can readily convert azw3 to mobi).
At this writing it is still possible to check out Library books in Kindle format (if your local
institution offers that), then go to Amazon.com and schedule delivery of them to your device.
In the past these appeared in the bookshelf. The last time I tried it the book was hiding in the
Archive section and I had to tap on it to download it to the device.
Dictionaries are free in the 6 languages supported by the app. Two English versions are available
and appear to be region blocked. For more information on dictionaries for the Kindle app,
search in the XDA NST sub-forum “Nook Touch General” for “kindle dictionaries”. Everything
you ever wanted to know.
To register the app you must have a pre-existing Amazon account with 2-factor verification
turned on. To see if this describes you, go to Amazon.com and check your account:
Once you’ve taken care of that and your mobile phone is handy you’re ready!
1. Connect to WiFi
2. Tap on the Amazon Kindle app from the app drawer, not the Kindle Library app in the
“books” section on the home screen.
3. Type in your email account used with Amazon and your account password. Tap on
“Register”.
4. You will get an error message. Almost immediately you should receive a text from Amazon
on your mobile phone. The text contains a 6-digit one-time-password.
5. APPEND this one-time-password to what you have already typed in the password field and
tap “Register” again. That should do it.
Hereafter access to the app is from the Kindle Library app in the “books” section on the home
screen.
The app creates the folder /sdcard/kindle and that’s where books go. Cover display in the
bookshelf is a little iffy. If the metadata in your book is correctly formatted a cover image should
appear. Sometimes it seems to help if WiFi is on when you first load up a book. No idea why.
If you have WiFi on and long-press on a word in a book you will be invited to download a
dictionary for the language of the book (assuming it’s one of the six supported languages).
Thereafter the dictionary resides in /sdcard/kindle for offline use.
Page changes in the reader are a little more visually “exciting” than I prefer. NoRefresh
smoothes this out nicely.
The Kindle app stores only thumbnail images used to display covers in the bookshelf. These are
too small for use in the book cover display on the home screen or as screensavers. That means
cover capture for those two purposes is manual. When you open the Kindle app either from
the library approach or the “now reading” button, a 40x40 pixel invisible overlay is placed at
the upper right corner of the screen for 3 minutes. When you are on the cover page of the
book (Kindle books often open to the title page, so you may have to go back a screen or two),
tap in this area and you will see a smaller image of the cover page appear briefly, just like for a
screenshot. Unlike a screenshot, this image goes to the locations for the book cover home
screen image and the custom screensaver image. This action also tells the “reading now” button
to open the Kindle app, not the stock reader.
The Kindle app uses the upper right corner of the screen to bookmark. Hopefully you can wait
3 minutes after opening a book to set a bookmark.
EBookDroid
Recommended for: text-based PDF, CBZ conversion of scanned PDF
If you do not wish to use EBookDroid, uninstall both the EBookDroid app and the Bookshelf
app.
This version of EBookDroid was initially modified by XDA member nivieru. Whatever changes
were made, this app has the highest contrast ratio of any of the PDF readers I have tried. I
made additional modifications to reveal invisible text elements. There are some things which
are a little wonky but beyond my ability to fix. None of these affect the reading experience. The
app also features very aggressive cropping so the screen is almost entirely filled with text,
making it as large as possible without zooming/panning. And it features continuous vertical
scrolling (NoRefresh is good here). Page change taps still work but you move vertically one
screen at a time since the page will likely be a bit longer than the screen height when the view
is set to fill the horizontal dimension (maximum print size).
The app can read fb2, DjVu, PDF, and CBZ files. As configured, only PDF and CBZ will be
shown in the bookshelf. If you have any fb2 or DjVu books you can enable those choices in the
app Settings. The app is supposed to also read CBR files but it seems the compression method
on RAR files has changed sufficiently since the app was created so that this no longer works.
CBR files are just RAR archives with the file extension changed, so you could just unRAR the
archive and then ZIP it and change the file extension to .cbz. Or you could save the CBR files
for Perfect Viewer (my choice).
I think EBookDroid is best with PDFs. There is a place for CBZ files, however. I have a posting
on dealing with PDFs that are scanned rather than text-based. EBookDroid has trouble with
these. The link to the post is above at the beginning of this section. CBZ image-based files like
comics are best with Perfect Viewer.
Most PDFs must be read in landscape mode or the print is just too small for the typical human.
This change can be made from within the app but it’s very awkward and sometimes the
cropping takes quite awhile to recover. It’s easier just to use the global orientation change from
QuickTiles.
The app is capable of extracting and displaying cover thumbnails for books although you most
often have to force this manually through a menu option. But there is no point because the
images don’t “stick” and the next time you open the bookshelf they are likely to be gone. The
bookshelf default view is “recents” which is very annoying. My “Bookshelf” helper app
circumvents that and dumps you in the full file view.
Although the app does store book cover thumbnails they are too small to use for the home
screen or as screensavers. As with the Kindle app, cover capture is manual. This also ensures
that EBookDroid opens when you tap on the “now reading” button or the book cover image
on the home screen.
