Thanks a heap. That sure has cleared up quite a few issues... I have some more though. I'm not likely to own an N810 too soon, but preparation never hurt anybody, so that's what I'm doing now. So here we go:

* How does X work? Does it work much like X on a desktop would, except it outputs to the integrated screen?
* From a software perspective, if I push the architecture difference(s) aside, can I see the N810 pretty much like a PC in that if I write an app that uses the GNOME libraries (for example) will it run on the N810 (if I put uArch on it)? What toolkits compile for ARM?
* Can I stuff both Arch Linux and OS 2008 into the internal memory, once I have everything sorted?
* The Linux kernel is open source, but are Nokia's changes also open source? Specifically, can I recompile the kernel if I want to, or am I locked into using Nokia kernels with closed-source changes?

Leaning more toward the N810's hardware side now:
* If I considered an application (a situational type of application) that has the N810 as a kind of "status device" that sits in my pocket and tells me of updates to different things, is there any way the N810 can notify me without me seeing it? For example, I've heard that it doesn't have a vibrator. Is there anything else it might be able to do to get my attention?
* Does the system fire events or modify a file in /proc or /sys if I slide out the keyboard or slide it back in? Can I `cat' a number or string to a file somewhere to turn the LED on or off, or make it change color? Or are these locked down by complex API calls?

Thanks for answering all this.

-dav7