So it's my first post here.
Anti-flame suit stoutly donned.

Well I've had my n810 for about a week now.
I've successfully gotten root access via "becomeroot."
I'm trying to modify the clock to show time in 24-hour format.
I know that I have to edit a file named "/etc/osso-af-init/locale."

The problem is, how would I do that, in the Xterminal?
I do not know the syntax involved in editing files.
Someone help please.

Easier way is to switch Time and Date in Settings to German.

I've tried that setting locale (regional settings) to german, but some applications then show day/month names in german as well.
i'd rather have it full english.

Sounds like bug 303 isn't fixed properly yet. Astonishing (sometimes) thread here (link below) - I'm thinking about some of the earlier responses.

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303

Add an editor called Leafpad. Then in an xterm, type "leafpad /etc/osso-af-init/locale" without the quotes, and hit Enter. Leafpad is easy to use. You may need to be root to edit the file.

Geneven,

Thank you so much for informing us about Leafpad. With Leafpad, I was able to edit the file. Now I have a 24-hour clock format, except that the date is shown as DD/MM/YYYY. The absense of the "AM" and "PM" signs, as well as the 24-hour format, really puts a HUGE piece of my frustration at ease.

I think someone should build an app that shows the time and date in one small window, with a MM/DD/YYYY format, showing the hour, minute, second, and microsecond.

With a clock display showing seconds, not to mention microseconds, the device would never be able to go to CPU idle mode, with the result that your battery wouldn't last long..