Getting Started with the N800
 

I just got the Nokia n800. Unfortunately, I'm not so Linux savvy, so I'm sharing what I did to get started and get more advice on how to pimp my N800.

Step 1. Flash the ROM. The first thing I did was flash the latest ROM available here. This is pretty straight-forward and you can do it from a Windows based computer via the USB cable that came in your box. The instructions are pretty clear for this. I recommend doing this first because you may lose any other work you've done if you don't!

Step 2. Get a terminal program. You can get one here. I just used the N800 to navigate to that address and clicked on install. This pulled up the application manager, which handled the install.

Step 3. Run the application manager and check for installable programs. I grabbed rhapsody this way with a 30 day free trial. Tested it out by grabbing some M. Doughty, TMBG, Tenacious D, and the Smiths for a quick playlist to listen to while I kept on pimping my tablet. Smooth sailing so far.

Step 3. Get an FM radio tuner. Nokia put out this one.

Once again just use your n800 to navigate to the link and click install. Then open up your terminal program (it's under Extras > X Terminal by default). Once it's open, type in "fmradio" (in all small letters) on the command line. This will start the fm tuner. Once you've run the program, you can then pull down the "Home" menu on your home page and choose "select applets" from the drop down menu to it to the FM tuner to your home page. This is also a good time to edit the layout of your homepage. Reception with the fm tuner is sweet once you plug in a headset which acts as an antenna.

Step 4. Freeciv. Yeah, after these years, I still want to play civilization when I have some time to kill, and as the tablet is running Linux, some rabid tech-crazed mongoose stayed up all night porting freeciv, and of course, I'm right. Grab it here. Once again clicking on the download brought up the application manager which handled installation nice and easy.

Step 5. Nethack. Like Freeciv, you know some Linux toady was fiending to get Nethack onto his n800 post-haste, so he probably hopped himself on meta-amphetamines and coded for 3 days straight to bring you this port. Click on the ARMEL binary to install.

Step 6. Canola. Alternative media viewer with a slick interface.

Step 7. RSS feeds. I've never used RSS feeds before, but some come preconfigured, so I figured I'd better change them so I don't look like a total newb when I'm showing off my sweet piece of hardware. Once again, the tablet works seamlessly and made this easy. I googled a website I liked with "RSS" added to the search..for instance "npr rss". This brought me to the page on the website with subscription options. When I clicked on subscribe the RSS manager booted up and let me save the subscription.

Step 8. I noticed that by doing going through steps 1-7, I'd added some libraries to my application manager. However, on the maemo website I found this gem. Open the Application Manager and click on the pull down menu. Under Tools select "Application Catalog" and type in the following:

"Repository" field should be: "http://repository.maemo.org/"

"Distribution" field should be "bora"

"Components" field should be "free non-free"

This will bring up more of the apps on maemo.org. Browse and download. I love open-source.

Step 9. Messing around in Tools -> Control Panel -> Memory under the virtual tab, I observed that you could increase your virtual memory by 128 mb by using the internal storage card. I did this as I can't see any reason not to. I expect that it will increase performance.

Step 10. Red pill. Red pill mode gives you more control over the application manager and shows more programs available to download. However, it is more confusing to use. I switch back to blue pill mode when removing files because its simpler. To use red pill mode open the application manager pull down the menu and click on Tools > "Application Catalog". Click on new.

Under web address type in "matrix" and hit cancel. A menu will pop up that lets you choose red pill mode.

Step 11. Pairing with my bluetooth phone (Sprint 6700). These are instructions from the N800 end only: Tools > Control Panel > Bluetooth. Click "on" and "visible" then devices. It should find your phone. Follow the prompts.

Then open up Tools > Control Panel > Phone. Click on "new" Select "data" connection. When prompted for #, user name, and password, enter "#777" and leave the rest blank.

