N900 The Perfect Setup
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This is a wiki! So the title of this page represents the personal notion of one or a few editors. It's not "officially supported" info or advice |
Contents |
Introduction
Since the N900 has been released many developments have been made by the community. This page is to provide a generic guide to getting started with good foundations. This page will mainly link all the useful bits of the wiki and other useful information together.
Hardware
Hardware Accessories
Information on all recommended hardware accessories is on the N900 Accessories page.
Hardware Specifications
Information on the specs can be found on the N900 Hardware Subsystems page.
Recommended Hardware Modifications
USB Port
One of the most common issues with the N900 is the surface mounted USB port. If you are not careful with it, the port can be ripped from the PCB. Due to the design of the port if this occurs, it can be very difficult to repair successfully.
Therefore it is highly recommend to reinforce your USB port by soldering the casing of the USB to the PCB. Information on this is covered in great extent on talk.maemo.org
talk.maemo.org Fixing USB Thread
Another common modification is to remove the locking pins on all your microUSB cable connectors. This can be done by filing them down carefully with a small file.
The latter is important, especially if you don't feel confident in taking your N900 apart to reinforce the port.
Inductive Charging
Bridging the gap between a non-permanent hardware mod and an accessory the universal Qi inductive charging add-on pads have been installed both over and under the stock and Mugen battery covers, the semi-permanent installation into the microUSB port reduces dangerous cable leverage and USB port wear to nearly zero and the nearly flush USB port plug also protects the USB port from foreign object damage making the inductive charging add-on even more important to N900 owners than most users. The USB port can be easily unplugged if needed for use in USB host, 3G modem, and mass storage modes. talk.maemo.org Qi Inductive Charging Universal Add-On Installation
Magnetic Charge Port Adapter
There are several magnetic adapters available to both plug the USB port and also ensure a safe break-away should the N900 be dropped. No leverage to snap off your N900's fragile USB port from the PCB.
In testing the four or five pin USB adapters permit a data connection but if you do any metal work with steel it will attract magnetic particles as happened in testing, this adapter experienced a melt-down and nearly a fire one evening after falling to the floor in a workspace.
Another tested magnetic adapter has a coaxial positive and negative connections(pin and surrounding ring) It has the data pins shorted to put the N900 into fast charge mode. while there is the hazard of magnetic particles connecting the two poles are 2mm apart and it is easier to see any foreign objects as the cable side of the connector has a blue LED allowing it to also be found easily in a dark room. This adapter also inserted fully and had a rubber washer to buffer any drops; combined with an Otter case the adapter is nearly flush with the Otterbox armor.
File System
Firmware
Initial Firmware Setup
So you have your N900 The first step especially if it's used is to flash the firmware. This can be used to clean off any unstable software and make a clean start.
It's recommended to download the latest Nokia firmware images for your region.
The latest versions are highlighted.
Cloning a New N900 with BackupMenu Backup Files
Requires a good USB cable, currently fastest path to flash a new or used N900 and install the required kernel and backupmenu from the repos to make a clone of your old or broken N900. Until the steps to safely use Fiasco Flasher to flash a kernel and file system including /opt from backupmenu files the instructions below are the fastest way to recover your old configuration on a new device.
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=100595
Highly Recommended Further Setup
Importance of CSSU
If you have flashed your firmware as above, your N900 will now be on the last major Nokia release (PR1.3). From here onwards the Maemo Community are providing vital security updates, fixing bugs and generally moving the device forward. This is known as CSSU or Community SSU.
It is recommended all users install CSSU, of which there are two versions.
More information on this can be found on the CSSU page.
Recommended Further Setup
Kernel Power
Kernel Power is a community developed Kernel that provides addition features and fixes to the Kernel. Kernel Power also provides the ability to overclock the device with an additional package kernel-power-settings
While overclocking is not recommended and has been known to reduce the lifetime of the device, the [Kernel Power] package on it's own is recommended and will not alter your device from the standard 250Mhz-600Mhz clock speed.
It provided important features like stable Smartreflex which will significantly increase battery life.
Please see the Kernel Power page for more information on this. Please note Kernel Power page is heavily biased on overclocking and is provided for further reference only.
Utilise the SD Card
The N900 has a uSD card slot, it's good to use this as much as possible to reduce flash wear from the devices eMMC.
Many users setup there swap space(s) on the uSD card this frees up the I/O of the device.
There has been much discussion on this and applications written to help with this.
