can a n800 be tethered to a desktop computer through usb and be used as a wifi modem. i don't have internet at home on my desktop and would like to use the n800 as a wifi adapter. is this possible?
or do i have to go out and buy a usb wifi adapter for my computer? any help would be great.

The short answer is no, at least not in any remotely easy manner. You might be able to accomplish this with a USB cross-over cable (not a standard USB cable) but you would need to put the USB port on the n800 into host mode and compile and install kernel modules on the n800 for the cross-over cable and iptables/NAT.

Plus if all you are trying to do is use a free wifi the usb wifi adapters can be bought for about $10 on sale after rebate.

thanks for the info.

Great question.

When you think that very soon people will be able to order Xohm N810 Wimax´s or of the new capablities with Maemo 5 this will become more interesting.

All I know is also the Nokia N95 has a mini-USB B socket, but by using the PC Suite software it can be transformed into an OTA Phone modem.

I personally wonder what the theoretical max. speed would be when using this interface.

i guess it would be simmilar to the speed you get on the device. Anyways it can't be too popular as wi fi adapters are really cheap and most notebooks already have wifi integrated by now. backwards would be more interesting, can you get internet through a cabled pc to the N800? trough the bluetooth, for example.