The accepted way to install applications is using repositories. I found this list: http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.ph...&system=maemo4
But I'm unsure how stable or reliable they are and where which applications are.

If you access Nokia's OS2008 user site from the tablet you'll see featured downloads. There are downloads on maemo.org and on some developers' homepages. Those are (deb) packages, not repositories. Sometimes a repo is mentioned in the package description or in this forum.

Is the right way to install sw on the talbet to google for a repo and hope it will be well maintained? Or is there anything better? Like a community or Nokia managed central repro of "approved" or "known stable" or "end user ready" packages?

If not, what's the big deal of repositories. (Technically, I can see the repos makes distributing upgrades easier, but to be helpful I need to trust the repo maintainer. I don't neccessarily want to install any available upgrade, especially with beta software.)

Hello! Go searching for Gronmeyer's website, that has a list of repositories. Scan through the list, add what you think has software you'd want

Actually, the OP pointed out that he was looking at Gronmeyer's website.

@janozaurus :
The point of repositories is to manage software updates & dependencies -- which is a huge issue when it comes to Linux applications, as they are usually built on the reuse and combination of smaller applications. Upgrading a library for a new application install could break an existing application that also uses the same library, which is why most repository managers will warn you about it or even prevent you from doing so. But updates are not installed automatically, however, so you don't need to worry about some silent update that breaks stuff.

I don't know why certain partners, like Devicescape, don't run their own repositories for their tablet software. I do think that some of them don't really like the design or the user-friendliness of the Application Manager, and that it's much easier support-wise to instruct people to work with .deb files directly -- I could see that happening. But if the software has no dependencies, meaning they are completely "self-contained", there's no bonus to using a repository except for upgrade notifications.

All default repositories should already be installed (but you'll need to enable the maemo Extras one). So you shouldn't worry about missing anything major.

The best way to deal with it, is don't worry about it. Just look for the *software* you want and install them however they need to be installed.

Whoops sorry about that!