Database Users

[Q] 200dpi to 240dpi when you start a app/game

Many people like a 200dpi UI for android.
Some NAND builds even have 200dpi by default.
The only problem with it is that some apps and games are sqauled totally wrong with 200dpi.
They are build for an screen with 240dpi. Thats why im back on 240dpi but i dont really want to.
So how to solve that?
Thought something out and maybe its possible or maybe not but wanna ask you guys.
What if we can make a program that will put the screen back to 240dpi when you start an app or game, automaticly.
In the program you can select what apps/games need it and when you start it up the program changes from 200dpi to 240dpi.
Now i learned that you must restart your device to let the change work.
So what if the program also remembers your PIN-Code and enters it automaticly and start up the app/game.
And when you close the app/game the program changes back to 200dpi.
Something like that. Is it even possible to make a program like this or something?
I searched the forums but couldnt found a real good solution for this problem so maybe this is a solution if someone makes this program

This is actually a pretty good idea, I love a lower density and it's a shame some apps don't scale well.
Unfortunately, for obvious security reasons no app has access to your SIM input. Can't read it, can't input it. I think it should be possible to make the lcd density change go in effect without a real reboot though, just no clue how...

Well exactly, maybe a reboot isnt needed but they dont know how yet . Gope some devs will see this
sent from my HD2 Android

[Q] Restoring factory Kernel (1.1) with CWM

Hi, after installing a new kernel with multitouch and norefresh through CWM, and considering installing the overclocked one by guevor (update: installed oc kernel), but I had some newbie questions about restoring the Kernel in case I wanted to go back to stock or update to 1.2.1.
I have taken full factory backups at 1.0.1 with noogie by copying the physical disk with diskimage, and another backup with the 1.2 rooter gui. I have since updated to 1.1 (no backup on 1.1) and rooted before I installed the new kernel. Is there any way to revert to the default kernel on 1.1.0?
Also, Is there any way to adjust the contrast in fastmode? The text is barely readable and an unusual amount of gosting (maybe something is wrong), but it's super fast.
Thanks so much, and this community has been a lifesaver since last night when I got my nook. Go easy on me since I've only had my nook for a few hours, I've been reading a lot and searching these forums for hours.
Also, bonus questions:
1. Is it possible to set a custom wallpaper (behind the icons)
2. Is it possible to actually decode/play videos? no video apps seem to work, even p2p ones.. also youtube videos / flash doesn't work which is strange because android 2.1 should support video right?
3. What's the consensus about screen damage/use using fast mode? Brand new nook.... lol. I'm not sure if I'm shortening the 10 year life of the e-ink display to 1 week.

jun127 said:
Hi, after installing a new kernel with multitouch and norefresh through CWM, and considering installing the overclocked one by guevor (update: installed oc kernel), but I had some newbie questions about restoring the Kernel in case I wanted to go back to stock or update to 1.2.1.
I have taken full factory backups at 1.0.1 with noogie by copying the physical disk with diskimage, and another backup with the 1.2 rooter gui. I have since updated to 1.1 (no backup on 1.1) and rooted before I installed the new kernel. Is there any way to revert to the default kernel on 1.1.0?
Also, Is there any way to adjust the contrast in fastmode? The text is barely readable and an unusual amount of gosting (maybe something is wrong), but it's super fast.
Thanks so much, and this community has been a lifesaver since last night when I got my nook. Go easy on me since I've only had my nook for a few hours, I've been reading a lot and searching these forums for hours.
Also, bonus questions:
1. Is it possible to set a custom wallpaper (behind the icons)
2. Is it possible to actually decode/play videos? no video apps seem to work, even p2p ones.. also youtube videos / flash doesn't work which is strange because android 2.1 should support video right?
3. What's the consensus about screen damage/use using fast mode? Brand new nook.... lol. I'm not sure if I'm shortening the 10 year life of the e-ink display to 1 week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I. http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch_restore_to_stock
II. No. Try to change font in your reader. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20069292&postcount=10
or use NoRefresh to read text.
or try different reader for eg. https://code.google.com/p/apv/downloads/list
1. if you change your launcher from 'ReLaunch' to for eg. 'LegacyLauncher' then yes.
2. RockPlayer + software decoding = playing videos
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified.lite&hl=en
3. Your battery will probably die faster than the screen. I used NoRefresh and FastMode from the start and the screen still works fine. On the other hand my battery died (2 weeks before the end of warranty).

