Just a quick follow-up to this am’s news… I’ve just flashed my N800 without issue using the venerable 770Flasher on OSX. If you are a Mac user, this is really the way to go for flashing the tablet.
If you have not started the download today allow me to recommend the veryunofficial torrent which took my estimated 7 hour download from Maemo down to about 5 minutes.
Boingo Gizmo and Rhapsody installed without issue. Rhapsody refused my credentials, but I think it’s because it is already activated on my N810 … and you can only have one remote client according to the license. Rhapsody activated just fine after entering my password with the stylus, not thumbs. Skype started to download but then told me I need to update my tablet software to the latest version for the N810 (on the N800). I did not really expect it to work after hearing the reports this morning, but it was certainly worth a shot. Soon enough …
One bug I’ve found and confirmed via Jaiku is that passwords entered with the thumbboard do not seem to take. The same phrases entered via the stylus seem to work just fine and I’ve had this issue with IM, Rhapsody and Modest so far… This is apparently a known bug and can be voted on here in bugzilla.
While the N810 is just starting to become available (depending on who you ask) the latest 2008 OS slipped into the wild and I finally got the chance to check out an official release on my device. There’s nothing immediately new, but it does seem that there are some fixes and adjustments which smooth out the whole experience. I don’t see a changelist anywhere…
I’m finally able to run some apps that had given me issues from the initially loaded OS which is nice, though not everything works as you might expect. I actually think this last detail is more a factor of the developer community working on scratchbox configurations than on actual devices in the wild, so this should improve greatly in short order.
As you can see from these two screen shots, I was running a few versions back compared to the active release.
Initial OS:
Current Version:
One key difference existing tablet owners will certainly appreciate is the restore function from backup. I did a backup (61MB) just before I flashed, and after setting my date and time, received a prompt to restore as you might usually expect. The tablet now supports the ability to restore repositories and even applications (from the restored repositories) and it absolutely worked – and worked well! The main issue for someone like myself is the number of apps I’ve installed as straight .deb files. These files must be reinstalled manually again for the time being.
I should note Skype is no longer working for me, in that it is not installed or able to be installed. I should have seen this coming since people I know running 2008 on their N800’s have yet to see Skype actively, but that’s OK for now. Just be warned if you are running a pre-release OS.
There’s been talk about fixing the repositories as well as how firmware updates happen in subsequent OS releases. I look forward to that certainly but welcome today’s changes wholeheartedly. I still need to spend some time re-tweaking my device, but far less than I had to do with previous updates and not having to hunt things down (for the most part) again is just great.
Luciano tipped my off to the release of Python for Chinook as well as the fact that the repositories for Chinook (OS2008) are open.
Yesterday PyMaemo was released for OS2007 (Bora) and OS2006 (Gregale). Today it’s time to enjoy PyMaemo for Chinook Beta. Just add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file (only chinook target inside scratchbox):
deb http://repository.maemo.org chinook free non-free
deb http://repository.maemo.org/extras chinook free non-free
Because I have a live OS2008 device rather than the scratchbox dev environment, I added the repositories directly into the Applications Manager… Not that I know the root password to get this going in the terminal anyway!
Python 2.5 is there as expected as well as he ipython shell and libmiaouw-example which is a representative piece of code to show the kinetic scrolling that’s seen in Mauku. The Plankton theme is also there, though it does not seem to be fully baked. I’m back to Glasser which uses the transparent black borders.
I hope we’ll soon see quite a few more applications load in …
I was roaming yesterday so pardon the delay in posting the news… In case you missed it though there’s a new OS though the only fix appears to be for SDHC card users. If you are not one of these people, you might wish to wait to avoid the standard re-install everything process after a firmware flash.
Quim Gil, Nokia’s Maemo platform manager has written a great post detailing the current status of updates as well as some details about where things are heading with the pending Chinook release of the OS. No tips yet on the new tablet of course, but it seems things are only going to continue to improve.
I encountered an immediate error on Gmail – Internal Error. Application ‘Web’ Closed. Google Reader seems to work better and load a bit more quickly… There’s a nice new RSS icon and preview feature for pages with feeds… always a handy thing! Aside from .wml support via a new plugin, there’s not much new on the extension front as we already received the gift of Flash 9 with the Firmware update.
I’ll probably stick with the Mozilla engine for a while and see how it goes. There’s a preference menu option which lets you switch the Web app between Opera and Mozilla which is nice – wonder whether there’s a contractual deal with Opera that keeps them in or perhaps the Mozilla code is not baked enough to be a full replacement just yet. This is on Garage currently… not on the more official Downloads site.
Offering Skype support and Flash 9 as well as general system improvements it’s a welcome update and something suggested for all N800 users. There’s no word on whether this works on the 770 running the hacker edition, though there may be device specific requirements for both skype and the latest Flash.
You’ll also be able to use larger SD cards up to 8GB including those with SDHC support! I”m looking forward to carrying 16GB of multimedia in my pocket!
I have yet to update mine, but am looking forward to getting the new OS running soon.
As soon as I read about Google Gears today I immediately thought how cool it would be to have running on the N800. Unfortunatley this is an impossible dream for now as the Minimo browser does not currently support the installation of .xpi extensions.
If it did we might enjoy Google Reader in offline sync mode, which would make for a fantastic commute companion… If you’ve had success here where I’ve failed, please let me know so we can get the word out!
I’ve never done an unboxing video so when a new N800 arrived today from the Nokia Blogger Relations Program, I thought this would be as good as anytime to get going. I realize now that the memory card adapter, I struggled with was just that an adapter… see what limited sleep can do to a geek??
I’ve broken things into two videos… First my unboxing, followed by my flashing the Firmware to Tablet OS 2007 v3 with a quick install and check-in with Rhapsody for good measure.
