OT: The coolest Linux portable

Have you guys seen the Nokia N900. Not quite a laptop, but certainly an alternative.

http://temporaryland.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/nokian900-not-just-an-itoy/

 

No comments? Oh yea, I remember. I was speechless too.

 

I was planning to buy one but saw the price tag and went into cardiac arrest

 

I have an N810, the previous model I think, it's a nice pocket sized machine running linux. I choose the N810 instead of a netbook.

 

Yeah the N900 looks awesome in every sense, but as of like a month ago there was no estimated release for the USA, and it won't have support for AT&T's 3G network so instead I have an iPhone and a google dev phone (or had one, it's out for repair). I'll probably pick up the N900 if it comes here with the right radio.

 

cool....I use a 3G G1 Android....fits the bill pretty good too.

 

I have the nokia n800, it's an awesome device.

 

Actually, rumor is T-Mobile USA will be getting this device.

 

openpandora.org

 

I am on AT&T too, but I am going to use the N900 without a data plan. for a few months, until my 2 year deal expires. Then, I will probably switch to TMobile.

 

Yeah it's nice, but i just won't be able to afford it. I'd simply buy a netbook instead as i already have a phone. Two phones.

 

For me, since I already have a laptop, what I need is a more portable device. A netbook is too big to be with me at all times. This device, with its physical keyboard will be able to do just about all I need it to do, word processing, spreadsheet editing, ebook reading, besides the other fun stuff, and it can be with me at all times. The fact that it also has a phone is just an added benefit to me. I am simply going to put my current SIM card into the device and put my old phone to rest in a drawer somewhere.

This thing is a full blown Linux computer that happens to also have a phone.

 

AFAIK it'll work on EDGE but not 3G for AT&T, but will work for 3G on T-Mobile, same sort of situation as the HTC Google phones. I haven't read anything recently, but there was an initial "yes it's coming, err wait no it's just a rumor" about the 2100MHz. The best speculation I saw said 'wait and see' because Nokia tends to release different versions of their phones for different locales months after the initial launch. So I have my fingers crossed, I'm stuck on ATT for another 2 years.

 

That's a sweet website! Thanks for posting.

 

You can download the SDK(Linux only) and play with the emulator. I like what I'm seeing.

 

Yes, and you can even download a virtual image with everything installed already.

http://maemovmware.garage.maemo.org/2nd_edition/index.html

Unfortunately they haven't yet updated the image with the latest SDK, but you can do that easily yourself afterward. There should be a new image coming soon.

 

Well I use both and it is definitely faster when working in a native environment.

 

The Nokia N900 - the journey starts here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxiOKKF721U

http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/11/10/nokia-n900-begins-shipping/

 

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/

http://www.youtube.com/user/FirefoxforMobile#p/a/u/0/jpuDJfTr8Yc

 

So I guess it's still 2100 MHz only, no 1900 MHz W-CDMA, meaning no AT&T 3G.

 

Yeah, I know. I'm on AT&T as well and have about 1 year of contract left. But that is not stopping me from getting the N900. I plan to use the N900 with my AT&T account for a little while (the N900 can use AT&T's Edge network for data). Eventually, I think I will switch to T-Mobile.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=EvenMorePlus

Good thing that the AT&T cancellation fee is prorated. Here is a little more on that.

http://www.ucan.org/telecommunications/wireless/how_to_cancel_your_cell_phone_contract

 

I took the bait and got an N900. The first thing I did was open the terminal, and it's pretty much like a minimal Debian install. The EDGE service where I live isn't great though. So I'll have to keep my iPhone as my primary device for now. Both the FM transmitter and TV out are flawless. The TV out even works in the menus, unlike the iPhone where you have to get the TV-Out app from Cydia to select which apps get it.

