OK I got a new Linux mag because I'm wanting to switch at least a few of my computer over to Linux. It’s kind of funny I have years of work with Linux command line managing Shells Accounts and Dedicated Servers for my Websites/Web Applications, but I have never run Linux on a home computer of mine until my N810. The magazine I got come with a CD that has several free Linux Distos and several have Live versions I was wondering if anyone has ever tried hooking a portable DVD player up and tried running any of these on an N810, I have one I know that has a version designed to Run on an ARM processor and have been wanting to try it I just don't have a External DVD drive. Did know if I could move the file to SD and set the N810 to multi boot from it or not.

Installing Linux on an embedded system is be a bit more complicated than installing on generic x86 hardware. For one thing embedded systems tend to differ from each other quite a bit more than x86 systems and thus have their own quirks that must be taken into account. The hardware and the methods for accessing it just aren't as standardized. There are currently 3 distros that I know of (besides Nokia's distro of course ) that run on the N8x0:
1) A hacked up / customized version of Debian: http://www.internettablettalk.com/wi...p?title=Debian
2) Poky Linux: http://www.pokylinux.org/
3) Mamona: http://dev.openbossa.org/trac/mamona/

Exactly what each distro includes and what the install method is varies in each case. If you're new to "Linux on the desktop" it might be worth your time to install first on an older desktop machine to get a feel for things, but your past experience with the shell through ssh is definitely going to help you get a running start. Good luck!

-John

PS: Of course it's possible to get any distro with ARM support running on the N8x0. These three distros are just ones that work (more or less) out of the box. Getting a new distro working should be a lot of fun if you like that kind of thing.