What must I do to enable r&d mode?

The same as on any other forum : before posting a question, use the Search function to see if the answer is not already there (in this case there are at leat four).

I must be blind, because I am not seeing anything that is telling me how to get r&d mode, or perhaps I'm not understanding?

For basic issues with regards to hacking your 770,
its always a good idea to consult Maemo Wiki first.

I haven't posted a "how do I?" question on this forum yet, and I'm no Linux expert.

I think on any complex issues and questions, I assume any of the advanced members here would be glad to help you with.

But people seem to post a lot of stuff like "how do I get line command" and how do I get root. All information quite easily found out on this or other 770 forums, on Maemo Wiki. When in doubt do a google search. I've found a lot of stuff by a simple google search.

TRY HERE FOR STARTERS:

http://maemo.org/maemowiki/HowDoiBecomeRoot

Let's see :

Just typing "root" in the Search box yields seven pages of hits. That's a lot, but even looking at the first one gives some interesting threads (longer ones are usually richer) :

Nokia 770 Flasher Utility for Mac and Linux Now Available:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...highlight=root

how to su - :
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...highlight=root

Becoming root (Step by step) :
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...highlight=root

Gaining Root :
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...highlight=root

etc.

Ah yes, I've seen all those, very familiar with each one. I must have been misunderstanding, I was thinking sudo gainroot was possible without reflashing like HowdoIbecomeroot page shows.. Sorry for the misunderstanding, thanks much!

You mean the "The hard way (only of academic interest)" part ?
AFAICS it also involves flashing, it even overwrites the entire image (thus "resetting" your 770), while using the flasher program to enable r&d or usb-host modes only flips a few bits in your memory and otherwise leaves the rest alone... Believe us, that is the way to go :-)

I agree with this, but the flasher is not available for XP? I might be wrong, but unless you have access to Linux or MacOS, you have to do it the hard way.

BTW, this is the major reason why I use a dual boot now.