So, I wasn't sure if this should go here or in the Newb forum, mods please move if need be.

I'm getting ready to start back to college after a three-year hiatus, and my laptop is hopelessly outdated. I can't afford a new one until I get my student loans in, but I need something to take to campus with me, both to stay entertained between classes and take notes with (my hand writing sucks, and I can type faster anyways). So, with that in mind, I have some questions:

a) Will two 16gb SDHC cards work in a N800? They'll be mostly full of music (about 14GB), with the rest left for documents, e-mails, and what not.

b) I know the N800 runs a Linux distro. Does this include Open Office, or a suite with a similar word processor?

c) For e-mail, how is the pre-installed program? Is there anyway to set it to leave the messages on the server so I could still get them on my desktop back home?

d) I know BT keyboards are great, but, well, this is college, and things tend to have stuff spilled on them. I have a rollable, spill-proof USB keyboard that has served me well. Will this work?

e) Anything blaringly obvious that I'm missing?

Thanks!

Yes 2 x 16 GB SDHC cards will work in the n800 (OS2008).

There is no word processor (you can try abiword though). Then again if your campus has online there's always Google Docs or Zoho Writer.

Leaving the messages on server while still downloading them to the n800 is called IMAP. The default email client isn't that great but there's Claws or Modest.

The n800 has a mini USB port (female and set to receive only), so if you want to use a USB keyboard you'd have to get a mini USB to USB adaptor (which will also switch the n800 from receive only to transmit as well). The dongles can be found in another forum thread here (they work pretty well).

The fact that an N800 plus 2 16 GB cards costs as much as lots of laptops these days.

Not if you've got the memory cards already and didn't pay all that much for 'em. :P

It sounds like you have a desktop computer at home for heavy lifting and just need the N800 for note-taking. If that's the case, then you would do fine with the Notes program that comes pre-installed. It's about like TeachText or SimpleText on the Mac or Notepad in Windows.

For email, maybe it would be simpler if you just switched to a web-based arrangement like GMail or Yahoo! Mail.

Yeah, I have the Desktop of Doom at home, just want something small for taking notes and such with. I was thinking about GMail because I'm lazy and like all my mail in one place. However, the campus WiFi isn't secure in the least. I'll probably just sign up for GMail for dashing off quick e-mails while on campus and keep my personal stuff at home and encrypted like I like it.

Back to the USB KB, it'll work with the dongle? Even though it's an unpowered port? If not, I'll just have to try and find a somewhat rugged BT KB...

Don't think it'll work with a dongle unless the dongle has its own self power (like the Logitech LX700)

You can also use POP, which is the normal way for getting mails and choose the option "Leave messages on server"

Look, if you're a student and need to save money, you don't need two 16-gig cards; I think that two 4-gig cards would be fine for most purposes. Or get the N810 and get less memory but you would have the keyboard.

I am perfectly happy with the virtual keyboard; though I have a bt keyboard, I rarely bother to use it.

I wouldn't use the default Notes program -- I would use Maemomapper+ program and scribble the notes in handwriting. Then if you later wanted to transcribe the notes into something that wasn't scribbling, you could do it at your leisure.

There is a program called Notecase for the N8xx that you should try also -- it lets you put the notes in a more hierarchical form.

But to tell the truth, I would be thinking about getting an eee pc and using a mind-mapping program like freemind. That would be very cool with notes. The N800 doesn't really work well with mind-mapping (If you aren't familiar with it, just think of it as a very free-form outliner) because it uses screen real estate more freely than a small screen accommodates.

Maybe the ideal would be using a N800 and maemomapper+ to scribble the notes, then go back and transcribe the notes onto a full-fledged computer or laptop and memory mapping software. There is also a memory mapping program called Compendium that is also free and works well (needs Java) that I just discovered yesterday...

True, I forgot about that.