The Nokia N800 User FAQ

[thoughtfix]

After my accessories forum blitz is complete, I am going to start a post for an FAQ on the N800. I get TONS of Email, YouTube comments, instant messages, etc. and want to point them to RTFM but there is no "User FAQ" as of yet. Since my blog is only date-sorted and HOWTOs are scattered, it's hard to use for this kind of thing.

Questions I've been asked so far:

Will it work with my carrier?
Will it play XviD/DivX?
How do I get it online with [insert carrier name here]
Does it work with [insert phone name here]
Orb isn't working for me. Help?
How do I mount it in my car?
How do I charge it in my car or on my desk?
What games are available?
How do I set up repositories?
How do I get into the Linux shell?
How do I get root access?
etc. etc etc.


I will try to answer as many as I can and add to it over time.

[Texrat]

You forgot "how do I sync my Contacts?"

:p

[luketoh]

This will be very very useful! Thanks for the effort!

[noyz]

Cant wait to see this under way. Are you going to answer them as they or are you just going to collect questions and answer in bulk.

[thoughtfix]

Someone just asked this: Is it possible to upgrade the firmware if you don't have Windows?

[thoughtfix]

I will answer them when I have time to sit and research. This is going to take time because I will have to double-check my answers or invent new ones.

Also - Please add more questions to this thread.

[jackangelo]

Question from a newbie: Is there a way to mass delete contacts, I imported 1027 contacts! Should have been more selective.

-- I found the file. It was /home/user/.osso-abook/db/addressbook.db. Once I deleted it I had a fresh copy of the database with no contacts in it.

[Texrat]

Someone just asked this: Is it possible to upgrade the firmware if you don't have Windows?

They should return their device in shame. :p

[thoughtfix]

Not quite, Texrat. My primary PC is now a Mac. There are a good number more steps to upgrading the firmware than the simple download-click-click updater that Windows users get.

[Texrat]

Not quite, Texrat. My primary PC is now a Mac. There are a good number more steps to upgrading the firmware than the simple download-click-click updater that Windows users get.

Yeah, yeah... I was just being facetious about the irony (hence the :p).

I think you need to include the Linux-on-a-usb-stick option in your FAQ. ;)

[noyz]

Heres one: Where do I get Orb/Orb2?

[james.bottomtooth]

since this forum usually has multiple threads on most questions, it needs a sticky, or maybe a thread where people only post the answers and the links to the threads where the topic was discussed in detail...

http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6103

one FAQ entry could be a list of most commonly used/usefull shell commands... move/rename/delete (which is one command mv i think) etc
and general explanation of the directories in the root. what is what and who is who.

[defor]

As an answer to SIMPLE flashing with a mac, I'd recommend using the 770 Flasher
http://www.bleb.org/software/770/
On both the n770 I had and the n800 I now am using, this works fine, and is a good starting point for users expecting simplicity of the windows updater.
Enabling RD mode, and more in-depth of flasher does require a basic knowledge of CLI, but those topics aren't really basic level anyway.

[docnesh]

I think this is a great effort... I am getting my N800 today and frankly have a ton of questions... I expect to be scouring forums and google this weekend to find out how to get to a terminal window, install ssh, find out if perl is available. Install gaim, get orb setup, find out if there are any usb charging options or if I need to pony up the cash to buy a car charger and a second AC charger as well as find the best source for downloading apps... I'm guessing that would be maemo.org....

Seeing a sticky thread here where commonly referenced useful answers / descriptions would be helpful for people like me, and could potentially allow people with more experience to form replies that could potentially be used to help others instead of being lost in the context of a specific thread.

Anyway, my two cents... best of luck.

--J

[brendan]

my n800 does not have an "any key" how do i continue?

[docnesh]

Hello, I need help... I just got my n800 and paired it to my phone (vx8600 / HTC Wizard) ... my carrier is Verizon, and I have PdaNet installed on the phone.... I got the phone paired to the n800 but have no idea what the connection settings should be to connect to the internet, ie what the dial up number user/password information should be, also if its data call or packet data? any help would be greatly appreciated here. Thanks in advance

[Texrat]

my n800 does not have an "any key" how do i continue?

return it for a replacement.

