Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Hello all,

So far I've been a good noob and only installed apps from the maemo-extras repository. But all the cool things I want to play with seem to be in testing and devel. I have a few questions on how BEST to do this... Please, no rm rf in this thread :( :D

1) What are the risks of installing apps from the -testing and -devel repositories? Unrefined apps hogging up battery life? Crashing? Rebooting? Bricking?

2) Can I create a 'backup' of everything? Like my desktop backgrounds, contacts, apps installed, everything? Link please?

3) What is the best way to 'flash' my device if/when I decide I have something unworthy on my device, or flat out brick it ? Do I need any special equipment other n900, computer, and usb cable? Can I somehow flash to the most current firmware? Is this a better way to go? Can someone please post a link so I can learn how to 'flash' my device?

4) Are there other communities/repositories (other than the 3 maemo.org extras, devel, and testing I can load to see more apps?

5) What are your favorite non-extras apps? :D

Thanks in advance. Please be easy on me. I'm just a noob who wants to learn and use his n900 more.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

1) Risks are low, but it could brick your device, unoptified apps which kill our battery, block up your rootfs etc. Its low, but its possible and it has bricked phones in the past.

2) Yes, Use the N900's backup tool

3) You need some software, USB cable and your phone. http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware

4) There are, but they contain most of the apps on here anyway. I dont know any tho, so someone else should answer that for you.

5) Quake 3 :D

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

As with the above, i would really recommending knowing how to help yourself if something does go wrong...
Read through the wiki pages, and learn how to flash your device :)

Read through the testing pages, you can get a good idea on what is reasonably safe from there - ie, if an app has 15 thumbs up then it's pretty good :D (10 is a pass - and after 10 days they make it to extras/downloads)

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Actually, I wouldn't recommend extras-devel, because anyone can upload anything in there. However, extras-testing will be safe enough for you.

You can add the Debian ARM repositories, but beware, it isn't guaranteed that anything would work from there... you could quckly end up bricking your device.

EDIT: If you are asking these, you'll no longer be a noob. ;)

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

im a maemo noob andi have ignored the paranoid warnings and regularly use devel and extras devel, never had any problems, after all im the one who paid £500 for the device therefore i have a right to do what i want with it! but ive been modding (and bricking!) symbian for many years, you should flash your device to learn how do it anyway

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

so basically anything wrong that could occur from installing apps from devel can be solved with a reflash?
there's no permanant damage here?

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

well, wouldnt say it is fool proof. as flashing has bricked some devices. but it is rare.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

fyi: I have installed several apps installed from extras-testing and about 85mb of free space on rootfs.. ;)
But you want to have an eye on these applications

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

thanks noobmonkey, and by brick I assume you mean that it is as if you sliced the n900 in half, the only way to continue using it, is by buying a new one ...no last resort?

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Nothing does permanent damage unless the bootloader is corrupt for some reason, and that rarely happens (never seen anyone who's had it).
A reflash that goes wrong can be solved with a re-reflash.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

ahaa I see.
so if I back up all my data or if I don't have anything important on my n900,
I can install devel apps without fear of permanent damage.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

I would reccommend installing Conky and Battery eye so you can monitor rootfs space and bat life after installing new apps from testing or dev - this way you can also give useful feedback to developers. One other bit of advice would be to install apps one by one so u know what is causing odd behaviour should you get any! Have fun :)

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

What exactly are we looking for when looking at rootfs using Conky?

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

I generally look at it before and after instaling packages to see if any are taking up space...Also good to use just to keep an eye on things ....

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Cool. Can you or anyone else point me towards some reading so I can learn why installing too many apps will slow down my n900 even if im not running them? I can't seem to understand why, as installing apps would fill up my 32gb of space, but shouldn't change my ram or cpu usage at all as long as I'm not running the apps at that time....

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

1) research more.

http://wiki.maemo.org/Installing_unstable_applications

2) read the manual

3) research more
http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware

come on, it is called

http://wiki.maemo.org

it has pretty logical front page. And save these links and browse through before you ask:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Category:Beginners
http://wiki.maemo.org/Category:Power_users

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Ossipena, apart from the usual cockyness.... if a user comes directly to T.M.O.... they do not see the front page.... there is no mention of Wiki......
(Actually just checked http://maemo.org/ .... no sign of wiki either)
The front page is not general user friendly, and the toolbar is also setup for techies...
So i do not feel it fair being so arrogant... This in itself is an argument for a different place and time...

Yes SAABoy could go and read the wiki, and search the forums, but i think the tmo users need to come up with a polite template to assist people and not just shoving it back in their face every time.........

Or at least the people assisting need to have a little more patience.
Although, saying that the links you posted are all good, just not the attitude in my opinion.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

I forgot to do this before.

Thank you everyone, for all your help.

Re: Noob wants to explore more of the N900... Help him!
 

Thanks for asking the question saaboy and generating the illuminating replies, i sold my n900 but will be buying another soon as i realise i made a mistake which i will not repeat!