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Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Hey all!
Preface So I finally decided to get the Nokia N900 a month ago, after following any news and updates since it was announced, through all the release delays, through all the initial bug reports, through all the whining about phone functionality, through all the pleas for PR1.2, and through all the progress made by the awesome community up to the point Bluetooth and USB input (+ host mode) was coming close to being implemented, thus (imho) after hooking it to a real monitor making the device a real computer - there I was in the shop doing, what I've been thinking of doing since the release in December. My decision to buy this phone after such a long time since release mainly came from the fact that the Maemo/N900 community has been and remains very vivid and their support far outclasses anything any large corporation could or would be willing to offer. The reason I didn't want to wait for "the next great device" was that this is and likely will be the only handset officially running on a Debian derivative, and since I'm running Ubuntu on my workstations interaction and code reuse is very seemless, no need to reinvent, repackage, relearn the same things... Since I got it last month it has been a blast, every day I had some free time I could find out new stuff and do some tinkering thanks to this device and its community. The main two resources being this forum and the maemo wiki, which really makes it easy for any newbie to really get into it. So here it is: my Nokia N900 adventure so far. Tinkering around with it has been at least just as fun as playing a computer game so that's the style I'll write it down here, in the hopes people reading this can find one or more tidbits they could use themselves to improve their user experience. |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
"N900" is the hero of this adventure, it comes with these attributes when unboxed (incl. 16G SD): Strength - Hardware capabilities (detailed hardware specs can be found here: http://natisbad.org/N900/n900-commen...are-specs.html ) ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz +1 PowerVR SGX530, TWL4030 Audio +1 256 MB RAM +1 32 GB eMMC +1 16 GB SD +1 Intelligence - Features and abilities to process and utilize information (Software) MicroB +2 Terminal +1 Phone, Contacts +1 App Manager, File Manager +1 Mediaplayer, Photo Viewer etc. +1 Hardware keyboard +1 Endurance - Battery life BL5J 3.7V 1320mAh, ~4 days stand-by, 1-2 days normal/heavy use +4 (Ability to change empty battery for full one +4) Perception - Connectivity, Sensors to gather external cues/input 5MP cam, front cam +2 WLAN, Bluetooth +2 AV connector +1 Accelerometer +1 FM Receiver, FM Transmitter +2 IR Transmitter +1 GPS +1 Phone modem, GPRS/3G +1 Charisma - Look&Feel 3.5" 800x480 267ppi resistive touchscreen +2 Thickness/Weight -1 UI Input/Desktop +2 UI Transitions +1 Accessories +1 So the initial tally for the N900 is: ST 5 IN 7 EN 4 (8) PE 11 CH 4 And here come the quests (roughly chronological): |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Tutorial quest: First things first (repositories, root, sudo)
After making sure N900 has PR1.2 the first thing to do is adding the *real* repositories ( http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras ) and gaining root access ( http://wiki.maemo.org/Root_access ). This quest has you browsing through the maemo wiki and enables access to the maemo repositories which will give you access to all the apps (including source code) made by the community. Rewards: The Ankh of sudo, +2 IN |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
SSH
The same page also explains the installation of OpenSSH ( http://wiki.maemo.org/Root_access#OpenSSH ). Enables direct access to your device through WIFI; to access and copy files around I use "ssh" and "scp" on Linux, "Putty" and "WinSCP" on Windows. Rewards: Gloves of SSH, +2 PE |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Customize your desktop
Most people will complete this mission initially probably by accident ;) - It can be redone anytime though any CH/IN gains from previous tries will be lost (you can only wear one cap). Reward: Fancy cap of desktop beauty, +0..1 CH, +0..2 IN |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Additional Battery
As mentioned above in the inital stats battery capacity can be doubled by getting an additional battery, though N900 needs to be put to sleep before changing them. Fortunately N900's little cousin 5800 for which I've already bought a spare battery uses the very same BL5J battery. Now the way I do it is using a dedicated battery charger (one at home, one at work), as soon as a battery goes empty I place it in the charger. When fully charged it goes into the front pocket of the phone's pouch (battery contacts to the bottom). If the battery empties on the road I replace it with the fully charged one and place the empty one *contacts up* into the pouch. That way when I get to the charger I know whether or not the battery needs charging (in case I don't remember). This method also proved useful for my other devices and means in practice I have no "down time". Reward: Ankh of endurance (i.e. battery), EN +4 |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
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Customize hardware keyboard
I added some functionality to the keyboard config at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rx-51 Added Sym+Shift modifier (the last one in the row) for these keys: , -> ; = ~ (asciitilde) f -> F - [ (bracketleft) g -> G _ ] (bracketright) h -> H ( { (braceleft) j -> J ) } (braceright) . -> : ? ° (asciicircum) space -> @ Tab | (bar) new config takes effect when you run: setxkbmap With this you can type "°" by pressing "Sym+Shift+." or the tab key with "Sym+Space" ("@" is changed to "Shift+Space"). No more need for virtual keyboard for bash or python. Note that one does not need to keep holding down either "Sym" or "Shift" to input a combo. Reward: Amulet of keyboard bashing, +0.5 ST, +1 IN |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Ad blocking
There are several apporaches to defeating ads ( e.g. http://wiki.maemo.org/Ad_blocking ). I usually default to blocking ad domains through adding them to: /etc/hosts You can find a good ad-blocking hosts file here: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm To block certain sites (webpages/images/flash) from appearing on any of your applications you simply add: 0.0.0.0 facebook.com For instance this would block everything that originates from facebook.com. Reward: Shield of Hosts, ST +2 when fighting evil HTML and Javascript wraiths (blocks evil attacks and increases agility) |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
Easy Debian
Add "Easy Debian" and marvel at the amount of additional apps (and source code) available for your device. E.g. among others I installed: lynx, tuxguitar, subversion, mpg123, sweep (audio editor). Also enables access to OpenOffice, full-fledged Firefox (a bit slow though)... I had a problem with locales settings that I resolved by entering: dpkg-reconfigure locales Reward: Easy Debian companion, Companion's IN can be increased by installing packages augmenting IN of the hero |
Re: Nokia N900 - an adventure RPG
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Transitions Speedup
This quest was a godsend! I was quite annoyed at the sluggishness of my hero with seemingly no way to increase his agility (-> overclocking quest not very succcessful) until I found the file to tweak the transitions: /usr/share/themes/default/transitions.ini Some people tweak it to gain an additional CH +1 bonus (sometimes sacrificing -1 ST due to lower agility). I chose the other path and removed any transition delays by setting corresponding values to "1". The device feels REALLY fast now, even with only 600 MHz. Reward: Armor of Fabulousness, CH +1, ST -0..1 or: Armor of Agility, ST +2, CH -1 |
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