A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

I'm planning on picking up a N800 off of NewEgg (280$ with shipping). I'm going to borrow a friend's in order to get a feel for it, before I go shelling out close to 300$ for one. I have a few questions though.

- I've never used Linux, ever. Is it going to be hard for me to load programs onto the tablet without any knowledge on the OS? I know I can get help on it from a friend of mine, but I'd like to be able to do what I can.

- If I screw up with Linux, will I brick the thing?

- How much memory can it support? I've read 8BG, 4GB, 16GB, and 32GB. Which is it? I might not get one if I can't get it to work with at least 16GB of space (I'd get 32 if I could find it cheap enough.)

- And lastly, where should I go to but one? Is 275$ off of NewEgg a decent deal, or could I find one cheaper? What about the SD cards for it?

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

dude check the deals and promos forum or heck buy and sell section.... at that price you might as well spring for the n810 if your a driver.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Yeah, I think they mostly have been answered, if not asked in precisely the same terms.
Depends on the program. Anything in repos, with proper .install files, should go smoothingly. ;) Some things, games especially, are often only available as a download of bare binaries. Naturally, that's a little more hassle to install. But you should be able to do those without learning much.
Depends how you screw up. It can be bricked from software, yes. It's highly unlikely to happen by accident, if you define accident to exclude deliberately tinkering with dangerous parts of the system. If you do that, then a typo (and pressing enter without checking) can spell B R I C K.
Up to 4 TB, AFAIK. Of course, no one is producing 2 TB SDHCs yet, but they should work. Currently available SDHCs run up to 16 GB (about $60), with 32GB coming real soon for about $300+. So you can have 32 GB (2 x 16GB) for about $120.

NO, that's not a deal! about ~$200 is right, look around. Buy.com, Amazon have them.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Yes, no, yes, dunno.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

1. Check buy.com they have usually cheapest or next to it tablets.
2. If you don't want to play with Linux you absolutetly don't have to. Most of device you can get without dabbling with OS guts - especially if you want to use it only to basic things: internet browing, media player, e-book reader, simple notes taking.
3. N800 has two SD slots - each one of them can take 16GB card. In total 32GB

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Depends on what apps... most of them are available as a friendly one-click install from a Web page, then you find them in your menu, nothing difficult there. Learning linux is fun but optional.

If you start messing around with cryptic instructions found here or on a Wiki, you might screw your system to the point that it won't boot anymore. That's not bricking, though - you can always "reflash" your tablet to its original state, then restore your latest backup. The latest version of the OS makes this almost painless.

One nice thing about the N800 is that it can hold two regular, full-size SD or SDHC cards, which are the cheapest format around. So you can have 2x4, 2x8, 2x16, 2x32GB, depending on the best deal you get...

Can't help you there, we don't use dollars here :-)

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

1. If you've never used linux before, you may not be happy with the tablet, but it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you don't ever plan on mucking about in the command line, then you might be fine. If you want to tweak it, however, you're going to need some familiarity with linux's quirks. You'll really need to get comfortable with the idea of repositories and dependencies for software installation. Before you can install a program, you often have to 'install' the repository and make sure you have the proper dependencies.

2. That I can't answer for sure, though you are not likely to brick th e tablet. You can always reflash the OS. (If I'm wrong, someone will most certainly correct me).

3. It will/should support any SDHC card. I have 12 gigs in mine right now. One 4 gig and one 8 gig.

4. $280 is a bit steep for the N800 right now. Definitely shop around. Buy.com has been known to offer a good deal from time to time.

Good luck.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

The SDHC standard defines card sizes up to 2 terabytes, and the N800 has two slots that follow that standard. So, should you buy an N800, you'll have a device capable of expansion to 4 TB of storage.

Finding 2 TB SDHC cards may be difficult for the next year or so, however. Oh, and you'll need to find a file system other than FAT32. It falls apart before then.

Newegg is almost never the cheapest source. Try checking PriceGrabber or Google Product Search.


PriceGrabber again.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

<3, thanks.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

You don't (or shouldn't) ever have to go to the command line if you don't want to. I'm very familiar with linux (been a Linux user for well over a decade now), and I think I've been to the command line three times on the N800. Of course you might give up a bit of capability, but eventually mature packages will make it to the package manager, and that's all point-and-click. The odds are slim that most people who didn't care what OS it ran would realize it was linux.

The odds are very very slim you're going to brick the thing unless you end up at the command line trying to do "advanced" things. Reference above.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

It will be nice to learn a bit of Linux, just for fun. But you don't need it at all.

