It seems it took not so much to root the nook. Now the hacking can start.

Image courtesy of Nook Devs

The guys at Nook Devs have opened the freshly released Barnes & Noble Nook and they found that the Android OS powering the eReader is installed on a removable MicroSD card.

Image courtesy of Nook Devs

Thus it was as simple as to pop the card out and insert it into a Linux box to gain root access (i.e. unlimited power!!) to the OS itself: thanks to rooting web browsing, tethering, and many other cool hacks could be realized on the Nook and expand the usage scenario of this eReader as well as the consumer interest for the device.

This could be a blessing, given the not so warm welcome given by some early adopters, like Judie at Gear Diary, whose first impressions are mostly on the negative side:

What I Like: Ability to expand memory by 16GB, making it up to 18GB — wow!; beautiful and solid hardware; the touchscreen is a neat feature; uses GSM, not CDMA — which means great reception in my part of the country; page turning buttons on both sides of the device; front is not cluttered with buttons; removable battery, beautiful hardware — I like it better than the Kindle 2; you can read eReader format books on the nook

What Needs Improvement: Packaging is a pain to open; eReader books must be read from documents, and their titles are garbled and there is no cover art; battery only lasts about two days; slow eInk refresh rate; multiple crashes, screen lags, false button presses, swiping doesn’t always work, slow, slow … and did I mention S – L – O – W? Urgh.

While waiting anxiously the cool stuff that will (hopefully) come soon, you can visit Nook Devs to look at how to root the Nook.

Via: Boy Genius Report