Hi Tableteers,

I'd like a P2P client application on my new N810. So I'm trying to install Daniel Martín Yerga's port of Nicotine [1]. So first I need to install Python 2.5, and I understand this means my "device must be in RD mode. This is done using sudo flasher --enable-rd-mode," inside X Terminal. [2] BUT... this command prompts for a password.

From research here in our ITT forums and elswhere, I understand that, "By default, sudo requires that users authenticate themselves with a password (NOTE: by default this is the user's password, not the root password). [3] But also, "Command sudo asks for user password, not root's. There is no user password set by default," [4], and, "IIRC the user password is not even set on ITOSes by default." [5]

So, AFAIU, I'm being prompted to enter the 'user' password, but there is no 'user' password set. Erm... am I missing something here? When sudo prompts me for a password which doesn't exist, what do I enter?

Thanks in advance for your time and attention in helping me to resolve this conundrum.

References
[1] Nicotine - http://nicotine.garage.maemo.org/nicotine.install

[2] Python 2.5 - http://pymaemo.garage.maemo.org/installation.html

[3] sudo password authentication - http://www.linuxmanpages.com/man8/sudo.8.php

[4] no user password set by default - http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?p=141848

[5] user password is not even set on ITOSes - http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=16588

Use easyroot.
http://nitapps.com/

Enables root mode by installing a 1kb deb and running "root" inside terminal.

BTW: That flasher command is run on a linux computer connected to the tablet.

By default there is no 'user' password, and there is no 'root' password. Either install the becomeroot package and use 'sudo gainroot', or install openssh which will prompt you for a root password and then use ssh to login as root.

(search http://www.gronmayer.com/it/index.php for the repositories)

@dalinian: You're making this too hard on yourself. Just go into application manager, tap "menu -> Tools -> Application catalog..". When the window pops up tap maemo Extras and click the Edit button. Uncheck "Disabled". In the main window, tap "Check for updates" and then tap "Browse installable applications", scroll down to Python2.5-runtime and install it. Well written apps that depend on python should install it automatically if it's not installed as long as the "extras" repository isn't disabled.

-John

Hi Tableteers,

My thanks to those above for your help in pointing me towards a solution to my conundrum. After barking up several wrong trees, in the end it involved using the Application Manager's 'red pill mode' to install Python 2.5, after which I could install and run Nicotine.

I worked for 13 years in IT support in a UK university, including supporting Apollo workstations running unix, so I expect I've a good deal more 'accredited prior learning' than many a NIT newbie. But it still took me many hours (over two days) of painstaking research, piecing together fragmented clues with educated guesswork, correcting for superceded info, and filtering out red herrings, to FINALLY discover the solution. Which leaves me wondering, did I just encounter an atypically convoluted conundrum? Or is this kind of arcane puzzle par for the course when trying 'simple' app installations under OS2008?

And am I obliged to post a step-by-step how-to (of the kind I used to write for non-tech-savvy undergrad & postgrad students), of the type I wish I'd found two days ago, to help those who come after seeking a similar solution? Or would that just be running a fool's errand by contributing another sliver to "The Mirror Crack'd" of fragmented clues?

You managed to make things about as hard for yourself as they could get. Nothing more.

You ran into pretty much the worst case scenario. If you had installed something from a "click to install" link that depended on python it would have already been installed when you went to install Nicotine. There's also a big green "click to install" link on downloads.maemo.org for python. That *should* work. My suggestion should have also worked without necessitating "red pill mode."

Also, you *really shouldn't* stay in red pill mode (or use it at all). Maemo/ITOS2008 may *seem* like Debian, but in red pill mode the application manager *will* show you updates that really will drag you into dependency hell (and possibly end with your tablet stuck in a reboot loop requiring a reflash). For troubleshooting a package with troublesome dependencies you are much better off with apt-get or dpkg on the command line. They just give you better feedback as to what's going to happen when you smack that enter key. Anyways, here's your tablet crash course:
Software is here: http://downloads.maemo.org
List of repositories is here: http://gronmayer.com/it
Do *NOT* just click the add all repositories button on gronmayer, just like you wouldn't click on a hypothetical "Trust everything anyone says on the Internet" button. OS2008 is also known as Chinook. OS2007 was Bora. Don't add repositories from different distribution versions unless you're really sure that you know what you're doing.

Also, don't think I'm trying to talk down to you. I'm just trying to do a braindump of all the useful things I can think of off the top of my head, especially the ones that you'd have to learn the hard way otherwise. The tablet is actually really nice 90% of the time, and things usually work the way people say they do, but it is a consumer oriented embedded system and there is a learning curve coming from a traditional Unix/Linux server/desktop background.

-John