Thread: question about the n900
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nilchak is offline nilchak
2009-09-03 , 10:59
Posts: 1,097 | Thanked: 650 times | Joined on Nov 2007
#5
Originally Posted by attila77 View Post
You answered your own question. N900 (Maemo, to be more precise) is a full blown Linux distro, you can run linux applications on it (in fact that's all you do ), keeping in mind the hardware limitations (screen size/resolution, memory, openGL, CPU architecture, etc).
To be clear - dont expect to take a .DEB from your Linux dektop and install it right away on the N900. It wont work that way.

All apps have to be compiled for the new CPU and also layout have to be rearranged t fit the smaller screen.

So that is not the real point - the main thing is developing apps for N900 is more in line to developing real Linux apps with the differences in mind. Its more closer to desktop which the N97 with Symbian is not.

In practical terms you can call this a smartphone too - but to differentiate between the capabilities of N97 and N900 it is marketed as a mobile computer. With the N97 you are tied to the narrow confines of Symbian platform. With the N900 you are "closer" to the desktop paradigm.

A case in point - the multidesktop on N900 (Panorama desktop) is more akin to a full fledged desktop environment and gives you 4 times the real estate on a mobile handheld - whreas Symbian (N97) architeture doesnt support that. These are the gains in the Maemo OS.
Last edited by nilchak; 2009-09-03 at 11:02.