N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

What are the settings/steps to putting the N800 into a mode that is the same as putting the N770 into it's case? I guess to me that is defined as "I don't want it to be doing anything except saving batteries and waking up for an alarm" mode.

I tried locking my screen and keys when I put it down last night and this morning, after pushing the power button there was no way to unlock it. The "Push the (*) button" never message came up. The only way to reset it was to take out the battery. Earlier when I left my house, I heard a tone from the N800 that probably meant it dropped the wireless network. I don't know if this messed it up or not. I was hoping that in locked mode, it wouldn't try to attach to the network.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I use the "offline mode" and this makes a big difference to battery life when just leaving the N800 idle. (But then of course you are completely offline)

I imagine the combination of going offline and locking key input will put the unit into the mode which would reduce battery drain to a min. (Taking it close to the Nokia 770 with cover on etc)

Note: If you lock the keys you will not be able to switch off or snooze the alarm quickly.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

The equivalent of the 770 case mode is to press the 'I' button followed by the center of the 5-way pad (or use the stylus).
However, you must set two timeouts to be the same: In the control panel, select screen and set both to the same value. (This is reported as a bug in bugzilla). After that, pressing the two buttons will immediately lock the screen and turn off the display. Edit: This doesn't turn off wi-fi unless you have specified it to, but I believe this is the same for the 770 - you don't want it off anyway, it doesn't use much power and someone can still contact you in voip/chat.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Read and vote for bug #943 - this bug asks that the 770 "case on" shutdown functionality is added to the N800.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

There's quite a bit of rubbish on that #943 bug page.. e.g.

'The use case is something like "check mails while waiting for train on platform, train arrives, tuck N800 away quickly". You wouldn't want to press a small button, wait for a menu to pop up, select an entry, confirm, put the stylus away.'

To activate the N800 you don't wait for a menu, you don't select an entry, you don't confirm, you don't use the stylus. You press two buttons: The 'I' (power) button, and the center pad button. Just as you do to turn off/lock keys. The only issue is really two buttons against one button. I have no problems with two buttons, maybe someone could get that 'hold one button for two long seconds' thing implemented, for those who would prefer that.
There's no need to de-activate the wi-fi, for example. Or the gprs. My n800 has been on wi-fi all day, the battery _still_ shows 6 hours/8 days.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I set WiFi to turn off after 5 minutes (I don't want people to contact me; I'll contact them). My standby time is "forever". :D

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

"Oh sh*t it's my stop!" is usually the situation I find myself in and I don't have the time to dawdle or hunt and peck - with the 770 this was never a problem. With the N800, something better than what we have now is required - using a button designed to be hard to press is not ideal.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Sure there is!

As stated in the bug, some of us work in sensitive environments and don't want the N800 scanning wireless networks all day from within our pockets. And if you were to configure the N800 to use a network away from home the N800 is at liberty to reconnect automatically which is not what you may want it to do (so you have to delete the network to stop the N800 from connecting).

So yes, being able to lock the device quickly AND disable all wireless connectivity IS required. By some of us at least! :)

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Enabling "Soft Power Off" (via the systemui.xml file) and giving it "top priority" (so that it appears at the top of the power-button popup list) was exactly what I needed. It doesn't disable the WiFi, which is fine for me since I kinda like the "Always On" philosophy (as long as it doesn't affect battery life too much, and I don't think it has, in my case), but it turns off the screen and locks the keys immediately. It's not as convenient as the 770 cover, but power-button-enter-button is pretty quick to turn it off, and holding down the power button to turn it back on isn't too horrible.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Or, just don't save the settings when you first connect to the network?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Agreed. I fell victim to this one too, but it's a simple case of reading the dialog before pressing Ok! I hit cancel whenever I'm away from home, now...