Perfect Viewer
Recommended for: CBR, CBZ
If you do not wish to use Perfect Viewer, uninstall the app itself, the “My Bookshelf” app, and
the PDF plug-in app..
This installation includes a plug-in for reading PDFs as well as a custom helper app to enable
entry directly to the bookshelf while still allowing the app itself to open the current book. The
app can read CBZ and CBR archives as well as other image-based files. Its features make it
useful for comics, manga, etc. For PDFs the features are rather slim but there is an option to
adjust contrast and gamma which can often improve the appearance of text. PDFs are best
viewed with the auto sharpen feature “off”. Most files will be better in landscape and the app
has its own convenient reader-only landscape setting. Perfect Viewer does not like NoRefresh
much, but as there is no scrolling and page movements are quick and clean, there’s not much
need for it. The app is memory-greedy, even on the low resolution setting, so large files may
give the device trouble.
In addition to the general tap zones mentioned earlier, a tap on the top-center of the screen
will bring up a quick menu of shortcuts from the main menu (tap screen bottom) which can be
configured as desired. As with EBookDroid, page changes are vertical. The percentage of page
change is adjustable.
Perfect Viewer does not store useful cover images so as with the other non-B&N reader apps,
cover capture is manual.
Q. What if I don’t want to bother with the covers?
A. In this build MOST of the reader apps are incapable of automatic cover capture. That means
it’s often your choice (except for AlReader). If you don’t use the manual feature the cover
image on the home screen will not correspond to what you are reading and the “reading now”
button (or cover widget) will not take you to the current book but rather to the last book you
did use the function with.. This might be considered a “feature” of sorts. For example, when I
am reading a really long book (like something by Michener) I sometimes take a break and read a
comic to rinse out my brain. That’s only going to take one sitting. I might not bother with the
cover capture. I also keep some really large books that are collections, or books from which I
read small sections now and then on the Kindle app. If I am just going to spend 20 minutes with
something, I’m not going to capture the cover and have the “reading now” button return me
there. Cover capture also places a cover image in the custom screensaver folder, so that might
be another consideration.
ColorDict
While not a reader app, this is included in the “books” section of the home screen. You may
think it would belong better in the “tools” section and you can certainly move it. Directions for
that kind of thing can be found in the section on “Customizing the UI”.
AlReader can use StarDict format dictionaries via ColorDict. A long-press on a word while
reading a book will bring up a context menu of options, one of which is the definition.
ColorDict then takes over and displays the definition in a window.
I have supplied both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English dictionaries. You can change
which dictionar(y/ie)s in the app itself although the color is sort of moot with a grey-scale
screen. I’m not even sure what is what, but you can experiment by looking up a word from
within the actual app and seeing which dictionary or dictionaries are used. You change the
active dictionary by tapping on the little square, but I can’t tell you what to look for. Unlike the
B&N stock dictionary, it is possible to look up a word outside the AlReader app by accessing
ColorDict directly. It is also possible to have more than one dictionary selected.
Additional dictionaries in StarDict format may be added by placing their tar.bz2 archives in the
“dictdata” folder and opening the app. It should unarchive the dictionary and index it. Many
translation and single-language dictionaries are available in this format from Wiktionary data.
Internet-based apps
Following along the bottom of the home screen the next SiMi Folder is for apps that access the
internet as part of their ordinary function. These include a browser, an email client, and a
contacts app.
Opera Mini
E-ink screens are not the best for browsing. The NST is so “old” in Android years that much of
its security apparatus is essentially non-existent as far the greater WWW is concerned. For this
reason, a browser like Opera Mini is useful because the servers actually fetching your request
are Opera’s and they are up-to-date (we hope…). Then the content is reformatted and sent to
you. It works reasonably well but there are many pages that still will not function properly
because whatever else is going on, it’s still Android 2.1 on the NST and there are a lot of tricks
this old dog doesn’t know.
That said, it’s OK for a quick Google of something, or even downloading a book from
Gutenberg.org (yes, it’s still possible, but the “search” field is way down on the entry page past
a lot of blank space). I’ve also added a few text-only news sites. Stuff like this cries out for
NoRefresh or else scrolling is pretty dramatic with all kinds of blinking and flashing.
Sadly even this old version of Opera Mini (asked about an update? JUST SAY NO!) is plagued
by an ad interstitial. I’ve looked at this a little but I think any serious attempt to defeat it is likely
to cripple the app. In any case, it only seems to appear once a session, usually after the first or
second link. The “X” at the upper right corner of the ad does not close it. Instead you must use
the back arrow to return to the previous page and then tap the link you wanted again.
K-9 Mail
The e-mail client works reasonably well on the device but has a tendency to “take over”, as
many clients do. That’s bad news for a device with limited RAM. This can be addressed when
setting up an account.
For GMail accounts it is necessary to create an app password for K-9 mail with Google before
setting up the app on the NST. That password will be used to set up the local account rather
than the usual email account password. Other e-mail providers may have different
requirements.
Once the account is established on the device you will want to set folder polling to “never”.
