Related
So, apparently, it is still not supported and Google has no solution yet.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2275..._details_emerge_the_little_things_add_up.html
This detail, which came out in conversations I had with Google engineers today, explains why the Android file system organization is, well, a mess, and why I’ve had such inconsistent experiences with Android and removable storage across the various Honeycomb tablets I’ve tried (and I’ve tried all of them that are available so far).
“We don’t want to expose the user to file locations,” explained Hiroshi Lockheimer, director of engineering at Google. “How do you manage that as a user? The not-good answer is with the file browser.” Lockheimer says that many of the experiences I’ve seen so far are what individual hardware manufacturers have enabled, as opposed to what Google has provided natively. The good thing is that Lockheimer says Google is looking at ways to do this; but the problem hasn’t been solved yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it me or does that say nothing still?
Google says they don't want to give you a file browser / file explorer / file manager.
Fine - there's plenty of third party apps to that on the market - but why not fix the SD card slot support?
Although I agree that some of the structure stuff is a bit of a mess - there's lots of random folders created on the SD card, like .android_secure, .bookmark_thumb etc. that you probably don't want end users seeing.
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
poisike said:
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly didn't read that at all...?
I read that google were working on some sort of file manager, not SD card? am I misreading it? as far as I can see file manager, and SD card are separate issues?
also the transformer, and custom kernels have the sd card slot working, so not sure who is at fault for the xoom
Why is there a difference between the tablet and the phones?
I have access to the SD Card and file system there.
Not like every Windows user on the planet has never seen "My Computer". Organizing files is not some obscure concept that is to high level for users.
From what I can understand:
USB file system means the OS access the usb disk in block level which the app (file browser) will have access to the full path of the file.
The one that is supported by Honeycomb right now is MTP. This is totally different compared to USB. The actual file system is implemented by the device, not by the computer's operating system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
@Kcarpenter
Very true - but I think the problem may lie with the Xoom using the MTP instead?
or is that a load of rubbish?
Eitherway, I guess from the Google point of view - they want it simple and try and hide the stuff they don't want n00bs messing with (a bit like Apple hide everything too so all their iOS are n00b proof!)
Also Phones open up to mass storage straight to the card - you don't get access to the internal memory at all. Whereas with the Xoom you would want access to that because there's loads of space there
gogol said:
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about just fixing the kernel like timat's - that'd do the same job for now
Still don't understand why they would slack on getting the SD card implemented. They have so much riding on honeycomb success. And the LTE radio needs to get installed too. Time to ramp it up.
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
mwaychoff said:
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree completely.
and the LTE thing is running on awhile now - didnt someone say that the samsung tab 10.1 might beat Xoom to be the first LTE HC tab if Moto don't buck up?
Who needs google when you have bigrushdog?
Just did the 3.1 update and SD card slot still doesn't work. I thought it would've fixed this.
Yea, I read that article yesterday. It has NOTHING to do with the sdcard support.
Google was explaining why android in general has a fairly chaotic/unintuitive filesystem structure... NOT why they haven't biuld in support for SD.
it was well known this update was not addressing the sd slot. No wjere not one single ppace has google or moto saidnthe sd lotbwil not be active by the deadline they stated. They could give us slot access right now but the issue is as has been aluded to they would either have to give full file sys access or no file access like the phones. For those that will say it doesn't matter give us access. It matters to them as they will be creating huge issues with tech support by the much larger majority of users that would delete things that would kill or hamper the device. I mean even on here you have tons of people that can't follow clear simple directons to flash an update without screwing it up some how. Can you imagine Suzzy home maker or joe the guy who can not figure out how to do a windows update would do with full access. My guess is they will be doing a update with a file manager and permision set so nothing past the sdcard parent folder can be accessed and programs installed will have premissions set to prevent accidental delete without going into the file manger settings to change them to allow change of permisions.
This will solve both the issues and allow both sd card and internal storage access without opening up the core files to tinkering by BDUs
OK, just picked up the Nook Color last night. It's v1.2.0 in its settings, and apparently a blue-dot version (since it only has 1.0 GB free space in its settings panel).
I picked this up because I wanted to make it a low-end cost-effective android tablet.
I'm already getting a bit confused with all the stuff flying around - I read some post that says you don't need to root these things, that you just format/flash right over the existing - more posts talking about how its next to impossible to brick these, other posts talking about bootable SDs, and some other posts talking about ManualNooter for rooting. THen I happened to stumble onto the whole "blue-dot" business.
My questions are fairly simple. I want a low-end android tablet that I can get stuff from the Market (or side-load) and play Netflix videos. I have a 4GB SD card in it now, that's free and empty that I can use to make flashable bootable whatnots.
Do I root? Do I repartition this blue-dot business first? Can some people chime in with exactly what I should be doing? I see things about rooting, I see things about bootable CWM SD cards, (different sizes for different SD cards, but golly if you're blue-dot, get the 1GB eyeballer somethingorother) and it's getting a bit much.
I have an Evo 4G that I've rooted and flashed ROMs, and know my way around CWM for that. I'm not a total noob to this.
I just want to make sure I have my ducks in a row. If I don't need to root, why is there manualNooter? I guess I'd just like to get an android OS going on there (CM7?) that will let me play netflix and get market apps and such. What's the shortest/easiest path to this, and should I repartition first?
edit: as a follow up - can I just install CM7 onto an SD card and always boot from that? Do I have to mess at all with NC's internal business? That would be handier, I think - if possible. I just read that it looks possible in the comments here:
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/8553/
In reading this:
http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick-your-nook-color-operating-system-and-install-options/
I think I want to go the OS on SD-Card option. It protects the warranty, and I can keep it "safe" for now.
Wifflepig said:
In reading this:
http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick-your-nook-color-operating-system-and-install-options/
I think I want to go the OS on SD-Card option. It protects the warranty, and I can keep it "safe" for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's your decision, which is the same one I made, this is what I learned here:
-The MicroSD card itself can make running android a wonderful experience, or a torurous nightmare of force close issues on everything. All cards are not made equal. You probably want a SanDisk brand card, test your card with Crystal Disk Mark, and read Here and Here for more information on that part of it.
-I am running this Phiremod 6.2 image, dualboot between phiremod and honeycomb. You can just run it by default on the more stable phiremod without ever going into honeycomb if you want. I haven't updated it to phiremod 6.3 yet as the thread gives you the option for, 6.2 runs very well.
