Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Now that many of us have stopped using the N900 as their daily phone, I am curious about it's ability to be used as a home server or "jump computer" as an entry point into a home network.

I used to run an old laptop with SSH enabled in my house solely for connecting remotely, but I now think the N900 could fill this role, especially with so much storage space.

Can anyone please write about how you have repurposed your trusty N900 now that you've retired it?

Thanks!

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

I don't think I will ever retire my N900 (until it's not functional, and then it will be replaced by another one).

Regarding repurposing it, I think a N900 is probably the best candidate to be repurposed out of any existing phone in the present, past (and perhaps in the foreseable future). To me the N900 is just a handheld computer with phone capabilities, so even if you stop using it as a phone, you are left with an awesome miniaturized linux computer.

So, in a sense, it wouldn't be repurposed, but merely used in all its capacities (minus the phone function, which in the context of everything is probably anecdotal considering what else it can do).

Use it as a gaming machine, programming platform, translator, learning tool (great document readers like evince, FBReader, etc), video player (with great video out capability), torrent downloader, incredibly capable MP3 player (almost limitless storage space, one of the best sound quality out of any phone ever, support for almost any codec imaginable)...

I suppose you get the idea. :)

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Don't! Don't retire it.

I have 2 N900, one 100% functional and one with broken USB. So you can say the one with broken USB is retired. I use it as a media center in my car, as navigation, when @ home, sometimes even watch movies on it connected to my TV (moved all movie into the eMMC with WinSCP).

This is a great device, I am so sorry they stopped, 800 and 900 devices were the gods of all handheld devices!

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

My N900 finally died as a phone (it has the dry joint somewhere under the Sim problem, and staggered on for 9 months or so with me packing the Sim more and more). I wanted to keep on using it, just not as a phone (except maybe for Skype). But I've found that without a Sim in it flattens the battery too quickly to be useful - I guess it must be using all its power just looking for a connection. If you've retired yours as a phone, have you had the same problem, and have you found a cure?

Graham

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

I don't have a solution for you, but I can say that I'm only using one of my two N900s as a phone, and the one without a sim definitely uses less power...

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

This is what I would expect! I think what marinheiro is doing is applying the "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" reasoning. The battery just happened to deteriorate naturally.

@marinheiro, if you want to make sure the N900 doesn't waste cycles looking for a connection, you should install Cellular Modem Control Buttons. This very nifty feature will allow you to select "Tablet Mode" from the Power Menu. That mode disables the cellular modem. I use it on my own N900 when I don't want to receive calls and Silent mode won't do. All "repurposed" N900s not used as a phone anymore should be set to Tablet Mode.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

I had an el-cheapo Chinese Android 7" tablet once. (I fact I still have it but haven't used it for about a year. Any buyers? :)) Android has a nice feature to show what uses power on the device. I was surprised to find that the Phone app uses about 75%, most of the rest used by the display. Phone app? On a tablet without a phone functionality? Well, yes, as it turned out. The SW package was quickly hacked together from a phone, including the Phone app.

Anyway, I found dedicated forums and marinheiro's conclusion was listed as a reason. And yes, rooting the tablet and removing the phone app cured it.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Interesting! Somebody did a hack job with that tablet's "OS" ;)

If that's what the problem is, then I think setting it to Tablet Mode would work for marinheiro.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

and if it isn't he could install powertop from the repos to find what is draining the battery

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Great idea for a thread. I'm still using my N900 as my primary device for phone, music, texting, navigation, etc. But the battery life is really degrading at this point. I'd love to know how people end up repurposing their N900s.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Bit busy at the moment and only having a chance to follow this up occasionally - thanks for all the replies!

- I was getting around 2 days battery life with low usage and the Sim in, reduced to around half a day since I removed it (can't restore it as Sim contract cancelled). Unless there's a massive coincidence in timing, I don't believe the problem is with the battery.

- I've tried installing Cellular Modem Control Buttons. It gets to the end of the install, says it's installed, but doesn't show up in the powerkey menu (even after reboot)

- Can't find powertop, where can I get this? I tried fremantle_extras-devel_non_free, but that seems not to work any more, or at least not with my device (fremantle 1.3)

Thanks all

Graham

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

http://repository.maemo.org/extras-d..._1.2_armel.deb

It's non-free, for some reason.

If Cellular Modem Controls doesn't cut it for you, try Advanced Interface Switcher. Similar thing, only a different level of fine-tuning and using different menu.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

I still use mine on a daily basis. I was using it as my phone up till about a year ago, when my company gave me an iphone (which I hate, for the record). My N900 is my "brain prosthesis" as a friend of mine calls it.

I use the iphone as a phone, but I use the N900 as (among other things) my book reader, note taker, media player (I'm not about to upload all of my media to itunes, and even if I were, I run Linux on the desktop, so apple says I can't anyway...). The FM transmitter means that I can play my podcasts in the car without a bunch of extra wires.

I have both the N900 and the iphone paired with my LG Tone (HBS-700) bluetooth headset, the iphone paired using the HSP/HFP profiles, and the N900 using the A2DP/AVRCP profiles. Unfortunately, the iphone requires you to buy a $5 app to turn off bluetooth profiles, and I was not about to do that, considering I was able to do it in about 10 seconds in vim on the N900.

So my N900 is used almost as heavily now as when it was my primary phone.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Powertop installs OK, though not straightforward to interpret.

But Advanced Interface Switcher behaves just like Cellular Modem UI - it seems to install fine, no error messages during the install, but doesn't display anything at all in the menus. Tried purging, reinstalling, rebooting etc - nothing.

Graham

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

To play my music collection, I have mpd running on an old laptop connected to my hifi system. With mmpc loaded up on the N900, remote control of the music is effortless.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

I think the main issue about using the n900 as webserver or any kind of server is the fact it can only connect to the network through wifi, instead of ethernet

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Which has me wonder about the versions of MPD you are running on your client/server. For some reason the latest git version 0.17.3 does not want to pick up on the stream of 0.16.3 running on my laptop.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

The server (the old laptop) is running Debian Squeeze, for which the mpd package version is 0.15.12-1.1. The N900 is running the version of mmpc found in Extras-Devel.

I have had no problem communicating with the server from a variety of clients on various platforms - the Ario client is particularly good.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Thanks. I will give the older version a try. I had read some reports that the 0.17 branch had it's httpd streaming broken on some configurations.

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Might be a problem with your modem actually not showing up as device anymore, due to hw defect. This might also be the root cause of power hogging. You *might* be able to cure this issue by removing a few kernel modules and libs from rootfs that would otherwise try to talk to broken modem all the time in vain. I know this is only a poor pointer into a direction that *might* help. Sorry I don't have more detailled advice for you.

/j

Re: Repurposing N900 after retiring it?
 

Thanks Joerg - not something I'd considered. One of the benefits of it not being my main device any more is I can take my time tinkering - I'll try and learn a bit more and see if I get anywhere

Graham