This essentially means that mail retrieval and sending is entirely manual. Otherwise the app gets
excited each time WiFi comes on and starts its machinations. So when weather data is
retrieved at 0330 each morning, the e-mail client will start up and then may sulk for hours
trying to figure out where the connection went that so briefly appeared. Etc.
From your account screen, tap the status bar “Menu” button to open the menu at the bottom
of the screen. Tap on “More”.
Next tap on “Settings”.
Now tap on “Account Settings”:
Here you want “Fetching mail”.
Use the drop-down menus to configure the two settings as shown below. That’s it!
Go Contacts
This was the only contacts app I could find that would still run properly on the NST, but only
using local content. So you must export your contacts from wherever as a .vcf file and then
import them in. Email can be initiated from the contacts app but there is no auto-fill of a To:
address when you start typing in a field from scratch.
If you want to remove any of these apps you may uninstall them from the App Manager. If you
decide to retain only the browser you might want to eliminate the SiMi Folder altogether which
adds an extra tap to access the browser. You can do this without breaking the UI:
0. Unlock your desktop if you have locked it as described earlier.
1. Double tap on the WWW SiMi Folder icon (the globe).
2. You will see a small context menu. One of the options is “Remove”. Tap that.
3. Go to the app drawer and long-press on the Opera Mini icon. A copy will move to the home
screen. Aim for a blank spot.
4. Double-tap on the Opera Mini icon. The same context menu appears. This time tap on
“Edit”.
5. You can delete the app label (Opera Mini) and also change the icon. When you change the
icon you will want to use “select picture”, then “QuickPic”.
QuickPic does not generally scan /media, so tap on the three-dot menu at the upper right and
choose “Add”.
Back up to the root directory and tap on “media”.
Now tap on “icons”, then ”OK” at the bottom of the screen. This adds the icons used to build
the UI to the QuickPic gallery display (8). Tap on that selection.
Everything looks a bit funky because the icons have transparent backgrounds. You’ll see the
globe icon as the last one of the eight. Tap that to complete the selection.
Be sure you have deleted the app name (not in the box but below the new icon) and then tap
on OK.
Drag the icon down to the dock where the original SiMi Folder icon was. The dock icons may
want to squirm around a little and change places. Be patient.
If you had the desktop locked, return it to that state.
Done!
Tools
The “tools” section of the home screen includes a file manager, a custom device Settings app, a
gallery app, and a calculator. Some people might want to move the Dictionaries app which is in
the books section and is, after all, a kind of settings app, into this SiMi Folder. That is easily
done if that’s your preference. See the section on “Customizing the UI”.
ES File Explorer
You’ve already seen a little bit of this app and I am not going to go into excruciating detail about
all of its features. I will highlight things which I use commonly and which you might also.
The “select” button sets up the device for “multiple select” which allows you to manipulate
groups of folders or files. The “Up” button takes you back to the “root” of the device (that’s
where you would find /media). By default I have /system mounted so that changes can be made
easily, but you can change that in the Settings if it makes you nervous. The “AppMgr” button
gives access to the App Manager via the file explorer. The same options are available there as
described before, although the display is a little funky.
The status bar “Menu” button brings up a menu from the bottom:
“New” enables you to create new files or new folders. “Settings” goes just where it sounds like.
Access to folders and files that have been hidden is in there somewhere. The “More” button
opens a small sub-menu, the last item on which is “Exit”.
Long-pressing on a file or folder brings up a context menu with lots of useful options (2 pages
worth!). The last option is “Properties” which is where you can change file/folder permissions
(technical but useful for people making significant changes).
Settings
This app has already been discussed in an earlier section
QuickPic
You might wonder why this app is even on the device. For one thing it gives the activity picker
something to offer as a choice if you want to view or use an image. ES File Explorer has its own
image viewer but the system does not always offer it as a choice. The app can also be used to
“clean up” a manual cover capture that is not to your liking. Cover images for the home screen
are stored in /media/NowReading under the filename “NSTcover.png”. Editing tools for
QuickPic are in the section of the screen covered by the touch zone for QuickTiles so a longpress on the zone is required to deactivate QuickTiles while you are working with the editing.
Once a file is edited and saved (its name may have changed and it needs to stay the same) you
can find Desktop VisualizeR in the app drawer, open it, tap the status bar “Menu” button and
from the bottom menu that appears tap on “Refresh Widgets”. Choose the normal way. This
will update the cover image on the home screen but you will lose the reader badge.
Editing the screensaver image works the same way. The images are found in
/media/screensavers/currentbook. They may have various names depending on whether they
come from AlReader or have been manually captured. When you are done you want to delete
the original from the folder so there is always only one file present.
Calculator
If you do not want the calculator you can just hide it from the SiMi Folder or you can actually
get rid of it. To get rid of it, go to /system/app and delete “Calculator.apk”. To hide it in case
you change your mind, the easiest thing to do is rename the file to something like
“Calculator.apk.bak”.
