Hello all,

So far I've been a good noob and only installed apps from the maemo-extras repository. But all the cool things I want to play with seem to be in testing and devel. I have a few questions on how BEST to do this... Please, no rm rf in this thread

1) What are the risks of installing apps from the -testing and -devel repositories? Unrefined apps hogging up battery life? Crashing? Rebooting? Bricking?

2) Can I create a 'backup' of everything? Like my desktop backgrounds, contacts, apps installed, everything? Link please?

3) What is the best way to 'flash' my device if/when I decide I have something unworthy on my device, or flat out brick it ? Do I need any special equipment other n900, computer, and usb cable? Can I somehow flash to the most current firmware? Is this a better way to go? Can someone please post a link so I can learn how to 'flash' my device?

4) Are there other communities/repositories (other than the 3 maemo.org extras, devel, and testing I can load to see more apps?

5) What are your favorite non-extras apps?

Thanks in advance. Please be easy on me. I'm just a noob who wants to learn and use his n900 more.