Any way to backup settings files not done by Nokia 770's own backup/restore?

[karijackson]

I bought a Nokia 770 yesterday, and spent the ENTIRE day reading the manual (yes, I'm one of THOSE people) and getting every possible setting configured exactly the way I wanted it.

Then I found (http://www.nokiausa.com/support/phones/softwareupdate/1,8461,770,00.html) that there's a software update I should install.

NOWHERE did it mention that installing this update was going to wipe out everything in the memory, until I was already deep into the process.

Well, at that point, it told me to do a backup, and it implied that restoring the backup was going to take care of everything. How gullible was I? I believed it, and went ahead with the process.

Not true! And I really don't think the company should do such a thing to a person without warning them and letting them DECIDE whether to take that risk or not. We should have been TOLD that the backup/restore was not going to take care of everything.

All the Maemo applications I had installed and configured were gone, and the ENTIRE list of Application Catalogs I had entered was gone, and some browser settings, and I don't remember how much else.

Is there any way to backup and restore whatever files hold those settings, since the Nokia 770 backup/restore only did a lot, not all, of the settings?

(What's weird is that once I reinstalled VNC Viewer and Maemo Mapper, they still remembered their old settings.)

[SeRi@lDiE]

They remember there old settings becuase they store the settings in the external media. I know for a fact Maemo-maper does. not sure about VNC

[gnuite]

They remember there old settings becuase they store the settings in the external media. I know for a fact Maemo-maper does. not sure about VNC
Actually, Maemo Mapper stores its settings in gconf. I think gconf settings (or, at least, some of them) are saved and recalled by the backup/restore utility.

[markku]

I did notice the same thing, my GPE calendars have always restored when using restore. I thought that flashing would wipe the user information but the calendars were there again. Good thing because I don't either know how to backup that information which backup will not do.

Markku

[aflegg]

An application can "register" with the backup system to backup its configuration files.

The applications aren't backed up for very very good technical reasons: there's no guarantee they'll work on the new image (it might not be a point release, but a major upgrade)

The application catalogue isn't backed up for reasonable technical reasons: there's no guarantee that post-upgrade the catalogue will contain applications you can run on the new OS. This is more debatable, and there are a few technical solutions here.

HTH,

Andrew

[benny1967]

The application catalogue isn't backed up for reasonable technical reasons: there's no guarantee that post-upgrade the catalogue will contain applications you can run on the new OS. This is more debatable, and there are a few technical solutions here.

I would be interested to know how to safely keep/backup all the repositories in the application manager. Adding them one by one after a only minor upgrade is more annoying than re-installing the applications afterwards.

[TA-t3]

FWIW, the backup function in my old zaurus SL-5500 backed up everything I had installed. It restored everything withouth problems after flash OS updates, this was extremely convenient.

Now, there could be compatibility issues, but IMO it's better to restore, and then remove non-working apps afterwards, instead of having to go and re-install everything by hand. (And here we're back to the old OS2006-2007 discussion, but really, I've got apps. back from 1992 that still works on my PC linux, although some don't. But everything from, say, 1994 works. Getting old apps to work with new OS'es is _not_ a big deal. The other way is a different story. But of course, coming from smartphones doesn't teach this..)

On my own N800 I'm going to set up an extended backup system of some kind, before the next OS version becomes available.

[aflegg]

I would be interested to know how to safely keep/backup all the repositories in the application manager. Adding them one by one after a only minor upgrade is more annoying than re-installing the applications afterwards.

Make a copy of /etc/apt/sources.list and restore it back.

[benny1967]

@aflegg: thank you!

[karijackson]

Make a copy of /etc/apt/sources.list and restore it back.

Thanks, aflegg, from me, too! So.....I guess I need a file manager (other than the built-in one) to do that? I don't see one on the Maemo page.

[benny1967]

@karijackson: xterm will do.

[karijackson]

I had to look up "xterm" to see what that is.

So you're assuming I'm not one of those people who'd drop dead of a heart attack when confronted with a command line window.

That's okay - I wrote a book about DOS. UNIX command line = a bit more difficult, however!!!!!!! But okay.

