I just got a 770 from a friend and being that I don't have any experience with maemo, linux or programming in general, I was hoping you guys could answer a few questions;

-are there any downloadable applications that are considered essential?
-are there any operating system updates beyond the one available from Nokia that will improve functionality?
-is there a openoffice-style text editor available anywhere?
-uh...how exactly do I go about installing new applications?

Thanks for any help you can give!

Hi,

I don't know which applications are considered essential, it may be a matter of taste. Most of the time I am using applications which are already there, webbrowser for example.

There is a wiki site on how to update the firmware
http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware

As long as your tablet is online you can search installable application from within the application manager or browse the maemo.org download site.

nicolai

It's become more and more difficult for the N770 to be a day to day web browser. The speed isn't there in comparison to other devices (iPod Touch, for example) available today. Further, the web browser hasn't been updated in quite a while. However, as a traveling companion, it's still quite handy - it's light and sturdy.

I have Skype installed for making calls to numbers outside the U.S. I have Gizmo5 in combination with Google Voice to make U.S. calls and to receive U.S. calls. Skype works as you would expect. For the Gizmo5/Google Voice combination, I have Google Voice forward incoming calls to Gizmo5. So, when traveling, I call out with Gizmo5 to the U.S. party I'm interested in talking to. I get three minutes free outgoing. I tell the other party to ring me back. They call my Google Voice number and the N770 Gizmo5 app rings, at which time I pick up.

See my Traveling with N770 thread for a list of installed packages.