Update March 2021:
Fixed the download links at the bottom of the page. All versions can also be found here:
Forum Links:
XDA Developers Thread, MP4 Nation Thread,
Tablet Republic Thread,
Update March 2021:
Fixed the download links at the bottom of the page. All versions can also be found here:
Updated: July 2020 to fix broken links. March 2021: Fixed links again.
Until a while back I thought being deaf in one ear was a fairly unique thing, lately I have met quite a few people who have lost hearing in one ear for a multitude of reasons.
Like me they all like to listen to music on some form of personal player be it their iPod, iPhone, iPad, Android Phone/Tablet, Mp3 Player, CD Walkman etc . . . the problem is that when listening to music with only one ear you're a bit stuck, older rock and pop music by bands such as Queen, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who and others heavily used the two channels to create all these cool sounds with sweeping vocals and effects moving across the channels or having instruments on one channel while vocals were on another.
As an example I am deaf in my left ear and when listening to Bohemian Rhapsody I only get half the vocals, Money by Pink Floyd the opening cash register section fades to nothing and back again. Radar Love by Golden Earring becomes almost an acoustic/vocal track (but not in a bad way) because I can only hear the right channel, and guess where they put that cool bass guitar riff and drums?
A lot of more modern music styles tend not to use this much as it became a bit 'old' so while there are still issues they can be less noticeable.
Years ago when I still had a Cassette Walkman (kids ask your parents) I used to use Winamp to play my MP3 tracklists in mono to record onto tape and this got round the issue, however in the digital world you're stuck unless you have a player that gives you a mono down-mix setting.
Recently I stumbled upon an American company called Scan Sound who make a line of products called the 1Bud's. The rather clever people behind this range have made a unique earpiece the actually does proper stereo to mono conversion, unlike the cheap adapters that just join the Left and Right signal wires together (all of which fail) These earpieces have a small unit built into the lead that performs a proper mixing of the left and right channel into a mono track that give us mono ears the full and terrific sound of music.
I personally ordered the one pictured below (and then a few years later a spare when I 'lost' then found my original) which has a twin driver design with the little bud giving you the main sound and the larger flat section a incredible amount of bass (they make stereo ones as well which I'm sure would rock your brain loose) The pro version comes in both Left and Right handed designs with dedicated iPhone/iPod versions.
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Right handed Pro version |
They also offer a range of other designs with a basic single bud and over ear ones which you can find here 1-BUD Single-Ear Stereo Earphones
Delivery to the UK was quick and at a decent price, after telling a friend about this who was about to lose his hearing he bought the same design as me and loved it, he also ordered the more basic version for his other half to use at work so she could have some music and still hear what people were asking.
(My friends hearing has since returned after his treatment was finished so while no longer a mono ear he still loves the earpiece)
This post might comes over as a bit like a bad TV advert for these guys and maybe it is, but for us mono ears out there this is the stuff of dreams and it was not an easy thing to find, I've been looking over 10 years for a solution and found this company more by luck than anything so hopefully it will help others in the same situation as myself.
The dented fins were from a failed attempt to remove it. |
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Who said IT work needs delicate tools? |
Superglue and Thermal Compound sandwich anyone? |
Fixed the download links at the bottom of the page. All versions can also be found here: Ainol Novo 8 Firmware links
Comments locked as this release has been superseded, head to Ainol Novo 8 News to see the latest version.
Well as a first proper post goes this is not a bad way to start.
I bought one of these great tablets off ebay a few months back from a UK company called Gadgetfreakz, actually it's my second the first was a semi dead unit I bought 2nd hand from someone else and it refuses to be fully fixed . . . for now.
Aside from some minor issues such as screen viewing angles and a bit of back light bleed these things are a cracking buy for the money with a high res 1280x768 Screen, pretty good GPU that can play some Tegra games, HDMI out and USB input among other things.
However the firmware on them left a lot to be desired and is in Chinese by default, thankfully the latter was easy to deal with to an extent, the former not so easy. Recently a 2.3.4 beta Rom appeared on the Chinese speaking boards and was a major improvement over the 2.2 releases however as always they were in Chinese as a first language and contained stuff that was no use to us English speaking types. So I decided it was time to apply a bit of magic and make my own Rom. Download link at the bottom of the post.
This has also been posted up on MP4Nation (I am 'thedaybeforetomorrow' over here), Tablet Republic and XDA Developers (I am 'Oberth' over there)
8/11/2011: Tidied and formatted readme.txt.
6/11/2011: Minor update to correct bug in build.prop preventing Chainfire and Tegra games from working.
5/11/2011: 1st Release.
Flashing this is a breeze, simply copy the contents of the zip to your SD Card, insert into your Novo 8 and boot into Recovery with Power & Vol+.
Once booted perform the 3 wipes and then install the update and reboot. That's it, no need to install the AC3/DTS license or add Google apps.
If you spot the error about the factory_*blahblahblah*.aml file missing when booting into recovery mode just ignore it. I dumped the automated stuff as it bricked my unit the first time round when flashing the stock beta and I had to do a recovery with the original firmware release. All the automated bit really does is perform the 3 wipes and perform the install so why risk it when it takes only a few seconds to do.
When first booting the homescreen will go black/blank for about a minute. Don't panic this is quite normal it's just everything unpacking and setting up. Set up your wifi, add your Google account and off you go.
Most of these have been documented as an issue with the base firmware
As with any custom firmware there is a risk of things going wrong so if it bricks your unit try a recovery image from Ainol and start again, if you are of a nervous disposition or the type of person who sues for a hobby please do not attempt to install this. The rom works fine on my unit and others have tried without issue, however mileage does seem to vary with this tablet.