Hi,
I did up a home replacement for my Nook simple touch, thought I would share it. This is an initial release, no doubt there are bugs, incompatibilities, etc, you were warned. There are no checks for other devices at this point, NST only.
Thanks to the nook community for the noogie.img file, touch nooter, and relaunch for source code ideas and various threads regarding quick refresh and e-ink support.
Disclaimer: Now, what I am using currently is the bare minimum, I have tried quite a bit of the work in this forum and it works well, but I wasn't satisfied or 100% confident and I wanted less installed. So, I restored my nook to stock, used noogie and copied over a rooted ramdisk. That was it, no touchcolortools, nooktouchtools installed, adw minimal this or that, or button saviors. I am sure they are great programs but I don't know enough about them or have the interest/time to do research on them to want to keep them installed.
For me, the point is to keep things simple and maintain battery life. It's an e-reader not a tablet after all. I just want to read books, check email, check a website or two, get some more use out of wi-fi since I don't live in a B&N supported nation.
To install:adb install EPubBrowser.apk
Optional:
I also installed Email.apk and set up my gmail from there, no certificates required or a million google app files and plucking a chicken on a Tuesday after jumping on your left foot crap. No offense to those who like chicken plucking.
adb install Email.apk
Done and done.
I can do up a CWM zip upon request, but last going off I have a continuous reboot after installing the latest version and if you know enough to get the Nook's CWM installed you should be able to use adb.See attached files.
What is not working:
Since Android doesn't really know about multiple external storage locations (at least for the Nook's 2.1 and/or my knowledge of android) EPubBrowser is unable to detect when the internal storage has been remounted, there is no notification of that, just notification of external storage. So if you plug in your usb cord to the computer the list of books will be empty even when you remove it. So if you don't have an sdcard you will have to hit the back button and launch home again to refresh.
Also, B&N books are not listed, whatever is in My Files will be scanned only. That applies to internal and sdcard storage. You can still use B&N's Library to access those.
I don't have any option of uninstalling apps either. adb uninstall works fine or you can just delete files from /data/app via adb shell.
What is working:
Launch of EPubBrowser via nook's home button, without use of nooktouchtools, it duplicates how the B&N home app works.
The notification icon for resuming reading goes through the app. As long as the book was launched from EPubBrowser it can remember the last book, otherwise the main display will show up. Reason being that for whatever reason the last page read doesn't work with the B&N home screen if it's not a book bought from B&N. But if you are just using the B&N Reader app it's not a problem.
When you are prompted which home you want you can select EPubBrowser and hit default. This may not stay set and will go away the next time you reboot.
How to use:Left / right swipes to go to the next 6, previous 6 books, no indication of the current page is displayed, (e-ink and aesthetics).
Touch a book cover to launch a description of the book, swipe up and down to scroll through the description, touch the cover displayed there to start reading. Hit back button on top of screen to exit without launching a book.
To bring up the list of apps installed, swipe a clockwise circle starting at 10 O'clock. Touch an app to launch it, left or right swipe to go back to main screen.That's it for now.
If you have any ideas for improvements, bug reports, please provide as much detail as possible, and when you have done that add some more detail.
Cheers!
Updates:
2/19/2012:
Added screensaver for last read book. (Jpeg 75%) Settings->Display->Screensavers->EPubBrowser
11/4/2012:
Added src project
Looks nice! I'll give it a shot later when my Nook's charged.
Thank you for making and sharing, i am going to try tomorrow and tell you,
Improvements
First of all, thank you for creating this cool launch screen. I love the simplicity of it. Here are is brief list of improvement that you can perhaps easily implement.
-When on the homescreen with the covers of all the books, I am not sure if I am suppose to scroll down or to the right to view the rest of my books.
-When on the page with the details from the book, there is no back button to take you back to the homescreen. I end up using the button savior back button.
-The circle gesture that takes you to the apps does not feel very responsive to me.
Anyhow, great job. Can't wait to see how you plan on improving it
OW MY EYES
I installed this, and everything just kept flashing. GO Locker and GO Launcher are both broken, and the only way I could fix it was by getting into ADW and closing the task. Did I install it incorrectly? I put it onto an SD card and used ES File Manager to install it.
ChunC said:
First of all, thank you for creating this cool launch screen. I love the simplicity of it. Here are is brief list of improvement that you can perhaps easily implement.
-When on the homescreen with the covers of all the books, I am not sure if I am suppose to scroll down or to the right to view the rest of my books.
