Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Oh, my. So, are you going to stick with your current CPU and Motherboard , say , 2 years from now? Nah, you are going to have to upgrade.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

What exactly? My current problem is:
rootfs is too small.
Default applications are ludicrous (I would happily remove marbles and mahjong, and replace chess with eboard, and uninstall MicroB and Maps; I already have Fennec and Chromium and ModRana; and replace RSS reader with Fennec extension).
mp-fremantle-generic-pr will not allow me to uninstall most of them.
Especially all these locales.
I will have to make a deb for that.

I enjoy: Fennec, ModRana, QStarDict, QtOctave, Orrery, Stellarium, MBarcode, VU Meter, QRadio, Panorama. And voximp. And CellWriter.
I would like Aptitude to work. It gives Segmentation Fault.
I also have vim and leafpad, Ship Rolling, mobile mind, Filebox, Copernicium and Easy Chem, Cell Tower Info.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

"PC or Mac"
My god. People really are brainwashed.

Recent Apple desktops and laptops "powered by Intel" are x86 architecture the same as any other [common] desktop/laptop architecture. To put it simply: Windows, Linux and OSX* can run on any (requires some hacks, drivers for all hardware are not available and this violates the ToS for OSX) Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc. computer. AND OSX, Windows and Linux can run on any [recent] "Mac" desktop or "Macbook" laptop.

A history lesson:

Once upon a time, Microsoft's Windows ran on the x86 architecture [only].
Once upon a time, Apple's OSX ran on the PowerPC architecture [only].
Once upon a time, mobile devices used a random assortment of chips from different manufacturers of varying architectures.

The hardware was different. And yes Linux has been ported to nearly every architecture imaginable, it's flexible like that.

Present day, Microsoft is considering porting Windows to ARM architecture. Windows runs on x86 and x86_64 archs.
Present day, Apple's OSX runs on x86 (and x86_64) architecture.
Present day, mobile devices run on some form of ARM architecture. Symbian, WinCE7, iOS, Android, Maemo all run on ARM. NAS devices run on ARM and typically run some form of Linux.

Present day, the most popular architecture is x86. And unbeknownst to many people, their machines are secretly x86_64 (which has backwards compatibility with x86; unlike Intel's failed IA-64 arch). In fact all AMD CPUs since the Opteron have been 64-bit capable and all Intel CPUs since Core2 (except: older Atom processors) are 64-bit capable.

So ARM vs x86, fight fight fight? Wrong.

x86 is the dominant standard because of three things, it's a standard and has been (a.k.a. tradition), Windows run on it, and Intel backs it. The relationship is Intel<==>Windows, symbiotic.Intel the giant it is, isn't one to put all it's eggs in one basket, and so the "Mac" deal was very important to them. In terms of pure computing power x86 has the lead by far. In the Pentium 4 days they continually increased the clock-speed as much as possible within the constraints of keeping the processor cooled enough. In the last few years the focus has been on multi-core chips that run processes in parallel to increase performance.

In cars terms the x86 chips are the V8's of the processor world; raw performance and bad gas mileage battery life.

ARM on the other hand has one major upper-hand against x86, battery life. ARM is better optimized and much more efficient at accomplishing the same tasks with less power. However ARM has been historically slow. Very slow and only suitable for simple processing and best suited towards embedded devices. ARM has also been very portable, unlike x86 which is best suited attached to wall outlet. ARM hasn't had heat issues on the scale that x86 does. Downsides? Not standard. ARM is extremely fragmented with any kind of compatibility among chips disregarded and in many cases avoided on purpose. There is also the matter of ARMEL or ARM Little Endian which is yet another fragmentation of ARM; Endianness is a complex topic I won't discuss here. In the last few years ARM has been playing major catch-up and has begun to be able to go toe-to-toe with low-end x86 chips such as the Intel Atom processors. Which OS has been a long for the ride? Linux.

In car terms ARM systems are the electric cars of the car world; fuel power efficient but can't go very fast.

x86 has another advantage over ARM besides raw power - modularity. A typical computer that runs a x86 has an upgradable processor, upgradable RAM DIMMs, bus slots (PCI, PCI-E, PCMCIA, ExpressCard), in most cases upgradable storage and USB-A female host port(s). This contrasts to ARM which have non-upgradable processors, non-upgradable RAM, typically no bus slots, soldered on storage and if you are LUCKY a USB client port that MIGHT support On-The-Go host capability.

Of course the next big rage is SoC - System on a Chip. A lot of ARM devices are going SoC. And in the other realm, Intel is cramming RAM and GPUs into their latest CPUs (Asus is referring to this trend as APUs)

The companies in the industry are the deciding factor to which architectures survive and which die, unfortunately. As much as "vote with your wallet" goes, that can only apply to individual products and in some cases individual companies, but not entire architectures, that is left to the corporate cogs.