:evil:

[defor]

I think the FAQ might want to avoid detailed setup instructions for DUN strings, etc to avoid liabilities as these are breach of contract if people use phone-only networking for tethered access, and so on, but instead refer users to some of the more common sites that exist for getting laptops online with cingular, verizon, tmo, etc.

[rheve]

I think you can add:
- How do I chat with my MSN/AIM/Yahoo contacts
- How do I convert a DVD to look at it on my N800
- How can I place VoIP calls

[thoughtfix]

defor: I've always answered Bluetooth DUN questions with the caveat that a DUN data plan is required for it to all work properly. It's just a "Good Idea."

docnesh: Make sure your plan has the "Unlimited Internet with Tethering" option. The dial-up number is #777 and if you have the tethering option you do not need a username and password.

[thoughtfix]

This FAQ is for my own selfish sanity. Because my blog is pretty darn extensive on 770/N800 stuff, people contact me personally quite often with questions. I do my best to answer them all, but I just can't keep up anymore!

[thoughtfix]

More questions! More!

[docnesh]

I think a pointer to the "what do I do with "missing install file" on maemo.org would be helpful :) I know the first debian package I installed made me a tad nervous....

also I think a list (updated periodically) of the most popular apps people install on their n800s would be a good thing for people to see...

[james.bottomtooth]

also I think a list (updated periodically) of the most popular apps people install on their n800s would be a good thing for people to see...

i second the apps list. with updates. also with apps to be carefull with, or bugs to watch out for if the release is still in Beta.

some apps/versions have common bugs that everyone knows/should know about.

also a list of software/hardware common problems and quick fixes/work arounds if they exist.

in general questions that are repeated all of the time, USB/Bluetooth/Wifi - what works what doesn't.

[Bernard]

I think the FAQ should have some information about what to expect the device to be capable of. Most people don´t know the difference between browser, flash and streaming media version. They will think that a ¨Internet tablet¨ can do what a normal computer does when connected to the internet, but the N800 is not a windows machine so:

question:
Can I watch streaming videos from the net (like youtube or windows media streams)?
short answer: No, not very well.
longer answer: not as easily as on a computer. The buildin flash player is only version 7, a lot of flash video sites require flash version 9. Also the flash player is rather slow, so youtube is jerky .Speed problems when playing youtube videos can be overcome by using Orb 2 to re-encode the streams in realtime to Real media (supports higher bitrates), but this requires a fast computer and some people reported stability problems.
if you install Mplayer you can watch windows media (and also quicktime), but the bitrate of most broadband streams is too high for smooth playback.
The device does include Realplayer support, but this also has bitrate limitations.
The webbrowser only includes support for embedded Real streams and flash (no windows media or quicktime), and Real is supported by placing a button to launch the external application.


question:
Can I chat with my MSN buddies?
short answer: No, not out of the box
longer answer: you can if you install Gaim with the MSN plugin But A lot of users think Gaim is rather slow. Also I think it isn´t very user friendly compared to the simple MSN clients on modern Windows Mobile devices. (but Gaim does have alot of options)

question:
Can I play online games (javascript, java or flash games)?
short answer: No most games won´t work
longer answer: Java isn´t supported, and the build-in flash player will be too slow for a lot of games. Also a lot of javascript games don´t work in the version 8 of Opera. (the javascript support isn´t good enough on this version)
Most games online are optimized for mouse and keyboard, that the N800 by default doesn´t have, so you will encounter problems because of this with a lot of games.

[Bernard]

I almost forgot:

question:
Can I make voip calls on the N800 (like skype or using a SIP based provider)?
answer: Skype will be released in june for the N800, so untill that time: no skype calls on the n800.
The N800 includes a Googletalk client by default, but it doesn´t have a universal SIP client. Gizmo project is an application that you can install, that includes a partial SIP client with limited options (not all SIP services work when using Gizmo), in addition to Gizmo project Voip services.

question:
what is the webcam quality like?
answer: terrible, absolutely terrible. ANY webcam you buy for the PC will have a better video quality (even the $10 ultra cheap ones),
The webcam is totally useless currently: only the google talk client can start video calls, but the Nokia video call client for the pc is rather buggy, and very few people use google talk anyway.
Because of the low quality picture, you don´t want to use it for video recording or for use as a digicam.

