Using the N8x0

Upgrading to the latest firmware
There are instructions for upgrading to the latest version of "Diablo", the final Maemo release for the N810.

After following them, you can continue upgrading to the Diablo community project, which fixes some bugs found in the latest official firmware.

Obtaining root access
Use rootsh to obtain root access. Parts of this guide assume you have root enabled.

Enabling more repositories
A lot of the instructions in this guide ask you to install programs for the Extras repository, so enable it.

Browser Extras FBReader Repository

Asian languages support
If you need to use Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, you will find that there is no such provision built into Maemo.

Fortunately, there is a third-party project: just |download the relevant package, reboot, and you'll be able to type in your language.

Icons on the home screen
A useful applet for your home screen is Personal Launcher, which lets you have an arbitrary number of icons for arbitrary programs. You can find it in the Extras repository.

After installing it, click on the Home menu, Applet settings, Personal launcher to add and organize icons for the applet.

Note that the applet is resizable by gripping the small triangle visible at the bottom right.

Improving the browser
The standard Maemo browser, MicroB, is still usable, but you might want something different and more modern.

One choice is Tear, a WebKit-based browser that comes with kinetic scrolling and other goodies. You can install the 'tearbookmarks' package, and then go to the Panels settings of Control Panel to enable it, to replace the standard Maemo bookmarks icon. You may need to reboot before this works.

If you want WebKit but like MicroB, you can install the 'webkit-eal' package (from the same repository as Tear, so follow its instructions to enable it), then go to its settings and enable WebKit. Note, however, that this project is abandoned.

Using YouTube
YouTube can be used from MicroB (but it may not work in WebKit mode, or under Tear), but it's awkward to use and doesn't play smoothly.

There are plug-ins for various media players in Extras, but none of them work correctly at present. A solution involves installing the MyTube player and then patching one of its files.


 * Download |this file
 * Open an X terminal
 * Untar the file (« tar xf /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/youtube-dl-x.tar »)
 * Gain root (« sudo gainroot »)
 * Copy the file to its destination location (« cp /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/youtube-dl-x /usr/bin/ »)
 * Copy the text found |here
 * Paste it into its destination location by typing « cat >/usr/lib/python2.5/getpass.py », then going to the menu, selecting Edit, Paste, and then hitting Ctrl+D

TODO: make a fixed package of MyTube