Where do apps install on N900?
 

Firstly this question is concerning the N900 but thought this would be a better place for the thread.

Where do the apps install to on the N900 in terms of "drive space"? I mean do they install to the 32Gb of internal storage completely or are there elements that have to install elsewhere? I just want to check before downloading loads of apps and getting "run out of disc space" errors :)

Sorry if this is simple question but I am just learning about the whole Linux/Maemo thing.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

There is a 2GB partition where all the sofware will go.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

There are 3 partitions on the device root, opt and MyDocs.

root is 256MB, applications can install there but it is not recommended and any app you get from extras and probably ovi will not install to root.
Opt is 2GB and is the recommended place to install apps so most will install there.
MyDocs is around 28GB and it's unlikely that any apps will install there. Although technically an app could install there but it's not a good idea as MyDocs is not guaranteed that this will be available as it is what can unmounted when connected to a PC.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

The N900 has 256MB of flash where the system boots from. There is an additional 1GB partition taken from the 32GB of space on which the greater part of all programs installed will reside.

You will essentially be running off of the 256MB partition, but the programs will install on the 1GB. Also I'm sure that 1GB can be expanded to as much as you need.

**EDIT**
Matrim sorry posted at the same time...
Do you have the N900? does it come with a 2GB opt partition? I read that 1 and 2 GB... I Do not own one btw.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

I don't have one so I'm not too sure. I remember reading somewhere that opt was 2GB but after checking the developer guide again it says 1GB. See here

Can someone with a device confirm if opt is 1 or 2 GB?

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Wikipedia says:

• 2GB as ext3 mounted to /home
• 768MiB as swap
• the remainder as VFAT mounted to /home/user/MyDocs with about 25GB of free space.
  
• The 256 MB NAND is formatted as UBIFS and contains the bootloader, kernel and root directory "/" with about 100MB of free space.
  

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

All --> thanks for your input. If someone with a N900 could confirm whether opt is 2GB or 1 that would be good as we seem to have conflicting data from a number of sources.

Also as a further question on this, how much space will the average app take up? I realise its one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions because all apps will vary, I am just trying to get a feel for how many apps can be installed.

And further if we do run out of space, is here anyway of increasing the size without losing the data installed on it, or are we better off increasing it when its first out the box.

Thanks for eveyones input on this, just trying to cover all bases once I actually get my hands on the device! :)

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Well running my n800 off my SDHC card, I allocated 4 GBs for the operating system (I use to run easy Debian on so I wanted the extra room). With the games and applications I currently have installed I use up 1.54 GBs (including the operating system) and have 2.46 GBs left.

As for is there anyway to increase the size without losing data.. sort of. You could extend it to the microSD card but then that would mean you couldn't run the operating system without the card being in it. So I would say change it when you get the device if you want to be sure. I'm planning on making it around 3-4 GBs myself since I don't use up the entire 32 GBs I have in my n800 anyway.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

opt is 2GB on my shiny new n900

i've had a quick browse through the apps and they range from a few k to 15mb. whilst i suspect 32gb will be plenty of space for as many apps as you'd ever want, if you pack it with music and videos you'll soon find yourself approaching the limit. but then there is a slot for mini flash memory card!

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

/opt and /etc/fstab
http://pixelpipe.com/item/fff2ae32-6...0-a2720a8f30ad
http://pixelpipe.com/item/40841057-0...e-0217aa472463

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

This is correct, although I believe apps are allowed to use the MyDocs space for nonessential data. For example a game could use it to store extra level downloads and so on.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Has someone GPARTED or any disk manager tool for maemo?

1. unmount /home/opt
2. unmount /MyDocs
3. delete /Mydocs partition
4. resize /home/opt (10GB)
5. creat new EXT3 partition for /MyDocs

Has someone already tried it?

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

How? :) I am OK with computers etc but this Linux thing is completely new to me. Could you put a walkthrough of how to actually achieve this on this thread because I really don't want to muck about with it myself and break my shiny new device the day I get it :D

I think 4-5 GB would be a good start as I will probably be using the mircoSD for all my media anyway, but I can't see me using more than 5 GB on apps!

Thanks

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Not entirely sure what I am looking at here lol? It would be good if someone could post a simple way to increase the size of the /opt (as I understand it thats where our apps will mainly go to) for the people that know what they want to do but aren't sure how to do it safely :)

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

I don't know how to do it on the n900 (don't even have one yet). But once I get the system and have some time (if it arrives before Thanksgiving) I can see a Linux PC using gparted sees the n900's partitions. There are walkthroughs for the n800/n810 but I don't know how much applies. But I'll create one if I deem it relatively safe to proceed =P

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Ok thanks, I can see this being a problem for people if the apps start to get bigger/more of them, 2 GB doesn't sound a lot, if my maths is right thats 136 ish apps of 15Mb (largest case). Considering there are 490 for OS2008, ok people won't need all of them but plus games etc etc.....you can see where I am going with this....

If I find anything else from another source or someone who already has one I'll post it here, maybe worthy off a wiki page....if anyone is interested ;)

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Laughing Man,

After speaking to Qole on a different thread, its seems as if the 2GB /opt is not going to be an issue. So I'm just going to leave mine as it is for the time being, or until it does become an issue, please see thread below for details. Thanks for your help.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...467#post378467

Cheers,
Dave

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

I could see myself easily needing more than 2gb, especially if I want to get programs like open office running. I understand its workable on n8xx series devices with a few tweeks, which means it should easily work on an n900.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

This was my main concern, about large programs like easy debian (to get open office etc) but if you look at the thread below it explains where the "easy debian" package installs to. So the 2 GB /opt should be ok for standard apps downloaded from the repos, as is quoted by Qole on the thread below:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=32620

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

Is there a way to increase the partition size utilizing free space without having to backup installed apps/data etc?

Also - I would expect it would be possible - if I were to install something like the SNES emulator, I would expect to be able to dump the ROMs on a SD card or the "MyDocs" area (which I'm guessing is a FAT32/NTFS partition so as to be able to seen when connected in Windows). Would this work?

And I also second a step by step guide for those of us new to Linux... I haven't used Unix for many years now and my memory is hazy.

Re: Where do apps install too on N900?
 

I don't think there's anything that you can on the device itself, but by connecting the device to a host PC via USB, you could probably use something like gparted in Linux, or a gparted live CD. Note that I've not tried this, so wait until someone has tried and written a tutorial first!

Yes, I'm sure emulators will use MyDocs by default for ROM storage, and allow you to use SD cards, as that would be the only sensible thing to do. MyDocs is a FAT32 partition.

I'm sure there are plenty of general (non-Maemo-specific) Linux tutorials if you Google for them.