Regarding the driver thing - I am essentially a Linux newb but as I understand it Linux drivers tend to be written to be as versatile as possible - ie, they try to make themselves compatible with the device, within the limits of their code. My interpretation of this is, a driver for, say Generic Printer Brand 4420x might not exist, but there's printer drivers that are either for other Generic Printer Brand printer models, or for more common printer types, and they might not always support all functionality of each printer, but when they detect a printer they do their best to make themselves work with it.

This is something I feel should be done more, but as is it's only common because device manufacturers tend to not bother writing Linux drivers, so the open source community does what it can.

But yes, if you can't find a compatible driver, you'll have to find one for that device for a different system, decompile it or reverse engineer it (the legality of which I am not sure of), and then compile it for Linux. OR write your own. There will probably be a project to make this a reality, but in the meantime you'll probably be able to find a rather large set of drivers available for Linux. (To clarify, the N900 should, as I understand it, take any Linux driver without problems.)

As for very generic things like USB Flash Drives, I'm not sure if those even require their own drivers, but if they do, I have no doubt that there's plenty available already on other Linux platforms, which should be compatible with the N900 - I mean it's not like the whole Linux world would have gone long after flash drives became common without getting compatibility with them.

if you were "aiming for a release a week or two ago"

When do you think it will be stable enough for a release

@itsastarman its hard to say. dont think that they are saying "we are in the final lap and we only need to step on the gas a bit for a week or two".

its more like "we are lost in the forest and we dont have a map. give us a week or two because we have no idea how to get out of here, only hope"

maybe they find a path out of the forest, maybe they will go deeper in it. we will know only after one or two weeks.

So.. All in All
It may take upto a few months then

It may never happen. Until a few weeks ago that was the status quo, anyway, so any possibility of it happening is great. Patience.

I know between this and the progress of PSX4All I am getting pretty excited over here (and upgrading my vista laptop to ubuntu 10 as we speak)

Thanks to all the devs for their effort so far!!

I think if it worked for MohammadAG, it would be very nice to release a binary for the enthusiast ones.

I see no reason why a partly working app shouldn't be released for those whom it may work for.

That's understandable, but I imagine those working on USB host might not want to lose time:

• working on the real, works-for-everyone solution to putting together an attractive, easy to use app that might work for a few people, maybe.
• working on an interim, attractive, easy to use app for a handful of people when the real solution later turns out to require techniques and code completely different.
• being flooded with "Why doesn't it work for meeeeee?" questions about their interim solution while attempting to continue to work on the real solution.

but the app is here in the thread! both kernel patches and initializator script. They are not hiding nothing from us.

You dont need any reason to do anything you want.

What you cant do, is to demand someone to do something for you, just because you are impatient.

We know that every OTG developer here can do it. but if they dont want to, you simply shouldnt complain or expect something to happen even if you do.

And there are other people that can do that, we dont need the otg developers for a build

They are not the only group working on this

there are youtube vids etc loads of info

Even on the homepage of maemo.org
it gives instructions

In my opinion, they are getting left behind, in a race that everyone else seems miles ahead