-When on the page with the details from the book, there is no back button to take you back to the homescreen. I end up using the button savior back button.
-The circle gesture that takes you to the apps does not feel very responsive to me.
Anyhow, great job. Can't wait to see how you plan on improving it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback.
You swipe left to go to the previous page of books. You swipe right to go to the next page of books, assuming you have more than 6 books. Personally, I know what books I have on the device so it's not a problem knowing how many are left to see for me.
The back button should be on top of the screen in the middle, not sure why it wouldn't be there on yours. I will give it a think, maybe remove the scroll control in the book description and just use gesture detection and scroll the text via code.
Responsiveness and speed will likely improve over time, I am using the gesture library, maybe there are some optimizations there I can do.
Cheers!
Googie2149 said:
OW MY EYES
I installed this, and everything just kept flashing. GO Locker and GO Launcher are both broken, and the only way I could fix it was by getting into ADW and closing the task. Did I install it incorrectly? I put it onto an SD card and used ES File Manager to install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Noted, so it doesn't work with GO Lancher/Locker. Never tried GO stuff, so that wasn't tested. It was tested with ADW and relaunch, and I had all the rest of your typical touch nooter install there without problems, android market, etc.
I have run it with Home.apk renamed to Home.apk.bak and that works fine as well.
As for your other question, if it is installed it is installed, there are no configurations to modify, however you get it there it should be fine.
Cheers!
WANT
Noted that it does not work with go, will have to get rid of that first.
From the screenshots, I can already tell you put time into polishing! Good job!
NFHimself said:
Hi,
Noted, so it doesn't work with GO Lancher/Locker. Never tried GO stuff, so that wasn't tested. It was tested with ADW and relaunch, and I had all the rest of your typical touch nooter install there without problems, android market, etc.
I have run it with Home.apk renamed to Home.apk.bak and that works fine as well.
As for your other question, if it is installed it is installed, there are no configurations to modify, however you get it there it should be fine.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try it again without the GO software, but it was making everything just keep flashing, like the lock screen.
@NFHimself, any plans for taking this to github? It is very close to what I always wanted but I was also looking for:
- some kind of usage of Calibre data
- library filtering for series, highly rated, etc.
- tracking of books that are clicked to maintain sort of recent read filter
- sorting options by rating, series, and other Calibre properties
- option to display 6 or 12 (smaller) book covers.
I hope it already does use intents for selecting a different epub reader for those who have no defaults and multiple ones installed.
I know its a long list, and I have some Android experience. I am sure there would be other developers here so a combined effort might help.
Screenshots looks good, but on the Nook - only flashing screen like Googie2149 said
tazzix said:
@NFHimself, any plans for taking this to github? It is very close to what I always wanted but I was also looking for:
- some kind of usage of Calibre data
- library filtering for series, highly rated, etc.
- tracking of books that are clicked to maintain sort of recent read filter
- sorting options by rating, series, and other Calibre properties
- option to display 6 or 12 (smaller) book covers.
I hope it already does use intents for selecting a different epub reader for those who have no defaults and multiple ones installed.
I know its a long list, and I have some Android experience. I am sure there would be other developers here so a combined effort might help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I use Calibre as well, I just connect via adb and calibre picks up the nook and I copy books over and it converts on the fly, cool program. Using Calibre data is an idea worth looking into, if I can fit it into the theme of no preferences, no extra buttons or config. There are plenty of those kind of home apps already. Relaunch for one is great, just missing a graphical front end, I was going to mod that, but decided that I didn't really need so much stuff and I wanted to learn more android API.
I did up the app using pretty straight forward epub standards (note the plural), it works with most epubs I have run across, not sure if looking for extra xml is a good functionality vs performance tradeoff. I haven't been using EPubBrowser for very long myself, so when I add more books and find something annoying I will probably make changes to fix it. I want to keep things simple, if I need a preferences menu, it is already going the wrong way.
I am not specifying any class, just a regular launch this epub file intent, so it should work with any reader. I like the stock reader myself, cool reader seems to dislike some epubs I have above a certain size, and I didn't want to deal with it.
I may github it, I am kinda time limited these days.
Cheers!
AgentSlash said:
Screenshots looks good, but on the Nook - only flashing screen like Googie2149 said
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
More details are needed to figure that out. What device do you have? What do you have installed on it?
Cheers!
