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Andriod device (the cheap way) — Parallax Forums

Andriod device (the cheap way)

SarielSariel Posts: 182
edited 2012-05-15 00:07 in General Discussion
I was debating on wether to put this in the Prop forum or here, and decided it would be fine here.

For my birthday, I recieved a gift from me of one Nook Color on sale at Wal-Mart for $169.99, and you get a $30 Wal-Mart gift card back. While it natively uses a "Cobbled" Barnes and Noble version of the Andriod OS, I did a little bit of research on it and found that you can easilly "Root" the device and install a custom version of the AOS on it. And that is just what I did. FANTASTIC results. It even took the overclocking to 1.1gHz without a single hiccup. Not bad considering it ships running at 800MHz. Oh.. and it now connects to Google for apps, instead of being locked into the B&N's.... limited supply.

I know a few of you guys have used Android to talk to the propeller, and I have been scouring the forums for that information, and I plan on interfacing to it at some point. If you guys are curious, I will let ya know my results when I have something to show for it. But even if I can't get it to talk to a prop, it is still a killer deal.... even at full price for the unit.

Oh... the Android version I put in is called Cyanogen 7. I'm sure a trip around google could give ya all the info you need on it, but I can post links if anyone wants more information.

Comments

  • MicksterMickster Posts: 2,721
    edited 2012-05-09 02:24
    Hi

    We have standardized on Android for our new machine HMI after 25 years of using IPCs. We use tablets with BT and communicate to our microcontrollers via a BT-RS232 adapter on the ucontroller's serial port. It works great!

    When programming Android, there can be a rude awakening....heap limit. It varies with the version of Android. Honeycomb (V 3+) provides a "large heap" option.


    I do have a ioio that I have yet to connect to the tablet for direct hardware interfacing and I am very interested in connecting directly to the Propeller chip so please keep us posted on any developments.

    Cheers,

    Mickster
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2012-05-13 12:35
    Sariel wrote: »
    I was debating on wether to put this in the Prop forum or here, and decided it would be fine here.

    For my birthday, I recieved a gift from me of one Nook Color on sale at Wal-Mart for $169.99, and you get a $30 Wal-Mart gift card back. While it natively uses a "Cobbled" Barnes and Noble version of the Andriod OS, I did a little bit of research on it and found that you can easilly "Root" the device and install a custom version of the AOS on it. And that is just what I did. FANTASTIC results. It even took the overclocking to 1.1gHz without a single hiccup. Not bad considering it ships running at 800MHz. Oh.. and it now connects to Google for apps, instead of being locked into the B&N's.... limited supply.

    I know a few of you guys have used Android to talk to the propeller, and I have been scouring the forums for that information, and I plan on interfacing to it at some point. If you guys are curious, I will let ya know my results when I have something to show for it. But even if I can't get it to talk to a prop, it is still a killer deal.... even at full price for the unit.

    Oh... the Android version I put in is called Cyanogen 7. I'm sure a trip around google could give ya all the info you need on it, but I can post links if anyone wants more information.

    I would be interested in the links for the tools and instructions which you used to root your Nook Color.

    Thanks!
    -Ron
  • VernVern Posts: 75
    edited 2012-05-14 18:56
    Just about anything you could want to know about rooting just about any android device can be found a the xdadevelopers forums. Same goes for custom roms, themes, hacks, modems, etc. If its not there it probably hasn't been done yet.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2012-05-14 19:41
    Vern wrote: »
    Just about anything you could want to know about rooting just about any android device can be found a the xdadevelopers forums. Same goes for custom roms, themes, hacks, modems, etc. If its not there it probably hasn't been done yet.

    @Vern - Thanks!

    I have spent quite a bit of time in that forum and many others. I ended up putting Honeycomb on a SanDisk 16GB class 4 card.

    I downloaded nookcolor-easyADB.exe and the USB drivers to setup the Android Debug Bridge.

    I also downloaded a zip file called HoneyGApps.v2.zip to add several apps (including the Market, Google Services Framework, etc).

    I used EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.1 Home Edition to resize the last partition with the unallocated space.

    Several of the sites had dead links to the tools, driver files, etc so it was a bit of a challenge and figuring out how to use ADB to mount volumes, push files and install apps can be tricky.

    www.Butterscotch.com had some helpful videos.
  • max72max72 Posts: 1,155
    edited 2012-05-15 00:07
    I use cyanogenmod 7 from a microSD.
    http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=encore
    you can grab also the store here:
    http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Latest_Version#Google_Apps
    You need also the installer image, on this page there are also the instructions:
    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957

    Nice thing is if you don't use clockworkmod removing the microSD brings back the nook to stock.

    Mind not all the sd cards are equal. Usually the faster are oriented to usage of larger blocks, so at the end for this use they are slower.
    There are discussions about the best cards (usually low class sandisk) and if you boot from SD it makes a lot of difference.
    Massimo
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