I modified the calculator app from GApps for Éclair, basically flattening the colors to 2 and then
reversing them so most of the screen is white instead of black. There is an additional keyboard
with so-called “scientific” functions. You can reach it with the status bar “Menu” button or
simply by swiping to the left.
Q. While poking around I noticed that Opera Mobile is installed. What’s that for?
A. That, friend, is a more-or-less dead browser. The security certificates, etc., all expired. But
the app has one interesting effect. It kick starts the activity picker on the device so it will
actually show options for dealing with different types of files. The app does not run in the
background and there is plenty of space for it on the device. You should stop looking at hidden
stuff and find a good book to read 
Customizing the UI
There are at least five ways to get yourself into hot water with the UI:
1. fiddle with the settings for ADW Launcher
2. redesign the wallpaper(s)
3. alter the SiMi Folders
4. use Desktop VisualizeR to change the appearance or behavior of some screen artifact
5. accidentally delete the book cover widget (requires either a re-flash or a new custom app)
I’m not going to discuss #1 because I think that’s the easiest way to break everything. Still, fools
rush in…
The wallpaper (/media/Wallpaper) contains three static elements that are part of the UI: the
phrase “Now Reading” and the two horizontal lines.
The phrase uses the Gill Sans font which is the device default for the original UI (or so
someone told me). The widgets use this same font. A copy of that font is in /sdcard/Fonts,
which is a hidden folder. Fonts in that folder are used by Minimalistic Text to compose the
widgets. There are actually three wallpaper images in /media/Wallpaper. One is for portrait,
one is for landscape and one is for in-between. To keep the screen from becoming a mess
when the display is changed to landscape it is necessary to change the wallpaper. Experimenting
with this process I found that a smoother result occurred with an intermediate wallpaper that
is plain white. The design of the landscape version is trickier than it looks. The device doesn’t
use just an 800x600 pixel image. You can inspect the image on a PC to see what I mean. This
custom version of QuickTiles manages the wallpaper swap when the Rotation tile is tapped. If
you are going to alter the wallpaper images in some way and wish to retain this functionality,
the file names must remain the same.
That should be just about enough rope for hanging as far as the wallpaper is concerned.
SiMi Folders can be managed with the app in the app drawer. The opening screen looks like
this:
I’ve shown just the two things that actually work on the device. A brief note on the
“Applications” section. If you tap there you will see a list of all the apps. If you tap on an app it
will take you to a screen where the most useful item is “Change Icon”. This gives you the ability
to use a different app icon within a SiMi Folder (nowhere else). I used this to change the icons
for K-9 Mail, Go Contacts, and the stock Library app. You can store icons to use in
/media/Icons with the rest of them. This is minor fiddling with the UI and is totally harmless.
The thing of major importance from the first screen is, of course, “Folders”. If you tap there
you will see a listing of the SiMi Folders which have been set up. You’ll notice an “Audio”
folder. It’s empty and is there for the convenience of those who want to pursue USB Audio.
If you tap on a folder you’ll see its contents. This is the “Readers” folder:
Unless you really hate the way I’ve set up how the folders open up on the home screen I
suggest you stay away from “Settings”. There are a whopping lot of them, some pretty
confusing. When I create a new folder I generally just tell the app to make it the same as
another one. The “Add” button will allow you to add (or remove) apps from the folder.
This is done by checking or unchecking the apps in a list that you will see. So if you think the
“ColorDict” app really belongs with “Tools” then you can uncheck it for this folder and later
open the “Tools” folder and check it for there.
The “Sort” button is what it sounds like. I have used custom sorting (drag into order). You may
wish to rearrange things to suit you.
What about an entirely new SiMi Folder? Surely there is room in the dock for one more! To
create a new folder you want to be on the opening screen of the app, tap “Folders” and then
“Add Folder” on the next screen. This is what you get:
First type in a name for the folder. Then select the type of folder (“combined”). Skip the next
two categories. Tap the last one to copy all those settings from another folder (any one will do,
they are all the same). If you don’t like the way I’ve set up the SiMi Folders visually then you
have to slog through the two steps we skipped.
Tap on “Save” and you’ll be back at the list of folders. This is how I made the “Audio” folder
(and the rest, of course). I’m going to use that as an example for the rest of this so I can kill
two birds with one stone.
Tap on the folder you just created and you get pretty much nothing:
Now you tap on “Add” to decide what apps will go in the folder. A person populating the
“Audio” folder might check the AudioBook app and perhaps TuneIn Radio. After saving that,
you come back to where we are still looking but with a few apps in the list. You can sort those
manually if you like or just accept what the app has done. Then you back out of the app. It’s
that “easy” to make a SiMi Folder.
But how does a SiMi Folder get on the home screen? For that you need Desktop VisualizeR.
Make sure your desktop is unlocked. Press anywhere that is blank. This is what you see:
You want to tap where it says “Add”.
Now it looks like this and you want to tap on Shortcuts.
Now this, and you want Desktop VisualizeR:
This opens the Desktop VisualizeR app where we will fill in the needed information to display
the SiMi Folder as an icon on the desktop. That icon can be placed anywhere there is room. If
you move it to the dock, the label will not show even if you give it a label.