I just wiped then manually rooted my Nook, and this works now. Although I'm having some trouble with getting to the apps page after the first time I did it. Could you possible change how you get to the apps page? Maybe change it so you have to click the menu key to get to apps.
Edit: Now that I've added my books, it shows me two books, one empty, and another book. Now it just flashes and removes/re-adds the last book. :/
Edit 2: I found that there are a few books that just don't like this launcher and cause the entire Nook to start flashing. I've been adding my books one by one to see which work and which don't and I'll try and find similarities between those that don't.
Great launcher replacement.
Running right now, but after the second page, I get sent back to the first, regardless of left-to-right or right-to-left swiping. Ideas?
Also, any chance for a page up/down use for scrolling through books?
I took a quick vid. It looks like when I swipe again from R to L, it tries to redraw the next books, but gets confused?
http://youtu.be/K1ukWFK0syg
ace7196 said:
Great launcher replacement.
Running right now, but after the second page, I get sent back to the first, regardless of left-to-right or right-to-left swiping. Ideas?
Also, any chance for a page up/down use for scrolling through books?
I took a quick vid. It looks like when I swipe again from R to L, it tries to redraw the next books, but gets confused?
http://youtu.be/K1ukWFK0syg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm busy painting the baby's room, but it looks like it is resetting, perhaps one of your books is crashing the app and it is being relaunched as the home screen. Or could be some other bug, how many books are involved, if you remove one or add one, does it go away?
If someone could open the e-pub (it's a zip file) that causes the error and paste the contents of the .odf file (it's an xml file) , that would help.
Cheers!
NFHimself said:
Hi,
I'm busy painting the baby's room, but it looks like it is resetting, perhaps one of your books is crashing the app and it is being relaunched as the home screen. Or could be some other bug, how many books are involved, if you remove one or add one, does it go away?
If someone could open the e-pub (it's a zip file) that causes the error and paste the contents of the .odf file (it's an xml file) , that would help.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gone through and removed / added ebooks, and still the same problem.
Sorry, been kinda busy.
I need to be able to see the bug on my end to work on it. Maybe I've been lucky with the book selections I have made or converting using Calibre has set them all to have the same kind of format, vs the variety you might see in the wild from multiple sources.
Does the error happen with no books?
What happens when you have just one book?
How many books do you have on your nook? (If it's something like 1000 then yeah, maybe you'd have issues, no checks in the code for being out of memory.)
What firmware are you using?
Are there any hardware differences? (Can't imagine that being a problem, but I am using a NST, not the original Nook.)
What can I do to reproduce this error on my end? What are the steps?
Cheers!
NFHimself said:
Sorry, been kinda busy.
I need to be able to see the bug on my end to work on it. Maybe I've been lucky with the book selections I have made or converting using Calibre has set them all to have the same kind of format, vs the variety you might see in the wild from multiple sources.
Does the error happen with no books?
What happens when you have just one book?
How many books do you have on your nook? (If it's something like 1000 then yeah, maybe you'd have issues, no checks in the code for being out of memory.)
What firmware are you using?
Are there any hardware differences? (Can't imagine that being a problem, but I am using a NST, not the original Nook.)
What can I do to reproduce this error on my end? What are the steps?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, it doesn't matter how many books I have, it's just a few specific books that crash, independent of the other books in my library, and some books are more severe than others (one makes the entire Nook start flashing (all software), others make only this app flash).
I have the same problem as the people above but I can't get past the first page. I can't seem to narrow it down to a certain book making it crash. It's a shame I love this home screen, but hopefully we can get this fixed and running great.
UPDATE: found copies of older versions of Kindle Reader App (needed for a 2.2 tablet of mine - anything newer not only does not run, sometimes when it crashes it corrupts the system partition and almost-bricks the thing. but anyway...)
so I just now installed Kindle_3.4.1.1.apk, which does not use underlying amazon framework, it does its own signin. and guess what? other than being 3 years old, it works perfectly!!! I might try searching more to see if there is a latest version of old v3, or early versions of v4, that do their own signin and don't use the framework, but for now I am slightly happier (but still no thanks to amazon)
and it shows up as a completely separate device, "Yourname's 2nd Android Tablet", not "Yourname's Fire TV" - which makes sense given the two completely different forms of signin.
/UPDATE, and now back to original post...
this morning I checked and there was an updated kindle reader app on google store, dated 4/22 (I believe last time I tried was 4/8)
same result, it understands the amazon framework that's running, so already knows my account and can sign me in. but again now with this newer version, no still books show up. also noticed this time, if I go to amazon webpage of my kindle books, they all have an option for "send to device" ... I can send to my android phone, my PC, anything I installed kindle reader on. but the dropdown of devices does not ever include firetv.