A rock solid package that works fantastically well, make sure to thank the people who made it if you like it - you can tell it's a labor of love by how nice it is.
Also, make sure that the battery is charged all the way to full the first time you put your custom SD card in.
To make the custom card:
-put it in your computer, fresh format if possible/necessary
-use WinImage to burn the image to the MicroSD card.
-use EASEUS partition software to extend the /sdcard partition to use the rest of the unallocated space on your MicroSD card.
...and that's really all there is to it. It can get confusing out there with so many options and configuration choices.
You may end up deciding that you like something better, but for a "no strings attached" look at android on the Nook color the image and tools I just linked are a good place to start.
Besides preserving your stock Nook color as-is, running from the sdcard lets you have a couple of different cards with different installs, and swapping between them is as easy as turning the Nook off and then back on again.
While the Nook is booted to it's stock configuration, you can plug it into your computer and transfer whatever you want drag and drop style into the internal memory of the device. When you reboot the Nook into your android sdcard install, you can use a file manager to browse to it and use it. No hassle pictures, music and etc... transfer to your android device.
The google market app "dual file manager" by medieval software is free and great for running back and forth between the internal and sdcard memory.
Also, for an sdcard install, get the google market app "sd speed increase" by diego stamigni. It absolutely makes a noticable difference in running android from the sdcard.
Two last app recommendations are both paid google market apps, but:
The "nook color power button" by otis8 provides you with an on-screen icon that emulates the hardware power button on the side of your nook. I have a case that covers mine, and a lot of searching led to this answer. You may or may not need it, but if you do this is the right answer.
"thumb keyboard" by beansoft, has completely changed my Nook experience in ways I didn't realize needed changing until I used it. The split keyboard makes thumb typing so much easier. The arrow keys I always seem to need were why I wanted a new keyboard, but with the customizable buttons and layout options available through this app...it was worth every last penny spent on it.
Every time I type something on the Nook, I am so glad I got this keyboard.
That should be enough to get you started, just make sure that if you install the image I reference above:
-After it boots into android the first time, let it sit and don't touch it for about 5 minutes. The first time it runs, it has to configure itself on the sdcard, which you don't see happening on the screen. A little bit fo patience this one time can eliminate some possible problems in the future.
-Log into and activate the google market from the app icon on the home screen first. If you delete this icon from the home screen, you may lose market on this install and have to either do something funky to get it back, or re-image the sdcard.
There is so much great information here, I was amazed and overwhelmed when I first started looking into it. This place has taught me so much in so little time - I love it here.
ETA:
One last thing is, I don't know anything about blue dot, i've only seen it in passing. My nook is updated to 1.2 stock. You should be ok, but make sure to read the thread of the image you download to make sure.
...and... by keeping your stock nook, you don't have a problem that others might. If using windows, an imaged sdcard can't be just formatted back to it's full capacity. Windows only reads the first small partition as the whole card.
If you boot the nook into it's stock software, and then insert the sdcard, the stock nook will let you format it right back to it's standard capacity and remove all the custom partitions on it.
Then all you have to do is pop the card out, put it in your computer, and burn a new image to it.
I picked up a xoom wifi 10.1 recently, and first thing out of the box when it had net access was grab the 3.2 update. This was great as far as I could tell and so far the tablet has been excellent.
I ran into a sort-of glitch though. Although the apps I have on it function just fine for the most part, a couple of them (connectbot in this case) won't read from the /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard paths when trying to import a key file.
This is significant because those two locations aren't actually any sort of SD card - they are internal memory (which apparently connectbot can tell), and when I added an SD card it got put up under /mnt/external1 and never gets used by the system or applications.
So how do I transition from having the xoom's internal 32gb NOT be on the /sdcard path and make it so that my sdcard gets used properly? I haven't had it long enough to really build up any critical amount of data worth keeping, so if it takes a factory reset to do it then so be it. I was just hoping for a more graceful/less-destructive way to do it.
TIA
Not sure how this would work Stock.
I ordered an SD Card for mine so will have to wait for it to get in. Personally, I have no issues using the internal 32GB "SD" as primary since I would only want the add-on SD Card to be a backup location for things I don't want to lose.
I'll mess with it when an SD Card comes in and see if I can help.
I'm going to submit a bug report to connectbot, maybe it's their issue (aka - not quite fully functional on honeycomb) and not the xoom's. I'd still appreciate anybody's input on this though.
App developers are going to have to fix the compatability for their own apps.
tigerknight said:
I'm going to submit a bug report to connectbot, maybe it's their issue (aka - not quite fully functional on honeycomb) and not the xoom's. I'd still appreciate anybody's input on this though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've read its read only through the Xoom. Write access only works when connected to your computer. From my experience that seems to be exactly what it is. Why is it read only is my question? Better than nothing and if I find its annoying I will root and use Tiamat for full access.
I think the guy who mentioned the path is onto something though. The internal storage is "sdcard" which made sense when there wasn't one. Now that there is, it would seem that the path needs to be changed somehow. Wonder why that wasnt modified with the 3.2 update? Maybe because there would be no way to copy the data if the path was changed and it would break all of the current programs? That would make sense to me?
We wouldn't mind some simple instructions to move the data after the path is changed, but for the mass market its probably not a viable option.
These are just my thoughts as I drink my morning coffee.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Just got a nook color last night and been looking at websites and downloading books with no sleep so bear with me.
I found this screenshot and would love to get my nook to look kind of like it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=860404&page=39
(msgnyc picture "Do Not Panic")
My main areas of interest in rooting is 2 major things
1. What size SD card do I need to root, jailbreak or whatever the hell you want to call it. I currently have a 4GB in, but everyone I see says they are using 8+.
2. I really want this feature and is the main selling point of me rooting. I want to be able to create folders on my main screen with an authors name and possibly a picture that will open up to all my books from that author. I have downloaded almost all my books that I currently own in epub format so I want to make sure I have access to them.
If anyone can help answer these questions it would be very helpful, and also point to the simplest (and I mean books for dummies guide) on how to get my nook to look like that picture would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to sleep now.
Well found this forum post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1030227
Would this be my best bet for rooting a nook color version 1.4.1?
If so, then I just need help with my main questions and where to get those apps and how to put them on my nook.
Thanks again
That's an ok place to start. All of the information and files you need to do this are either in the thread already or it will link to other threads or posts that have what you need.
Basically, you just got a LOT of reading to do before you will get to where you want. It's really worth it IMO. You will learn alot that you may use later while trying to get started, but it's a great time.
