so i am having problems with sshing into my computer from my n900. basically i want to be able to ssh into my computer and run xbmc and then be able to control my computer with my N900. any suggestions.

For the ssh part should be far simple, I use it and works. For remote control may be you need to see to vncviewer.

Error messages, or it didn't happen!

You can also just use xbmc's web interface (however it my experience it is quite buggy and often crashes and terminates xbmc).

i get error messages saying that port 22 isn't open but I checked through network tools and it is. I can ssh into my n900 from my computer but not the other way around. kinda annoying and I did try xbmc's web interface but kept getting frustrated by it crashing all the time.

Is your PC's SSH server set to run on port 22?
If you are running a Linux based OS(I assume so), try editing /etc/ssh/sshd_config
One of the first lines is the port.

You can also check the output of
if there's really something listening on port 22

edit: just read that you've already checked if the port's open.

two other suggestions:
- test if you can ssh into "localhost" on your computer.
- I had once a problem because my firewall (in this case firestarter) blocked outside ssh connections.

Can you try from another machine ?
Like matze suggest, it may be some firewall or ssh configuration issue on your pc

i'm running ubuntu 10.04. and i must have been really tired last night because port 22 wasnt open. gotta figure out how to open it and then hopefully ill be able to control my comp from my N900. Im rather excited, thanks for all your guys responses. didn't think they would come so fast. anybody have a good tutorial on vncviewer

Sounds like you haven't installed SSH server on your desktop computer...

Also, are you trying this over WiFi or 3G?

what makes you think it isn't installed. the documentation I read says that OpenSSH is installed on all Ubuntu releases. Im on wifi but hopefully will be doing it on 3G