I've been a UNIX user for a long time as well...I'm a proud owner of an AT&T UNIX PC 7300 (A/K/A 3B1) which got me through my intro to UNIX and C programming in my first year in college. It doesn't fit in my pocket as nicely as my N800 or N810 does...heh.

Anyway as an owner of both N8x0 units, I've never had a problem with the device firmware. Sounds like you got a bad flash chip in yours.

These device are a bit of an anomaly. They're almost full-blown Linux workstations but are targeted at mobile consumers who want something a little more flexible than a Windows Media-based device or are users who have embraced Linux and opensource. Thus, they're made to be powered up, used, and seldom shut down except if they're not being used for a while or if the battery dies. So although they have the ability to do just about anything a Linux box can do, much of its technical guts is hidden from the consumer (ie. blue/red pill, no su, etc) by default.

However, I can say - as I'm sure many users here - that all the typical Linux admin stuff that can be done on any Debian/Ubuntu, RedHat/Fedora, etc distro can also be done on the IT but the unit doesn't come that way. You have to customize it yourself as many of us have done in order to make it work the way we want.