Yes, you in the back with your hand up. What about PowerPC (PPC)? What about it? In terms of "Personal Computer" use, it's all about dead. However, it's alive and well in the server industry as well as all 3 major videogame consoles hooked up to your TV.

So, ARM vs x86? There really isn't one winner. x86 will continue to do our heavy lifting for quite some time, but ARM will continue to ramp up to scoop up portable and other device types that require low power consumption. Of course with the proliferation of ARM, Intel has marked a large target on the back of ARM, trying to push their Atom and "Moorestown" x86 alternatives; despite the Atom having about the performance of a Celeron and the power consumption too (which is to say poor).

I hope this at least opens the eyes of some people. Others it will unfortunately go way over the heads of; each term you are unfamiliar with, I highly recommend looking up on Wikipedia. I also expect many people to counter the above either with exceptions or claims that what I said falls under "exceptions" or general disagreements. And of course obligatory FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) against points I made. Also I don't proof-read, there may be grammatical errors (Firefox's spell-check should have taken care of any spelling errors though).

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Also to all the people talking about throwing out their desktops:
I'll take them. Two words - cluster farm.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

depends what u want to do.

i have NOT use my desktop for a month. i switched to a netbook @home. it is small. i m now in a hotel, 4am in the morning, posting from my 7" android tablet a81e. i dont have a desktop. i dont have a laptop. i dont have a netbook.

for the last 3 trips, important business stuff, not fam vac, i brought only my n900 and my android tablet. no problems for a 7 day trip on the road.

my mrs? she used to carry a 15.4 in laptop. she switched to a netbook the last 2 trips.
today? she did not carry anything! when she needs to 'compute', she grabbed the 7in android tablet, sometimes the n900. Of note, she is NOT computer literate!

bun

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

i've bought my first laptop 7 years ago. ever since, i have not bought a desktop.

performance-wise i'm perfectly fine with my laptop (being a gamer), but i dont need to be able to play every game on max. settings.
my next system? will be a laptop.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

I've got an spare Dell CSx laptop screen at home.
What I wouldn't give for some schematics (VGA pin-outs, power diagram etc) to see if it's feasible to make that into some sort of docking station for my N900.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=889433

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Then ditch the rootfs. There is a guide on these forums about moving it to your opt/home partition, which you can make bigger.

Just uninstall mp-fremantle-generic-pr, the only issue it will cause is if you want to do an OTA upgrade to PR1.4 (which probably isn't coming anyway). It is just a meta-package. It's sole purpose is to list the system packages as dependencies so they get/remain installed or get upgraded when Nokia pushes out a system update.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

The only Desktops in our house are the Backend, and frontends for Mythtv.

I have a 4 year old Toshiba which was a work cast off, and a couple which the family use. Mine has ubuntu on, so I have ditched Windows as well as a desktop.

I could ditch my Laptop, and use the N900 for 98% of what I do if I had a large screen with composite in, and keyboard setup.

My N900 is already my main media device. The only area it fails is HD (which it wasn't designed for so OK), and streaming UPNP media, ripped DVDs, DVB-T broadcast recordings, from the Mythtv server as they mostly buffer constantly. I can stream over wireless to Laptops OK, and if I download the file to the N90) they are OK, so it must be the N900s wireless performance, or the way the media player implements network control.

If my laptop dies, then I will probably just buy a cheap smallish Lcd tv and setup a desk station fr the N900.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

If you got more than 5 gadgets, you don't own them - they own you. :cool:

I still haven't found anything close to a perfect combination of gadgets working in harmony, there's always something. I could use iGadgets, then the gadgets wouldn't own me, Steve would, so it is no good alternative.

Hell, the N900 can't even sync with Ovi. But Symbian and Ovi is getting increasingly better by the hour, with an N8 (or some other symbian^3) there is almost no need for a PC anymore.

So whatever the N9 will be, if it can't operate properly with Ovi, forget it. I have tried so many different stuff lately, and we can discuss Symbian and MeeGo and Android and Bada and WP7 all we want, it doesn't matter. Ovi and all the services there is what it is all about, it is what Nokia will be all about. With proper Ovi integration I could have all the gadgets in the world, and they wouldn't own me, I would own them. I am not talking apps here, I am talking the whole package of Ovi services. It is what makes all the difference between Nokia and the rest.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

I see what you're trying to say, but you don't need more than 5 gadgets to be addicted to one. First week I got the N900, I never put it down.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

With the N900, I don't have 5 gadgets anymore.. It has replaced, Mp3 player, fm radio, internet radio, portable video player, phone, digital camera, SatNav, bicycle computer, and nearly a laptop!