Step 11. I got a word processor called abiword by adding the following catalog to my application manager:

http://www.abisource.com/downloads/apt
distribution: mistral
Components: user

Some people said it causes random crashes, but I wanted to try it out. Another option may be leafpad

By this point, you should be pretty familiar with how to get apps, add catalogs to your application manager, you should have found some useful websites, and hopefully mastered the basics of your N800.

This all sounds simple, but it took me quite a bit of browsing and reading to get all this. I hope that presenting a real simple guide will benefit people who aren't linux gurus.

That's about the extent of my knowledge. I would appreciate any further advice on how to get the most out of my N800.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Thanks signjc,

That's been pretty much my experience too, but you have put it all down very succinctly ... hopefully usefull to us Linux newbes.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

thanks for the info. should be getting mine by end of week.

jerry

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

hey man, thanks for sharing! mine just came in the mail...will be trying it out tonight.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

indeed. I am dumb and dumber when it comes to Linux. I'm a sworn s60 dude, but wanted to try this out.

Many thanks. This should be made a sticky.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Thanks signjc!
Very useful post for noobs. I recently picked up a N800 and am new to the Linux environment too. Your Step 8 on the Application Catalog was new to me and a very useful tip! :)

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

hey all, i tried installling gnumerics, but i got a message about missing library? any ideas?

also, i have a program called mnotify, is there a way to specify more than one email?

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

I specifically downloaded gnumeric and got it to work as follows:

1. Enter red pill mode (as described above) and surf to www.maemo.org and select the application tab. Search for gnumeric. It has a clickable installation arrow.

2. Click arrow. You are prompted by the application manager to add a new catalogue for maemo.org.br. Install the new catalogue, but do not install the application yet.

3. Instead browse your installable applications. You should now see gnumeric, gnumeric-common, and gnumeric-doc available.

4. Install gnumeric-common first.

5. Then install gnumeric. The application is now ready to be run. I opened the application and it opened up fine.

More generally, when you are missing a library you can try a couple of things that I know of:

1. Enter red pill mode as described above. In the application manager pull down the menu and select Tools > Refresh application list. Then browse installable applications. One of your choices will be libs. That might contain the library you need and the application manager can take care of it for you.

2. If you can add the catalogue where the application is obtained, you can enter red pill mode. Sometimes this will allow you to see common libs or dependencies in addition to the application file. If the app will not load right away, try loading the extras first, the app may then install w/o hiccups.

3. If you go to www.maemo.org and type in the name of the library you are searching for you might find it that way.

Good luck!

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

A very good posting. Just one comment:

No, it won't increase performance. What it will do is to help avoid some fringe cases where a program would be killed because the system ran out of memory, or, in extreme cases, the whole system shut down. What it won't do is increase performance, for that you'll need more RAM (which we can't add).

But you're right in that there's no harm doing it. On the other hand, I've not enabled it and I have yet to run into out-of-memory errors, but I limit myself to not having more than 5-6 programs running at the same time, and usually only 3 (say, mameo mapper+pdf reader+Opera)

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Installing a .deb file:

Here is another thing that I learned but do not necessarily understand. On maemo, I found a file manager called canoe I wanted to install. There was no green arrow to install so I went to the homepage. On the homepage was a .deb file for canoe. I clicked on it and a context menu popped up. I tried to open the file with the application manager and it failed to install.

So, clicked on the file again and this time I saved it to my SD card. I then used the application manager to install from file. At that point, it installed seamlessly. So if you have trouble installing a .deb file, try to put it on your SD card and install from there.

Weird, huh? Can anyone explain why this worked?

Installing a .tar or .tar.gz file

My next task is to install apps that are compressed.

here is the general theory -->

1. save the .tar file to your SD in a folder called downloads
2. open up your terminal program
3. navigate to the folder where the file is located using cd (change directory) command. The path should be /media/mmc1/downloads or /media/mmc2/downloads depending on which SD (internal or external) you are using
4. Once you are in the right directory type ls to make sure the file is there. [Ls is like the old dos dir command]. If the file si there then type in:

tar ztvf [filename].tar.gz

5. this command will tell you what's in the compressed file. You are interested in whether a .deb file is in there. (If there is you can install it. If not, you would have to compile it or perhaps execute it, but I'm not ready to try that yet).