[celesteh]

Questions:

Is there non-official java for the n800?

The built-in browser doesn't log into blogger. How do I post to my blog?
A: download minimo

How can I mount it on my bicycle handlebars? (Do I need to add waterproofing? Why doesn't anybody make a kit for this?)

What solar chargers work with it?

Are there drivers to do bluetooth stuff (like browsing & file transfers) with OS X?

How can I copy pictures from my bluetooth (non-nokia) phone to my n800 wirelessly?

How do I make it sync to my apple contacts and calendar?

Reasonably, should I hold out any hope at all for browser bugs (crash and otherwise) to be fixed? Are stupid UI bugs going to get fixed? This feels really beta, is it going to get better?

Some of the cool looking 3rd party apps have dependencies which can be filled with repositories that I don't know about yet. Is there a list of all the repositories that I should add to my application manager?

I screwed up the settings for a 3rd party app and I think the best way to fix them is just to start over. How do I trash my old settings?

Why does the iphone not support GPS? ;)

Um, but seriously, if anybody has answers for these, I'm all ears.

[zerojay]

Alrighty, I'll give this a shot.

Questions:
Is there non-official java for the n800?


There are a few projects working on this, such as Jalimo (http://www.jalimo.org/), however it's still very much alpha. No, this will not allow you to run Java applets in the web browser.


The built-in browser doesn't log into blogger. How do I post to my blog?


I believe you can also use Maemo-Blog for this, however I don't know for sure. Also, the program seemed very unstable to me. Might fit your needs.


How can I mount it on my bicycle handlebars? (Do I need to add waterproofing? Why doesn't anybody make a kit for this?)


Because people don't want to be run down by bikers who were too busy staring at the excellent screen. (Good for a potential ad.)


Are there drivers to do bluetooth stuff (like browsing & file transfers) with OS X?
How can I copy pictures from my bluetooth (non-nokia) phone to my n800 wirelessly?


I don't know if the N800 supports the Bluetooth profiles to do that. I would imagine that whatever Bluetooth dongle you have for your Mac should work with it though.


How do I make it sync to my apple contacts and calendar?


It's not a PDA and doesn't even have a built-in calendar app. You can try using the GPE apps for that though. I have no experience with this kind of stuff, so YMMV.


Reasonably, should I hold out any hope at all for browser bugs (crash and otherwise) to be fixed? Are stupid UI bugs going to get fixed? This feels really beta, is it going to get better?


Sure. The N800 has gotten far more stable than it used to be a firmware upgrade or two ago. I doubt the UI is going to change much, but I can easily see some browser bugs being fixed.... so long as they were entered into Bugzilla, anyways.


Some of the cool looking 3rd party apps have dependencies which can be filled with repositories that I don't know about yet. Is there a list of all the repositories that I should add to my application manager?


A little hard to come up with a full list, but the best is on the Maemo Wiki (http://maemo.org/community/wiki/applicationrepositories/).


I screwed up the settings for a 3rd party app and I think the best way to fix them is just to start over. How do I trash my old settings?


I believe you'll have to use Bash to do it, but I believe the files in question are stored somewhere in /home/user/ and probably in a hidden file or directory (those all start with a period).


Why does the iphone not support GPS? ;)


Because Apple is ******ed, but I'm sure that's nothing you haven't already suspected.


Um, but seriously, if anybody has answers for these, I'm all ears.

Hope this helped.

[jw2k_fr]

Some basic things I havenot found out so far:

How do I manage my icons in the "'start" menu (move something from EXTRAS to TOOLS for example)

How do I create a shortcut in the "start" menu for an installed program which does not appear to have created one itself (for example the FM Radio), or does this indicate that something went wrong with the install, despite an affirmation at the end of the install process?