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

If you edit /etc/mce/mce.ini you can make the power button do soft power off.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

How do you do that?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

OK, before we go into that, a few questions:

- Do you have any user experience with Linux? Or at least know how Linux file systems are organized?
- Do you have Xterm and a means to become root installed?
- Do you know what Midnight Commander is? Or do you know how to work with vim, Joe or Nano?

(I'm not trying to be pedantic, but certain procedures are definitely hacky in nature and those who say "Duh?" at the previous questions, are best to leave them alone)

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

BTW, I'm seriously considering to set the longkeypress of the power key to softpoweroff (seeing as I hardly ever shutdown NaB00 and the power off option is in the menu anyway).

Does anyone know a good reason (as in: "No, you fool!! that'll wreck your device!!") for not doing this?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I've done this and there does not seem to be any adverse effects. I have switched off and on a couple of times and also longpressed the power button a couple of times all seems to be as it should.

Rick

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Well, I just did it: changed the longpress of the power key to softpoweroff. Everything works as it should, although a reboot appears to be necessary (at least, the first time I tried the new longpress, NaB00 shut down).

Interestingly enough, the new longpress behaviour extends to power on as well: all I now have to do to put NaB00 to sleep or wake him up again, is press the power key for a second (the default length of 1,000 milliseconds for longpress can be changed as well, but 1 second if fine by me; that's about as long as it took to slide the cover over poor old NokiLLO).

Yay Nokia! (but you're still not off the hook for the video botchup)

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

one of the reasons I got a 770 was to get into linux a little. I'm now into my second month of 800 and still haven't. Things like this little hack make me realise I have to now..... other things I've been party to as online communities for various audio recording things have always at some point had a site that gave a real "start from scratch" tutorial for newbies - is there any such thing around that anyone could point me to (and the many new users of this forum that have obviously just come into contact with the devices)? I don't want a full-on university course, just somewhere that with a little input will allow me to answer "yes" to Karel's questions.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Karel, any chance you could post the modified section of file?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

The 770's and N800's underbellies are a pretty much standard Linux installation, with a few adaptations towards a portable device (power management and user management). This means that any "Linux for Beginners" book is a good place to start.

My starting point, many years ago, was "Linux in a Nutshell" from O'Reilly. I don't even know if this book is still in print, but I found it amazingly helpful. It doesn't try to be a "for dummies" book, but still manages to explain everything to the not-particularly-genius (a subspecies I am proud to be a member of).

my best advice would be to install Linux on a desktop somewhere, get that, or another, book and play a bit.

In the mean time, for this particular problem:

1. Install Xterm from repository
2. Install becomeroot (read the instructions on the homepage!) from repository
3. Install Midnight Commander from repository

Concise information about Midnight Commander: It is a text-based (meaning that it runs from an Xterm, by typing "mc" at the command prompt) file management tool, in the style of Norton Commander for the old DOS-pc. With Midnight Commander you can access the complete filesystem of the N800, far more than what the built in nanny-file manager will let you see.

Warning! Linux file systems are substantially different from what you get on a pc, something I am not even going to try to explain in this message.

More warning! The following steps involve messing around in your system as "root", which is the equivalent of "God" in a Linux filesystem. If anything goes wrong, don't blame me; I don't exist.

If you have those three applications, I would advize you to play around with Midnight Commander a while, without becoming root. It will be very hard to mess things up irrevocably as a user and if you get completely stuck (which will happen!), you can always hit the big X of the Xterm and chicken out.