6. If there a .deb file you can unzip the file by typing

tar xvf [filename].tar

or

tar zxvf [filename].tar.gz

7. You should then be able to use the app manager to install it by selecting install from file.

I will test this when I get home, but if I got anything wrong please let me know so I can edit the post.

If you are old enough this should bring you back fond memories of DOS days. Linux is so similar to DOS, I have a hard time not typing in the DOS commands on the terminal line.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Just went online for first time with the 800. I trade stocks and when I went to the Ameritrade site that worked. However when I tried to go to the streaming quotes section it did not work.It does require Java.Is the streaming function not something I can make use of?
Thanks
Jerry

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

According to the Amertrade website, Streamer Suite (the thingee that streams stock quotes) requires either Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or Mozilla 1.7.2 (Browsers that run on the Mozilla platform include Firefox 1.0 or later.)

Thus, minimo might work for you. Minimo is a small version of Firefox with many of the same features offered. Here is one way to download minimo:

1. From AppManager add this entry into "new catalogue":
web address: http://home.ufam.edu.br/~agan/minimo/
Distribution: bora
Components: user
2. Refresh your application list and browse installable applications.
3. Pick "minimo"

Now, it may be that this is more than a browser issue. Reading other posts suggests that javascript is ok for the n800 but it can't handle java applets.

If your stock streamer needs more java support, it may run if you install java VM. This process looks complex and apparently will take your system 2 minutes to boot after install...not for the faint of heart

Well, anyway, I didn't intend this thread to be about people's particular softward problems.

My general advice is going to be google, search this site, search maemo.org. That's what I'm doing. In this thread, I just wanted to list some general cool tips and tricks for a new N800 owner. So in that spirit here's a a list of repositories:

Link to Application Libraries:

http://maemo.org/community/wiki/appl...nrepositories/

Anybody else have any ideas to for the new n800 user?

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Watching Movies:

This site has some great public domain movies you can download and watch on your n800:

http://www.archive.org/details/moviesandfilms

Just download the 256 mpeg4 versions to your SD card, and watch them fullscreen. They seem to run without a hiccup.

These are older movies, but there are some gems, such as Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Pretty OT: are you an M.Doughty fan?! Hard life for us in italy! I've been a fan of both soul coughing and michael doughty, missed their show in italy due to work schedules, and then SC splitted.. :(

Great music IMHO! And I was quite surprised that, once I was in the united states, no one asked me "WTF they are?!" if asking for a SC cd... ;)

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Yeah, I'm an M. Doughty fan have been since I heard Bus to Beezlebub at an indie coffee shop in 1996. I went out and bought the CD that day. I saw Soul Coughing in concert one during their El Oso tour and M. Doughty at a small venue when he was pimping his first solo CD.

Some n800 stuff:

1. Maemo Mapper When you download maemo-mapper, pull down the menu and select Maps > Manage Repositories. Your default repository is Open Street, but if you select downlaod and click ok, it should add Google and VE maps. This is much better than searching the forums for the urls.

Next, with auto download on, I used the Open Street map to get to my general area. This centered my map with the correct latitude and longitude without having to look them up (I don't have a GPS).

At this point, I turned off auto-download, and switched to google maps. I opened up the Map Manager and downloaded zoom levels 1-4 [with the following settings: Under the setup tab check "by area", under the zoom tab click on zoom levels 1-4 and click OK].

This didn't cover all the area I wanted, so I clicked on the screen til black covered half the screen and then downloaded again. The maps were downloaded to fill in the black area of my screen.

Hope that makes setting up Maemo Mapper easy.

2. TV Links I found an easy way to watch some TV on the lunch break. Visit www.tv-links.co.uk/ or http://www.yourtvlinks.com/

These sites have links to other sites that host TV episodes. Not all the links work or are in a format supported by the N800. However, many links work quite well, and I've watched episodes of Monk and South Park.

