Nook 1.2 emulator

I was able to build an emulator for Nook version 1.2. See my previous post for the prerequisites. Basically you need some utilities installed: smali, baksmali, unyaffs, and mkyaffs2image. You also need the Android SDK installed on your computer. Here are the steps: 1: download the nook 1.2 soft-root image from nookdevs. For the rest of this post I assume you have copied it into the directory ~/nook_dev/ and we will be working on it from there. 2. extract the bravo_update.dat, cd into it and extract root.tgz

mv bravo_update.dat bravo_update-1.2.tar.gz
tar xvzf bravo_update-1.2.tar.gz

3. extract root.tgz

cd Firmware_Update
tar xvzf root.tgz
cd root

4. cd into system/framework and unjar services.jar

cd system/framework/
jar xvf services.jar

5. disassemble the classes.dex file inside services.jar

baksmali classes.dex

6. vi out/com/android/server/ServerThread.smali search for a line that contains

if-lt v0, v1, :cond_309

delete that line. 7. reassemble out/ directory

smali out/

8. copy the new out.dex over the old classes.dex and re-jar services.jar

mv out.dex classes.dex
jar cvf services.jar classes.dex

Now we are going to build an android AVD, so we can extract a single file to use back in this system.

9. if your android SDK tools are in your path Run,

android

else find the android command and run it, or run it from eclipse. This starts the Android SDK and AVD Manager. To create a new AVD, click New... Name: nook Target: Android 1.5 Size: Skin: click Resolution, and fill in 488 x 944 click "Create AVD". Then click "Details" to see where it was created. It should be at ~/.android/avd/nook.avd 10. unyaffs the system.img and grab a file

cd ~/nook_dev/
mkdir sys_img
cd sys_img
cp ~/android-sdk-linux_86/platforms/android-3/images/system.img .
unyaffs system.img
cp lib/libaudioflinger.so ~/nook_dev/Firmware_Update/Firmware_Update/system/lib/libaudioflinger.so

11. re-create the system.img with the new audio file.

cd ~/nook_dev/Firmware_Update/Firmware_Update/
mkyaffs2image ./system/ system.img

this creates a new system.img 12. Sketchy step where you overwrite the good Android 1.5 platform system.img in your Android SDK with this new one.

mv ~/android-sdk-linux_86/platforms/android-3/images/system.img ~/android-sdk-linux_86/platforms/android-3/images/good.img 
cp ~/nook_dev/Firmware_Update/Firmware_Update/system.img ~/android-sdk-linux_86/platforms/android-3/images/system.img 

Remember to change this back later if you want to do non-nook related Android Development. 13. run the emulator!

emulator @nook -shell -show-kernel -verbose

Moving with Eclipse to a new workstation

The hard drive on my laptop started clicking quite ominously, so I figured it was time to order a new hard drive. I backed up my photos to the cloud (Flickr and Picasa) and backed up all my music and docs to Dropbox and Google Docs and waited for the new hard drive to arrive. Files are files: you just need to keep a regular backup; and email already lives in the cloud. That leaves my development environment. Here are the steps I've followed to move my development set up to a new computer. 1. open up Synaptic and download Eclipse. There are several Eclipse packages available. I selected the big Eclipse package which includes the JDT (Java Developer Tools) and PDE (plug-in development tools). I've had trouble before when I selected one of the smaller eclipse packages and tried to add the plug-ins I needed separately. 2. Download or copy over the Android SDK. 3. Put the Android SDK tools directory in my PATH in .bashrc b. then type 'bash', so the new .bashrc takes effect. c. type 'adb', to make sure the android SDK tools are in my PATH. 4. open up Eclipse and go to Help->Install New Software... click "add" to add a new tools depository, and add the android developer tools repository: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/. b. once the new depository is loaded, select the Android Developer Tools and Android DDMS and wait for Eclipse to download and install them. 5. moved my private signing key over. 6. moved over my projects and imported them through File->Import... ->Existing Projects into Workspace. b. if you get any errors, try right clicking on the project and select Android Tools->Fix Project Properties 7. Export an app and sign it with the key you moved over. (this is the scary part, if you lose the signing key you used to originally sign your app, you will not be able to provide any more updates to your app in the Android Market!) a. File->Export ... Android->Export Android Application --> select the project you want to Export --> Use existing keystore, (click location to locate it.) type in your password.... 8. Plug your dev phone into your workstation and install the app. a. adb install -r /path/to/YourApp.apk Whoo Hoo! The development environment (for android at least) is all moved over.