How do I format an SD card in the N800?

Why can't I read my media from the N800 in Windows?

Can I download the sourcecode for any applications and try compiling them on the N800?

(This is less of a frequent question and more selfish) - How can I install Freeciv on my N800?
I have found this port, but it is not of the latest version. FreeCiv port (http://syslog.movial.fi/archives/30-FreeCiv-port-for-Maemo-2.0-platform.html)


I may have more later
Thanks
James

[Karel Jansens]

Some basic things I havenot found out so far:

How do I manage my icons in the "'start" menu (move something from EXTRAS to TOOLS for example)
Sniff around in Control Panel. It's there, trust me.

How do I create a shortcut in the "start" menu for an installed program which does not appear to have created one itself (for example the FM Radio), or does this indicate that something went wrong with the install, despite an affirmation at the end of the install process?

If no shortcut is created, the program you installed is almost certainly a command line program and can only be started via the X terminal.

How do I format an SD card in the N800?

I never do.

Why can't I read my media from the N800 in Windows?


What "media"?

Can I download the sourcecode for any applications and try compiling them on the N800?

Not yet, as far as I understand. There is a Vmware image to do development on the pc.

(This is less of a frequent question and more selfish) - How can I install Freeciv on my N800?
I have found this port, but it is not of the latest version. FreeCiv port (http://syslog.movial.fi/archives/30-FreeCiv-port-for-Maemo-2.0-platform.html)

Dunno.


I may have more later

Is that a threat? :D

[Texrat]

Karel is our best noob filter. :D

[jw2k_fr]

Quote:
I may have more later
Is that a threat?
As one who is unable to comprehend the idea of RTFM, I'm afraid it is :p

As for the Media question, I meant SD cards. (I'm guessing it's because they are formatted as a non-FAT partition)

Thanks for the pointer re: command line apps

I will investigate control panel for the menu organization stuff

James

[Karel Jansens]

As one who is unable to comprehend the idea of RTFM, I'm afraid it is :p

As for the Media question, I meant SD cards. (I'm guessing it's because they are formatted as a non-FAT partition)

If you have a Linux partition, live CD or Vmware image, you might want to try plugging your N800 in under Linux.

Thanks for the pointer re: command line apps

"Osso-xterm" is the application you're looking for. It's quite good.

While we're at it, here's a Free Tip (<TM>): "Midnight Commander" will be an asset on your N800, provided you install xterm first (it doesn't come with an icon, you have to actually type "mc" in an xterm). DON'T follow the directions you get on maemo.org, that port does not work on the N800. Download it here: http://www.komputika.net/maemo/
The file is called "mc_4.6.1-2_armel.deb".

"But what is this Midnight Commander you speaketh of?" I hear you ask. It's simply the most powerful file management tool you can get for your N800. No true nerd should be without it.

I will investigate control panel for the menu organization stuff

It's not immediately obvious and I'm feeling sorta sociable today, so here:

Control Panel - Section Personalisation -Item Navigation (double click) - click on the button "Organise" next to "Applications" - go nuts.

Now stop asking all those questions and port me a copy of PenOffice. Shop-shop!

[Texrat]

Did I say noob filter?

I meant noob ambassador.

[jw2k_fr]

He does the site proud. I did indeed find that subtly hidden button (who would think to look somewhere obvious!)

As for 'PenOffice' ;) , were you thinking of any particular brand - Parker? Mont Blanc? Waterman? Or will Bic suffice? I haven't yet found a suitable slot to allow me to "port" said item into the N800 tho :p

Thanks again
James

[Karel Jansens]

Did I say noob filter?

I meant noob ambassador.

Hey, I'm no good at anything else, so...

[Karel Jansens]

He does the site proud. I did indeed find that subtly hidden button (who would think to look somewhere obvious!)

Hey, Nokia dudes! Are you reading this? I want a discount on the N900!