Tap first on “Select Icon”.
This takes you to a list of places to get the icon from. Just use the first one, “Image File”. Then
you get a list of options which include both ES File Explorer and QuickPic. Either should work.
Whichever you select you need to navigate to wherever the icons are stored. I used ES File
Explorer to go to /media/Icons and selected the “audio” icon:
Next, tap on “Select Action”. This takes you to a shorter list and you want “Others”. On the
next longer list you want “SiMi Folder”. That will take you to the folder listing in the SiMi
Folder app and you tap on the one you want.
Then you’re back:
At this point you can edit the Label name or trash it if you don’t want/need a label (like for the
dock). The only other step is to tap “OK” and you’ll be back at the home screen. Your SiMi
Folder will appear at some random spot (generally the upper left):
Now you just drag it wherever you want it. Done! Buyer’s remorse? Double-tap and choose
“Remove”. Don’t forget to lock the desktop if you have that set.
The last item on the list of ways to get in trouble with the UI was Desktop VisualizeR. If you’ve
been following along you have seen some of what it can do. Generally speaking, there’s not a
lot of point in using it just to dress up an app icon to your liking because you can do that with
the launcher itself. Desktop VisualizeR (along with SetCover4) controls the home screen book
cover widget. Without additional custom software (or Tasker) there is no way for you to use
this feature.
About the Widgets
Some people have particularly strong feelings about widgets, especially on e-readers for which
they desire maximum battery charge life (never mind you almost never get what is advertised). I
get that. Sort of. For me the implementation of widgets was partly an aesthetic decision (which
you may not share) and partly a gee-whiz thing. I wanted to see if such a thing were possible
with the tools I had available and my limited skills.
In the interest of disclosure I did a few battery charge life test runs. I used the same device each
time (your battery may vary) and started from a 100% charge. I simply unplugged the device
from the charger and let it sit for 7 days. These are the results:
1) with the system as provided, both widgets running: 82%
2) with the weather widget and app removed: 87%
3) with ALL widgets removed or disabled: 88%
The data is suggestive but not definitive as all of our batteries are in different conditions. We
don’t know how much of a drop-off there is as charge declines or whether it’s linear or
whatever.
I think it’s reasonable to say that 87% and 88% are “the same”.
What exactly do the widgets do?
The Greeting/Date widget updates just after midnight, local time (“morning” and the date
itself), just after Noon, local time (“afternoon”) and at 6 pm, local time (“evening”). That’s not a
lot, which accounts for the minor difference (if any) it makes in battery life. The app which
controls the widget, NST UI, also controls the “now reading” button (and book cover widget
tap function).
By comparison, the Weather widget is busier. At 0330 local time each day it turns on WiFi for
a very short time to download the data for a 5-day weather forecast from OWM. Then it turns
off WiFi and begins extracting and organizing the data into something usable for display
purposes. This takes about 3-4 minutes of data crunching. After that, the on-screen widget itself
updates every 3 hours and within 15 minutes before sunrise and sunset. The forecast panel is
static for the day after the initial data crunching early in the morning.
If the app is unable to reach OWM it will try a second time and then give up. You will see a
notification that the weather update did not work. Meanwhile, the app will have shifted the
forecast panel display, using data it had from the day before. So there will be a blank column at
the far right, but the forecasts will be “correct” for the days displayed. The same thing would
happen if you turned off your device overnight and then turned it back on in the morning.
During boot the app would compare the current date with the date of the last weather data
and adjust the forecast panel and widget correctly. You won’t get any notification of this
process until the app runs out of data (so the device has been off five or more days). At that
point you will see a notification that the weather data has expired and the widget itself is
temporarily active as manual weather update button. Tapping on it will commence a manual
data retrieval. Failing that, if the device remains on overnight, regular data retrieval will resume.
Q. Can I use the app to monitor the weather in Timbuktu?
A. Actually, OWM does have a weather station there, but the short answer is “not really”. The
app was not designed with this sort of thing in mind. The only way you can use the app for
weather outside your time zone and have it work as intended is to change the time zone setting
on the device to the locale you want to monitor. If you don’t do that you will always have
incomplete data in the forecast panel for the current day, and depending on how many time
zones away the target location is, it could be many hours before there is actual data for the
widget to display. The result is a massive mess of variables displaying in the widget:
Isn’t that cool?! Not. It eventually clears up when the times gets to the point where there is
actual data, but the whole debacle recurs each day unless you change the device time zone.
Now if you are in the same time zone as Timbuktu, then go for it!
If your weather widget is not properly displaying your town or city even though OWM said it
had a station there, there are two ways to fix that. I have a number of these devices and all but
one of them correctly displays my town. The holdout displays somewhere about 100 miles
away! On your PC go to maps.ie/coordinates.html. There you can enter your actual home
address and get GPS coordinates. Then open the forecast panel (tap on the widget) and tap on
the cog-wheel at the upper right. Enter the new latitude and longitude you just got. Do a
manual weather retrieval. Did that help?
