I just picked a 770 up off of eBay. I figured for $100 I'll give it a try. I can always resell it if I don't like it...

So I have a couple of things that I'd really like to do with the 770, but I'm not sure if I can.

1) Read eBooks - OK, I know I can, but it's up to me to decide (once I get one) if I can tolerate them on the screen. My PDA screen is too small, and reading them at my laptop is too inconvenient. Can (all/some) of the PDF readers read in portrait mode?

2) Use this as an alarm clock. From what I've read, it seems that maybe only OS2008 has the clock/alarm clock feature? What about OS2007HE? It would be pretty cool to use this as my alarm clock by my bed. Ideally I would like to be able to run a program (or change the clock mode) to display the time in digital format in large numbers like your typical bedside alarm clock. I was thinking of getting a Chumby (linux-based thingy that is used as an alarm clock, RSS reader, media player, etc.) but for $250 that price point is way too high for what it does. If I can get an Alarm clock app that displays in large numbers the time, and has snooze, etc. functionality that would be cool.

3) GPS navigation in my car. I have a BT GPS receiver. I've seen a french-language street maps type app for this, but I'm in the US so I would need US maps and english for the language.

I have a few other questions:

How many BT devices can be simultaneously connected to the 770? Just one? 3? 5? Tethering to my HTC 8525 for internet access and running Google Maps along with my BT GPS receiver might work if I can connect more than 1 BT device at once.

One thing I'd like to do, but I am pretty sure is impossible w/o someone creating a custom app, would be to somehow get MIDI data into the 770, and have that trigger something on screen (I have a MIDI-USB adapter). I assume that this would require some custom written MIDI driver, and with the USB not running in host mode, I'm not sure it would work anyway, custom driver or not. I'd just want say a specific MIDI signal to trigger some text to appear on the screen in large letters...

Can OS2007HE use the USB port on the 770 in Host mode, or am I stuck in client mode only unless I get an N8x0 running OS2008?

I assume for USB drive file transfers my USB On The Go drive with it's own embedded Linux-based LCD file browser would work for uploading files w/o a PC. I know I can do that on my PSP...

I also assume that a USB-to-ethernet adapter won't work on this either, correct? We can't have wireless access points at work, so plugging in a USB2Eth cable, and plugging that into my HUB (w/ a Static IP assigned) would be great.

Thanks,

Brain21

1) FBreader is great for reading ebooks, you can use a widely available script to strip DRM from .mobi books and read them perfectly well. IMHO Fbreader in itself is a singular reason to keep your 770.
2) You can install newer editions of the Maemo OS to bring you more in line with the applications available. The Os2007 Hacker Edition is pretty stable from what I hear and this will allow you to install and run numerous applications such as alarm clock etc etc.
3) There used to be a Navicore Navigation kit sold for the 770, not too sure if its still available.


There is no better resource than these forums even though the 770 is less widely used for $100 you should be able to get a lot of use out of it by reading the 770 forum.

my understanding is that you can run maemo mapper while tethered to a phone and the GPS, but that's just from what I've seen/read since I don't use my tablet as a GPS device.

I have just taken my 770 back from 2007HE as it just randomly reset itself all the time, if it didn't manage to run out of battery power first. Maybe I was unlucky, but it was the second time I tried.
Still, I picked up a 810 on ebay tonight

Maemo mapper works pretty well on the 770 though (assuming you have a memory card - they are pretty cheap), I went around the states with it (with googles maps), although I didn't use a gps thing (but I could have done).

I don't know how many devices can bluetooth at the same time, although it would be bad if it was restricted. I have only tried the keyboard, the phone and a ODBII connector

Hi brain21,
in case you seek a fullscreen alarm clock that, check out the one i did as Mojo
at http://www.mojocafe.net - if you have a wish and would like to have your
inidividual clockstyle, tell me - in case of having the time i will try to develop it.

Greetings,
Carlos

Now why would I need another analog/digital clock face, when the ones you have created are so damned cool?

Thanks!

I will download them asap!

Brain21

Unless there's a difference between the 770 and the N800, or between OS2006/OS2007HE and OS2007, you shouldn't have any problems running multiple BT connections at the same time. At least 2 for sure - I've had the phone connected to my N800 at the same time as I was using my BT GPS.