To make the process run smoother click on the window of the video until a menu appears and choose settings. Slide the widget all the way to the right (unlimited), pause your playback for a minute or so, and then start up. It should run pretty smooth.

3. Moving Program Icons: A lot of progams will install themselves in extras and if you don't pay attention your extra folder will fill up real quick. Here's how to move those programs around:

Open up your control panel and select navigation. Click Organize. From this window you can move your progams from folder to folder or create new folders.

4. Blogger Relations Site: Here is a link to the Nokia blogger relations site: http://n800.bloggercomm.com/

Not sure where they are going with this, but there it is.

Feel free to post more tips and advice!

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Great contributions, signjc!

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Great thread! I'm sitting at home waiting for mine to arrive from UPS today...

I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but I know that within a few days or so I'll like my specific user interface and all that I'm running in it.

In all honesty - I can't wait to download Scumm....I love the monkey island games!

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

thx for great links. I'm very very happy my new gadget and I even managed to flash sdhc kernel.
Still problems with java: cannot unzip file and not find out how to do that (search has give no help) GUI please, gurus

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Here is instructions on how to install java; however this not a newb endeavor.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

The last two times i have paid to get online t-mobile and neo wlan i had no probblem connecting howver any time thhe wifi has to link through a local isp address i can't connect .any ideas thanks

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Editing your opera.ini file to spoof other browsers and change minimum font size

1. install becomeroot from the maemo repository [you should have figured out how to do this from previous posts in the the thread.]

2. open a terminal window and type "sudo gainroot" Tip: The preprompt cursor should change from $ to /home/user

3. Type in

cp ./.opera/opera.ini ./MyDocs/.documents/operaini.txt

This will copy the opera.ini file to a file entitled operaini.txt in your documents folder

4. Type in cd ./MyDocs/.documents/

This will change your directory to where you created the new file. Type in ls -l. If everything is good so far, there should be an operaini.txt file there.

5. My permissions were not properly set for the operaini.txt file, so I had to change the permission so I could edit this file. I did this by typing in

chmod ogu=rw operaini.txt

This gave the owner, group, and user permission to read (view) the file and write to (edit) the file. You can now close your terminal window.

6. Open up the Notes application and pull down open from the menu. You should be able to browse and find the operaini.txt file you created and open it.

7. Once the file is open, use the find on page tool to search for "spoof", which should locate

Spoof UserAgent Id

Change the UserAgent ID to what you want opera to identify itself as...

Global values:
1 = Opera
2 = Mozilla
3 = Internet Explorer
Site-specific values:
4 = Mozilla, Opera not mentioned
5 = Internet Explorer, Opera not mentioned

8. You may also want to change the minimum font size. Search for font size and change the value to something else (most likely bigger).

9. Save the changes to the document. Then making sure opera not running open Xterm, gain root access, and then type this:

cp -f ./MyDocs/.documents/operaini.txt ./.opera/opera.ini

This will copy your edited file back to the opera folder and overwrite the old .ini file.

If you really mess things up, opera should rewrite the ini file. However, in case of a meltdown, in the opera folder there is a file entitled opera.ini.backup . You can make copy of this file entitled opera.ini in the same directory which should set things back to your default settings.

Cool. Cool.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

I tried 4. and 5. but it doesn't work. Opera is still mentioned as I can see from the logfiles of my http server.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

The settings are explained on the Opera webpage:

http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/#ua

But maybe it doesn't work for the version of opera on the N800... In any case, if that isn't working, it's time to try privoxy - I'll see if I can get it running on my N800 and post my steps.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

After downloading gizmo project how do I get back to it? THAnks

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

How did you get your 6700 to work. I spent days to no avail. I finally gave up and got a different phone and paid for the PAM plan... The N800 never recognised it as a modem... What did I miss? I am now paying more for sprint vision that I did in the past...