I have read hundreds of posts and learn quite a bit I didn't know while only trying to figure out one thing to do. I love it.
Best regards.
Benzoman said:
That's an ok place to start. All of the information and files you need to do this are either in the thread already or it will link to other threads or posts that have what you need.
Basically, you just got a LOT of reading to do before you will get to where you want. It's really worth it IMO. You will learn alot that you may use later while trying to get started, but it's a great time.
I have read hundreds of posts and learn quite a bit I didn't know while only trying to figure out one thing to do. I love it.
Best regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give it a go when I have more sleep, I'm just afraid I'll totally ruin this new toy and just wish companies would stop putting limitations on their hardware.
If you root and use cm7 off an sd card you have no worries. You can take out the card and go back to normal.
Search bootable sd card in here. Pretty simple, although you may not go back. I did that for a while, then just did it to the internal memory as I have no plans to go back to stock, even then it's not too hard if I really needed to.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
No worries even if you decide to root your Nook w CM7 and use the card for storage. There are several locations here that will tell you how to get back to stock. You can not brick your new Nook.
Several good ereader apps available. I suggest either Alkido or the Nook app. Both work great for me.
Running Nook Color CM7 Nightly 253m on either root or SDcard, depending on the day and my mood.
If you just want to create a bootable uSD so that you can root your NC, 1GB card is enough.
If you want to install new ROM and running it from the uSD card, then 32GB is max, normally minus 2GB (reserved for system and data), the rest is for your own use.
I have never rooted my NC so I can't help.
I only played the NC with stock ROM for 2 days after I bought it then installing CM7 ROM on, so I don't remember anything about stock ROM and what it offers you.
As for creating a folder with possible picture on the main screen, I don't know it can be done or not.
It's always good to read as many posts as you can, but sometimes it feels like established users aren't just sending you looking for a needle in a haystack, they're actually holding the needle and telling you to look in the haystack anyway. I'll tell you what worked for me. It turns out to be a 10 minute process (at most) once you know the steps. I started with a Nook Color running stock 1.4.1.
1. Get an SD card 1GB or greater.
2. Install Image Writer for Windows (https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer)
3. Install CWM (Clockwork Mod) image to your SD card using Image Writer for Windows, per the instructions in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=987735
4. Copy the Manual Nooter version 5.12.20 zip file to the SD card, obtain the zip from this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20456719&postcount=1631 that is on page 164 from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20456719
5. Shut your Nook Color off by holding the power button until the screen asks if you want to power it off.
6. Insert your CWM SD card into your Nook Color.
7. Hold the power button until the Nook Color starts to boot. (screen flashes)
8. Nook Color will boot into CWM. Use the volume keys to move down to "Install zip" (or something close to that) Press the "N" key on the Nook Color to select the option.
9. Select the option to "Choose zip", then select the MN 5.12.20 zip that you got from the Manual Nooter thread.
10. CWM does it's thing. Turn off when done. Remove SDcard. Boot. Done!
Obviously, this is just what worked for me. If it doesn't work, you'll have to go further down the rabbit hole to find out why. (read more of the linked threads)
I hope that makes the decision to root a little easier.
Reige1 said:
[...] I found this screenshot and would love to get my nook to look kind of like it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=860404&page=39
(msgnyc picture "Do Not Panic")
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You clearly have good taste in books. That looks like a rooted B&N pre-1.4.1 install running an alternate launcher with a pretty wallpaper applied.
My main areas of interest in rooting is 2 major things
1. What size SD card do I need to root, jailbreak or whatever the hell you want to call it. I currently have a 4GB in, but everyone I see says they are using 8+.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To actually root, you don't need anything larger. However, you might want a larger SD for other functions (more below).
2. I really want this feature and is the main selling point of me rooting. I want to be able to create folders on my main screen with an authors name and possibly a picture that will open up to all my books from that author. I have downloaded almost all my books that I currently own in epub format so I want to make sure I have access to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is likely to be a challenge. I'm not aware of anything that will put this on your homescreen. The B&N launcher on the B&N firmware will let you put books on your homescreen, but nothing sorted like you're talking about. B&N firmware does have the shelves feature, and the Library will sort by author, but it doesn't show on your home screen. Other readers such as Aldiko do have a nice shelf display that you can sort various ways, but in my testing, the closest you can get is to use Aldiko or Mantano reader to put a shortcut to a single book on your homescreen. Unfortunately, it's very very tiny. You'll also only be able to do this on a non-B&N launcher home screen, so you lose the Today bar and pretty book covers all over the screen that B&N provides.
I've done a brain dump on my experiences with rooting B&N 1.4.1 that might help with some other decision points. Rooting is only the start of the adventure. There are a lot of customization options you'll want to consider as well.
BE AWARE that rooting B&N firmware is altogether different than installing CyanogenMod to eMMC. The "[GUIDE] Install CM7.1 or 7.2 + Clockworkmod to EMMC - ALL NOOKS! (Updated:1/5/12" guide you linked to is excellent, but will OVERWRITE your B&N firmware with alternate firmware (CyanogenMod). Not a bad thing, but it may not be what you want. Before doing that, I'd suggest creating a bootable SD card with CyanogenMod that you can use for a test drive before committing to getting rid of the B&N firmware. This way, you can test out CM to your heart's content, but still leave the B&N firmware on internal eMMC memory. THIS is why you might want a larger SD card. It will be used by the CM when you boot it.
As other have noted, even if you zap the B&N firmware, you can get back, so don't panic. Just be aware of the differences between B&N firmware and whatever else you load up. I tried to highlight those in my summary, so I hope it's useful.
bobstro said:
You clearly have good taste in books. That looks like a rooted B&N pre-1.4.1 install running an alternate launcher with a pretty wallpaper applied.To actually root, you don't need anything larger. However, you might want a larger SD for other functions (more below).That is likely to be a challenge. I'm not aware of anything that will put this on your homescreen. The B&N launcher on the B&N firmware will let you put books on your homescreen, but nothing sorted like you're talking about. B&N firmware does have the shelves feature, and the Library will sort by author, but it doesn't show on your home screen. Other readers such as Aldiko do have a nice shelf display that you can sort various ways, but in my testing, the closest you can get is to use Aldiko or Mantano reader to put a shortcut to a single book on your homescreen. Unfortunately, it's very very tiny. You'll also only be able to do this on a non-B&N launcher home screen, so you lose the Today bar and pretty book covers all over the screen that B&N provides.
