I'll bite.

Past
I came here after finding the N810 a couple years back. Prior to that I've been an IT guy for various companies, and the U.S. Military - administering most commonly used operating systems that you can find. AIX, HP-UX, Many Linux flavors, Mac OSX, Winders, etc.

I spent about a month just lurking on, what was then, internettablettalk watching these people do amazing things with this little toy in their pocket.. (no, not that one, pervert ).

Being that I had a strong understanding of GNU/Linux and computers I was able to determine, quite accurately, what you can and can't do with the N8x0 before it ever landed in my hands. I knew the possibilities, read problems on the forums and knew the answers (but didn't yet post), and realized that it was perfect for someone like me.

Since I wanted my first post to be helpful and "come in with a bang" so to speak, I got my N810, hacked away on it for a short while, and then posted My Debian Tricks - N810 xmodmap. One of the more annoying problems with deblet back then was a proper mapping of keys.. so I fixed that.

When it was first rumored the tablet line was going the way of the smartphone I was among many others saying "nooooo"... I didn't think a smaller screen would be as useful, and I didn't want to be required to pay a monthly service just to use the new tablet. I continued to help and support the N8x0 by setting up a Deblet repository, and being (one of) the first one to completely cross-compile the KDE4 desktop for the N810 before debian got it into their ARM repositories. I spent a lot of my time reading these forums and answering questions of new users.

Present
When the N900 released, Nokia addressed the latter of my complaints by not subsidizing, but became another problem for me since I had changed my mind since then and realized I really just wanted one device . So now it costed me a fortune to upgrade and I still have my monthly payments lol. As for the former (screen size), I actually don't have any problems with the size that the N900 ended up with. I thought it would be a huge deal, but I was wrong.

I had drifted away from the N8x0 and iTT for a while. Primarily because I had a huge disagreement with the way the forums changed when it went t.m.o. I absolutely hate the orange and white theme, and initially Reggie's stance was a more "Oh well.. deal with it." That annoyed me so I left iTT for a while and eventually stopped needing my N810. When the N900 came around I started poking around back here just to see what's going and realized probably the day or so after I stopped returning Reggie posted he had resurrected an all-dark theme for us "whiners" . (I still use that theme, btw. May it never go away..)

So, with my annoyances of the forum gone, and a new device to interest me; I again started reading on the new N900. Like the N810, my knowledge and experience let me understand quite well what it was, and wasn't, before I ever bought one and as such I was able to answer and help people before even having the phone. I decided I would finally start developing for Maemo and cross-compiled little pianobar for the N900 and then picked up PyQt4 to make it pretty.

Now we're all caught up - I just like to hang around the forums helping people where I can, and if I see a project that I want to work on I'll grab it and start coding.

Future
The future is, of course, MeeGo - and I plan to watch that develop every step of the way (even if I do think the new UI is a little.... ehhhh... yeah...). I will be contributing where I believe I can to MeeGo when I can and we'll see what becomes of our beloved Tablet line.

My opinions on the Handset Preview so far: I kept my expectations really low, I mean low. Basically I expected a typical X-window style box setup ... and the ability to make and receive phone calls. I had expected to use it since release, helping file bug reports and fixing bugs as much as possible from the start.

Unfortunately, I was both thoroughly impressed - and severely let down at the same time. Even keeping my expectations small what we winded up with is a very impressive and well built UI that is far beyond where I expected it to be... and absolutely 0 functioning aspects of it on, what I had thought, was the primary development platform for MeeGo. I was disappointed to see no cell phone or wireless support, rotation wasn't working, and installing it was largely undocumented (and gave me a black screen at the start that was a pain to get around.) Unfortunately, a lot of these problems come, I believe, from my main disappointment. Almost everyone that I've met actively working on MeeGo uses an unreleased, non-existent, "prototype" device from Intel - not the already released, with an active and waiting community, N900. Of course I understand alpha and dev release, and the things such as a black screen and random crashes don't bother me so much as the change in platform and seeming focus of MeeGo from what I had expected.

Anyway, that's me. I'm here, will continue to be here, and am helping Maemo and MeeGo in any way that I think I can.

Thanks for reading!

ETA: One side note that entertains me. I've run an IRC server for many years.. (very, very small ~10 people that we just hang out in). I started with UnrealIRCD for many years, came here to ITT - and found one of it's authors! Stskeeps! I thought that was awesome! I then decided last year sometime to switch on over to InspIRCD just for a change.. came back to T.M.O... and Holy Crap.. Found another of my IRC servers authors! w00t! Double awesome!

