Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Hi everybody,
I'm Juri, from Italy.
I bought my N810 in Canada, few months ago. It's a relly nice and cool object to own and to handle, but I have big problems on using well the OS Maemo.

1- Using Maemo i don't feel so much "flexible" how using for exemple Windows on PC. I know Linux is even more better but...
I'd like to have a more customed desktop and to know how to move on the OS.

2- Here in Italy we haven't so much hotspots WI-Fi, so is quite a problem to go on Internet for me and for this I got problems on installing apps.
I don't know how to install apps on N810 without connecting the device on WI-Fi internet.
Is there a way to download entire app on my PC and then transfer and install it on N810?

3- How can I use (with Wi-Fi ad-hoc connection between PC and N810) the PC cable internet connection?

4- Is there a way to install a more "flexible" (I use the word "flexible" because of my ignorance on Linux, i know that it is even more flexible than windows) OS also to have more apps availables to use on N810?

5- I'm a graphic designer, is there a graphic software like Photoshop but more "light" for N810?

Please help me!!! I know I own a powerfull object but I'm sad because I can't use all its hardware and software capacities.
I'd like to use it everyday!!!

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Oh man, I feel bad for you Juri. Without wi-fi the n810 is reduced to a nice journal or writing instrument, but then again you are a graphics designer. Reegarding #5, the best paint program I've found is mtPaint (search on this forum), but it's like MSPaint and not photoshop.

Linux is weird. Windows kind of teaches you how to use it, there are rows of toolbars and options you can play with. With Linux, it's more like, if you know what you want to do, it's probably been implemented, and a google search will turn up the answer. Windows gives you everything you ask for, but Linux sort of forced me to question what exactly I was doing, rather than just rush into the toolbars. What I want may not have been explicitly implemented, but then I have to go back and question what exactly I need. And usually, someone's already faced the same problem, and come up with a sufficient solution to a more general form.

The process is circular, and you end up learning something about yourself, like the true meaning of Christmas. If Windows is like your rich aunt that gives you a robotic dog, Linux is your hippy buddhist uncle that gives you a wooden block asks you to think about its Buddah-nature. It's kind of a philosophical journey.. vey spiritual. jk

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Oh man!
You're a master!
But... if I wanted a wood block, I'd bought a wood block.
I wanna let come out the robo-dog side of N810.

Yeah, I know that the name of our object is Internet Tablet and without internet (wi-fi) it's only a tablet (alluminium or wood, it' dowsn't matter!)

So, my questions again:

is there a OS more like windows? (toolbars, only answers, etc.?)

How can I install apps without a wireless connection?

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Hi

You can download the apps files .deb corresponding the software you want from garage.maemo.org, transfer it to N810 using the USB cable you received and installing it using Application Manager.

http://tabletschool.blogspot.com/ has many valuable informations for a newbie.

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

the N810 should support connecting ad-hoc to a pc. then the pc needs to run some kind of connection sharing or routing service to send the N810 traffic onwards to the internet connection.

and that all depends on the os running on the computer...

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

If Maemo is too limiting, you can look into Debian and KDE on the tablet. They're a normal Linux distribution and windowing environment, so they're not as limited as Maemo. I haven't tried them on my tablet, because they seem clunky on the tablets and a poor fit for a N800 (no keyboard) like mine.

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

haha i definitely feel mosunderstood. probably because i rarely give advice, and most of whtat I post is me thinking out loud. ah well.

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

You can download the application via any PC, then copy the files over to the nokia, then click on them there to install them. I have done exactly that in the past (I use wifi and the Application Manager on the Nokia exclusively now though)

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Hello Juri,

Probably the best answers to your questions #1,2 and 4, is for you to spend some time at the site Francisco mentioned earlier in the thread: http://tabletschool.blogspot.com/
Time spent at this site is the fastest way to get the useful basics of the IT.

After Krisse's site, a good second step might be the thread on this msg board in which people mention (or link to) what they consider the most useful apps. I think the name is "most useful apps" or something like that.

I was lucky enough to find Krisse's tablet school soon after I bought my IT; it's such a great site. (...which reminds me I need to donate), and then once you've added a few programs and played with the IT a bit, return here and ask some questions, and do some searches; I can assure you from personal experience that anything you want to ask has almost certainly been asked and answered. After that, you'll have a better idea of what direction to go in, and what you are looking for.