If the answer is “no”, you can edit the widget itself to remove the location variable and replace
it with static text that is your town or city. To do this, go to Minimalistic Text Preferences in
the app drawer. Tap on the Weather widget shown. Scroll down Settings to Layout>Custom
layout. Tap that.
Of course the contents of your actual widget will be different from the one you see above. The
item we want to change is the first gray box which says “Locale variable”.
First we are going to add a new item before we get rid of the old one so we don’t lose the line.
There’s a tiny “+” sign on the right of the screen. Tap that.
The tabs that appear at the bottom are options to add to the widget. Don’t get distracted by
“Weather”. None of that stuff works any more. Instead, tap on “Misc”.
Above the tabs you now see two choices. We want “Static text”. Press and hold on that until
the tabs disappear and then drag it up so it comes after the first box in the first line.
Now your screen should look like this:
We are going to get rid of the first element in the first line, the one labeled as “Locale variable”.
Press and hold on that box until you see a trash can in the lower section, then drag it down
there, right on top of the image of the trash can. Now you have this:
You can see that in the widget view the location has been replaced by “[ST]”. Static text. Tap
on that gray box to open the editing field.
Type your town or city name in the text box. In the drop-down menu below change the
“Default” to “Normal”. Leave the rest blank. Tap on the status bar “Back” button to dismiss
the keyboard, then again to dismiss the editing screen. Now the most important part: tap on the
status bar “Menu” button. You will see a small menu rise up from the bottom. Tap on “OK”.
This saves your changes and takes you back to the entry screen where you will hopefully see
your correct location. Exit the app and you should also now see the widget displaying the
correct location.
So you decide. You can let things run for awhile and see how you feel. Or you can get rid of the
Weather widget NOW.
To remove the Weather widget and all of its components, do this (desktop must be unlocked):
1. Long-press on the widget to bring up the little launcher context menu that includes
“Remove”. Tap that. Widget gone from screen.
2. Uninstall the NST Weather app using the App Manager.
3. There are several hidden folders that contain stuff for the Weather widget. Open ES File
Explorer and go to Settings>Security Settings>Hide List. There, restore “NSTWeather”,
“Fonts” and “Minimalistic Text Preferences”.
4. Return to the /sdcard directory. Long-press on the NSTWeather folder and delete it. Open
the Fonts folder and delete weathericons.ttf. Back out of the folder and long-press, selecting
“Hide” from the context menu. Open the Minimalistic Text Preferences folder and delete
Weather.mtpref. Back out of that folder and long-press to select “Hide”. Reboot. Gone!
USB Audio (and Host)
Your NST has all the software resources required for USB Host mode and USB Audio. These
are accessed through tile options in QuickTiles. You should not use these unless you also have
the additional hardware for USB Host/Audio mode.
What’s USB Host and USB Audio? Some tablets and phones have USB Host capability. That
means that with the right cable, peripheral devices such as USB keyboards can interact with the
device. I’ve never understood the attraction of that for the NST, but in the early days of USB
Host development is was a “hot ticket”, as they say.
The only additional hardware needed (besides the peripheral itself, like a keyboard) is an OTG
cable or stub. These are inexpensive and can be obtained through Amazon, ebay, etc. You need
a microUSB male to USB2 female cable. Pretty standard stuff until USB3 came along. The only
potential issue is the microUSB jack of the NST. I had a terrible time with my first OTG cable
and I’m convinced now it was due to a poor match for the slightly non-standard jack on the
NST. I also feel that people who complained they could not get any of it to work probably had
the same issue. My second two cables worked flawlessly. Every time. No hocus-pocus required.
The moral: try to get lucky. And if you have any issues when you first try this out, don’t fiddle
excessively with the plug. You risk loosening the jack on the NST. Trust me. I know. Just get
another cable.
Here’s an example of an OTG cable:
There are variations available with a 90˚ bend at the microUSB plug. I have one of each. Both
work.
In use, you would tap on the USB Host tile in the QuickTile drawer and then follow the onscreen prompts. A good sign is the LED at the bottom of the device being green. But it’s not a
sure sign that all is well. You’ll only know that by trying.
To exit USB Host mode, tap on the QuickTiles tile again and follow the on-screen instructions.
None of this is arbitrary. Do what it says.
As far as I know there are not a lot of drivers built into the kernel changes that enable this
mode. Keyboards, mice (yeah, right…), and the USB-C external soundcard adapters. There may
be others. I have a little handheld wireless keyboard I use for my TV. The small stub receiver
that plugs into a USB jack actually works with this setup and allows the handheld keyboard to
communicate with the NST. Yipee.
The activation of USB Audio requires a few more instructions to the device so there is a
separate tile for that as well as subtly different on-screen instructions. The most important
deviation is that the OTG cable and the USB-C Audio device are connected before the cable is
plugged into the NST. Also, at the conclusion of the setup routine, on-screen volume controls
appear at the right side of the screen.
There are various audio adaptors. I have shown two below. I have both.
Both have audio-out and microphone-in with 3.5 mm jacks (yes, the NST can also record with
the proper app). The one on the right has a bunch of LEDs that blink when the device is in use.