So, assuming you've been around the virtual block a few times, do this:

1. Start Xterm (make sure the input method is the keyboard, Xterm doesn't play well with the HWR)
2. Type "sudo gainroot" (without the brackets; I'm assuming from now on you'll leave them out). You'll get some messages and the prompt changes from "/ $" to "/ #", indicating that you are now root and evil things may happen.
3. Type "mc". If you've played with mc before, you'll notice it has now a different colour scheme. Again, this is to tell you you are now root. From these warnings it must now have become clear that root is not to be taken lightly. I kid you not.
4. In mc, scroll down in the left pane to the "/etc" directory and hit enter on the virtual keyboard (as you know from your experiments, the enter key on the D-pad doesn't work).
5. In the "/etc" directory, scroll down to the "/mce" directory (it's really the "/etc/mce" directory, but we'll go on what the mc window shows you)
6. In the "/mce" directory, scroll to the file "mce.ini" (you know it's a file, because there's no "/" in front of it).
7. Don't hit enter. Funny things happen if you hit enter on a file. At the bottom of the mc window, you'll see a row of numbers, followed by commands; this is mc's main menu. Tapping "4 Edit" will start the file editor.
8. Look around in the file; it is a rather typical example of a Linux configuration file: All in plain text and with lots of explanations. To change the behaviour of the long powerkeypress, first find the section that begins with "[PowerKey]" (you can use the search function in the editor, but the file is not that long, so scrolling until you see it is doable). In that section look for a line that reads: "PowerKeyLongAction=poweroff". Change "poweroff" to "softpoweroff". DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE.
9. Tap "2 Save"; confirm save file.
10 Exit mc by tapping "10 Quit" (this option is normally not visible; you have to zoom out with the top keys until you see it)
10. Type "exit" at the Xterm command prompt. This will end root mode (see how the trusted "/ $" prompt is back to tell you all is well?)
11. Type "exit" again to end your Xterm session.

(if all the exiting doesn't work out well, hitting the "X" of the Xterm window will shut everything down. It is frowned upon, but I don't think it'll cause any harm, as long as you get out of the editor cleanly first)

It is possible that the new behaviour of the powerkey doesn't start until you reboot, so make sure you have nothing important running when you try it for the first time.

12. Ask someone else where to find the "systemui.xml" file and how to modify it, if you want to change the power menu.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I was typing that long reply. Does that one help?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Spot on thanks :)

Though I just used sudo gainroot followed by vi /etc/mce/mce.ini

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Oh and if anyone else is reading this, I don't think the mce and systemui changes play nice together. I applied both and managed to end up with a system where the power button didn't bring up the menu or activate the key/screen unlock option.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Long live mbm!
Editing the mce.ini and changing the PowerKeyLongAction to softpoweroff is the solution to a problem for most of us, thanks. :D

One little thing though, if I press for a second and manage to release just after 1 s then the screen comes back briefly before turning off. Pressing a bit longer than 1 s turns it off straight away.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I don't know [private parts] about vi(m) myself. :D

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Reboot? (In your case: take out the battery)

It seems changes in mce.ini only take effect after a reboot.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

It must be 1.5 s because PowerKeyLongDelay=1500.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I still don't see the problem. Configure wi-fi search interval to 'never' and it won't connect automatically, nor will it search. I will start searching when the N800 is on, and you try to go networking. Then you have to select and accept. When you go on your bus or train you eventually lose your connection (even if you didn't disconnect manually). Your N800 will not continue scanning after this stage. In fact it will scan only when you ask it to. So what is then the difference between an N800 and a 770?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I *want* this functionality when I'm at home, but I don't want it when I'm in an environment where wireless devices are prohibited. So that's why I want a quick way to shut up the wireless when the thing is in my pocket, exactly the kind of functionality I had with my 770.

It's great that Nokia have sorted out the "always on" functionality, but they have totally forgotten about those of us that sometimes want "always off" functionality as well!!

:)

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Any one else having a problem where it's impossible to unlock the screen because the |*| button is not recognized as being hit? I get the "Now Press |*|" but it just goes away after a couple of seconds because multiple presses of the center key don't do anything.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I had that problem when I tried a Sony PSP screen protector on my N800. There is probably unusual stress under the edge of the frame somewhere, maybe some dirt.

You could try the "business card trick" of Newtons of yore: Use the edge or corner of a business card to go under the frame, all around the screen. This will remove any gunk that might have accumulated there. It's probably best to do this with the N800 off...

