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Old September 15th 17, 10:12 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dan Daly[_2_]
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Default sunlight readable iphone

On Friday, September 15, 2017 at 4:40:52 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Friday, September 15, 2017 at 4:13:44 PM UTC-4, Soartech wrote:
... I tried to get my Nook to run TopHat and have had zero luck. ...


I've used a Nook for several years now. You do need to "root" the Nook (jailbreak the OS). Instructions are on the Tophat website. Once I've created the needed special memory card I've re-used it to root several Nooks easily enough. For me and for other club members. If you want I can do it for you too.

I've used two ways to get around the Nook not having a built-in GPS. One does not need soldering and uses cheap off-the-shelf components: a USB GPS "puck" and an OTG Y-cable (to which external 5V power also connects). It works reasonably well, although sometimes it froze up in mid-flight and I had to restart the Nook, which meant a split flight log. I suggested to the main developer to allow continuing the same log file after a crash and restart, and that is supposedly done now, although I havn't used that feature because I meanwhile switched to a different solution: I did solder a serial GPS to the Nook's motherboard. Not for the faint of heart... But it does work very well once done. A third way is via an "IOIO box" but that seems overkill to me.

A Yotaphone sounds neat, but it's hard to get one. Used Nooks are (still) plentiful and cheap, and I like the bigger screen. For a slightly smaller e-ink screen (good in tight cockpits) some people use a "Kobo Mini" e-reader.
http://tophatsoaring.org/Kobo.html


An available solution is http://goflyinstruments.com/ . I have a V4. 20 hr battery, GPS, pressure sensor all in one package. Not inexpensive, but it works on a Kobo Mini. They're up to V6 now. Well thought out. I started with the Y-cable but found it messy. All in one is nice - when I fly club duals I use it with a kneeboard.