I installed Ovi Suite 3 on my windows 7 work laptop, and it syncs perfectly with the N900, and with Outlook on the desktop for my calendar appointments as well. The only thing it does not sync for me are the favourites in Maps, but I do not use Ovi Maps on the N900 anyway.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Syncing and services are not really as important to me; yeah, being able to sync contacts is nice, but the calendar in my pocket is the only one I use and as I use IMAP for email, sncing that isn't really an issue. Having a computer n my pocket that can, of itself, do stuff is more important to me. My PC's U/S at the moment, adn has been for months. The main reasons I want to reanimate it are to watch/record TV and rip DVDs...

Edit: Nota bene - one example of the device not able to do stuff on its own which really annoys me: Maps needing to go online to search and calculate routes (the current workarounds being developed notwithstanding). I know the device can do it, so I don't want an Ovi service, I want the device to Just Do It, particularly when on holiday and trying to avaoid to much by way of roaming charges...

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Yes, but it does not sync with Ovi, the online service (mail, calender, contacts, music, pics, videos, maps (not properly at least) and so on). With Ovi Suite you need a PC running MS-Windows, syncing directly with Ovi is better. With the N900 you cannot even connect with Ovi through Ovi Suite, only MS Outlook.

Symbian devices are OK regarding Ovi, but not more. They are getting better and better at it every other week though, through updates. The N900 is left out in the cold. Ovi is getting really good, and by not being connected, we are missing half of what constitutes a Nokia device.

For instance, if you have purchased a song or an album, you can download that music on the fly wherever you are. Technically you can do that also on the N900, but the "steam engine way" compared to the 2011-way.

With Ovi services and proper integration you really can through away your desktop, or not, it doesn't matter. Everything is there in Ovi no matter what.

Open source, closed source, MeeGo, Android, Bada, touch screen, twin processors and whatnot, it is all becoming close to irrelevant unless you have proper online services - like Ovi.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Huh? That's MY point. My last upgrade of the mobo, cpu cost probably $400 and got me a quad core cpu that is running at 3800 MHz and a motherboard that has USB 3, dual gigabit lan, and support for 3 video cards. My laptop less than 2 years old can never upgrade past a single video card and dual core cpu, so it costs me around $1500 every 2-3 years to replace it. So, anyone that actually wants a fast computer needs to spend 3-4 times more money if you want it to be portable too! The initial investment is not so different, but having to replace the entire portable device every few years is the problem.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Bicycle computer? Isn't it a bit overkill to use a N900 to replace that. I'd certainly worry about it getting damaged if I mounted it to my bike handlebar. Also is there a way for the N900 to interface with a heart rate monitor like my bike computer does?

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Fair Dos, if you need it to sync to a particular service. I don't use Ovi online for anything, as I find that it is too bound to nokia's symbian devices, which is your point, and one I think is ultimately limiting for the web service, not the device. I started syncing my Maps favorites when I had a symbian device, but the N900 stopped that.

I prefer and look for more independent cloud services, and actually use Google for mail, and Picasa for photos. I also upload photos via ftp to my own server at the same time using pixelpipe and tags. I know using google sounds kinda counter-intuitive for independent services, but I can live with the ad based system as they work for me, and I know that they will remain so.

If I ever jump ship from Nokia, to Android perhaps(unlikely), then I can still access my services, which is what is important to me.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

To be fair I still have a computer on the bike, but that is cos it hasn't broken yet!

I use Ecoach, and then upload the files to Endomondo. I used to use sports tracker, but they are only interested in symbian, and the new flash based interface is bloody awful, and does not work on a N900 anyway. I like being able to review my ride on the website, and then try to improve. It also lets me share my rides via faceboo, and twitter etc. It sounds more grand and scentific than it is! I'm really a lardarse trying to lose a few pounds, and get some of my former form back!!

The N900 sits in a padded pouch in my rackpack quietly logging the data. You can get dedicated holders for them which could mount on the handlebars. I had one for my symbian phone which held the phone really securely, even off-road.

You can get bluetooth heart monitors to interface with ecoach, although I don't have one yet. checkout the ecoach thread on this forum for details.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Thanks, I hadn't really looked at eCoach, I think I'll give it a test the next time I do some exercise. eCoach only lists two compatible heart rate monitors in its description, one doesn't seem to be available anywhere and the other is £85, which is 30 odd quid more than my current bike computer (with included heart rate monitor) cost me.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

@Wikiwide : untill now there are 60 posts on this thread and u thanked all of them . u r really an encoraging person . i like your personality . Bravo!!