Further reading
Swappolube
Swappolube is a package to modify memory management. Most users tweak this to suit their device and usage. If you're unsure where to start, the proposed settings are a good base.
More information can be found on the Swappolube page.
Settings
Network Positioning
If you use the incorrect settings your device may be slow at getting a GPS fix.
There is also a bug with maemo-security-certman, this has been fixed in CSSU.
Make sure the latest version of your CSSU flavour is installed.
Navigate to
- Settings > Location > Network Positioning
then check the Location server is
supl.nokia.com
If Nokia's supl server doesn't give you functional AGPS (there have been reports that the Nokia supl server has been shut down) try Google's SUPL server.
supl.google.com
Software
Repositories
Maemo software works in the same way as most Linux distributions', repositories provide a secure and easy method of supplying software to end-users.
Information about the different repositories can be found on the Extras page.
Getting Root
Common Modifications
Please note these common modifications are here for reference. If you are a complete beginner and do not understand you must be aware that you could damage parts of your filesystem if you mess up.
Purging Unnecessary Software
Cherry
With the PR 1.2 update Nokia introduced "My Nokia" an SMS subscription service on which you receive periodic texts from Nokia. This was automatically installed/subscribed on devices and was known to cause issues with devices sending and receiving unwanted SMS messages.
This package is one of the first to be removed by members of the community, for obvious reasons. It can be removed by:-
apt-get remove --purge cherry
Further reading on My Nokia and cherry
PR1.2 compulsory My Nokia subscription
Additional Unnecessary Software
The following is deemed safe. Run in a Terminal as Root to remove unnecessary software provided with the Nokia firmware.
apt-get remove --purge hildon-theme-beta osso-chess-ui gnuchess osso-graphics-game-chess osso-lmarbles osso-graphics-game-lmarbles osso-sounds-game-chess maemoblocks ap-installer amazon-installer foreca-installer facebook-installer skype-installer dtg-installer tutorial-home-applet osso-tutorial-l10n-engb osso-tutorial-l10n-ptpt osso-tutorial-l10n-frca osso-tutorial-l10n-nlnl osso-tutorial-l10n-cscz osso-tutorial-l10n-itit osso-tutorial-l10n-eses osso-tutorial-l10n-svse osso-tutorial-l10n-frfr osso-tutorial-l10n-dede osso-tutorial-l10n-fifi osso-tutorial-l10n-nono osso-tutorial-l10n-esmx osso-tutorial-l10n-enus osso-tutorial-l10n-ruru osso-tutorial-l10n-mr0 osso-tutorial-l10n-plpl osso-systemui-splashscreen sharing-service-flickr sharing-service-ovi chinese-font google-search-widget tutorial-home-applet osso-mahjong osso-graphics-game-mahjong osso-sounds-game-mahjong ovi-promotion-widget
talk.maemo.org Safe to remove?
Disable Nokia Hands
There are three main methods to do this.
Method 1
Rename the file
- /opt/usr/share/hildon-welcome/media/Hands-v32-h264.avi
to
- /opt/usr/share/hildon-welcome/media/Hands-v32-h264.avi.disabled
Method 2
Use a text editor to edit the file
- /etc/hildon-welcome.d/default.conf
Comment out the last line.
- filename=Hands-v32-h264.avi
Method 3
Remove the hildon-welcome package, which included the bootvideo
Firstly gain root:
- root
Then remove the package by issuing
- apt-get purge hildon-welcome
Faking Flash Player 12 for MicroB
- Get flashplayer 10 binaries for maemo.
apt-get remove --purge adobe-flashplayer apt-get install hexedit dpkg -i adobe-flashplayer-10.deb hexedit /usr/lib/browser/plugins/libflashplayer.so
- Once in Hexedit, press CTRL+S and type in 31302e31 and press enter, the string you've just found need to be changed to 31322e31
- Now, press CTRL+S, type "y" and search for 31302c31 and change it to 31322c31
- Press CTRL+S then "y" again.
- Close terminal (CTRL+X) and enjoy new faked v12.1.98.88 flash player
Watch 720p movies
Customizing Maemo
Customizing the appearance of Maemo
Credits
My thanks go to jebba, titan, pali, NIN101, MentalistTraceur, sixwheeledbeast, DocScrutinizer05, sEKI, kerio, freemangordon, qwazix, ShadowJK and everyone on #maemo
Wiki Update Info
- Last Updated - sixwheeledbeast - 31 Jan 2013 21:41 UTC