I used the built-in "Send Feedback" part of the kindle app, on the firetv, to say how disappointed I was that something called "Kindle Fire TV" (that is the actual name of our device, for those unaware) was unable to read kindle books.
it was nice of Amazon to reply so quickly, however their reply mainly seems to be "we'll pass your suggestion along, but in the meantime why not buy one of our kindle tablets?"
I wish I had thought to mention how a lot of people with disabilities would very much like to be able to use a big television and firetv to read books, not some small tablet. (I also wish I had explicitly mentioned I was sending my feedback from kindle reader running on firetv)
even more funny, the "cloud reader" works perfectly fine in chrome on my firetv - of course, I had to turn on "request desktop site"... otherwise read.amazon.com says, "I see you are using an android device. you cannot use your android browser for cloud reader, but why not click on this link to the google play store and install kindle reader app?" - thanks guys, simply hilarious!
I don't know if a lot of people want to read their kindle books on firetv, but if you think you ever might, please consider writing to amazon (the feedback button in kindle reader app works great!!!) - thank you
Code:
Hello,
I'm sorry if you are not happy with the Amazon Fire TV you've bought.
Unfortunately, Fire TV won't run any Kindle application to read eBooks.
We've applications designed for other devices so that you can enjoy reading kindle books.
Amazon Fire TV can actually be used as an additional “Big Screen” option for using Second Screen and Display Mirroring features to display content from Kindle Fire 3rd Generation tablets to your TV screen.
Amazon Instant Video movies and TV shows, and Photos can be displayed with Second Screen to Amazon Fire TV.
However, using Fire TV to read Kindle books is a suggestion that can be worked upon.
I'll pass this on to our Kindle Development Team and I'm sure this will be looked into.
We'll consider your feedback as we plan further improvements.
Customer feedback like yours is always important to us.
I'll be sure to pass your message along to the appropriate department as we continue to improve the Kindle experience for our customers.
If you've any concerns/suggestions/complaints, then please let us know. We'd be more than glad to assist you.
sorry forgot to link
http://www.androiddrawer.com/10454/download-kindle-4-0-1-3-app-apk/
but on the right hand side if you click "more", it will show you 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8. and then into v4 ones.
I'll try e.g. v3.8 and see if I need to work my way up or back down...
UPDATE:
ok I did adb install -r Amazon Kindle_3.8.2.4.apk
something a little weird happened - I'm not sure if 3.8 uses the old login style or the new framework, but somehow it changed the device name of the Reader app from "blah2" (which is how I had set it) to simply "blah" (which is the same name as the firetv itself ... ??!?) - and even weirder, on amazon webpage, it shows I now have 2 devices named "blah" - one is a firetv, and one is "android".
I am now curious to push the latest kindle app and see if the weirdness continues. if it breaks it all, so what, I can start from the beginning
UPDATE 2:
latest com.amazon.kindle.apk (4.4 or something) did not work.
I wiped cache and data, force killed and uninstalled.
I then installed 4.0.1.3. it uses the amazon framework because I was not asked to sign in. and, like 3.8, it uses the same device name as the firetv.
it works perfectly. (well, annoyingly, the 360 controller doesn't work in the new carousel style home/library screen. but, importantly, it does still work for turning pages inside books! yay!)
so I will try going higher. it almost seems as if, at some point, amazon added something to the app to break firetv. would they really do that?
UPDATE 3:
4.1.1.1 also works. I did the install on top of 4.0, using adb install -r, if that makes any difference.
4.2.0.151 ditto.
NB: you WILL need a mouse to deal with the stupid carousel home/library page. I think even 3.8.2.4 might have changed to it from the grid. it was there starting in the v4.0 I tried, anyway. hm actually you will need a mouse even if you go to one of the subsections that let you change the display to grid/list. actually actually you will need a mouse to click the top-left 3-bar context/settings menu, to even GET to other subsections than the homepage. you will also need a mouse to click on a book to open it. neither the firetv remote nor a standard controller nor keyboard will work. well, in some of the subsections, if you hit tab on kbd, it focuses on the book list/grid and you can THEN use the remote or controller to go thru them. this could be part of why amazon killed it (hopefully temporarily) for firetv.
