Thanks Fanoush! Now booting from SD with new version. Here's how I did it (on my n800; not sure about n810 booting from internal card), in case it helps others: I booted from flash. Then did SSU update, which worked fine. Then I used fanoush's initfs flasher. (Follow instructions in this order: 4, 5, 9, 10; you do not need to enter "mv bootmenu.conf.n8x0.example bootmenu.conf" at step 5.) Upon reboot, I had my bootmenu, and there was no option or need to run SSU while booting from SD. I will now refrain from rotating to portrait mode until emjayes updates sliderotate. I sure hate to get those double panes!
They're maemo and MeeGo... "Meamo!" sounds like what Zorro would say to catherine zeta jones... after she slaps him for looking at her dirtily...