I've got an idea. I think it is the kind of ideas some linux hacker should try, because if it is possible it rocks.

Here you have it. Once you connect a maemo device to a computer it acts as if it where a usb storage.

That it means that it could act as a live distro for a PC?

If that is possible, wouldn't it be cool if you could connect your tablet to a PC and then switch it on and start the x86 version of maemo from the minisd and then, somehow freeze the host and mount the internal memory so the PC became an Internet tablet?

I mean, your computer would be your tablet. When you are away it works like itbdoes now, but when you are close to any desktop computer, you only have to connect it to the computer, switch the computer on, and there you have it. Your maemo OS, with your data, but running on a bigger screen, with much more cpu, a normal keyboard, etc. You could have openoffice compiled for maemo x86 and not having it in the arm copy of maemo, yet both of them would share the same other data. Finally, when you don't need the big machine anymore, you terminate it and when maemo on your tablet discovers noone is using the data anymore it resumes working doing first a reload of all services and programs to be sure everything is working as it should.

What do you think?

Sorry my friend, I really cannot see where this is going.

Why the hell would I want to run Maemo on my 22" monitor instead of Windows or Linux or OSX? Also, where is this "data" stored. When you plug it into the computer, just the memory cards get mounted. Apps don't write data like settings to memory cards.

What you are referring to is probably some complicated chroot setup, in which a stripped down Linux system is monitoring if it is plugged in or not, and if it is not, it runs the ARM version, and if it is , it runs the x86 version. For this you would need a 1:1 compatible ARM vs x86 maemo, because they would be sharing everything except binaries.

c o m p l i c a t e d.

The million dollar question is, what are you trying to accomplish? Most public terminals DO NOT allow booting from USB, for obvious reasons. In fact, most libraries and stuff usually run a server farm in the basement, and all the PC's are simply running remote desktop into the servers. This gives them very easy maintainability.

Are you talking about using your tablet like something like BlackDog? I think that Thesandlord is right about the problems with what you want. That said, if the computer you want to use allows booting off a usb drive you could use a like distro on a pen drive and mount your tablet as mass storage. However, the OS and files on the tablet would be separate from the OS and files on the live distro.

If you run Linux on your desktop you can achieve part of what you want at the application level. I run GPE PIM aps on both the tablet and my Ubuntu desktop. The files for these aps are sqlite and file compatable on both systems. I use calendar, contacts, todo and timesheet from the GPE family. On the tablet I also run erminig which sync with the Google calendar. If you will I use GPE on my desktop as a viewer of tablet PIM data. I handle synchronization at a file level over USB. Granted there are PIM aps available on the desktop that have more extensive feature sets but what I'm doing is workable without having to reenter any data. I use Gmail with IMAP access for the tablet and it's native mail ap, modest. That way I have one mail DB on the web. Not what the OP asked for but this particular mashup requires no new development.

While you obviously couldn't run or boot the ARM binaries when you booted from the n810, you could conceivably have another (x86) distribution stored on the memory card with a boot sector installed. Then put the n810 usb in storage mode and boot. You'd be able to access the memory cards when you had booted.

You could mount /home/user as your home directory to keep your configuration settings.

I think this is an incredibly novel idea!

I'm not to sure about the technical challenges facing this type of installation, but I suppose that they could be mitigated somewhat with an ARM emulator on the host machine. This would result in a performance loss, but would ensure the ability to execute binaries on the host.

Of course, devices beyond the CPU and display (network, usb, sound, etc) on the host would provide newer challenges. But I suppose more difficult things have been accomplished, so why not?

Perhaps an arm emulator inside of an existing live distro with a good spread of drivers, that mounts the maemo partition on the N8xx and provides hardware support (like network, sound, etc). To the user, it would be like plugging in the N810 and using it on the host machine!


YARR!
}:^)~

Trapt'n

Few more things. Number one. Im not talking about a blackdog. for what Ive read a blackdog routed keyboard and screen to act as a terminal for the server. That is too complicated and yet makes you work with an unpowered machine when you happen to have a power machine doing nothing. Im talking more of a live x86 distro that sits in your tablet and is prepared to use the same configuration and files that the arm machine.
Number two. That would mean a 1:1 arm-x86 copy of all binaries. Yes, so what? That copy already exists. It is used to test and program maemo. No need to compile it.

In fact the only thing that should be different must be the kernel.

Third, why would you wanna use maemo in your own PC instead of any other linux distro? You dont wanna. You would use maemo in other computers. To show presentations you finished in the metro without needing to install anything in the customers computer for example. To scan something or print something without having to ask for your mate windows password. Like a live distro but with all data synced and at your disposal when you unplug the thing.

And the good thing is. Im pretty sure a skilled maemo programer can create it in less than a week.

Which of these examples requires booting Maemo on the PC? Which, I'll add, is going to be significantly more complicated than simply using the tablet as USB mass storage. How do you plan on solving the lack of or sub-par state of Linux drivers for a lot of hardware?

. . . and I'm pretty sure it's entirely pointless.

I just loaded a few moths ago the Portableapps suite on my SD card and keep my documents and other files on the same card if I want those to be available from the card. If I need to use a full pc or laptop, I just use the IT as a card reader to open my files or any app that I may need if there it's nothing I want to use on that computer, open office, firefox, pidgin, etc. It works just fine. No need to waste space with a full x86 live distro.

I'm sure there are ways to do similar things to what I propose. One way is Portable apps. But that means installing software in windows. Something you maybe don't wanna do if you don't need it. Appart of that, I know that having a full distro installed in your flash is a little bit bigger than Portable apps, but it is not that much. Maemo is a really squeezed distro. I bet it can be installed in little more than those 124MB Portableapps are using.
Having said that, the goodness of my proposal is in the details. If you run maemo browser x86 instead of installing mozilla in that computer you have all bookmarks available. You can add a bookmark and then switch off that computer, knowing that bookmark has already been added to your ARM maemo browser, because it is the same software and the same data structure.

If you have a pop3 account and you wanna send a long message (not willing to use the two fingers keyboard) you could switch to your mom computer, write down the message and send it with a proper computer. Or you maybe would write it down and save it in drafts so you double check it in your way home before sending it. No need to use middle text editors or Google Mail.
The day a proper PIM exists in your tablet it can be the same.

You configured your wireless card to connect to a WEP wireless? Perfect, maemo x86 can take data from it and connect to the same wireless without having to remember the password. You have to configure it from scratch in the other computer? Perfect. Maemo will know how to connect as soon as you unplug the device.

Wanna upload a lot of music from another computer? Ok, start it with maemo x86, move that music to your flash folder and run canola x86. In no time you'll have the directory parsed and the music added to your canola ARM db. Probably faster than moving the music and then running the parser from within Maemo.

I'm sure there are other good examples. But the point here is: NITs and Netbooks are gaining more and more power. As much that it starts to make sense you use them as primary portable computer.

It makes sense to use an external keyboard and an external mouse and an external screen and an external hd connected to your portable computer when you are in your office. Lots of people prefeer that configuration than using the already usable ones included in their laptop or syncing the data to their desktop computers.

In the case of NITs you could extend that idea to include a faster CPU and GPU and Memory. And that, I feel, could be very convenient.