Can't Download Files

[jglen490]

I have a B&N Tablet (BNTV250, 16GB). I recently installed CM10 successfully. I can download apps all day long, and I can browse the 'net and all kinds of good stuff.

But, I can't download files. I went to a woodworking site where I had purchased a few PDFs of interesting projects. I can download them on my PC (Linux, Kubuntu 14.04) as many times as I want to. I go the same site on the Tablet in Android (CM10) and in Firefox i just get a Fail. In the standard browser I get an error that indicates that I have to download to an SD card.

What is up with that? Is it really true that there is no way to download data files (NOT apps) and store them internally with all the space that I have available on Tablet? Is Android purposefully set up to not allow downloads internally to a system? I'm not complaining, I'm just thoroughly confused - and hope I just need to find some box to click on to make it happen.

I've tried to ask the same question over on XDA-Developers in the Nook Tablet forums. the sound of crickets is deafening, but no answers.

Thank you.

 

[leeshor]

I'm as confused as you. I can't think of a reason Firefox would not download the files, unless you changed the location for downloads to something that isn't there.

 

[jglen490]

That's part of the problem, I don't see where to configure that either in Firefox or in the OS.

 

[leeshor]

Have you tried the stock browser. Firefox doesn't have a setting to change the location in the app.

 

[jglen490]

In the standard browser I get an error that indicates that I have to download to an SD card.

 

[leeshor]

I'm beginning to think it must be CM10.

 

[jglen490]

I've downloaded CM11 to my PC, I may try that or CM12 over the next couple of days. It just makes no sense that the OS would not allow a data file to be downloaded regardless of browser.

Thank you for your input. It may be a day or two, but I'll report back.

 

[jglen490]

O.K., I downloaded some installation files for CM10.2 ( I was running CM10.1), CM 11 and CM12.

I installed CM10.2 and it went just fine, but when I tried to download a data file from the website that I had tried before, Firefox did the same thing - file went to the bit bucket. So I had another microSD lying around. I unmounted/pulled the install SD, and inserted/mounted the extra one. I did the download again, this time it worked, however the file went to the external SD. I did some more poking around and saw that there was really no place I could go to on the internal (emmc) storage that didn't require elevated privilege. That sucks, because there is plenty of room left - that's why I got the 16GB version Nook Tablet.

The structure on the internal storage kind lends itself to having places to move data/multimedia/photo files to, but it's almost as if the user/owner of the machine is prohibited from doing so. That still puzzles me. A directory location has the name "downloads", but it seems like nothing can natively go there. Now, no problem with apps, they download and install to this main storage with no problem - or at least appear to do so.

The Android file system and approach seems very - well - awkward to me. I have had Linux systems for a long time along with a decent history of Windows. Neither OS seems to put roadblocks in the user's way, and in fact Windows generally goes too far the other way by default - being too "wild West".

I'll play around some more with my Tablet, maybe the light will come on. And the fine folks over at XDA still haven't given so much as a peep in the assistance department. Maybe there's a vast (organized) library of Android knowledge that I haven't found yet, but frankly Linux never was this uninformative - present company excluded.

Thank you.

 

[jglen490]

One more pleasant surprise. I plugged a USB chord from my PC into the Tablet, and it immediately showed up as an mtp: protocol device. I couldn't do that on CM10.1. As you said probably something not right with CM10 - at least in this case. Looking much better. I'll be going after ES File Explorer and see what that does for Android and me.

ADDED: ES File Explorer is amazing. I wish I could download directly to the main storage on the Tablet, but this is a very good tool to accomplish the same goal with an added step or two. Looks like I can now copy and drop from my PC to an SD card on the Tablet and then to where ever in permanent storage on the Tablet. Looking better all the time.

Thanks!