Thank you in advance

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

I use BTModem on my Samsung i730 PDA Phone with WM05. I'm told it also works on the 6700, but don't know for sure since I don't have one to test.

BTModem can be had at http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/samsu...oft-stack.html

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

That link talks about the samsung i730. I do have a 6700 sitting in a drawer, I can go to sprint and have them move me to the 6700 but I would like to know what I need to check before I make such a drastic change.

also, will they be able to tell that I am tethering (toothing) using this program? My computer was able to connect to the 6700 via bluetooth (and USB) using the built in application, but the n800 was not (the funny thing was that when I connected via usb, I got a nasty message on the 6700 telling me that I should not be tehering, I did not get this with BT). This is what had me scratching my head, why did the computer work with BT and the n800 did not. Going back to the normal all you can eat data plan for the 6700 is much cheaper than the Phone as Modem plan.

Thank you in advance,
JJG

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Pardon my ignorance but I need to buy a bluetooth phone so I can use my N800 where there's no wifi connection. I'm confused about the specs this phone should have to work well/optimally with my N800.

Nokia support basically told me any phone that has a "modem capability" & supports bluetooth 2.o should work. Is that right?

Tuxedosteve mentioned else where that he was moving from 56kbps gprs to 384kbps. Of course I'd like the fastest connection possible, does my choice of cellphones affect how many kbps I can get? Anything else I should consider w.r.t. N800 compatabiliity before buying my phone? thanks for your help.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

JJG,

I have a Sprint 6700 and the N800 can use it as a modem just fine. If you live in an area with EVDO it's surprisingly fast.

That being said, I'm on the "regular" (not the Phone-As-Modem) Sprint Vision plan, which specifically disallows tethering, so other than checking e-mail while traveling I'm not intending to use it. The folks on Usenet claim that people have been kicked off the regular "all you can eat" Vision plan when its become obvious to Sprint that they're tethering.

They can, although apparently the particular implementation of the "phone as modem" connection on the 6700 doesn't bother to pass this bit of information along to Sprint (whereas, on the newer phones released once Sprint officially brought back PAM plans, you have to modify the phone's configuration if you *don't* want this bit of information sent back to Sprint).

You actually don't need to use that "phone as modem" program. I've used it successfully via USB, but not via Bluetooth with the N800. What you do instead is just have the 6700 pair with the N800, and on the 6700 set the N800 as a "trusted device," which allows the N800 to connect with the 6700 whenever it wants.

Interesting... I haven't seen that message, and I've used the 6700 for tethering to a laptop via USB.

Basically this all boils down to... yes, it can be made to work, but if you're doing it without the PAM plan, you won't find any official support and you also risk Sprint dropping your Vision service if you start using a lot of bandwidth.

---Joel

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Greatly! As far as I'm aware, the major carriers you'd want to consider with high-speed Internet access are Sprint (with "EVDO," sometimes referred to as "PowerVision") and Verizon (with "Edge"). Both can readily get you to the 256-512kbps speed ranges, although Sprint is generally seen to be somewhat faster. Additionally, Verizon has significantly more usage restrictions than Sprint does: They specifically disallow VoIP applications, music/video streaming, and online gaming. Uggh! Finally, although both carriers have major parts of the country where their high-speed rollout isn't finished, Sprint does seem to be somewhat ahead of Verizon in this area as well.

See here for more info: http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/wi...-compared.html

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Unfortunately I'm stuck with Cingular. My question is really which handset should I choose-- other than bluetooth, what do I need to get the best browsing on my N800 with an all-you-can eat data plan?

