Technically, Easy Debian works on the N900, but Maemo 5 has broken the GTK+ UI quite badly, so the interface of desktop apps looks absolutely terrible.

I'm fooling around with other options to try to get things working better, but it is slow going and there aren't many helpers yet, since the device isn't on sale.

So yes, you can run Debian / Ubuntu apps on the N900. But they are ugly and unstable under the N900's GUI.

continue with the hard work, you are working on something very nice and important for this device!
I'm sure that after the n900 will be offered for sale there will be much more interest and more developers will join.

Is there a way to use the n8x0 GTK on the n900?
Is the n900 able run OS2008/maemo 4 applications?

Ummm.... maybe create some sort of overlay to unbreak gtk, removing the need to modify every app?

My plan is to do a similar trick on the N900 that I did on the N8x0 with LXDE; start a nested X-Server (Xephyr) and then start LXDE (or something) in the secondary X-Server. The problems I have encountered so far are:

• No hardware key for getting the dashboard (task switcher), so no way to switch out of the secondary environment.
• Standard desktop environments look tiny and are difficult to use even with the stylus on the N900.
• Some keyboard remapping needed, but there seems to be some difficulty remapping the keyboard on the N900 (ie keys all go dead).

It'll be difficult but would it be possible to zoom in and out for the environments that look tiny?

"Standard desktop environments look tiny and are difficult to use even with the stylus on the N900."

Ok, sarcasm alert, apologies in advance.

But when the issue of screen size was discussed, I'm SURE I read more than once that all you had to do was move your face something like15% closer to the screen and everything became the same size! Did you try that?

Sarcasm off.

Maybe make the Xephyr window smaller (800x450) so a few pixels from the switcher button show? It should be usable only with those few pixels

Magnifier tool?

Except for a few (mostly x86, few PPC) architecture-specific packages, most of Debian is available for ARM. But that does not mean it will work. Maemo and Debian use the same packaging system, but are not necessarily fully binary-compatible.

Besides, Debian ARM is built for ARMv4, which is highly suboptimal for the Cortex-A8 in N900 (ARMv7), especially for CPU-intensive tasks (such as multimedia). So you should really recompile everything from Debian anyway.

My feeling is that Maemo represents the most direct route for Linux apps to handheld devices and to what are now designated "smartphones" but which are likely to be the typical cellphone just a couple years from now.

As this becomes more apparent and as more devices run Maemo (what, you don't think that's coming? it is, trust me), then all the Linux desktop users become interested in the same thing you ask about — can I get a version of this desktop app in my phone?

The Linux user base has a large percentage of self-reliant and technologically savvy users, just the type to port those apps themselves or improve the merely-ported apps that don't account for the screen size.

When you read the technology press, you'll note its single-minded focus on developers interested in creating new apps for a platform (iPhone, Android, WebOS ...). Nokia's laboring to attract these developers too, but I'd say there are too many unknowns to confidently predict just how strong Maemo's appeal to them will be. Certainly it's the platform with the inside track to the Symbion and Gnome communities and stands a better chance than RIM, Palm and WindowsMobile do of thriving naturally.

So the odds are good but, like they say, that's why they play the game.

Probably simpler to just use VNC to control a stationary computer and let it run the Windows app(s).

I know, you're just kidding, but it's easy to do and there will be occasion for you to celebrate this kind of freeing power.

Roger S