I personally don't know how to 'brick' my N800 even if I wanted to. 'To brick' means 'to render permanently inoperative without factory intervention', though some people use it more loosely. Reflashing to get back to square one is common -- I've had to reflash my N800 more than 30 times in the last year, but I'm a pretty adventurous user and don't worry about stuff like knowing what I am doing :)

Well, I guess that taking a hammer to it (or putting it in the microwave for a long time?) would brick it nicely.

It's an amazing environment, that gets better and more amazing all the time.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Rewriting the boot loader to something else would be the way to go about it. Ask Fanoush, if you ever need to know...

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

What are the benefits of the N810, other than the keypad?

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Now *THAT* has been answered extensively and several times over here in the past two months ! just look around... (hint: there are drawbacks, too :-)

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

I took the jump and bought a n800 about 2 months ago, & I know nothing about linux!
I was debating between this & an ipod touch. I am sooo happy with my decision, as I am learning about all the things this little sucka can do!

I just hooked up a free VOIP phone the other day with my own phone number & voice mail to call anywhere in the US (via Grandcentral & Gizmo). Along with all the free software & games this thing kicks butt!!! All my friends were tippin out @ the million things this thing can do!
I use it mainly for media & surfing the net (and love Canola) <~~~Good job guys!

I was so worried about not understanding linux, but the guys on these forums are generally really cool and will answer your questions (if you use the feature search for first!). Also Krisse has set up a ton of newbie information on her website to help the basic non-linux person. It does take some learning and searching on your part, but can be highly rewarding.

The more research I did on NIT, the more I knew I wanted it (over iPod), I even used it to call my wife @ home while in Rio de Janeiro.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Thanks. I'd never get an iPod, or anything Apple.

I like my toys to have a planned obsolescence time of longer than ten minutes.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

I'll stick with the N800. I plan on getting a a mini bluetooth keyboard (anyone want to recommend one?). I don't need a GPS, either.

You guys are win, really. Quicker responses than expected.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Everything I read about this thing makes me want one more. Maemo has a BitTorrent client? Holy **** on a shingle, Batman.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Lol I said the same thing when I saw Transmission ported... I need a huge Mini SD card now.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

Rezigrene, take the plunge. I've never used Linux or even Unix before buying my N800 (for about $218 on Buy.com back in December) and I'm absolutely in love with this thing. The only problems I have are my wife hates it and my kids want it.

One of the best things about it is ... it is better today than when I bought it. I install new s/w on it almost every week (without paying a dime) and can't imagine how I lived without each one. Now I want badly to get a keyboard for it so I can install DOSBOX and brush off my old DOS command line skills.

AND ... the guys on this forum are amazing when it comes to needing help. Like I said: no Linux experience here, and yet I'm using this thing like crazy. Even installed one application using the Red Pill mode.

Okay... enough from me. You decide for yourself. This is a wonder toy in my opinion.

DF

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

*laugh*

Yes, do you know a good therapist?

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

I've pretty much decided to get one. I've used my friend's, and like it. I haven't used it extensively, but I don't think I need to. The only thing I'm worried about it video playback. I've read on a few reviews that YouTube videos and some videos on the card your loading them from have a tendency to be too choppy to watch. Is that true?

I'm getting the 800 from Buy.com for 228$. a Patriot 16GB flash card (I might pick up a second one, since I can download torrents on the thing), and an iGo Stowaway keyboard. It'll all run me around 350$-400, if memory serves.

I can't wait.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

I would recommend buying a cheap battery charger on eBay as well (though I am mostly boycotting eBay these days). And I had great luck with the Hong Kong BP-5L batteries I bought

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

why another battery charger ? does the one that comes with the n800 suck or something?

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

The N800 is the charger. No, you don't really need an external charger, but it can be useful for charging backup batteries.

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

What charger and batteries should I get?

Also, I just found a Star Trek theme for the desktop bit or whatever you call it.

I mean, seriously. That's like the coolest thing ever. No one is going to care that it's a Star Trek theme, they're just going to go, "Holy ****, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen."

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

...that's largely due to it probably being the coolest thing they've ever seen.

but then, you are already learning that, aren't ya? ;)

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

im confused how is the n800 the charger when you have to plug the charger into the wall then into the n800

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

What he's saying is that the battery is charged through the n800 (or that it's rechargeable) like a cell phone. But most rechargeable batteries in a device, such as a cell phone requires the external charger (including the n800). You just plug it in. But you don't need an external one (one that will charge your batteries outside of the n800).

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

But how's the video on it?

Re: A few questions before I go buying one of those- sorry if these have been asked.
 

No doubt there are some online videos that play slowly, but not all.

On the charger ... my two cents is that I came home without my charger a week ago and bought a USB charger from Circuit City for $14.99 (it plugs into the power jack on the N800, not the mini-USB). This works as a good back-up charger, but it doesn't charge the unit as fast as the AC one that comes with your IT.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Kensi...oductDetail.do

DF