The only thing that bugs me is that | (pipe) has no key, I'm going to have to try and figure out how to substitute another one for it (maybe the Pound sign).
EDIT: Found a workaround! http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35089
EDIT 2: Found another just for xterm... http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=342328&postcount=7

EDIT 3: N900 vs iPhone... fight! http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31039

ADP1, 3GS, N900

Edit: removed image

 

Hows the keyboard on the N900? Also, can you give info about kernel and libc versions?

 

Nokia should have given the N900 an extra row of keys. Something about it looks a bit off.

I personally just got a version of the HTC Hero(Eris on Verizon) and I find it to be a pleasurable experience. I just wish more linux software was ported to it.

 

The keyboard is great. I was used to htc keyboards and this feels similar to the touch pro. The layout is a little quirky but I'm getting used to it.

Code:

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Debian 3:1.10.2.legal-1osso26+0m5) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ $ uname -a
Linux Nokia-N900-42-11 2.6.28-omap1 #1 PREEMPT Wed Oct 28 15:32:55 EET 2009 armv7l unknown
~ $ apt-cache show libc6
Package: libc6
Status: install ok installed
Priority: required
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 8868
Maintainer: GNU Libc Maintainers <[email protected]>
Architecture: armel
Source: glibc
Version: 2.5.1-1eglibc19+0m5
Replaces: ldso (<= 1.9.11-9), timezone, timezones, gconv-modules, libtricks, netkit-rpc, netbase (<< 4.0)
Provides: glibc-2.5.1-1eglibc
Suggests: locales, glibc-doc
Conflicts: strace (<< 4.0-0), libnss-db (<= 2.2-6.1.1), timezone, timezones, gconv-modules, libtricks, libc6-doc, netkit-rpc, wine (<< 0.0.20031118-1), cyrus-imapd (<< 1.5.19-15), initrd-tools (<< 0.1.79), e2fsprogs (<< 1.35-7), libterm-readline-gnu-perl (<< 1.15-2)
Conffiles:
 /etc/init.d/glibc.sh c9816a0fc91156ccc4c48d62d1447c23
Description: GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone data
 Contains the standard libraries that are used by nearly all programs on
 the system. This package includes shared versions of the standard C library
 and the standard math library, as well as many others.
 Timezone data is also included.

 

Congrats on your N900. Mine is still pending shipment. :'(

Did you get a chance to see this?

http://www.themaemo.com/and-now-for-something-completely-different-the-n900-and-its-killer-feature/

 

I had not seen that but I was aware of those limitations... they will go away once it matures. Make sure to check out extras-testing and extras-devel.

 

Interesting smartphone, but it's definitely not the 'coolest' linux portable....

 

I hear that the N900 has a fantastic screen. How is it, Groceries?

 

Yeah it's quite good. Not as bright as the iPhone but it kicks its butt for resolution. The contrast is good, and it's crisp.

Here is a photo to give a rough estimate of the relative brightness on the respective max settings and the color temperature.

N900, 3GS, ADP1
edit: removed image

Edit: Technically that isn't the max brightness for the iPhone because there is a soft limitation by Apple's libraries. There are apps like Flashlight (via Cydia or Rock) that work around it but in general use this is the max brightness.

There may be a similar limitation on the N900 but I am not sure, some parts having to do with anything that really impacts battery life are closed source AFAIK, since Nokia doesn't want its battery life stats to suffer.

I am almost positive the Google phone isn't limited in either software or hardware.

 

Thanks. I'm really considering buying an N900 of my own, I just wish it wasn't so expensive as it is really a "developer-ready" phone and OS vs a "user-ready" phone and OS. Here's the million dollar question to anyone who owns one now - Can you simply connect it via USB and move any sort of media file to your home or media mount, and the built in media player/Mplayer/Amarok or whatever downloadable media players there are, will just play your files? Can you download additional codecs for FLAC, h264, matroska?

I'm sick of my iPhone. Sick of constantly fighting "the Apple way" with jailbreaks here, hacks for media players there etc... and hoped that Maemo would be one good answer for this!

 

'groceries....that looks like my G1 on the far right in the pics.....is that what it is?

