[How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Hey all,

I was searching youtube for new n900 videos and found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z9T8NINlXQ


So I came here and power searched to see if there's a topic already started about this and I didn't find any so here we I am posting this!

If you want more than 4 home screens follow the instructions on this page!

http://maemobriefs.blogspot.com/2010...e-screens.html

Credits goes to SlipKoRnSaad! :)

It worked on my N900 btw!

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Anyone know if there are downsides to using modified desktop? I am wondering if systems updates would still happen, etc..

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Once a system update happens, it would get over-written. So you'd lose the extra desktops.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Not sure about system updates, but I don't think it would be a big problem.. Even if it is.. Just backup what you need, then flash the device to the latest firmware..

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

so that tells us how to get 5 homescreens

how do we get the 9 home screens

if someone can let us know what we type in to xterm to get 9 homescreens that would be brill :-)

cheers peeps

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Well yeah but if you add more number up to 9 you will get 9 home screens something like:

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

i am unable to set other wallpapers in these extra screens!

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

would we change

gconftool-s / t apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/5/bg-image-string / path / to / background.jpg

to

gconftool-s / t apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/9/bg-image-string / path / to / background.jpg

to get the nine home screens?? saying that seven would probs be enough :-)

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

No that's only for changing the background image.. so @rolan you got to give a path to a new picture in order to have a background picture on the new home screens...

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

9?? I use only 1.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Well that's why I said, in a sense, in the OP, "To the people who wants up to 9 home screens..." :rolleyes: ;)

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Do not install modified-hildon-desktop from extras-devel, it is an old version, and it does not include a lot of features (including more than 4 desktops feature). Since the autobuilder can't build this package, it can't be updated. I already asked for its removal.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Yeah...I really don't see why we need that many screens. Seems like it will be faster to just hit the menu screen instead of swiping frustratingly to find that one screen.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I think it's more for the widgets, especially how some widgets can't be resized and take up alot of room.

Though I would've prefered if they made the desktops in a 2x2 configuration. So you can access any desktop with one swipe rather than 2.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Have you installed modified hildon desktop as per the first post?

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

You'd need a line for each extra screen, so: -

...views/5/bg-image... for the 5th screen
...views/6/bg-image... for the 6th screen
...views/7/bg-image... for the 7th screen
...views/8/bg-image... for the 8th screen
...views/9/bg-image... for the 9th screen

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Thanks John....

So I need to do that fist line several times or use commands with /

Maybe you can help me out?

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Background (and the activate desktops dialogue) are controlled by hildon-home, rather than hildon-desktop, where there is also a compile time limit of 4 desktops. You also need to replace hildon-home with one compiled for 9 desktops for those features to work.

Such a compiled package is here:
http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/770/n90...+0m5_armel.deb

I can arrange the desktops in some 2D configuration for using with the keyboard arrows, but since I do not like to use the touch screen, using it to move up/down is a feature I won't work on.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I see what your saying. I lov the idea! I hope some one can implement that.... That would be awesome(like all 4 in a box formation)enables die-angle swiping

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

im interested in having a few extra home screens, but some info in this thread is conflicting.

am i to follow these instructions or not?

http://maemobriefs.blogspot.com/2010...e-screens.html

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Compiled package can't be installed

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

What is the result of dpkg -i as root?

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Will give that a go!

That worked but still not able to add other wallpapers in the new screens..
All the new ones are the same like the original 4th

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

And not to forget Matan, the guy who actually made it possible :p

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

What ever happened to the one you could go up and down etc?

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

The beautiful backgrounds some people are creating and the way they look on the N900 just cries out for some way of using them. I hate to cover them up with shortcuts and things -- I just want to glory in them and show them to my friends! I realize this has limitations, but it is worth mentioning.
Ideally, I would have just a small number of icons per background page so you can see the background to full advantage.

It would be nice if there was a way to go directly to a view page by hitting a number on the first page rather than sideswiping to get there.