I've done a brain dump on my experiences with rooting B&N 1.4.1 that might help with some other decision points. Rooting is only the start of the adventure. There are a lot of customization options you'll want to consider as well.
BE AWARE that rooting B&N firmware is altogether different than installing CyanogenMod to eMMC. The "[GUIDE] Install CM7.1 or 7.2 + Clockworkmod to EMMC - ALL NOOKS! (Updated:1/5/12" guide you linked to is excellent, but will OVERWRITE your B&N firmware with alternate firmware (CyanogenMod). Not a bad thing, but it may not be what you want. Before doing that, I'd suggest creating a bootable SD card with CyanogenMod that you can use for a test drive before committing to getting rid of the B&N firmware. This way, you can test out CM to your heart's content, but still leave the B&N firmware on internal eMMC memory. THIS is why you might want a larger SD card. It will be used by the CM when you boot it.
As other have noted, even if you zap the B&N firmware, you can get back, so don't panic. Just be aware of the differences between B&N firmware and whatever else you load up. I tried to highlight those in my summary, so I hope it's useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I could care less about the today bar or anything else that comes stock with the Nook. I just want to be able to read my books that are in a nice organized fashion (which I found out you can't do with stock), play on the internet and use netflix. I also want the WiFi, screen brightness and battery indicator.
Another thing that pissed me off was I updated to 1.4.1 and it added the white bar at the bottom of the screen and you can not remove it (today bar I think?) I WANT THAT GONE!!!!
>>>>>>> +1 Aldiko
Reige1 said:
To be honest, I could care less about the today bar or anything else that comes stock with the Nook. I just want to be able to read my books that are in a nice organized fashion (which I found out you can't do with stock), play on the internet and use netflix. I also want the WiFi, screen brightness and battery indicator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case, rooting 1.4.1 is just extra effort. Proceed with the instructions to run CyanogenMod (recommend the CM 7.2 RC0 Mirage build found here on XDA.
Another thing that pissed me off was I updated to 1.4.1 and it added the white bar at the bottom of the screen and you can not remove it (today bar I think?) I WANT THAT GONE!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That white bar fills in with cover images from recent book you read from your library, and new issues of magazines and newspapers you subscribe to. If you don't subscribe to anything and generally don't care about B&N, just flash over it all.
As mentioned, Aldiko is a great reader. I'd suggest also checking out Mantano ($) if you don't mind spending a few bucks for a better PDF reader (IMO). Mantano provides more options for cataloging your books. I have had it crash the database with 500+ books, though, so do regular backups.
Unfortunately, I've yet to find anything that focuses on books for the home screen, other than the shortcut-to-single-book I mentioned before.
I've got an answer for the problem of creating author folders on the desktop. First you need to install ADW EX Launcher ($$). I don't know if you can do it in ADW free. Anyway, long-press on the desktop and select Shortcuts. Then choose your file manager. Now navigate to your books and select one. This should put a shortcut to that book on your desktop. Repeat as needed until you have all the books from one author. Now drag them into a stack, one on top of another. ADW will automatically create a folder that contains all the shortcuts in the stack. Now long-press on the folder/pile and select Edit. This will give you the option to rename the folder and if you touch the folder icon to the left of the label entry line it will let you add a custom icon for the folder.
There's also a free app called Folder Organizer that can do something like this. If you don't want to buy ADW EX and can't get ADW free to work you might give it a try. Just remember that you create shortcuts to your books by creating a shortcut to the file manager and going from there. Good luck!
And since everyone else is giving their favorite reader, Cool Reader FTW!
CobyHoff said:
It's always good to read as many posts as you can, but sometimes it feels like established users aren't just sending you looking for a needle in a haystack, they're actually holding the needle and telling you to look in the haystack anyway. I'll tell you what worked for me. It turns out to be a 10 minute process (at most) once you know the steps. I started with a Nook Color running stock 1.4.1.
1. Get an SD card 1GB or greater.
2. Install Image Writer for Windows (https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer)
3. Install CWM (Clockwork Mod) image to your SD card using Image Writer for Windows, per the instructions in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=987735
4. Copy the Manual Nooter version 5.12.20 zip file to the SD card, obtain the zip from this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20456719&postcount=1631 that is on page 164 from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20456719
5. Shut your Nook Color off by holding the power button until the screen asks if you want to power it off.
6. Insert your CWM SD card into your Nook Color.
7. Hold the power button until the Nook Color starts to boot. (screen flashes)
8. Nook Color will boot into CWM. Use the volume keys to move down to "Install zip" (or something close to that) Press the "N" key on the Nook Color to select the option.
9. Select the option to "Choose zip", then select the MN 5.12.20 zip that you got from the Manual Nooter thread.
10. CWM does it's thing. Turn off when done. Remove SDcard. Boot. Done!
Obviously, this is just what worked for me. If it doesn't work, you'll have to go further down the rabbit hole to find out why. (read more of the linked threads)
I hope that makes the decision to root a little easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are a godsend for making this so easy. Was actually gonna buy an SD card off amazon that was already preloaded but decided to give it a try before spending money. Worked like a charm and got everything I need so far.
Glad to hear you got everything going. I'm sure you'll love it.
Reige1 said:
You are a godsend for making this so easy. Was actually gonna buy an SD card off amazon that was already preloaded but decided to give it a try before spending money. Worked like a charm and got everything I need so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're going to stay on the rooted B&N firmware?
Don't bother with paying that premium for cards. You can roll your own in 10 minutes with the guidance here on XDA, and better learn how to maintain it as you do.
Ok, I have a problem and have spent several hours trying to figure this out. If you look at the screenshot I linked, at the very bottom (status bar?) you see an arrow in the middle that brings up a menu. After updating to 1.4.1 it is no longer there and even after rooting I can't figure out how to get it back. I got AWD but that is not the same. Is it possible to get that feature back?
And do I need to put my epub books on my SD card for me to be able to see them in Aldiko? I currently have them saved on the nook itself.
Don't see a screenshot, but do you mean the B&N shortcut bar that lets you select store,browser,library,etc.? If so, pressing the 'n' button brings that up on stock 1.4.1. Did you over-ride that with HomeCatcher by any chance?
bobstro said:
Don't see a screenshot, but do you mean the B&N shortcut bar that lets you select store,browser,library,etc.? If so, pressing the 'n' button brings that up on stock 1.4.1. Did you over-ride that with HomeCatcher by any chance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screenshot was at the first page in my original post, sorry. And yes, that is what I mean, and I don't want to have to press the "n" button to do it, I want the old way back if possible.