osowiecki said:
I. http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch_restore_to_stock
II. No. Try to change font in your reader. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20069292&postcount=10
or use NoRefresh to read text.
or try different reader for eg. https://code.google.com/p/apv/downloads/list
1. if you change your launcher from 'ReLaunch' to for eg. 'LegacyLauncher' then yes.
2. RockPlayer + software decoding = playing videos
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.redirectin.rockplayer.android.unified.lite&hl=en
3. Your battery will probably die faster than the screen. I used NoRefresh and FastMode from the start and the screen still works fine. On the other hand my battery died (2 weeks before the end of warranty).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help! I've seen you around the forums quite a bit and learned a lot from reading your past posts.
I was able to play rmvb with rockplayer (still in beta?), but couldn't figure out how to make the streaming p2p tv applications work (also rmvb) such as PPTV, and PPS which usually work on everything (although they installed properly and also tried downloading and installing codecs. I had to download the rmvb file from pptv and play it manually on rockplayer.
Thanks for the Legacy Launcher tip, looks great! Edit: Unfortunately I can't get wallpapers to work there either. When I select wallpaper, it gives me 2 options, from pictures, or from wallpapers. pictures shows "no media", and wallpapers are just a few standard wallpapers. I can't find anywhere to select a picture from the SD card, and I can't find any "media" or wallpaper folder in file browser. UPDATE: I was able to get wallpapers by downloading the app "wallpaper changer" and "ES file explorer".
Interesting to know about the battery, I was also worried about that. I managed to suck through 35% of the battery in 5 hours. I didn't buy the official wall charger, but I used a chinese 5 volt adapter I had laying around after I kept getting the following problem:
Another problem I've been having is that when I plug the NST into my computer via USB everything goes ballistic on my nook, it rapidly connects and drops USB mode, and then if I go into settings both internal storage and SD card are greyed out "unavailable". What could cause that?
Finally, is there anyway to get ADB on windows without downloading the entire android SDK? I want to apply the IMEI fix to install whatsapp, but I can't get ADB to work at all. UPDATE: I solved it, adb.exe baby and I guess you can use that with commander. My problem was the default wireless adb app wasn't working, I installed wifi adb and it worked. Very odd, since usb connection didn't work, but at least I got my IMEI and whatsapp. Any methods for getting working contacts on NST? I'm going to try the contacts.db workaround if there is no other options, but I'm hoping for something less risky and automated.
I also wanted to note that I solved the 24 hour wait time on google market, go to gmail and add a second contact and sync that contact. The first google account will automagically work.

jun127 said:
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I think that 'nook' launches 'hardware video decoding' by default when you try to open up a stream from the apk so the only option is to download videos and play them locally. 'TubeMate' is able to do this.
http://m.tubemate.net/
On the other hand if the apk contains a video player with 'software decoding' this could work like it should.
I know that 'BeyondPod' was able to play audio podcasts from within application. Haven't tested it on videos.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.beyondpod&hl=en
2. Don't forget to turn all useless animations in the Launcher off and get "Minimalist Black - ADW Theme'. You can find it in 'TouchNooter' package.
3. Try to use a different micro usb cable. Sounds like yours is broken.
4. In the current version of NookManager, ADB through USB is not supported.
5. Can't help you with that right now.

Nook ghosting in FastMode

Hello, i installed http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1906507 kernel, adn i wanted to test FastMode.
And i noticed than is useless, because i have horrible ghosting effects - it's hard to read anything in browser.
It's normal?

Shissu said:
Hello, i installed http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1906507 kernel, adn i wanted to test FastMode.
And i noticed than is useless, because i have horrible ghosting effects - it's hard to read anything in browser.
It's normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The initial ghosting occurs (at least in fastmode2.apk) because the apk does not perform 1 full screen refresh after the start (yet).
Try to lock and than unlock the device after starting fastmode2.apk.
The other reason may be that you have 'NoRefresh' installed and it autostarts on boot.
Never use both NoRefresh and FastMode at the same time.Kill one or another using TaskXP (or similar apk).
Edit:
Yeah. I have checked it. Applying 1 full refresh helps a lot. (you can also try do display a white full screen image to get the same result).
If you have time you can edit the source of fastmode2.apk. I won't do this during this week for sure.

osowiecki said:
Applying 1 full refresh DOES NOT helped me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not mean any offence but FastMode2 does the trick but with terrible ghosting. Nevertheless thanx to osowiecki

Mnurlan said:
I do not mean any offence but FastMode2 does the trick but with terrible ghosting. Nevertheless thanx to osowiecki
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I meant by performing a 1 full refresh :
1. you can see extensive ghosting
2. I push the lock button, the screen blinks (full refresh)
3. After unlocking there is no (a little) ghosting effect.
It would be nice to force fullscreen refresh after fast mode gets activated.