These are not quite idiot lights. At least you know you have “liftoff” if the lights are on. There
are also volume control buttons which are not really needed since on-screen controls are
provided. That said, I prefer the one on the left. USB Host, and especially Audio, drains the
battery. I have a figure in my head that is an estimate for using TuneIn Radio (which requires
WiFi). So there you have both USB Audio AND WiFi going. After about 1.5 hours a fully
charged battery will be down to around 75%.
The whole arrangement is rather unwieldy and means that this setup is in no way “portable”:
Here the 90˚ bend cable might make things a bit more compact. The output of the external
sound device can also be connected to the AUX input of a stereo system.
And….if you’re really going to geek out, you could pick up a small Bluetooth
receiver/transmitter and attach the output of the sound device to the input of the Bluetooth
device. Here are a couple of examples of different products. They, too, can be relatively
inexpensive:
I tried this--just because--and I can tell you that it works, but I only had success with earbuds
(which I hate). I could not get the Bluetooth to work with my car (notoriously finicky) or with a
bookshelf stereo system. Both of these required the entry of a 4-digit PIN to connect and are
older so that may be part of the issue. The little devices as sold are supposed to connect
automatically…. Anyway, it was sort of interesting.
To exit from USB Audio mode it’s the same deal as with USB Host. The QuickTiles tile is a
toggle. You need to tap it again and follow the on-screen directions.
I have provided a few apps which I know work for those interested in this. They are in a folder
in /media on your device. The folder and its contents can be deleted if you’re not interested.
Otherwise, tap on an app you want and the package installer will guide you through the rest of
the process.
If you just want to try this out before you install a bunch of other apps and maybe add an Audio
SiMi Folder to the home screen dock, ES File Explorer actually includes a simple audio player. If
you copy an mp3 file over to the sdcard and tap on it the player may open automatically in the
absence of any other options. Don’t try this just to see unless you have USB Audio activated or
you’ll lock up the system.
The provided apps include a really nice audiobook player (I use it on my decommissioned
phone), MX Player and a codec pack for it (a bit overkill since you don’t need the video, but it
can be set as an audio player), a note or voice recorder, and TuneIn Radio.
The last one deserves a little more notice. This is essentially an on-line radio app. It’s amazing
that it still works on this device (I also have this version installed as far up the line as Android
8.1). The only issue with it on the NST is that you can’t log in or establish a new log-in and that
means you cannot save Favorites. But otherwise it works as-is.
There is a simple solution to the Favorites issue. Install the app on a more modern device. Set
up an account (email and password—write these down!). Install the app on the NST, activate
both WiFi and USB Audio. Then open the app. Now close it (three-dot menu at upper right).
Exit USB Audio. The app will have created a file:
/data/data/tunein.player/shared_prefs/tunein.player_preferences.xml
Copy this file to your sdcard (long-press, “Copy to…”). Tap on the file to open it in ES Note
Editor. Somewhere in the list of entries that begin like “<string name=” add the following two
lines:
<string name=”username”>your email here</string>
<string name=”password”>your password here</string>
It does not seem to matter exactly where these go and they don’t even have to be together.
Exit the file (save changes) and copy it (long-press, “Copy”). Now navigate back to
/data/data/tunein.player/shared_prefs/ and hit the Paste button. It will tell you it’s going to
overwrite and that’s exactly what you want. Close all and reboot. The next time you open
TuneIn Radio you will be able to save Favorites and if you have saved any Favorites on other
installations they will appear in the list.
Remember, the device does not take kindly to running an app that requires audio if USB Audio
is not running.
If you think you will use this enough to warrant adding a SiMi Folder to the home screen dock
just for audio apps, you can refer back to the “Customizing the UI” section where I have used
the already-present (and empty) “Audio” folder as an example. For less frequent use you could
just access the apps from the app drawer.
Appendix: Firmware 1.1.5 vs. 1.2.2
This build is based on FW 1.1.5. As a practical matter you may not notice much difference,
especially as the device does not have the B&N app suite on it. However, there are some
differences between this earlier firmware (the original Glowlight version) and the last firmware,
1.2.2. Few of those differences show up outside of NookTouch ModManager on a version with
the Glowlight. Those differences are:
1. There is no localization option in Settings (changing the system language). The intent is
missing from the stock Settings app and other parts are also AWOL. I have removed that
option from my customized Nook Settings app.
