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.