Alas, That is not an acceptable solution for me (still poorly readable), I think the only way to get the NST working with normal resolution is to rollback to factory settings and install the FW with which this mode is working.
Now I realize that there is no way of getting any FW earlier than 1.2.1. I am stuck.

Mnurlan said:
Alas, That is not an acceptable solution for me (still poorly readable), I think the only way to get the NST working with normal resolution is to rollback to factory settings and install the FW with which this mode is working.
Now I realize that there is no way of getting any FW earlier than 1.2.1. I am stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"lurk moar"
stock image 1.1 for CWM
https://code.google.com/p/nst-recovery/downloads/detail?name=nook_1_1_update_cwm.zip&can=2&q=
Also..why not use NoRefresh then?
Both modes work on kernel v166.

Mnurlan said:
Now I realize that there is no way of getting any FW earlier than 1.2.1. I am stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.1.2 FW straight from B&N

Also..why not use NoRefresh then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, agree, I am a "lurk more" and thank you for the link - I would never be able to find it myself. We, Russian speaking people, used to say "to make someone's nose pointed in the right direction" . The only thing is I am not sure now that downgrading the FW is the right thing to do as they say that the performance was improved in 1.2.1.
I've tried every NoRefresh I could find, even some NoRefreshToggle-debug2.apk, they seem to be having no effect whatsoever so far.
2 straygecko - link seems to be incorrect. Thank you nevertheless.

Mnurlan said:
Yes, agree, I am a "lurk more" and thank you for the link - I would never be able to find it myself. We, Russian speaking people, used to say "to make someone's nose pointed in the right direction" . The only thing is I am not sure now that downgrading the FW is the right thing to do as they say that the performance was improved in 1.2.1.
I've tried every NoRefresh I could find, even some NoRefreshToggle-debug2.apk, they seem to be having no effect whatsoever so far.
2 straygecko - link seems to be incorrect. Thank you nevertheless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "no effect"?
You should run NoRefresh once (it starts it's deamon), then you run in the second time to get results.
By default the contrast options are set to "auto". Go to "NoRefresh Settings"->"Contrast Settings" and select "appear always".
Add shortcut to NoRefresh to 'quicknav' bar or any other place that you can always reach on the screen.
NoRefresh works only within the application that it was started with. When you change the focus to another apk, it stops.
If you are on stock kernel and 'NoRefreshToggle-debug2.apk' does not work, that means you don't have FW 1.2.1 installed.

Seems like I've now got a bricked device, neither Noogie, nor CWM can help - my PC doesn't "see" my NST anymore and I can't replace the uImage, the NST itself is working now, but this means I will not be able even to restore it to a saved image:crying:
A day later I've found out that for some reason my desktop PC ("floortop") refuses to "recognize" my NST (although "sees" it alright without Noogie or CWM), then I have managed to replace uImage on my NST using my son's laptop, yet FastMode is not working, same as NoRefresh, FW 1.2.1 (I'm positive), FastMode2 works fine but resulting view renders it useless.
Update: 26.04.2013 - NoRefresh is working, but the resulting resolution renders it also almost unusable. Just delivering my SitRep, not whining. Installed kernel 166 with CWM.

dots
I have same problem in addition dots. I tried different software versions(1.1.0-1.2.1), different root methods(nook manager, touchnooter, minimal touch) and also different kernels with all variations. But no change. Screen resolution is awful because of dots and ghosting. What the wrong?
View attachment 2413476
View attachment 2413477
View attachment 2413478

eraycr said:
I have same problem in addition dots. I tried different software versions(1.1.0-1.2.1), different root methods(nook manager, touchnooter, minimal touch) and also different kernels with all variations. But no change. Screen resolution is awful because of dots and ghosting. What the wrong?
View attachment 2413476
View attachment 2413477
View attachment 2413478
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, try many kernels.

I thought it was normal operation of this modification. Oo

Well, I'm late to the party, having generated an apparently useless post here. But I agree with you all who are underwhelmed with the screen appearance using either of these two mods. I like the sprightly Android performance of the NST in FastMode, but there really is a lot of visual "noise" on the screen. NoRefresh is even worse on my Nook. I can hardly get an image at the beginning, the screen is almost an all white overlay so the contrast buttons don't do me any good because I can't see much through the white film (sort of like a bad cataract!). Scrolling a bit gradually brings in a fractured image and by the time the app has closed.
I've tried disabling the NoRefresh app entirely to see if FastMode would work better. No deal. Same poor image quality. Nothing like some of the YouTube videos I've seen.
FW 1.21, kernal 166.
But who knows? At least multi-touch is nice.

