BUUUMP!!! any news?

No. No news.

What is needed for the mouse and keyboard? Is it a kernel issue or an X one?

Hmmm. I can't seem to get it to boot. It constantly shows the loading indicator on a black screen. Any ideas? (Ubuntu 9.10 rootfs on Mohammad's server)

It might be both.. i didn't have time to test it last time. Will see what i can find if i can get hold of a new memory card. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will crack this before

I got the touch screen working on ubuntu 10.10
this is how i did it :
chroot into the ubuntu install from maemo
removed xserver-xorg-core
disable all repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list
added debian unstable repository to that list
update package list
install the following :
xserver-xorg-video-omap3
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xserver-xorg-input-tslib
libts-bin
disable debian unstable repository in the sources.list , enable previously disabled repositories .

after doing this , I created xorg.conf in /etc/X11/
I used the configuration from https://elektranox.org/n900/installation/manual.html , replace "de" with "us" for us keyboard .

exit chroot
I was using power-kernel and copied modules and firmware to respective folders , I don't know if thats necessary since I did all above in 1 go .

the touch screen worked , though needs calibration , keyboard didn't work for me then , will try again later.

about the kernel that comes with the ubuntu image , I tried to boot that , the kernel does start , and a black screen is as far as you can get ...
where is the source of that kernel ? I don't think it's the main line kernel , anyways if the source is found, I am sure someone here will probably get it to work .

[EDIT] to calibrate the touch screen
install openssh inside ubuntu from chroot
edit /etc/modules to include g_nokia << u need to copy kernel module for this
edit /etc/network/interfaces , that depends on your network setup .
if you are using ubuntu on pc, add a new connection >> shared to other computers ,
and use example interfaces file below
auto usb0
iface usb0 inet static
address 10.42.43.10
network 10.42.43.0
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 10.42.43.255
gateway 10.42.43.1
set the root password by doing the following
passwd
reboot to ubuntu on your n900 , plug in the usb cable
your pc should identify your n900 in network now .
ssh into your n900 , and call
TSLIB_TSDEVICE=/dev/event3 TSLIB_CONFFILE=/etc/ts.conf ts_calibrate
tap the crosses on the n900 screen , now it's calibrated .

I couldn't log in through gdm though , every time I log in the screen blanks then I was returned to login screen , I disabled gdm , and used nodm to login automatically as root .

the keyboard still doesn'twork .

you said you copied the drivers. fine...

now i try to use a stock kernel org driver. works - also booting with u-boot into a deb mmc partition.
but touchscreen is an issue also in this case. afaik the tsc2005 module does the trick.
now the tsc2005 patch was afaik first filed 2 years ago but didn't make it into the mainline kernel, further meego had it but removed the patch from their 2.6.35 kernel.

does anyone know if there is any particular reason for that? as with that touchscreen works.

How did you chroot in? When I try to chroot into 10.10 I get
Any help?

which image did you download ?you need OMAP 3 image
on your pc , use your n900 in mass storage mode and, do the following :
sudo sh -c 'zcat ./ubuntu-netbook-10.10-preinstalled-netbook-armel+omap.img.gz >/dev/<device name>'
that will write the downloaded image to your sd card , it will wipe anything on it .
now you are done with pc , unplug the n900 from it , and reboot the n900 .
now open xterminal
sudo su
mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
mount /dev/mmcblk1p2 /mnt/ubuntu
chroot /mnt/ubuntu
--- done

wrong exec format or long wrong executable format means that you compiled the shell for a different plattform.
you need one compiled for arm.