As for 'PenOffice' ;) , were you thinking of any particular brand - Parker? Mont Blanc? Waterman? Or will Bic suffice? I haven't yet found a suitable slot to allow me to "port" said item into the N800 tho :p

Thanks again
James

http://www.phatware.com/penoffice/index.html

I'd settle for CalliGrapher:

http://www.phatware.com/calligrapher/index.html

[LosOutlandos]

just a quick follow-up on jw2k_fr's shortcuts question:
if it's as simple as typing "mc" in terminal, should't it be possible to make a shortcut (windows-style) e.g. with IDEA to do that for you?

[james.bottomtooth]

don't mean to be rude,
but has anything come of this? :confused:

[thoughtfix]

Yes, something has (http://thoughtfix.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page). It's still a work in progress.

[kgingeri]

Karel is our best noob filter. :D

One thing is for sure, I do not laugh more reading any other forum! :D

But really Karel was a bit hard on James IMHO ;)

How do I format an SD card in the N800?

In the File Manager (usually found in Utilities), find the card you want to format. Click-and-hold to get a the context menu. One of the options is to format. NOTE that the format option will not be given if you are using the internal card for extending 'on-board' memory (done via Control Panel and Memory).

How do I create a shortcut in the "start" menu for an installed program which does not appear to have created one itself (for example the FM Radio), or does this indicate that something went wrong with the install, despite an affirmation at the end of the install process?

Shortcuts can be created BUT it take know how and xterm. You can start by looking at existing ones (if your brave) in /usr/share/applications/hildon/*.desktop files. Oh, did I mention you'll need to do a bit of research? ;)

Why can't I read my media from the N800 in Windows?

I suspect the Media you refer to is what is stored internally (see /home/user/MyDocs/.* in xterm) - copy it to one of your SD cards and you will be able to see it.

Can I download the sourcecode for any applications and try compiling them on the N800?

The best on-board development you can probably do is Python (which is quit powerful and has a lot of libs and hooks into the Maemo env). Ruby is another option but not for the faint of heart - at least not to install. I've heard gcc may work for creating cmd-line only apps (haven't done it yet). There is NO GUI or IDE support on the IT (that I know of) - about the only syntax hi-lighting editor is PyGTKEdit. Even a good vi editor is not available yet (gvim would be nice). All of these are available in the VNWare appliance the Karel spoke of. It will run on either a WIndows or Linux PC with a free VMWare player or the free VMWare server.

That's my 2cents :rolleyes:

[kgingeri]

Yes, something has (http://thoughtfix.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page). It's still a work in progress.

Thanks for your work on this Daniel :cool:

[bro0ke]

For me who know almost nothing about linux, what confuses me most are the jargons. When I first saw 'repos', I thought 'repossessed properties'??! :confused: So it's no surprise that it's hard for me to even think of the search term for what I want to know about sometimes.. let alone understand the instruction once found.

Anyway.. here's my questions;

How do I access n800 from my PC with ssh? (I already installed xterm and openssh client/server -- but don't know what to do with them after that...)

P.S. My goal is to enable n800 to read Thai (and perhaps other foreign languages later if I ever manage to succeed the first one). I don't need to be able to type Thai or anything.. I'm happy as long as I can just read Thai web pages. Bonus points if I could also read Thai in other applications (chat.. maybe?) :D

[kgingeri]

You will need a ssh 'client' (software) on your PC. Putty is a very good and common program for Windows and Linux (Mac even?) - google it.
You will need to know the IP (Internet protocol) address of you N800. Get this by running xterm (while your connected to the same network your PC is on, of course) and typing "/sbin/ifconfig[Enter]" at the ..$ prompt, and look for "inet addr: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx". You will have entere this address into Putty for "Hostname (or IP address)" and click [Connect]. That should get you a window with a login prompt. Login as user "root" and passwd "rootme".
Now you have a xterm-like session running on your PC but 'served' from the N800. This is known as system-level or command line interface (CLI). You'll need to learn some Unix commands to do anything useful.
Now sure how it will help you with your Thai needs, but that's how ssh sessions are done.

EDIT: BTW the inet addr you want is the one listed after "wlan0" not 127.0.0.1 - that is an address that always represents the machine itself (known as localhost).