So I imagine that I can handle the "cp" and the "/etc/apt/sources.list", but how will I know what drive letter (or whatever) my memory card is, so I can specify the target location?

And, do I need to be logged in as Administrator (I believe you call it "root") in order to access the /etc/apt directory? In which case I'll need to know how to do that too.

I guess I'll have to get out my old book "Using LINUX" which I could not manage to understand a few years ago when I tried it.

[fpp]

If you are an old hand from the DOS days there is hope still :-)

Think of xterm as a DOS box inside Windows, except you get a "$" prompt instead of "C:\>"...

Now, you need a "#" instead of that "$". Yes, that means being "root". Fortunately it's become much easier. Just use the Application Catalog and Manager to install a package aptly named "BecomeRoot". Once you have that, in xterm just type "sudo gainroot" and voilà, there is your pound sign...

Last but not least : if you knew DOS you knew Norton Commander, right ? So look for the "Midnight Commander" package and install that.
Now, after you've done the above just type "mc" and things will look brighter :-)

PS: the place you need to be in the right pane for copying your stuff to, is below /media/mmc1/

[TA-t3]

Do a 'df -h' in the command line. It will show you what's mounted. If you have two cards and they are of different sizes you'll be able to identify which is which. If not, then do 'ls /media/mmc? (where ? is 1 or 2) and recognize your card by the content. Or, you can just rely on the common knowledge (see previous post) that the external card is /media/mmc1/ :-)

[fpp]

The question is about backing up the 770, so the point is moot :-)

[TA-t3]

Ah, indeed :-) Too many threads to keep track of.. but in any case, the 'df' command will give you the name of the mountpoint, whether you have one or two card slots.

[karijackson]

Now, you need a "#" instead of that "$". Yes, that means being "root". Fortunately it's become much easier. Just use the Application Catalog and Manager to install a package aptly named "BecomeRoot". Once you have that, in xterm just type "sudo gainroot" and voilà, there is your pound sign...

I was able to "cp" the file to "/media/mmc1" without being root!

But I figured I'll shortly find something ELSE I want to do that does require root, right? So I went to have a look at BecomeRoot, and its author scared me away! It says "WARNING: This packages could brick the device (by touching /usr/sbin/gainroot file). DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK."

Do I really want to do that?

I don't ever intend to program on this thing, or anything like that. I'm just using it for its originally intended purpose plus a few Maemo applications that I find.....Maybe I won't ever need to be root?

Or is the warning really not as scary as it sounds?

[fpp]

1) Yes, you were able to back it up without fuss, because as "user" you have read permissions on /etc/apt/sources.list, and write permissions on /media/mmc1. But when you want to restore it after a flash you will need *write* permissions on sources.list, hence root priviledge :-)

2) Nokia's own Application Manager displays a warning that's even scarier every time you try to install or update something. Yet everyone does it, right ? :-)

3) BecomeRoot is the most problem-free package I've ever seen on the 770. The only real danger is not with the tool, but lies in being root, if you muck around in xterm or mc doing things you don't understand. But did you never delete you autoexec.bat or config.sys in the bad old days ? :-)

[karijackson]

I will do it, fpp, thank you!

[karijackson]

Well, it seems I can't install BecomeRoot after all. The http://eko.one.pl/maemo repository is one of several which I have not been able to access, ever since I installed the http://www.nokiausa.com/support/phones/softwareupdate/1,8461,770,00.html upgrade that started this whole thread. I had thought it was a coincidence but now I'm not so sure. These sites could not just "happen to" be "down" all this time, could they? I really doubt it. So how did the Nokia software upgrade make those several maemo repositories stop working on my device? And more importantly, how do I make them start again?

[aflegg]

Did you have a proxy configured before the update, which you've not reset? That'd be my top guess.

[karijackson]

No sir, no proxy.

[talmage]

Matt Andrew has
instructions for backing up almost anything (http://internettabletmania.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/customizing-what-gets-backed-up-on-the-internet-tablets-workaround-for-bug-974/).