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Ah... ok, well... I'm not familiar with Cingular's offerings, but I suspect that Bluetooth is enough faster than the data services that'll be available that any Bluetooth-enabled phone should work OK. I'd suggest visiting www.phonescoop.com, have it display phones available by carrier, filter than list down to those with Bluetooth, and then check out the user comments and forums regarding tethering.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

What is the terminal program? Why would I need it? ...I may have figured that out as in is it a "holder" for downloaded apps?...because I downloaded fmradio through the installable application list on the N800 itself, and though it downloaded, I can't find it, and it is not in the the extras.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

FM Radio: You'll find it in the applets. On the Home icon there's a select applets function, you'll find FM radio there. Then you'll probably have to re-adjust your home page layout to make it fit. Click on the maintenance icon on the FM applet (to the left of the loudspeaker) to scan for stations. 1) Remember to plug in the earbuds cable (or some other headphone cable), it works as an antenna. 2) When in maintenance mode you can switch the sound to the external speakers (far left).

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Thanks for the help re the fm radio applet; but I still would like to know what the "terminal program" available at maemo is, and why I would want it.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Think of the terminal program (XTerm, etc) as similar to a command line in Windows. You can enter commands directly to the computer, rather than using menu items in a graphical user interface type program.

There are a host of commands you can issue, but the most common might be:

ls - list files in directory
pwd - show directory you are in
cp - copy files, as in cp oldfile newfile
rm - remove file
sudo gainroot - gain root privileges (see other threads on cautions for this)
tar - untar (uncompress) tar archived file

Each command usually also has a bunch of options, which you can usually see by entering just the command

HTH

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Granted, the xterm window is not _that_ useful for most users, however there's one thing in particular that's useful for those using the built-in email client: If you ever experience that the email client won't start, it's always because the network link was shut down just when the client was busy talking to the email server. Then it'll hang there forever, and you're unable to start a new one. Another symptom is that the notification doesn't notify (no beep for new emails). The fix:
- Start an xterm
- Enter this command (without quotes) 'killall enprocess'
Now the email client will start without problems.

EDIT: This command (killall enprocess) could possibly be run through load-applet-run instead of an xterm. Haven't tried though.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

My two cents! Here are a few things you should think about as you gain familiarity with your new device:

If you're a noob, DO NOT INSTALL PACKAGES MANUALLY! Do the following instead:

Go to the Repositories link (http://maemo.org/community/wiki/appl...nrepositories/) on the Maemo Web site, and add the Internet Tablet 2007 repositories listed there. Do not add the 2006 repositories, and do not rummage around the Web site banging on 'Install' links. Here's why:

There are generous guys out there who have custom compiled packages for their own needs using different settings than might be considered standard. Some of these guys have set up their own 'repositories' for themselves, and their friends. Some of these repositories use different, or different versions of libraries required by some of the Nokia, or Maemo - let's call them standard - packages. Recovering from mismatched libraries will give you fits, even if you know what you're doing on a Linux command line. If you do get stuck in this regard, the simplest fix is to reflash! The symptom of this is finding a package listed in the package manager that says it needs an upgrade, but won't upgrade, and you can't delete either. If you encounter this situations, don't even hesitate, just reflash.

Next: Assume you're going to have to reflash a couple of times when you first get your device (first month, or so). Make sure to create backups on a removable memory card (the flash process won't touch the card). The backup program is under the Tools menu, and the last thing the flashing process does is look for backups to restore.

Comment: On a previous post someone said using an SD card to extend virtual memory will not speed up the machine. But it may! What you're doing is giving the device more room for its swap file, and that allows the little guy to make room in RAM when it needs to, and that translates to an apparent speed increase. Go to the Control Panel, and the Memory applet to adjust this. I alloted 64M of the 128M card that came with the N800 assuming the quality of this card is pretty good. This seems to be sufficient for now, but I have good computing habits. That is, I shut down programs I'm not using. Leaving them running to improve response time will bog you down eventually.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

More pennies for you...

I forgot about this: Don't install any servers you don't really need. Specifically don't install the dropbear SSH server just because it goes with the client. You don't need the server unless you want to SSH into the device, or you want to follow the old way to become root. Besides, the SSH server is a resource hog.

Re: Getting Started with the N800
 

Can you elaborate on this?
Your N800 is not broken due to a miss match so a reflash is not the correct solution...
I mean it is but is to drastic for just a simple problem.