By that I mean, when I got it, I really wanted to practice linux commands. I thought wow I can learn some bash programming and all the core gnu commands. Well truthfully, being my first smart phone I got caught up in the "missing apps" game. The reality is all I ever needed was a working internet connection, email (just gmail), a good ebook reader (thanks much ron1n for fbreader) and possible a gps what could talk (thanks martin k I kind of like hearing about a peekway as opposed to a parkway).

Well I forgot my original reason till about a week ago when I finally read some stuff on the forums about installing bash as opposed to busy box as my default shell, putting /usr/bin/gnu first in the path and installing all gnuish and linuxish things from the app manager.

Well I manipulated my xterm keys and the strip to get all the common symbols (> | - / etc) easily accessable...Its like a new device now. I am taking a new minutes a day to work with all the great linux/unix tools that I will someday need to know (when I get a linux job) and I am loving the device again...

So what about you? Have you "rediscovered" your n900? What did you buy it for over say an iphone or a android to begin with?

I guess not

Yeah I rediscover my N900 every time I lose it and find it or when I wake up from my sleep!

found out some new shortcuts and found webos games converted to n900 games, it's a new beginning allright

I've been using Linux on my desktop machines since the mid 90's so was quite familiar with it. For a while I ran in ISP using Linux servers. I sort of bypassed the whole Windows thing, having gone from DOS to OS/2 to Solaris to Linux.

So there wasn't any issue of learning Linux to make use of the n900. In fact, the idea of being able to use the Linux things I was already familiar with on a tiny portable device was a great attraction and one of the reasons I bought it over an iPhone or something else. The openness of it was also an attraction. I could install pretty much any software without AT&T or whoever dictating what was "approved". Pretty much like an PC in that regard.

An iPhone isn't like that. I don't think there is _anything_ else like that in the mobile device world.

In my case, I had been running Ubuntu(now Debian) on my desktop for over a year before finding Nokia's tablet series. I was looking for a replacement for my (Rockboxed)Iriver H320 that was -better-.
I looked around and the best I could find(cheaply) was a Archos 605 Wifi. I got it expecting to be able to hack it and run stuff on it... and was -sorely- disappointed. Literally two days later, I ran across Nokia's tablets(which I saw as far superior), found a N770 for $10+s&h on ebay with a "battery problem", got it home, charged it and it worked perfectly.
I was extremely happy with that, aside from the fact that video playing was sub-par at best, and a 8GB SD card had to be soldered in. Oh well.

A couple months later, when I had some money, I found a N900 on ebay for $325 used, bought it, and have loved it ever since - I like the browser, using x-term for all sorts of things, and the ability to leave it on all night for instant-internet functionality.

Never lost it.

My N900 has recently gotten new life. I am overclocking it more than ever, with limits of 900 900.

I have nine views and am using desktop-switcher. I'm using live desktop. I'm using better camera programs such as BlessN900. It seems to me that there have been many interesting new programs for the N900, such as the numerous good file managers that have come into existence -- FileBox is my favorite. Swappolube seems to have helped me optimize my N900. Somewhere I got a good backup program that means I can restore everything without the drudgery of the official N900 restore. That old standby FBReader has been undergoing a renovation.

I am missing a decent Twitter program since Witter went downhill. To me, search is the essential aspect of Twitter, and none of the N900 twitter programs do search particularly well.

I have always been using my tablets daily, but it seems to me like a new dawn for the N900. I have a bittersweet feeling about it, since I hope to say goodby to Nokia as I have grown to dislike it as a company. I don't like the way this site has been treated, and I don't want to be merged with Meego. If I go with Meego someday, I will try to go with non-Nokia hardware.

Oooh! A thread I can participate in where I'm not asking questions .

I bought the n900 a few weeks ago (so, after the model was already a year old). I'm coming from Android (which I love) and a Motorola Milestone (for which I have strong love-hate feelings). The Milestone is the original Droid, except released with a GSM SIM slot for the european market. I bought it so I could use it on Tmobile in the US.

The Milestone is a great phone hardware wise, but Motorola locked down the firmware and is incredibly slow to release bug fixes.

Since getting the n900, I've been loving every minute of it. I initially bought it thinking I would wait a year and see what the "next" wave of Android 3.0+ phones would bring. Now, I'm wondering if I'll be able to tear myself back away from Linux when the time comes to get a new phone. I may just stay with Nokia. It will all depend on what Nokia does with Meego.

Also, I'm aware that given that it has a full OS, the n900 will be usable longer than a regular smartphone (whose nicest software features are limited to the "latest and greatest" releases). While at some point Meego will be the dominant Nokia linux OS, it will take time for

The n900's OS isn't as "polished" feeling as Android, but much of that is because it's that much more powerful and useful. Just like linux on the desktop. I trade some hand-holding and simplification for being able to carry a real personal computer in my pocket.

I do miss the Google Nav software and the locale app. Otherwise, I've been able to replicate my Android phone features plus enjoy all the benefits of Linux freedom.

I'd love to but the missus nicked it when I had a fleeting glance at a Dell Streak... now I'm stuck with the Dell......



I would say she ( albeit non techy) LOVES the 900!