Notices

Hi all, new here. I don't have much background with linux. I bought an N800 2nd hand from ebay about a week ago and have been admiring and playing around with it. It came with 0S2008 installed already, and an IGO Stowaway keyboard.

I've only been able to pair up the keyboard once, (fluke I think), and now it won't pair any more. But that is another post.

I have not hooked it up to the internet....I don't have wireless internet at home (mine is cabled), and all my neighbours wifi are locked with wep/wpa, etc.

I want to install programs on the N800, but looking at the maemo website it seems the N800 has to be connected to the internet first...then programs downloaded from within the web browser.

Can I bypass this by downloading deb files on my home computer, saving them to an SD card and then installing them manually in the N800?

Because I want to get a lot more functionality out of this, currently without it being connected to the net, and an unreliable keyboard, there's not much I can do.

My ultimate goal is to use it to edit html ebooks on the go, then convert them to lrf for my Sony PRS505 ereader. But that is another post.

I'd love some insight. Thank you

You can do what you're suggesting in limited fashion; Application Manager will open .deb files saved to SD. Your best bet, though, would be to invest some small amount of cash into a wireless access point for your LAN. Failing that, you can also use the SD technique to install USB control to the unit and buy a small USB ethernet dongle. Search the site for instructions and hardware recommendations.

The N800 is designed for having wifi around. As described by sds910 you can work around this, but as packages (applications) often have dependencies on other packages (libraries) you might spend more time than expected for working around the mising wifi...

Thanks for the suggestions. I see having the n800 connected to the net is pretty essential for getting things done. I'll look into getting wireless for my home - otherwise I'll take the NIT into the city where there are free wi-fi hotspots and see what I can achieve.

Funnily, my main goal in getting the n800 in the first place was not for its internet capability - but as a small portable word processor for my ebooks. But I'm sure once I get the net up and running more and more possibilities will open up

Go ahead, invest in the wireless, the N800 is such a versatile device, you will not regret it!