Now let's see. Would I rather buy a machine from Nokia or the folks that make it their business practice to quietly install rootkits on every PC their 'special' Sony CDs come in contact with?

Call me crazy but I'd rather have convoluted root access than support the Sony creeps with my money. In addition, if you want root access to a machine, seems like you'd want it difficult enough so that every Joe Schmoe on the planet doesn't whack their (or your) machine. It won't be a warning label that stops them.

Having read all of the above, if you're still hell-bent on having simple root access to your 770, here's how:

1. Install Xterm on your Nokia 770 from here.

2. Load the Flasher program on your PC, Mac, or Linux box from here.

3. Run this Flasher command on your ... Mac or Linux machine: ./flasher --enable-rd-mode --reboot

4. Turn off your 770, plug it into your machine above with the included USB cable, and then power it on while holding down Home.

5. Open Xterm from the Extras menu and type: sudo makeroot

If you want to avoid steps #3 and #4 in the future, issue the following command the first time you have root access to the 770:

echo user ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL >> /etc/sudoers

You can also turn off RD-mode permanently by repeating steps #3 and #4 using the following commands:

3. ./flasher --disable-rd-mode --reboot

4. Turn off your 770, plug it into your machine above with the included USB cable, and then power it on while holding down Home.


Once you finish the above, it's "Sony Simple" (without the Sony baggage) to gain root access to the Nokia 770 anytime you (or anyone else!) desires:

1. Open Xterm from the Extras menu and type: sudo su