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

The screen is fine. It's the fact that the center button is somehow disabled so pushing it doesn't complete the two button press unlock procedure. After a reboot, things work fine for some unknown amount of time.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

I had something similar... First modified mce.ini as above. Then modified systemui.xml to get the Soft Poweroff entry on the "Device mode" menu. It appeared OK at the top of the list but the middle button did not work. Restored systemui and now all works fine.

It seems to me that there are some hickups with softpoweroff, probably it is not enabled for a reason, hopefully will be ironed out in the next version.

What is "softpoweroff"?
 

Hi!
I've just updated mce.ini to enable softpoweroff when long-pressing the on/off button (and I've rebooted). But it thought that this would have turned WIFI off too: am I wrong? So what is exactly "softpoweroff"? Any solution to turn both screen and WIFI off by the same action?
TIA.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Isn't that what the "Offline" (aka "Flight") mode is for? If you're going into a place where wireless devices are prohibited (yet they allow it as long as you turn it off, i.e. an airplane), then put it into offline mode.

I work for a defense contractor, so I feel your pain, but in my experience, if wireless devices aren't allowed, then they are not allowed period, regardless of whether or not you turn off the wireless parts.

If you don't like Offline mode, then you can always switch the device off entirely. It only takes 30 seconds to boot up, and if you have it in "Always Off" mode, then you're probably not using it very often anyway, since it is, after all, an Internet Tablet. :)

Personally, Soft Poweroff is exactly what I need, and if the N800 had a cover (and, in my opinion, it desperately needs one), I'd set it to do just that if I put the cover on. And I think that's basically what the 770 does if you enable the "Keep Wireless on when cover is on" option.

Re: What is "softpoweroff"?
 

Not as far as I know. The closest I've come is setting WiFi to go off after 5 minutes. Or, if you set WiFi to never scan, it won't burn your elektrik juice. ;)

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Yep, flight mode would do the trick but taking that route means I've got even more buttons and menu options to select from - first I need to enter Flight mode, then I need to Lock the device, and if I want to use WiFi/BT I've got to exit from Flight mode (another menu option). This isn't how it was with the 770.

Ideally I need a combination of Locked + Flight mode, with online mode restored when the device is unlocked but it shouldn't go online automatically - I guess I can stop this by disabling the Connection -> Search Interval...

(Aside: Hmm, why can't I specify the "auto connect" status for individual WiFi APs? A "work" WLAN would never be auto connect, but "home" would be... may log an RFE for that).

It's almost as bad as a defence contractor but not quite - Swiss investment bank. :)

I do use it during the day, from time to time - enough times that having it powered off would be a major pain. Being able to unlock it without connecting to a network would be great. My major requirement is that when I lock it I know that it's also disconnected - this isn't currently possible unless I go into the Power Menu and select two options in sequence (and there's also one extra confirmation dialog before going into Flight mode!)

Ultimately this shouldn't be that difficult to sort out - it's about user convenience and what Nokia need to do is design additional options into the Device Lock control panel applet and allow the user to decide how the device behaves, as we all definately do not live in the "one size fits all" world that Nokians seem to inhabit :). I'd even like the user to be able to choose how the "Lock" mode is activated - ie. a front panel button instead of power menu - but that's probably going waaaay too far. :)

Yep, a case is essential and should even be a standard in-box accessory - where's the bl**dy case you, promised Nokia? ;)

As you've probably guessed by now, I disable the 770s "Keep Wireless on when cover is on" option. :D

EDIT: RFE added.

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

There is a line in systemui.xml ending with "flight". Is that something to do with Flight mode?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

in
3. Install Midnight Commander from repository
What repository do I need to add to see this in the Installable Applications?

Re: N800 Equivalent to Closing N770 Case?
 

Sorry, my mistake.

You can install Midnight Commander from here (with your Nokia):

http://www.komputika.net/maemo/

Find the file "mc_4.6.1-2_armel.deb".