[Q] Why does video playback cause a hang?

I realize the NST eink display is too slow to play back video and it lacks audio hardware.
But why does trying to play video cause the whole thing to lock up?
If I go to the youtube app or youtube.com or any other web video for that matter, the screen turns black
and it hard freezes and I need to hold down the power button on the back to turn it off.
What I am wondering is what is the technical reason?

I'm not sure about the technical part, but it does matter if you have the only available Flash installation as well as the browser you are using. Opera Mobile will balk at Flash, mostly refusing to even accept the touch input or throwing up a message saying, in effect, "no way". The Dolphin 10.x series browser will display Flash content in some circumstances, either using the embedded player, or an external player like MX. Some videos in some situations seem to invoke the native Flash players (maybe Flash Lite?) that comes with the triple-Flash plugin installation. This results in a black screen (although touching the screen sometimes shows the controls) from which it is very difficult to recover without a hard reset.
I wrote a more detailed post on the Flash issue with Opera Mobile and Dolphin awhile back here.
Bottom line: it's hardly worth the effort, even with FastMode or NoRefresh. It's just a "let's see if I can do this" thing.

nmyshkin said:
I'm not sure about the technical part, but it does matter if you have the only available Flash installation as well as the browser you are using. Opera Mobile will balk at Flash, mostly refusing to even accept the touch input or throwing up a message saying, in effect, "no way". The Dolphin 10.x series browser will display Flash content in some circumstances, either using the embedded player, or an external player like MX. Some videos in some situations seem to invoke the native Flash players (maybe Flash Lite?) that comes with the triple-Flash plugin installation. This results in a black screen (although touching the screen sometimes shows the controls) from which it is very difficult to recover without a hard reset.
I wrote a more detailed post on the Flash issue with Opera Mobile and Dolphin awhile back here.
Bottom line: it's hardly worth the effort, even with FastMode or NoRefresh. It's just a "let's see if I can do this" thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this a while back, too, and would agree that it's not really worth all the trouble. Just use your laptop or phone! :laugh: They're way better at video than your Nook will ever be!

nmyshkin said:
I'm not sure about the technical part, but it does matter if you have the only available Flash installation as well as the browser you are using. Opera Mobile will balk at Flash, mostly refusing to even accept the touch input or throwing up a message saying, in effect, "no way". The Dolphin 10.x series browser will display Flash content in some circumstances, either using the embedded player, or an external player like MX. Some videos in some situations seem to invoke the native Flash players (maybe Flash Lite?) that comes with the triple-Flash plugin installation. This results in a black screen (although touching the screen sometimes shows the controls) from which it is very difficult to recover without a hard reset.
I wrote a more detailed post on the Flash issue with Opera Mobile and Dolphin awhile back here.
Bottom line: it's hardly worth the effort, even with FastMode or NoRefresh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well okay. I am having this problem with HTML5 videos on Opera Mobile
but I think the same thing happens in dolphin. The problem with dolphin is sometimes the page doesn't render
after going somewhere and I need to open a new tab and sometimes it still doesn't render and I need to close and open it again.
Its annoying for sure.
It's just a "let's see if I can do this" thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except I am the kind of person that does things just to see if it can be done.
Its a shame the nook lacks audio hardware

smeezekitty said:
Except I am the kind of person that does things just to see if it can be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya and identify, but in this case it's a no-win game .

smeezekitty said:
Its a shame the nook lacks audio hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a shame that the Nook does not have Bluetooth.
That would only require a trivial change to a single IC.
It's a shame that the Nook only has 256M RAM, hardly adequate.
It's a shame that the Nook is pretty much orphaned.

Renate NST said:
It's a shame that the Nook does not have Bluetooth.
That would only require a trivial change to a single IC.
It's a shame that the Nook only has 256M RAM, hardly adequate.
It's a shame that the Nook is pretty much orphaned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shame. I think it's your new favorite word. :laugh:

Ok now I have somewhat of an unrelated question.
In elixr 2 I see "Dialer storage" and "com.bn.demomode" using 11MB of RAM each
Since this isn't a phone and doesn't have a dialer is it possible to get rid of those and gain some free memory?

