I am posting this in general, as it relates to two devices/OS.ver. I have looked through some threads, but this is a bit more basic that writing scripts to re-map function key presses. I am asking this in case anybody can point me in the right direction.
I got an n900 last month, and was rather taken with it, because of the linux in it and the versatility. Initially I was put off by some of the moaning, but actually it is pretty cool as it is. I tried getting MeeGo onto my netbook, but the WiFi don't work, and it overwrote my MBR, so I stuck ubuntu UBE back on it so I could recreate it - also tried to install to as a persistent USB, but that wouldn't boot at all.
Anyway, I decided I want to try out stuff like easy debian on the n900, but am a bit wary of trashing a new device by hacking about with it, so picked up a cheap n810 on eBay. Runs the light debian OK, once it has loaded. Then I hit a problem with the keyboard, and it is system-wide.
I am in the UK, and set device and location to UK, but the only language option is English (Netherlands). The keyboard works for all the letters with & without caps+lock - but I cannot find a '+' key - in fact, many of the 'fn' key presses don't match up to what it says on the keyboard. From what I can tell, the on-screen keyboard works fine. I noticed the n900 has no mapping for the '|' (pipe) key (essential for the terminal, reallly). Neither does the n810 - and that seems to lack any up or down keys (or ability to emulate a right mouse click, which is handy in the linux gui).
So, I'd like to know if I have the mapping set up wrong - I tried setting up as a USA device, which was a bit better, but still a few keys were out, as well as NL, Sweden, Italy, etc. No joy. Is there a guide or FAQ on this - as I can see this is going to become an issue if I try to go outside the standard functionality on the n900 in the future.
Thanks for your patience in reading this.
I appreciate they have to squeeze a lot into a small keyboard, but I don't see the sense in marketing a device with a QWERTY keyboard that doesn't have the capacity for acting like a standard keyboard - especially given it opens into some applications/add-ons that really need fully-functional keyboards.
The other thing I don't really get is that the n810 is immensely more pleasant to use than the n900 - the slightly larger screen makes text much more readable, and the same for the keyboard, and while it is a bit larger, it is much slimmer. I don't really get why they made the keyboard & screen smaller. They could have fitted keys like they have on the n900 now into the space on the n810 and had a full-QWERTY keyboad (with up/down and pipe keys).
