Install Nook 1st Edition

Package: gzreader-nook-1st-edition-<version>.zip — for Barnes & Noble's Nook 1st Edition (2009), the one with a small colour touchscreen under the e-ink page. A test build: it runs on a real Nook (firmware 1.0.0 with nookDevs' Softroot 2.5.1); try it on a Nook you're prepared to restore. How it works and how to use it: Nook 1st Edition.

Not gzreader-nook-<version>.zip: that one is for the Nook Simple Touch.

You need: the Nook rooted with adb working (below, or Jailbreaking and rooting → Nook 1st Edition), a computer with Android's platform tools (adb), a USB cable, and preferably a microSD card in the Nook.

Root the Nook

GZreader needs root (to pause the Nook's software and reach the screens), which on this Nook means a community rooting method. Read the guide for yours in full first, charge the battery, and back up your books.

1. Find the serial number (Settings → About your nook, or under the back cover). It decides the method: methods for older Nooks can brick newer hardware.
2. Serial below 1003: nookDevs' Softroot (an update file on a microSD card; adds ADB over USB).
3. Serial 1003 or above (firmware 1.4.1 and later): nookDevs' Rooting New Hardware, or the newer browser-based method in Rooting the Barnes & Noble Nook 1st Generation (ADB over Wi‑Fi).
4. Install Android's platform tools (adb) on your computer and check that adb shell id says uid=0(root).

Install

1. Download gzreader-nook-1st-edition-<version>.zip from the releases and unzip it on your computer: you get a folder, gzreader. (Not gzreader-nook-<version>.zip: that one is built for the Kindle 2/3/DX's floating-point unit, which the Nook 1st Edition's kernel doesn't turn on (/proc/cpuinfo has no vfp), so it stops at once with exit code 132. The 1st Edition package is KOReader's programs rebuilt to do floating point in software: .github/workflows/gzreader-nook.yml.)

2. Check there's room (about 90 MB, for the first start) in the Nook's app storage: adb shell df /data.

3. Copy it there (the Nook's USB storage can't run programs):

   adb push gzreader /data/gzreader
   

4. Copy books to the Nook as usual over USB. GZreader keeps its folder, GZreader (books, audiobooks, what it downloads), on the microSD card when one is in (more room), else on the Nook's own storage next to B&N's my documents. A card put in later: GZreader uses it from its next start (books already in the Nook's own GZreader folder stay there: move them over USB). To choose yourself: adb shell "GZ_NOOK_HOME=/system/media/sdcard sh /data/gzreader/gzreader.sh". (Take bravo_update.dat off the card after rooting: holding the page button while turning the Nook on would install it again.)

5. GZreader moves most of itself out of the Nook's app storage at its first start (a minute or two, with the Nook's own screen still showing). That storage is about 240 MB, shared with Android, and it filled up: an update couldn't unpack. What GZreader only reads (its Lua code, fonts, hyphenation, translations, about 55 MB) and its cache go to .gzreader-app on the microSD card when one is in, else on the Nook's own storage. They're mounted back into /data/gzreader/koreader while GZreader runs, so nothing else changes. Its programs and libraries (the card can't run them) and its settings and reading history (so a card swap can't lose them) stay in /data/gzreader, about 30 MB.

   • Leave the card in: without it GZreader says to put it back and doesn't start.
   • A full package pushed over it later is moved again at the next start.
   • To keep everything in /data/gzreader (and bring it back): adb shell touch /data/gzreader/app-here, then start GZreader.

Start and exit

• On the Nook: GZreader's icon in the app list (the launcher Softroot installs). Set it up once, with the Nook connected to the computer:

  adb install gzreader/GZreader-launcher.apk
  adb shell sh /data/gzreader/launcher.sh install
  

  Starting GZreader needs root, which an app can't have on this Nook (its su only works for adb), so the second line sets up a small helper that runs as root and starts GZreader when the icon asks: it adds one line to the Nook's start-up script /system/etc/bravo_pltinfo.sh (so the helper starts with the Nook) and starts it now. Tapping the icon twice starts GZreader once. To undo it: adb shell sh /data/gzreader/launcher.sh uninstall and adb uninstall gzreader.nook.launcher. A newer icon app: uninstall the old one first (each build is signed with its own key).

• From the computer: adb shell sh /data/gzreader/gzreader.sh

GZreader starts with its setup guide, as on a Kindle. To go back to the Nook's own software, choose Exit to Nook in the quick panel (Menu on the colour screen). If anything goes wrong, holding power to restart the Nook always brings back its own software.

Updating

Once installed, the Nook updates over Wi‑Fi like a Kindle (Settings → General → Updates), from the same gzreader-update.zip; its start script comes with the update. A new KOReader version still needs the full package pushed again. → Updates and test builds

What to send back

/data/gzreader/gzreader-start.log, /data/gzreader/koreader/crash.log and /data/gzreader/koreader/gzreader.log (adb pull each), with what you saw on both screens. And the touch test's numbers if the touch was off.