(sorry.. that thought makes me chuckle for some reason.)

@ Fatalsaint - Please consider taking over the coding and updates needed for the following Google calendar applet for us diablo users.

You know, the number of IRC people I run into around Maemo is just scary really.. Another name that may be familiar to you (perhaps more from InspIRCd, although also Unreal) is satmd, for instance.. a proud #maemo/#meego lurker and n900 user.. :P

Wow! I don't think I ever noticed satmd's nick around here.. or if I did somehow the name didn't click.

I propose Nokia's new slogan:

"Nokia Internet Tablets, killing IRC one developer at a time since 2005"

I'm afraid I'm going to need a link or a reference... Not sure what you are talking about.

I do still have my N810, though it gets very little love. I'm still working on porting my current radio app for it but have had little enthusiasm since most people seem to have N900's now.

But I do try and accommodate people when It's requested..

This thread reminds me why I chose N900 and Maemo:

Community

As an enthusiast/user I looked long and hard at N900/Maemo and nearly invested in the Walled Garden instead, but something intrigued me about this website:

Here were a bunch of people using their skills and knowledge on a collaborative basis to improve and develop Maemo independent of the device manufacturer.

That's why I bought my N900. Nokia and I owe a big debt of thanks to all you good people as a result.

Of course being part of a community requires involvement, and I look forward to trying out and reporting back on some of the amazing developments you guys are making.

Vote to get the thread title changed to "My Maemo Stories" lol.

Anyway, I'm no devel - just another user with hopes, wants and dreams. Though for some unknown reason I'm far easier to please then some.

For all it's worth, here's My Maemo story.

Past
I'm an Information Junkie, there's no denying that, and I have always thought that mobile computing was my holy grail in a sense - a way for me to get my info-fix anywhere, anytime.

Ever since I had enough money to buy my very first Palm (a Zire, which prolly tells people I'm new to the game lol), I have always been searching for something I could proudly and unashamedly call a full fledged computer in my pocket.

Then I slowly evolved into a true blue Info-Junkie and I went through a few Sony Clies to try to get this thing in my pocket to do the Internet dance.

Later I got myself something that seemed to fit the bill - the Dell Axim x51v and it blew my socks off. But even then, it Axim had one major problem. With no cellular radios, the Axim was tied down to WIFI hotspots. It needed constant access to power plugs too - I had 2 battery packs and it still wasn't enough as the battery life was so horrendous.

Thus while it nailed down being a pocketable computer, it was not really mobile in any sense of the word. And my need for it tapered off and it stayed in my bag more then in my pocket.

Enter the Nokia 5800, the device that - coupled with my discovery of the "unlimited data plan" - showed me that it WAS possible to get my Info-Fix while being mobile. But it too had its drawbacks, with it's limited memory, archaic OS and lethargic processor.

For me it stood on the other end of the spectrum compared to the Axim. It was mobile but wasn't truely a pocketable computer.

So I continued on searching for a solution, a device that combines the best of both worlds. I tried out an N97 mini for a while but while its keyboard delighted me, it was still just a tarted up 5800 in the end.

I started looking at and researching devices that seemed to fit the bill: the Milestone and the N900.

It was at this point in time that the N900 found me, literally - having been given as a gift to my dad who couldn't make any sense out of the device. He wanted something simpler, something he was used to, so I gave him my N97 mini for the N900.

And here I am.

Present

Currently having fun hacking the heck out of the N900, doing things I never thought I could EVER do on a mobile device. With it's (relative) openess and flexibility, it's the first device I could truely call a mobile computing device.

Sure, some sacrifices had to be made, namely phone related comforts I took for granted on the 5800 like 3G video calling, native MMS and J2ME. Also Ovi Maps/Sygic are poor alternatives to GarminXT on the 5800, at least here where I am.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm loving the N900.

Future

I would like to learn how to code so i can solve my own pet peeves and help others with thieirs rather than jumping around looking for coders with free time and interest.

Sorry if it's a bit tl;dr.

Here is the link to the developer, sounds like you can get code by contacting him.

http://www.gagnews.net/post.php?pid=1

Looks like he/she is still working on it for diablo N8x0 users.

Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just an OS. Not worth it.