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

:-)
Off-topic:
The Bravo
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10363

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

hmm, question, what are you gonna use MBarCode for? There is no eco system for n900's apps.

The apps I wish I had? Just off the top of my head, mint.com, bank of america, tmobile's visual voicemail, kindle, a good chinese input app, a good gmail app, feedsquares and many many more.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

mobiledivide said:
I use mint.com, their standard website is very accessible as is with the n900 browser. Its nice to not have to wait for an 'app' due to this amazing browser.
http://talk.maemo.org/archive/index.php/t-45424.html

Try this application:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=49464

Bank of America... Use their website. There are some problems with certificate, but some people don't have them.
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...6&postcount=33

Voicemail:
http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...ual_voicemail/
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=32506
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31560

Kindle:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=29984
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=67841
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=27288
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=30149
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=11947
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=29639

Chinese Input Method:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=67333
(and I don't speak/write/read/listen Chinese, though might learn someday)

GMail:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=53239
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=47689
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=49106
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=47873
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35546

Feeds:
First, you can install Chromium.
http://maemo.jacekowski.org/pool/free/c/chromium/

Put ChromeTouch and FeedSquares extensions on it.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions...hnjpbpddjjebme

https://chrome.google.com/extensions...dfnjkldecloidi

Second, there are FeedingIt
http://maemo.org/packages/view/feedingit/
and FeedCircuit
http://maemo.org/packages/view/feedcircuit/

EDIT: I use MBarcode to send small texts from computer to N900. Though I still have to use pastebin/mass-storage-mode for larger texts, I would like the day when sending large amount of data from one device to another was as simple as patiently scanning several barcodes in a row or one large barcode.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Console (X-Box/PS3) - games + media center
Phone/PIM (n900, Android, iPhone).

Don't know if X-Boxes have some way of reading bluetooth, but if they do they could share bluetooth keyboard + headset with the phone.

That seems the minimum needed to me. You can add on specialty devices (iPad-style tablet for "bigger than phone big screen"), eReader, nextel, etc, but that's all a YMMV sort of thing.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

For me personally I can use pretty much any device anywhere. This is because all my data is on a server at home, none of it is on the devices. Everything is accessed from or backed up to the server, and the server is backed up to an identical server. No single point of failure.
I ditched the desktop years ago and use a laptop when at home. Away from home I usually use the N900 unless I know I am away for more than 1 night when the N900 often becomes the laptop's WiFi access point thanks to Joikuspot.
When I need to edit my photographs, I plug the laptop into the dock giving me a 24" IPS monitor and a gbit LAN connection. The server can be accessed from anywhere in the world via VPN so I am never without my data. If my laptop fails I borrow my wife's or my sons and can work pretty much as normal barring a few specialist software items. The day all the software I ever use is available via the cloud is the day I can ditch my ties to any one device.

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

Managed finally to track down a spare monitor at work with composite in so I can have Twimgo on the big screen at last...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...11026-1318.jpg

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

I use a lot of devices...
I have a server at home (atom desktop), to sync what I can't find reliably or freely enough on the cloud (it's also my media center and the "family" computer to check for quick things, as it's always on).
Then I use a full desktop when I'm "doing" things (photoshop, coding, writting, encoding, etc...).. That gives power and comfort at a decent price.
When I'm on the move, I use a netbook, because I need the keyboard (coding, forums), and because it's dirt cheap. It fits anywhere, has usb ports and card reader. I wish I took an Amd one for the hdmi out, but I wouldn't use it much anyway.
And all the time, I keep my phone.

It's not trendy, but desktop + netbook is really the most convenient AND inexpensive setup if you 1) don't need power on the move (just one powerfull notebook), and 2) don't just consume content (TV + tablet)

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

That's my setup...I would ideally want something like the N900 that I can just use for everything, plug into a big screen to use as a desktop etc. But there are some things for which you still need a desktop (i.e. CAD drafting), and the 32 GB of storage the N900 has, while pretty big, cannot handle a terabyte's worth of media, 3d files, disk images etc. (OT: whatever happened to the OpenGLES-OpenGL wrapper that allowed Blender to run on the N900? I saw a few videos a year ago but never found a source.)

Re: A New Goal: Throw Out Your Desktop
 

at home I have my media and files stored on a hacked pogoplug with a large hard drive. media (music, videos, photos) for access across the lan or internet:

it runs debian, with mediatomb for upnp streaming on the lan, ampache for music streaming across the internet

It also has nfs and samba file sharing within the lan, and ajaxplorer as a web based file explorer. Oh and transmission and a calibre ebook server is on there as well.

the idea is that i can acess the data from any of my devices, but mostly the n900 and N810.