N900 The Perfect Setup
Contents |
Introduction
This page serves the purpose of assembling a complete and current howto-guide for the perfect N900 setup. The initial information here is based on my personal experience and the rich trove of experience which is talk.maemo.org. Please keep this page alive by adding your improvements and keeping it up to date as Maemo evolves.
Recommended hardware
- A Nokia N900, obviously
- SanDisk Ultra 32GB Class 10 / UHS-1 SDHC Card (SU32-G)
- PolarCell 1520 mAh battery
- Standalone battery charger
- USB A-A adapter
- (Linux box)
Hardware Specifications
NAND Layout
dev size erasesize name mtd0: 00020000 00020000 "bootloader" mtd1: 00060000 00020000 "config" mtd2: 00040000 00020000 "log" mtd3: 00200000 00020000 "kernel" mtd4: 00200000 00020000 "initfs" mtd5: 0fb40000 00020000 "rootfs"
eMMC Partition Layout
dev size fs mountpoint mmcblk0p1 27648MiB vfat /home/user/MyDocs mmcblk0p2 2048MiB ext2 /home mmcblk0p3 768MiB swap
Hardware modifications
/* TODO: USB pre-broken fix */
Initial setup
Everything about Firmware Flashing
Download flasher from the repositories
/* TODO: Use open source flasher */
Download the firmware flasher: Flasher & SDK Downloads
Download the latest official Nokia Firmware Images for your N900: Firmware Image Downloads
RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin md5sum: 488809ff96a0a05479d692e9f77aeb4f RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin md5sum: b9f8690318a3be61767826d15b8c1784
Flashing the device
The following flashing procedure has proven the most stable to me:
Always use a fully charged battery!
- Turn your device off, disconnect USB
- (As root) flash the FIASCO firmware image:
flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f
- When you get "No suitable USB device found" connect your N900 through USB.
- Wait for the flashing to finish.
Don't reboot
- Flash original eMMC image:
flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f
- Wait for the flashing to finish.
- Reboot the device by _reinserting_ the battery
Upon first login, enter your locale settings (Timezone, local time, etc.).
Run latest official Nokia SSU (upgrades your device firmware to V1.3.1) by launching App manager / Update from the applications menu.
Getting root access
- Add the Extras-Testing repository to the Hildon Application Managers catalog
name: Maemo extras-testing uri: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/ dist: fremantle components: free non-free
- Add the Extras-Devel repository as well
name: Maemo extras-development uri: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/ dist: fremantle components: free non-free
- Disable OVI repository (conflicts with CSSU)
- Wait for repository update to finish (Hildon Application Manager is slooow) and install 'rootsh' from the system section.
- To get remote access over the network (way more comfy) install SSH server by launching XTerminal from the application menu and running:
sudo gainroot apt-get install openssh
You will be asked for your new root password. /*TODO: Change PW hash to enable passwords > 8 chars */
- Finally launch xterm and run
ifconfig wlan0
- Write down the IP address - from now on you can use the SSH client of your choice to connect to your favorite pocket computer - enjoy!
Upgrade to CSSU-thumb
cssu-thumb contains a kernel based on kp51r1, therefore you automatically benefit from all kernel-power features (undervolting, overclocking, framebuffer, ...)
3.1 Repositories Disable extras-testing and extras-devel as they will be replaced by their CSSU-compiled counterparts. Make sure Nokia and Maemo Extras repositories are enabled though.
3.2 Installing CSSU-Thumb Visit this link using your N900s web browser: http://maemo.merlin1991.at/cssu/community-thumb/community-thumb-fremantle.install and confirm the prompts displayed in HAM
Launch community SSU from applications menu. Install the proposed updates.