Yes, this should be discussed in Brainstorm, but to me it usually seems that Brainstorm is a place where good ideas go to die.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

Is there a thread, web page, blog post, or something discussing Matan's modified hildon-desktop and hildon-home? I'd like a list of the features enabled with the hacked versions...

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

This is a page describing the modifications:

http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/repo/Mo...n_Desktop.html

The main threads for discussing it are:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=41389
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38314

But some features (multiple desktops, lock edit mode) have their own discussions.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I install this.. for up to 9 screens...
but after I read it seems like its not really safy to install..??
Im not really sure but please let me know~ please
if its not safy is there any way to uninstall..??

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

If you don't know what you're doing or you don't feel comfortable in doing this you should probably not do it.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

What would be REALLY cool is if we could get an extra row of desktops above or below the current one. Navigating through 8 or 9 horizontally aligned ones would take a lot of time, but scrolling up and down would add a lot of functionality.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

If we want to use the modified hildon-desktop just for extra desktops, will the modified h-d behave like the original otherwise, or do we have to set some keys with gconftool to ensure "stock" behaviour?

I am just worried that I won't be able to use Ctrl-backarrow to switch fullscreen apps...

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

The default behaviour is similar to original hildon-desktop. In case of ctrl-backspce, it is exactly the same.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

1. hey I ve tried with other numbers but I got an issue. I tried for 7 and 9 homescreens both are working but the issue is that all the desktops are coming in horizontal direction. I cannot see them neither diagonally nor vertically.

2. all the new destops are having the same wallpaper as that of my active screen. I cannot even change the wallpaper for the new desktops bcoz as soon as I try to change their background, instead of changing their background, the background of my other screen changes which was my previous active screen.

3. I used this method:

Installed the modified hildon desktop and reboot.
Open the X-term and type: Sudo gainroot

gconftool -s /apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/5/bg-image -t string “/path/to/background.jpg”
gconftool -s /apps/osso/hildon-desktop/views/active -t list –list-type int [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]

Reboot.

plz can anyone help me here.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

First, the gconftool command is an example. If you want more than 5 desktops, you need to run simila commands for all (new) desktops. the “/path/to/background.jpg” should be replaced by a real path to a background image.

In addition, see post 18.

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I can also verify that the 5th desktop doesn't get a unique wallpaper with only the modified-hildon-desktop package installed. I followed the instructions correctly.

Adding the modified hildon-home package allowed me to change the background, but it changed the wrong background (of desktop 4, instead of 5?).

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I have the same problems. The wallpaper stays the same no matter what i do. I even get some strange problems with widgets. They show up sometimes on different pages. Shortcuts worked till now.

Edit : I had 5 desktop command exec widgets configured before i did more then 4 pages. They all showed up on the same "different" page. As i took one more, it showed up in the screen where i want the widget. Same with the weather widget. They where all on the same page when i had just 4. Maby something remembers where it was in original ?

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I found this trick to be helpful...could be even more if you did have 9 desktops.

"Have you also known, that taping with one thumb on one side of the touch-screen and alternately with your other thumb on the other side of the screen while releasing the former finger almost at the same time, lets you swap your desktops in a horrendous speed. It needs a little bit practice, but if you got the hang of it, it is really a cool thing." - from http://nokia-n900.com/the-n900-tips-...ries-level-02/

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

can any one just tell me that how can I change the wallpaper and view the desktops diagnally as well as vertically. I have my wallpapers in :

MyDocs-->>Images

The process needs to be redefined for each n evry background and the desktop. plz help

Re: [How To] Have up to 9 home screens on N900 !
 

I found a few places where maximum number of desktops is defined, and change all those to 9. These packages should fix the problem with background image:
http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/770/n90...+0m5_armel.deb
http://my.arava.co.il/~matan/770/n90...1.13_armel.deb

I'll be happy to hear success/failure report from people who try it, as I don't use this feature.