Reige1 said:
I don't want to have to press the "n" button to do it, I want the old way back if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will have to restore back to 1.3.... 1.4.1 changes it.
Somebody may have a fix though I've not seen it.
I've spent the past 3 weeks pretty solid working out how I want to transform the 3 Fire's I got for $35 for my boys, 10, 8, and 4. I figure I'd post where I've finally landed along with some other things I've tried both with success and failure, and hopefully save some people some effort. I'd suggest reading through this before you use it as a stepbystep guide to make sure this works for you. I apologize if it's a bit jumbled, but everything should be here for you to convert your Fire. Again, I'd suggest reading through the whole thing to come up with a plan of action for you.
Goal: Turn this Fire into a glorified gameboy, used ONLY by kids, not shared with parent(s) and child
On 5.1.1
Assuming you've purchased an SD card, you will want to repartition in preparation for moving files and content.
Pointers for this:
Make two partitions, 1 which is about 70% of the card formatted as Fat32, must be a PRIMARY partition.
Second partition will be the remaining space, make it ext2, must be a PRIMARY partition. (From what I can tell the reason people suggest using ext2, and not 3 or 4, is because with 3 and 4 there is some built in backup and recovery operations which is great for when you're running a full Linux operating system, but for our purposes all it does is cause more writes which in THEORY will shorten the life of your SD card)
I formatted the Fat32 partition as the first partition, and the EXT partition as the 2nd. Not sure if the order matters or not, but I've had no problems doing it this way thus far.
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/increase-internal-memory-phone.html/
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/how-to-use-link2sd-tutorial-guide.html/
Note:
During initial setup, don't bother with multiple user profiles (reasons explained later).
Using root junky's super tool (Thanks root junky, you made this all possible!!! http://rootjunkysdl.com/?device=Amazon Fire 5th gen&folder=SuperTool) do the following:
Root
Prevent OTA
Install Google Play
Install NovaLauncher (this is important if you're not going to use the built in Kids Mode in FireOS)
In Google Play Store download the following:
Link2SD (This is assuming you've purchased an SD card)
Kids Place - The VERY SIMPLE reason I went with using this app (which essentially becomes an alternative launcher) instead of using the built in FireOS's profiles and kids mode, is because the built in kids mode will ONLY allow you to use apps which you've downloaded FROM the AMAZON app store. I understand why they do it this way, I mean, the whole point of the fire is to keep you inside the Amazon ecosystem after all. But, I have MANY games I've paid full price for on Google Play that are appropriate for my kids. Since I can't put them into the kids profile built into the FireOS (If anyone can link me to a guide which is different, I'd love to hear about it) I couldn't use the built in stuff. In addition, the built in kids mode really is a pretty awesome feature on the fire, but the icons are freaking huge and kind of a waste of space.... going with this alternative method of Kids Place gives you smaller icons therefore you can "shove" more icons on a single view. Icons which take up half the screen are great, but if you're a dad like me who's going a little overboard and putting 100+ games on these things, it'll be a bit of a pain to scroll through them for your kids using the built in profile in the OS.
Note:
You can get Link2SD from the Amazon app store, but the version there is older than what's in Google Play and ultimately didn't work. Once I got the Google Play version, worked like a champ. NOTEx2: For whatever reason (this was frustrating for me to figure out), even though I partitioned 70% of the 64GB Samsung microSD to Fat32, and the other 30% I partitioned to ext2 (BTW I did the Fat32 first and ext2 second... not really sure if it matters the order or not but that's what worked first time for me so I went with it), when I launched Link2SD and it asked me which partition to use, I had to choose ext4 for it to finally work. Choosing both ext2 and Fat32 would both result in basically it saying: "yeah, you chose the wrong one punk" (or whatever it says).
Kids Place - similar to the one above, there is weirdness in the version on Amazon vs Google Play. On Amazon it actually claims the version there is slightly newer than Google Play, but when I'd launch apps on the one I got from Amazon it would kill the WiFi for that app. I realize that this is a built in option into Kids Place, being able to choose WiFi on or off per app (which is really cool), but the one from Amazon seemed to do it when and how it wanted instead of what I was telling it to do. Google Play's version had no such problems.
(( A word of caution using Link2SD's "feature" of being able to "Link Internal Data". DON'T DO IT. I've not been burned HARD CORE by it. The symptom is that if you POWER DOWN, and POWER ON the tablet, Apps go missing. Through reading and troubleshooting, it appears via this forum (http://androidforums.com/threads/link2sd-missing-apps-after-reboot.858565/) that the culprit is when you choose the Link2SD option to "Link Internal Data" to the SD Card. There's even a nifty batch way to enable it on ALL apps. Well, after powering off and powering back on the tablet (after I was COMPLETELY done putting on 150 games), when it came back up I only had like 15 apps on it. Everything else was POOF, gone. I've noticed sometimes after a power cycle like that the apps might take a few moments to 'come alive', but even after 15 minutes of waiting I had nada. Went in search and found I'm not the only one. I've now since completely redone (including reformatting the SD Card) all 3 Fire's and so far after multiple reboots, I've not lost a single app. So for now at least, this does seem to be the problem ))
You will need to spend the $2.35 on Link2SD Plus (striking out due to my caution above, that being said I'm glad I threw this guy $2.35 because my tablet would basically be worthless without the app), and after you install Kids Place, you'll need to upgrade to premium for $4.99. Here's why:
Link2SD - Plus - This is what allows you to automatically move files and content to the SD card when an app is installed. This is mega important to me because that piddly 5.x GB of usable space gets eaten up ridiculously fast otherwise. Dive into the settings once you have plus, and just go turn everything on. Auto move everything. Be sure to go into all menus and sub menus.