 

My buddy is supposed to get it in the mail today

 

Yeah you can dump pretty much any media file to it, but wmv playback is terrible right now.

Everything is hidden for some reason tho, the directories begin with . so you have to turn on 'view hidden files' in your browser or ls -al.

Zoid -- yeah that's the Google Dev Phone 1, which is an unlocked/rooted version of the G1.

 

How does maemo stack up against android for basic users, and power users?

 

It varies based on manufactures since Android devices from HTC have more a bit more community support. Their device are also more likely are rooted vs a device, from lets say Samsung or Archos, thanks you the wonderful XDA community.

 

I would say that as it stands right now, Android devices are better suited for basic users. The more of a power user you are, the more you will lean to, and benefit from, Maemo devices.

 

I just purchased my N900 from Amazon. Unlike Newegg, Amazon has a return policy for cell phones. Taking the plunge, and looking forward to this awesome little device. I haven't programmed since Visual Basic 3, but I look forward to getting my feet wet programming for Maemo.

 

You might want to start here:

http://www.themaemo.com/python-for-newbies/

 

Thanks! My N900 came as a holiday gift, and so far it is excellent, save for the issue of still being on ATT and thus relying on EDGE (it even has a little 2.5g icon on the desktop status area) when not near WiFi.

 

Yeah I'm still on the fence about ditching my iPhone for the N900, but I've been too lazy to export all of my contacts to the SIM. I'm really happy with the N900, especially since I bought it on impulse. My car has no aux in so I use the FM transmitter all the time. And the camera is ridiculously good.

So far the user experience has been less than polished, but that is made up for with sudo gainroot in xterm

 

The fact that I have total control over my media is nearly enough to make me want to throw the iPhone away just on its own! So far things seem polished. I just had to get used to putting a little more pressure on the touch screen, but it is just as sensitive in terms of accuracy. The polish will likely come with time, I hope. Apple has had several years to get the iPhone's software to where it is now, but for an open-source portable, its really looking pretty great even at this early stage. Works perfectly with my Bluetooth headset, aside from constant beeping in my ear whenever I press something!

Hey, maybe you know this well... what format will it take Contacts? My iPhone can easily dump all my contacts to Windows Contacts on a backup. Can that format be read by the Nokia? Or do I need to convert somehow? I read that the base of the file is really XML, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

I agree entirely. The problems I've had have been finicky little UI things, and some unexpected behavior in general, most of which is probably attributable to the platform's young age. The pros far outweigh the cons. The one serious problem I've encountered was the infamous random reboot problem, but it can be solved by disabling deep sleep in /proc/sys

Edit: looks like the file format for contact imports is vcf, (vCard).

I had my iPhone backed up on my MBP but since I've sold the MBP I don't even have a backup of it except for on an external disk, so I've been trying to find a way to dump it straight from the device (without paying for an app to export to SIM).

 

I finally figured out how to export my contacts from my iPhone to the N900 without a terrible amount of pain. It requires iTunes on Windows.

I made a detailed howto guide here:
http://allurgroceries.com/iphone2n900/

 

When my KP500 will be able to real-time rooting, I will be happy.

 

OpenOffice.org and the Gimp on the N900:

http://temporaryland.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/openoffice-org-and-the-gimp-on-the-n900/

B)

 

N900 is a great little machine. I managed to get my contacts into a single vCard file (The .csv was horrible!) after a bunch of importing to Google Contacts, and then exporting from there, but of course multiple vCards would have worked as well.

Its really working out well. I added my own ringtones and it is as easy as pie to simply copy and paste them to the ringtone folder. Oh, something to remember about Mass Storage Mode, when the phone's file system is mounted, it is inaccessible on the phone itself so your synced items in your libraries and whatnot won't show up until you disconnect. Nothing to be alarmed about, really but it was a bit confusing the first few times!

 

It is still unclear if the recent announcement by Nokia about free Ovi Maps Navigation applies to the N900, but this is hilarious:

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