The Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet is a 7 inch tablet with a custom version of Google Android designed to work with the B&N eBook store and app store. But hackers have been finding ways to root the tablet and install software that’s not officially supported since shortly after the tablet was released.
Now you can also replace the B&N operating system with alternate versions of Android.
The most full-featured custom ROM available for the NOOK Tablet so far is CyanogenMod 7 Alpha.
CyanogenMod 7 is based on the open source version of Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread. But what sets it apart from the official B&N software is that CyanogenMod makes it easy to customize your tablet by installing the Android Market, changing app launchers, or tweaking dozens of settings.
An independent developer who goes by the name of CelticWebSolutions has posted a public build of CM7 Alpha at the xda-developers forum. There may still be some bugs, but for the most part CyanogenMod seems to run extraordinarily well on the NOOK Tablet. Audio, video, touch and WiFi are all working.
You can find instructions for installing CyanogenMod 7 Alpha at Liliputing.
Eventually you’ll be able to follow the same steps to install custom ROMs based on Android 4.0 or other software.
Note that if you install CyanogenMod 7 you won’t be able to access the B&N app store, but you can install the NOOK eReader app from the Android Market to read eBooks and periodicals from the B&N store.
I love my new cm7 tablet!