Kids Place - The premium features is key for me. For example: A) You can make this app launch upon reboot, thus it basically "forces" this into a kid only/friendly device. If your kids are sneaky, or bored, they'll try to break out of Kids Place. Then they'll delete apps, make folders, sabotage they're brothers devices, etc. B) You can change the name that's displayed on top from "Kids Place", to something else like their name, give them a fun nickname, whatever. For my 10 year old he won't feel like it's just a little kid thing. C) You can do this part without premium, but it's critical for me to mention it: You can change what the home "button" does so that it directs you back to Kids Place instead of the regular home launcher. The reason you need to install NovaLauncher above is because if you still have the stock firelauncher, you can NOT replace the home button with another launcher otherwise. [Word of caution, if you enable the 'background' premium feature, Kids Place is still running, just more in the background. Took me a few minutes to figure out that's what I had done. I kept thing something was wrong and wondering when whenever I launched Kids Place it kept asking me if I want to shut it down or go into settings.... it's because it was running the whole time already)
Once you've done all that, simply download apps (Amazon Underground still seems too good to be true, but I'm hopeful), sideload apps, get apps from Google Play, then go into the Kids Place settings and choose which apps you want (Manage Apps).
Other things worth noting:
SlimRom. So, this is cool. It's fast, and pretty awesome. For me however, at the end of the day, it didn't make sense to introduce something in addition that could go wrong. If you're like me and you have no intention of using this device yourself and you ONLY want this to be a device for your kids, I don't think SlimRom is worth putting in. If it's a shared device, it might be worth it. The only thing I really forgot to test when I had put SlimRom on one of the devices was how the Amazon App store would work, and whether or not the device would be recognized properly with the Amazon Underground portion.
That's it, I hope you find this helpful. I welcome any feedback or suggestions on how to make this a more gooder guide for anyone like myself who's first jump into amazon tablets has been these fires. They truly are AMAZING devices for the price.
hobojester said:
The only thing I really forgot to test when I had put SlimRom on one of the devices was how the Amazon App store would work, and whether or not the device would be recognized properly with the Amazon Underground portion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems pretty comprehensive guide for those using it the same way, very nice work
And when I had Slim on it worked fine with my amazon app store and underground apps. And the music and video ones for that matter. I couldn't get the kindle app to show my books but someone solved that by using older apk after I went back to stock.
@hobojester, THANKS so much for posting.
I purchased the $35 Fire Tablet for my 3 girls (9, 7, 5).
I've rooted at 5.0.1 and disabled OTA, disabled ads, Installed GooglePlay store, and loaded Nova launcher. Although I haven't taken it another few steps with Kids Place, I feel that I'll start with just locking down and hiding the apps via Nova Launcher will be enough for now. My kids are pretty savvy at navigating interfaces and even when they touch/exit an app, they know how to get back to it. I know there are holes with settings and NovaLauncher settings so when they figure them out, they can reenable certain functionality.
I'll look into Kids Place though, that might be my next step.
Also, about the whole SD card partitioning, I've installed a 32GB card and the tablet stated that it would start using the card as the default storage device. I'm guessing your method moves EVERYTHING to the card, and the default behavior for the Fire Tablet is to install some things on internal memory and 'other' storage is routed to the card? I've installed quite a bit of applications since I plugged in my SD card and it doesn't seem to be full... although I didn't check the storage stats before I wrapped the tablets.
Also, I've heard some good press on the Circle (with Disney) router, so I did order one for the home as yet another piece of the parenting puzzle:
[edit] sorry, didn't have sufficient permissions to post outside links. Google up: "Circle router with Disney"
Pond-life said:
Seems pretty comprehensive guide for those using it the same way, very nice work
And when I had Slim on it worked fine with my amazon app store and underground apps. And the music and video ones for that matter. I couldn't get the kindle app to show my books but someone solved that by using older apk after I went back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know about Slim and the Amazon store. Again, if I were going to use the tablet in a 'shared' environment where I'm using it AND my kids are using it, I'd totally use Slim. It was awesome. In this particular instance where this $35 device is a glorified gameboy, Slim is just something that is an extra layer of complexity that's really not needed and *could* get in the way. I have no intention of my kids even getting on the internet with this device. Not until there's a real need, and even then, I'd probably go get the K9 browser and use that.
TheTruthKC said:
@hobojester, THANKS so much for posting.
I purchased the $35 Fire Tablet for my 3 girls (9, 7, 5).
I've rooted at 5.0.1 and disabled OTA, disabled ads, Installed GooglePlay store, and loaded Nova launcher. Although I haven't taken it another few steps with Kids Place, I feel that I'll start with just locking down and hiding the apps via Nova Launcher will be enough for now. My kids are pretty savvy at navigating interfaces and even when they touch/exit an app, they know how to get back to it. I know there are holes with settings and NovaLauncher settings so when they figure them out, they can reenable certain functionality.
I'll look into Kids Place though, that might be my next step.
Also, about the whole SD card partitioning, I've installed a 32GB card and the tablet stated that it would start using the card as the default storage device. I'm guessing your method moves EVERYTHING to the card, and the default behavior for the Fire Tablet is to install some things on internal memory and 'other' storage is routed to the card? I've installed quite a bit of applications since I plugged in my SD card and it doesn't seem to be full... although I didn't check the storage stats before I wrapped the tablets.
Also, I've heard some good press on the Circle (with Disney) router, so I did order one for the home as yet another piece of the parenting puzzle:
[edit] sorry, didn't have sufficient permissions to post outside links. Google up: "Circle router with Disney"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you can find this useful.
As far as the storage card piece, you are correct in that "my" method moves EVERYTHING. Some apps are "self contained" as I like to think of it, when you download it. Popular games like Geometry Dash have everything contained in the downloaded app (or the .APK file). That is just the app itself. You can tell the OS to auto put the "app" on the storage card, and that works out great, but it's a little misleading. The problem comes in when you have games like Knights of the Old Republic. That app itself is something like 40 MB or what not, but after you launch the app, it'll download this extra content, which in this particular case is 2 GB. The kicker: it'll ONLY store that "content" (as I call it) into what the device considers "External Storage", which is ACTUALLY on the INTERNAL storage. That whole emulated SDcard business Android does. It's all funky. For fear of sounding like a commercial, Link2SD fixes all of that. Linux (what Android is built off of (oh, and hi iPhone users, so is iOS for the record)) has this thing called "Symbolic Links". You can google it up more about it, but think of it as an uber shortcut. You create a symbolic link on internal storage to the actual physical SD card, and the program THINKS it's writing to internal storage when in fact it's writing to the SD card. The kicker: you can only create symbolic links if you're rooted. The nice thing about Link2SD, is that it'll symbolic link EVERYTHING. The "app", the "content", and all of the saved game data and what not (which take a game like MineCraft, can get pretty big if your kids (like mine) go crazy building worlds). And you can have it to it all automagically. But you will need to pop that SDCard out, put it in your computer, and get it re-partitioned (visit the links I posted in the original guide for more in depth details).