2. There is no screensaver banner text. The familiar black bar at the bottom of the screensaver
image is part of the image. In FW 1.1.5 there was some thought given to a future when the
firmwares for non-Glow and Glow might merge so there are two sets of screensaver images,
one with the single line of text seen in the non-Glow version, and one with the double line of
text seen in the Glow version. NookTouch ModManager has an option to suppress or change
the banner text but it will only work in FW 1.2.x since there is no “text” to change in FW
1.1.5. I have removed that non-working option from the app in this build.
3. The reassignment of hard and soft buttons using NookTouch ModManager is limited to the
status bar “buttons”, the QuickNav bar (not used in this UI) and the “n” button. The four side
buttons cannot be reassigned except by manually editing
/system/usr/keylayout/TWL4030_Keypad.kl. The four final entries in the long text file control
the side buttons. I have manually assigned the top left to “back” and the top right to “menu”. I
left the other two alone. Originally I thought to assign them to “volume up” and “volume
down” because I knew that some reader apps can use those as page change buttons. The Kindle
app is an example. But I found that Cool Reader cannot, so I gave up on the idea. In any case,
based on my own experience with the two devices I purchased for this project and posts from
other people it looks like the bezels on a good number of the NST/Gs are starting to exhibit
signs of deterioration. I know some people love their page-turn buttons, but it might be time to
get over that and join the touch-screen crowd.
And that’s really almost it. There are some issues in forcing FW 1.1.5 onto a non-Glow device.
The FW knows there is no light. There is an entry in
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db which indicates this. But this
awareness does not permeate the system because the FW was not intended to run on nonGlow devices. The screensaver paths had to be edited in the same database. Also, the status
bar “clock” soft button (brings up the WiFi dialog) refused to work. Possibly because there is
the Glowlight dialog that goes with that and the system could not resolve the problem. I chose
to ignore that because WiFi is easily accessed through QuickTiles.
The other place where the problem of there being no light surfaces is in the stock Settings app.
The “Display” section refuses to open. That means no control over either the screen timeout
or the screensaver choice. I spent way too much time trying to ferret out the actual issue and
finally just gave up. Instead I synthesized the missing screens and added them to my Nook
Settings app. It works just fine and you may never notice the difference (much) except in one
aspect. It’s not really possible to create expanding views with Tasker apps. The screensaver
picker is a case in point. It only shows the folders that exist. If you add another folder, the
display is expanded the next time you open it to accommodate the added line. The only way to
do this with Tasker is to create a whole bunch of different screens for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5….options—
you get the idea. I was unwilling to do that by the time I got to the problem. Instead, I have
limited the options to 6 screensaver folders. If you’re someone who loves to change
screensavers all the time, I’m sorry. If you’re not into using the current book as a screensaver, I
offer two collections of my own as a consolation (only available from these User Guides!). The
first is a collection of Hokusai’s views of Mt.Fuji (the most iconic of which, in the Western
world, is generally known as “The Wave”). I spent some time with these images adjusting
brightness and contrast and doing a little creative cropping to make them look good on the
device. There are still a few lower resolution stinkers in the collection, but you can ferret those
out yourself. I think it’s a classing and charming set. If you’re into something more edgy, I also
have a collection of MC Escher which I’ve done similar work on to suit the device.
Why not just use FW 1.1.2 for the non-Glow? That was my first plan, but it proved impossible
to patch FW 1.1.2 for NookTouch ModManager. The correct insertion points in the older jars
just didn’t exist. I looked back at the older “Nook Touch Tools”, but that was for FW 1.1.0,
there was no documentation on the patching, and someone else had already tried to patch it
for later firmware and failed.
Before you say “what’s the big deal with NookTouch ModManager”, I admit I began to wonder
as I struggled with all this just to get these two reader apps to work properly. But those of us
who came along a little later in the game have forgotten the issue of the status bar “back” and
“menu” buttons and the “n” button. The status bar buttons, which appear on a rooted device,
are not constant. They come and go as you navigate through the system. You sometimes end
up with no way to go back (other than a swipe across the status bar). NookTouch ModManager
has a setting to “always show” these soft buttons.
B&N, even in the absence of their apps, has the “n” button locked to the QuickNav bar. No
really satisfactory “fix” for this button to make it a true “home” button came along until
NookTouch ModManager.
So…that’s why it had to be FW 1.1.5.
A brief reminder of why I chose to make this build: the way the e-ink screen is controlled
changed from FW 1.1.x to FW 1.2.x. This change rendered some software approaches to the
EPD (Electronic Paper Display) “broken”. It seems that both Cool Reader and AlReader fell on
the wrong side of this change while FBReader managed to continue working properly. I am
referring to the implementation of partial refresh in the reader apps. If you’re not familiar with
this, the easiest way to describe it is to describe a page change in the B&N stock reader. For 56 pages, the overall screen does not refresh when a new page is displayed. Instead there is a
sort of rapid dissolve of the old text before it is replaced by the next page. After 5-6 pages
there is a complete screen refresh. There is a very rapid cycle of the screen from black to white
and a display of the new page. Visually this looks like a kind of blink or flash. Then the cycle
repeats.
In terms of visual distraction caused by the slow refresh rate of the e-ink screen, this is
undesirable. The reader apps which offer the partial refresh feature are limited to just the three
already mentioned. But it only works for two of them with FW 1.1.x. This is the same reason
why there are two versions of the NoRefresh app, one for FW 1.1.x and one for FW 1.2.x.
Of course, it is possible to use the NoRefresh app with Cool Reader and AlReader in the FW
1.2.2 builds if the screen flashes annoy you. Or maybe they don’t bother you at all, in which
case you would probably be happier with the original builds that are based on FW 1.2.2.