In my opinion, the nokia ITs are amazingly useful and fun items, but their true magic only comes with some linux vocabulary. The IT can become virtually a full blown PC if you're willing to learn that much, so if you can dedicate the time to learning a little bit of linux, you can get the IT to do almost anything you can think of.

To not-answer but respond to your question #2, the best way to install apps, given your linux experience, is to use the IT's Application Manager, which makes installing apps so easy that you'll agree it's the way to go, even if you have some difficulty finding a wifi spot. Installing this way is a few clicks, and very quick.


Joe

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Ok guys,
thanku everyone answered me!
I feel Maemo OS too "closed" for me.
I'm not a businessman, I'm not a game player, I'm not a professionist, but at the same time I'm everything and much more, so I'd like to have a OS that let me move like on a Windows OS.

I saw on Internet the KDE.COM about the OS, I think it is really interesting for me above all for the number of apps availables for it like graphic apps!!!

So I have few others questions:

Is it possible to use it as the main OS on n810? Deleting everything about maemo.

Is it possible to use all Maemo apps on kde?

Installing kde as OS, will I lose some functions (hardware & softwares) of my n810?

Is it too slow to use on n810?

Should I use all kde apps on n810 like graphic programs, games and everything else?

Help me please!

What are the differences between kde and debian, of course on n810?

Thanku everybody!

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

KDE is a desktop environment, not an entire operating system. KDE is somewhat like what Windows was back in the days when Windows ran on top of DOS. DOS was the Disk Operating System, and Windows was an environment that ran atop it.

Debian is a Linux distribution. Meaning that it is Linux--a small piece of an operating system, not useful by itself--plus a selection of other odds and ends that fit together to provide an operating system and a wide selection of applications that run on that operating system.

KDE can be installed and run on Debian.

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

So what can i do?

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

I'd suggest that, if you're really interested, you should get a beginner's book for Linux.
On the system level, Linux and Windows are mostly using the same concepts. The difference with Windows is that the low-level stuff is all hidden behind a graphical user interface, and often not accessible or only with great difficulty. With Linux the low-level stuff is accessible by the user (which is a good thing if you want to fix a problem yourself). This can often confuse new users, but it's not needed to get started.
The internet tablet, of course, is a consumer device and so Nokia put a user interface on top to be easily usable by everyone. Normal users would never see the Linux beneath. But if you want to leave the path of being a consumer who just uses the tablet for what it was advertised for, you can do so, because it runs Linux. The door to the powerful low-level layers of the tablet is the X-Terminal in the Utilities menu.
At a first glance, the X-Terminal appears to look and work a bit like DOS or cmd.exe in Windows. The command line is very powerful, if you're willing to dig into it, and the basic stuff is not very difficult. As a side-result you will also get to understand the basic principles of Unix, which can also be helpful when working with MacOS-X or Solaris or other Unix-style systems.

But we warned: Learning Unix takes some time. :)
But it never hurts to know the basic shell commands like 'ls', 'cd', 'rm', 'cp', 'mv', 'ln', 'ps', 'kill'. These few commands can already get you quite far.

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

I agree, Maemo is too closed. I would scratch the OS2008 Maemo Diablo in a second if KDE runs on it smoothly. Message to Maemo: open your system more!

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

For graphics there are a few tools with which you can do some simple sketching. Liqbase, for example. This can be nice to sketch ideas/inspiration (I don't know what kind of graphics work you do but it might be an aid).

You can make a network with your PC using the USB wire, using BlueTooth (USB BlueTooth stick costs 5 EUR), or using WiFi (ad-hoc or by setting the PC into master/ap mode).

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Hi guys,
above all thanu everybody for the answers youre givin me!
Then...

I saw on kde.apps.org some apps like:

Pixel Image editor;
Kad,
etc.

Can I use them on maemo?
Is there a way to make them available on maemo?

Re: Completely Newbie on N810 and above all Linux
 

Wacom makes touch screens for graphics designers.

The NIT isn't made for this, and AFAIK there is no such port for Maemo so this won't work.

For KDE there are some graphics manipulation programs: Krita is KDE's Adobe Photoshop alternative and Karbon14 is KDE's Adobe Illustrator alternative. They work very well, especially the 2.0 tree is advanced feature-wise (but still in beta). They are part of KOffice. I don't know if KOffice works on Deblet though.