I have heard really cool things about the Disney router. For now, my kids don't really have any need (or business) getting on the internet unsupervised. When they do, I'll probably give them the K9 browser.
Sorry for the questions but I can't figure it out, searching doesn't find it, and I'm trying to get these wrapped.
Do I need to still select Fire OS" install supported apps to sd". Or do I do it all with LInk2DS? I haven't Rom'd these yet and I probably won't until we get back from vacation. They are only rooted with stock rom. I also don't need to do the whole kids place thing as my kids are a little older...Thanks for taking the time to write this all up!
Also I have partitions shown in my Disk usage app that are named "External", "SDcard1", system and "SD Card". I know "SD Card" is the exfat 2 part I made base on the size, but as for the "external" and SDcard1, they are both roughly 5 gb ( my sd was only 8 gigs so I made the FAT 32 5 gigs and the rest the exfat 2. But now I am not sure of the naming and I can't tell based only on size. So, is "External" really the built in amazon storage, and "sdcard1" is my microsd?
Like your thinking.
How are you getting past the "Apps with usage access" request for Kids Place?
howzitnow said:
Sorry for the questions but I can't figure it out, searching doesn't find it, and I'm trying to get these wrapped.
Do I need to still select Fire OS" install supported apps to sd". Or do I do it all with LInk2DS? I haven't Rom'd these yet and I probably won't until we get back from vacation. They are only rooted with stock rom. I also don't need to do the whole kids place thing as my kids are a little older...Thanks for taking the time to write this all up!
Also I have partitions shown in my Disk usage app that are named "External", "SDcard1", system and "SD Card". I know "SD Card" is the exfat 2 part I made base on the size, but as for the "external" and SDcard1, they are both roughly 5 gb ( my sd was only 8 gigs so I made the FAT 32 5 gigs and the rest the exfat 2. But now I am not sure of the naming and I can't tell based only on size. So, is "External" really the built in amazon storage, and "sdcard1" is my microsd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will be a good chance for me to point out (I'll edit the guide in a second): DO NOT LINK "INTERNAL" Data via Link2SD. It has caused apps to disappear and never come back. I actually had to start completely over on all there of my devices. That "option" to Link the Internal Data is only available when you purchase the Plus version of Link2SD, DON'T CHOOSE THAT OPTION!!!
Now, with that out of the way, Link2SD is clever in how it works, and I am barely out of the n00b stage on this so I'll give a disclaimer that I may be totally feeding you false information here, but here's how I understand it: First of all, what I did was leave the SD card settings inside the OS all 'defaults', which installs the "App" to the SD Card. Now with that, I believe what happens is Link2SD intercepts that 'transfer' and puts the actual apps on the EXT partition. There is the incredibly critical option in Link2SD to put all other data (except "internal" data of course) on the SD Card. That's what moves the really big parts of those big games and apps. So when the App is relocated, it's put onto that EXT part and the Content on your FAT32 part. To address your question regarding External, SDCard#, and 'where in the heck is the EXT' part.... the EXT partition is mounted and 'located' under the 'local' storage under something like the /data/sdex2 folder. Welcome to the world of Linux... on a computer Linux (if my really old dusty Linux knowledge still works) when you need to access the CD drive you have to MOUNT it, and than LINK that mount to basically a local folder (something like /MNT/CDROM). Your EXT partition is mounted the same way as a folder, and for whatever reason in an app like ES File Explorer you won't see it as another drive, you'll only see the FAT32 drive. Maybe that has something to do with it being FAT32, I'm not sure. ...... the long point here is that Link2SD intercepts or coordinates with the OS's moving of apps to locate the App data to your EXT partition (mounted to that /data/xxxxx folder) and all the other really big stuff to the FAT32 partition. Again, I may be way off here, but hey, makes sense in my brain right now .
Inside of Link2SD there's an option in the menu to see the storage consumption, and THERE it'll actually show you the EXT partition as well as the FAT32 partition.
If my kids were a little older and I truly didn't care about them mucking around in settings, potentially deleting things etc., I'd probably give SlimRom a go for that. I've been messing around with it some more and it is just simply more 'pure' Android OS so it'd give the more 'true' Android experience.... if you really care .
cogito808 said:
Like your thinking.
How are you getting past the "Apps with usage access" request for Kids Place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not, simply because FireOS doesn't have that option. I just have to hit 'Cancel' and move on. If you were to put on SlimRom you'd have that option. From what I can tell the biggest thing we're missing out on by staying on FireOS and not having this option would be limiting time in Kids Place for certain apps and what not. For me personally, I'll just set a timer, but if it's something you want to use, I'd absolutely suggest putting SlimRom on there and then basically following the rest of the guide. Everything still applies.
If anyone cares, I set up SlimLP for my mom who is a bit less technologically advanced than I am and I put smart launcher on the device and just hid the apps I thought would be bad if she were to accidentally open them and not know what she was doing. (I thought his could be useful for some of the people here as well)
How do I avoid using the "Link Internal Data" feature? I do not see this option anywhere in the App.
Edit: OK. found it. I was looking in settings (before moving anything) but once I move an app the options come up.
chemie99 said:
How do I avoid using the "Link Internal Data" feature? I do not see this option anywhere in the App.
Edit: OK. found it. I was looking in settings (before moving anything) but once I move an app the options come up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found out the hard way how bad this can be.... like... 6pm on the 24th, type of thing, RIGHT when I had finished it all up. I had some kind of heavenly help nudge me into thinking "you should turn these off completely, and simulate Christmas morning, see how long it'll take to fully boot back up".... and you can imagine my stomach drop when I went from having 150 games down to something like 3... it was painful. So, yeah, avoid that setting AT ALL COSTS!
How do you partition the SD card on the tablet? Also is this worth doing when you can install xposed SD card modules and be able to move obb files
Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk
just wondering on the reason for 70/30 FAT32/EXT2. What gets installed in each partition?
tonyt3rry said:
How do you partition the SD card on the tablet? Also is this worth doing when you can install xposed SD card modules and be able to move obb files
Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I"m not familiar with the xposed SD card modules so I can't help there. As far as HOW you do it, I linked to some articles in the first post that might help (Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/increase-in...ry-phone.html/
Reference: http://rootmyandroid.org/how-to-use-...al-guide.html/)
chemie99 said:
just wondering on the reason for 70/30 FAT32/EXT2. What gets installed in each partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically the "app" gets installed to the 30% EXT2, and allt he "content" goes tot he 70% FAST32. Content will typically be data that gets downloaded after the app is installed. Take Knights Of The Old Republic for example, the "app" is like 50MB, but the "content" which gets downloaded upon the first time launching the actual program, is 2GB.