I may have to go back to 3.8 (I forget already if that one had this stupid ui behavior) or if not, back to 3.4 or maybe check out 3.5 etc.
Hi!
As I have no access to the FireTV Amazon App Store, I would like to request two apk's. The first one is the Amazon App Store-app from FireTV, and the second one is the newly released official Apple TV-app available for Amazon FireTV. Are anyone able to extract those two for me?
Thanks in advance!
Also waiting on these. Have 12 months free Apple TV but no way to play on TV
---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------
So managed to put an old version on the Shield to get past the verification and then it tells me that I don't own this app (referring to Apple TV) and then it takes you to the app page on the App Store which tells you that the device isn't compatible. Looks like there isn't a way to bypass the check currently
Could we use this method? /fire-tv/help/bbc-iplayer-sideloaded-app-owned-error-t3315474/amp/
Found it with five minutes of googling
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/apple...-tv-fire-tv-variant-1-2-android-apk-download/
Ravetcofx said:
Found it with five minutes of googling
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is it says you do not own this app when trying to run.
Can anyone patch this?
Too Fresh said:
Problem is it says you do not own this app when trying to run.
Can anyone patch this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Install the phone/tablet Amazon Appstore app on TV/settop box.
2) Open app & sign in with your Amazon credentials
3) With your computer, or desktop mode on phone/tablet browser, visit this site: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Inc-TV/dp/B07XDD7GYT/
4) Hit "Get App" icon, signing in if needed. Even though it says it is not compatible with any devices, it will still allow the 'purchase.' Let it continue, and you should see a confirmation text towards the top of the page that you now own the app.
5) Return to TV/settop box & run the app again.
Now I haven't used this update yet, but there may yet still be problems actually logging in with Apple ID.
ADDENDUM: This version checks build.prop so it likely won't work in anything but a compatible Fire TV model. This won't be an easy fix, and such a fix may require root.
Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk
GenesisDH said:
1) Install the phone/tablet Amazon Appstore app on TV/settop box.
2) Open app & sign in with your Amazon credentials
3) With your computer, or desktop mode on phone/tablet browser, visit this site:
4) Hit "Get App" icon, signing in if needed. Even though it says it is not compatible with any devices, it will still allow the 'purchase.' Let it continue, and ypu should see a confirmation text towards the top of the page that you now own the app.
5) Return to TV/settop box & run the app again.
Now I haven't used this update yet, but there may get still be problems actually logging in with Apple ID. I plan to try in a while.
Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the instructions. I seem to have gotten closer but now run into a new error.
“To use Apple TV app, please install the latest fire tv software version in settings”
I’m using the Fire TV (first gen) with the newest software on it currently. Any idea on how to bypass this? (Some reason they decided to not give access to Apple TV on the 1st gen)
Too Fresh said:
Thanks for the instructions. I seem to have gotten closer but now run into a new error.
“To use Apple TV app, please install the latest fire tv software version in settings”
I’m using the Fire TV (first gen) with the newest software on it currently. Any idea on how to bypass this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First gen Fire TV... I don't believe first gens are supported. Only Fire TV Stick 2nd Gen, and the Fire Stick 4K.
It might work with the 3rd gen, TV Cube or TV Editions, but do not know.
It appears to be looking at the build.prop (or maybe the Fire OS build version) upon launch, which you can't easily modify without root access. So it looks coded to fail if it isn't a supported device.
Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk
The link above and attached is good
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/apple-inc/
The snag for me was that i had an Apple ID but that is not enough. You must open an iTunes account too. Once that was done I was in. Then, I was underwhelmed. Nothing new there except for the Jason Mamoa flick "See". You can watch two episodes free and then must pay. I passed.
After jumping the hoops it runs fine on my Cube 2 that is going back after my new Shield Pro arrives tomorrow. My second Cube 2 continually stalls like the first. Cannot duplicate the behavior on Stick 4k, Cube 1, Roku HD, Roku Stick 4k, and LG WebOS 3.5. YTTV, Netflix, Showtime, all stall. Nice that Fire now supports YTTV and Dis+ but too late for me. Tired of jumping from platform to platform. Cube 2 would have done it finally for me but tired of restarting programs. My Harmony Hub has HBO Now issues with the Cube 2 too. Select/OK doesn't work. Weird. Too many moving parts.
Has anybody managed to get this to work on Nvidia Shield without rooting it to change build.prop?
(And I assume that changing build.prop has the potential to break other things as well).