Go for it. Neither of those apps are needed for the Nook to work correctly.
You can also delete:
Phone.apk
TelephonyProvider(s).apk
PicoTTS.apk (and the other one like it, they're Text To Speech apps)
DeviceRegistrator.apk
Launcher.apk
NookHWTest.apk
Music.apk
Gallery.apk
You can delete more, but if you still want all the B&N functions (like me) don't delete much else. For example, DeviceManager.apk is necessary!

thenookieforlife3 said:
Go for it. Neither of those apps are needed for the Nook to work correctly.
You can also delete:
Phone.apk
TelephonyProvider(s).apk
PicoTTS.apk (and the other one like it, they're Text To Speech apps)
DeviceRegistrator.apk
Launcher.apk
NookHWTest.apk
Music.apk
Gallery.apk
You can delete more, but if you still want all the B&N functions (like me) don't delete much else. For example, DeviceManager.apk is necessary!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.
I deleted Phone.apk, TelephonyProvider.apk and DemoMode.apk and there doesn't seem to be any negative effects.
And my cold boot RAM free went from 100MB free to 118MB free
Not a huge difference but hey 18 more MB is 18 more MB and with 256 RAM you need every bit.
I also removed Music.apk since it doesn't serve any purpose without audio output. I don't have PicoTTS.apk
Now every boot dolphin browser starts a service. Is there a way to disable it without uninstalling dolphin?
It isn't needed because dolphin works even if I kill it

Grab ES Task Manager and find the "Startup Manager" option in the menu. Tap it, then scroll down the list until you see a Dolphin-related app. Go to the far-right of the Dolphin listing and tap the "x" to remove it from startup programs.
Talk to you tomorrow, it's late and tomorrow's a school day. Later!

thenookieforlife3 said:
Grab ES Task Manager and find the "Startup Manager" option in the menu. Tap it, then scroll down the list until you see a Dolphin-related app. Go to the far-right of the Dolphin listing and tap the "x" to remove it from startup programs.
Talk to you tomorrow, it's late and tomorrow's a school day. Later!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx for the tip @thenookieforlife3 - ill use it for shure

bitcointhethird said:
thanx for the tip @thenookieforlife3 - ill use it for shure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NP.
Let me know if you have any problems.

Nook Simple Touch Noob Question

Hi
I have a nook simple touch - 1.2.1 firmware not rooted yet, I only want to use it as an e-reader but the ghosting is awful compared to my wifes kindle of the same generation (non touch).
I've been trying to look around and find out what I can do, is there a way to force it to refresh every page, some searching seems to suggest the issue was better on older firmwares, why B&N didnt include an option like amazon to force refesh every page who knows (that's not enabled on my wifes kindle) - the Kindle is just much easier to read in direct bright sunlight but I'm sure theres some tweaking that can be done to improve it

I have to say I am surprised by your description of your NST. I've been paying close attention to mine today while reading and I may be losing my vision but I can't see the ghosting you are describing. I've always felt the native Reader and its default settings worked really well. In some other apps there may be issues with ghosting, but not in the reader.
I'm running FW 1.21 also and while I have rooted and altered my device a lot, to my knowledge I haven't done anything to the functioning of the Reader app. Are you sure you don't have some kind of hardware issue?

nmyshkin said:
I have to say I am surprised by your description of your NST. I've been paying close attention to mine today while reading and I may be losing my vision but I can't see the ghosting you are describing. I've always felt the native Reader and its default settings worked really well. In some other apps there may be issues with ghosting, but not in the reader.
I'm running FW 1.21 also and while I have rooted and altered my device a lot, to my knowledge I haven't done anything to the functioning of the Reader app. Are you sure you don't have some kind of hardware issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be a hardware issue but it's well out of warranty, I do notice the ghosting on the kindle too so maybe im just susceptable to spotting it and having it irritate me, just wondered if there are any tweaks to control thow often it refreshes as its ok once it refreshes the screen

damianiw said:
It could be a hardware issue but it's well out of warranty, I do notice the ghosting on the kindle too so maybe im just susceptable to spotting it and having it irritate me, just wondered if there are any tweaks to control thow often it refreshes as its ok once it refreshes the screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so look here at what Renate suggests.

nmyshkin said:
OK, so look here at what Renate suggests.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seemed to be very complex, so I went for root and under there is the option for how many pages before full refresh
also installed cool reader for good measure and very happy - problem solved

damianiw said:
Seemed to be very complex, so I went for root and under there is the option for how many pages before full refresh
also installed cool reader for good measure and very happy - problem solved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent! Your rooting method must be different from mine but now we're both happy

Good job, @nmyshkin!

Thanks everyone, my main concern was rooting would stop it behaving like an e reader but relaunch I a great launcher and the default options for home and library mean I have best of both and importantly control over the refresh as my nook does appear to ghost far more than a friends on comparison, for the £29 paid over a year ago the nook is awesome

Comparing my nook to a friends the contrast looks really different so maybe this unit wasnt calibrated right - i'm now looking for a contrast adjuster to see if that solves me needing to fully refresh the screen so much as that will be using more battery