An Alternative Solution
I also gave my kids 3 Fire tablets for Christmas. My kids are mostly older (12,11,4) and the older two have had other Android devices. I went a different direction from the OP, which I'll discuss here for posterity's sake. This is a bit harder than the OP's method but ends up with a more conventional Android environment.
As background, I used FireOS on the Fire Phone for a few weeks, and ran into many problems. I installed CM11 on the Fire Phone and bought another in the final sale. You can read about that on the Fire Phone forum if you're interested.
Also, I've used Screen Time Parental Control for a couple years now, and while somewhat expensive it's great for monitoring without being too invasive. I can let the kids have a lot of freedom with their devices, without having to be worried about them either being on them all the time, or doing weird things. Screen Time nominally works with FireOS but in the end I did not use the tablets as-is long enough to try installing it.
For these tablets, I decided the easiest path was to install CM12. This avoided waiting for Amazon for security updates, and any FireOS incompatibilities, as I'd experienced with the Fire Phone. Also, the kids are familiar with CM, and frankly any replacement Android device will be easier in the future. After my experience with the zombie Fire Phone from Amazon I'm less concerned about CM/ggow/XDA bugs than I am Amazon's.
I decided to create separate user accounts for each child, as opposed to having both my Google account and the child's Google account** under a single user. I've done this before, but it's awkward to have to switch between accounts when using Gmail/Hangouts/Drive/etc., and sometimes things get mixed up.
Thus, for each of the three tablets I went through this process:
[I don't have the tablets in front of me, so if one of these steps doesn't seem obvious ask and I'll look up the exact names/buttons.]
1) Install CM12 using the well-documented methods
2) Boot into CM
3) Configure for my primary Google account
- Download interesting applications that have been purchased on my account
- Open SuperSU, enable multi-user access
- Open Contacts, select "ME", change name to "Dad" (or whatever)*
- Open File Manager
- Settings / Enable multi user access
- Open main Settings app:
- Set screen lock / PIN
- Users / Add user / OK / Set up now
4) "Switching to new user"
- Google Launcher always
- Log in with the "child's" account** in the wizard
- Open Contacts, change "ME" to the child's name
- Open File Manager
- Settings / Switch to Root access mode
- Browse to /data/app/
- Change into interesting packages and pick the .apk file
- Select "Install"***
- Repeat as necessary
Here I installed Screen Time Parental Control from the Play Store and went through the steps for Child device. Also any customization for the account should go here, then you can switch back to your regular user.
To switch user, drag down the system tray, pick the head image in the top right corner, and then the appropriate name.
Notes:
* This is in a wacky place, but this contact is how CM identifies the user name to display in the switch screen. If you don't see "ME" don't add it, just browse around; it's there somewhere.
** Apparently Google only allows accounts for people >=13. Thus, if you are reading from Google, know that these are my own accounts and my children happen to use them.
*** This will actually not re-download the application, but it makes a temporary copy while installing. Application user data is always separate between users, but for the most part download data is shared. For most applications things work on either user; however, Electronic Arts applications don't work with separate users, and Terraria will print an error (but still worked once the core data was downloaded with my purchasing account). I'm sure there are other apps that roll their own security and will be in this situation, but out of a very large family library these are the only apps with which I've had trouble.
Finally, a last note that Screen Time does not presently block creating new users from the system tray. In theory a youngling could create a user that would not have Screen Time limits, but then they wouldn't be able to delete it without getting in to Settings, which you should block anyway. Depends how devious your children are; for me I'm just waiting until they figure it out to do anything about it... just keep an eye on it if you go this route.
Hopefully this helps someone, eventually!
Best,
Tim
I got two fire tablets for the kids for Xmas, one is the kids edition (with the 1yr of apps,etc) the other is a standard fire. Used root junkies tool on both to block lock screen ads and OTA and hide Apps. They were both running OK, occasionally have the odd situation where you try to open an app and it looks like it is reloading it or redownloading it, not sure if this is because internal space has ran out and its redownloading on the fly but its quite frustrating.
Decided to flash slim LP rom on the standard tablet as there were apps that weren't available(better choice on play store and it wasn't tied into the 1year subscription).
So glad I did, was pretty straight forward to get it up and running and the latest build is so solid, fast and stable, was expecting it to be a bit quicker than fire OS as it had a lot less bloat but it seriously impressed me. So I have kids place set up on it to control apps and play time. I also installed hilocker from the play store to help simplify/lock down the lock screen. For example you can disable the status bar in kids place,but the child is still able to turn the screen off and on, they can then access the pull down toggles and mess with things, but with hilocker you can disable it which is great. Battery life is just as great if not better and your also up to date with all Google's security patches to boot.
It is a very good value tablet, as its just been reduced to just £40 in the UK. One thing that would be a major improvement is I just wished they had put 16GB of storage instead of 8GB. I know it has the sd card option which is great but in reality you only get around 5GB of actual internal storage for apps, a lot of which can't be moved to the sd card or still take up internal space when they are. Again I can't recommend slim rom enough as it really makes a big difference to the tablet (besides providing full play store access) and makes it perfect for consuming media, browsing, or just handier for when you want to use a bigger screen than your phone.
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gsmyth said:
One thing that would be a major improvement is I just wished they had put 16GB of storage instead of 8GB. I know it has the sd card option which is great but in reality you only get around 5GB of actual internal storage for apps, a lot of which can't be moved to the sd card or still take up internal space when they are.
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@gsmyth, look into Link2SD if you haven't already. Between that and a 32GB MicroSD I don't feel especially constrained by the 8GB onboard.
tdcrone said:
@gsmyth, look into Link2SD if you haven't already. Between that and a 32GB MicroSD I don't feel especially constrained by the 8GB onboard.
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How are you formatting your 2nd partition for links2sd?. I keep getting 'unable to mount' error, trying to setup as ext4, which I thought was the standard on newer hardware. I believe I tried ext 2 as well. Without 2nd partition obb and data stay on internal. Thanks
I wish to thank the OP for this, as I am trying to use, and bought the recommended apps... haven;t had the time to set this all up, and it gets a little confusing having all these other devices, but eventually I'll get it.