Hey there!

Just bought a used N900 in overall good condition.

Spanish version.


The left screw has been messed with heavily. It's rounded and not tightened


The device rattles when I shake it up and down. I don't know if it's common.

Now to the software - I'm really excited to fiddle with it...or at least I was. I see that maps don't work, location doesn't work, stores obviously don't work, heck even browser doesn't work.

Is anyone still using it these days? I will be playing with it heavily after work but can it be a functional device in 2023? Any tips to get it fast on track?

Flashing Maemo N900 from Windows 10 64b:

install flasher
install libusb-win
connect the shutdown N900 with U key pressed
open libusb-win Filter Wizard and install a new filter - choose the Nokia (I had to do this twice)
flash

Either go this way:

https://www.dt.iki.fi/nokia-n900-resurrect

Or this way:
https://leste.maemo.org/Nokia_N900

And for the question is N900 still usable:
Of course it is. It will always be.

Best way is to flash your self over the years maintained and evolved backup image. But since there are so many bugs and so many ways to fix a bug depending on your needs everyone has his own version.

My use (until the end of 3g) was

For browsing i used a server which i connected to via vnc or streaming.

location you could get to work but it is a total mess. My solution was to overwrite /etc/hosts everytime i connected to the internet to add an entry to supl.google.com to skip certificate errors.

functional:

leste is nice but even they seem to target newer devices.
Powermanagement wasnt/(isnt?) as good as on stock. Combined with a small battery you wont get far. But still your best choice.
But to run new software like maps or a browser on a device with 4GBit of ram will be hard. I had navit running for offline navigation, but if i rembered correctly i had my own version which had less bugs but still had a ton of bugs and was slow as hell cause it could not use location and sdl at the same time. There was a huge patch for it for the similar palm pre but (luckily) it didnt survived the time.

stock
Stock uses a lot of things that arent used anymore, in ancient (highly) modified versions.
If you want to learn how to not do it: this is your way forward

for me it is not functional as a phone or computer anymore and not worth the trouble.

It is still a nice device for tinkering with all its sensors, connectivity, battery, small form factor, ok documentation and a (mostly) helpful community.

But devices are harder to get and too expensive to justify all the learning about all the hardware [resolder usb port] and software bugs.

Totally understandable. For some folks my first GSM (Nokia 3310) still works fine though.
Just got two calls and a text message on my good old N900. So it still works fine as a phone. As bonus - emacs and Rockbox are awesome on it - the only thing I miss to make it my main and only phone is Whatsapp. For that reason I need an additional phone.

Leste is probably not going to fix that anytime soon but it is an awesome project and hopefully I will be able to switch to that.

BTW - haven't tried browsing with my N900 for a few years and just tried again and all sites fail with a secure connection failed message. I think that is related to old SSL libraries.
But even if you could manage to get it working it wouldn't be a great experience.

It shouldn't do that - maybe the sliding mechanism is worn out / damaged or there is something inside loose?
I've got a few N900's with several issues, but rattling is not one of the them.

termux proot can run emacs (even gui versions) in newer versions on faster hardware (you allready have) on larger screens, which allow bigger (better?) onscreen keyboards, very well. No need to carry a second old device just for emacs (or a linux userland)

(its insane newer devices have finally soo much ram that it is possible to run a second os (and even a third one (looking at you firefox ) in it)
[you just have to deal with soo much android crap])

(compare that to n900 which uses 90mb of swap after just booting..)

I guess i would still use my n900 in 2023, but i would not try to start from scratch or any other starting points given in this thread to get a useful functional device (with browser, maps and location).

Even as a phone only there are so many bugs:
* charging from flat battery
* battery calibration
* dead rtc backup battery
* bad solder contacts on gazoo
* weak usb port
* low standby time compared to even a Nokia 3310 (?)
* constant swapping to emc
* boot time > 1:30 min (?)
* brocken lcd connectors and backlights
* bluetooth not reliable
* wired focus problems due too powermanagement optimisations

no thanks not in 2023, not for me

I totally agree, I was hyping it in my expectations from the memories I had with this phone, customizing, developing and tinkering with it.

I had some time now, got it to CSSU thumb and latest community updates - it feels smoother than I remember but usage-wise - naahhh I cannot think of any practical usages I can have with this phone.

I got the GPS working but modRana is terrible, browsing the internet is a nightmare even with openssl upgrades, no weather widget, I will just archive it in my desk's drawer and keep it just for the nostalgia.

Have you tried the latest Leste?

I still think there are many great use cases for N900, just not as a linux phone, browser, navigation.

Mypaint with stylus is still fun.
It is a good device for growing stuff, you can monitor your plants with camera measure light intensivity, control a pump via usb power (5v) or sd card power (3.3) or vibration motors contacts and even play music to them (which surprisingly helps them)
turn it into shower radio, resistive touchscreen works even through a shopping bag..
hackable bluetooth keyboard (dont try bluetooth is too ****ed up on n900 )
or a usb boot device where you can select bootable system via n900 touchscreen and mount your system partition readonly (very useless but very secure )
[if you look at the n900 itself the broadband cpu was used as main cpu in older modells, so its kind of the natural process to let your old phone act as io slave/device (some people use their old pc/laptops as servers) (n900 lack of ram makes this a bit difficult)]
use it as eyes for your robot
if i remember correctly there was a sound radar system based of a n900..

My advice
lost of fun stuff but dont engage if you are new and dont have tons of time to waste (hunting old hardware bugs that you maybe cant fix)

(i forgot if you focused the camera via gstreamer 0.10 (which nobody wants to support anymore) there was a bug that you werent allowed to focus too fast or you would get a knacking sound and could damage the camera if that happened too often)