Highlighting great applications and services for the Maemo platform
Ricky Cadden at Symbian-Guru.com has taken advantage of some new case covers for his N800 to mod it’s appearance! As you can see he’s got both Black and Camo painted. Check out the rest of his post for the making of slideshow…
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.
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I just completed flashing my N800 and so far all is good. There are a few things to consider when doing an update as your tablet will be fresh (as in nothing but the defaults) when you bring it back online. You can backup your settings and prefs, though you will still have to reinstall applications. The good thing here is that your previous preferences are restored when the application comes back online. Nokia has stated that future software updates will likely be less “destructive,” though there has been no discussion on when we might see this…
If you are ready to do a software update — or just want to do a backup here’s what to do. First, we need to fire up the Backup/Restore Application:
Once, it’s open you can make a new backup (bottom left), restore, or delete backups if they start taking too much space up on your storage card.
Making a backup is as simple as naming it and choosing what options you’d like — though for this purpose I would suggest you do a full backup
After pressing OK, you should get a confirmation message a few minutes later and you are good to go. As you may have noticed from the series of screenshots, I do backups on occasion which is always a good idea with any computer.
At this point, you are ready to update the system to the latest release! As noted in the previous post, there are a few options for doing the update. Windows users can head right over to the official update page and follow the directions. Mac and Linux users need to be a bit more creative. I’ll cover the Mac update here, since my assumption is that Linux users are most likely to already know how to do this.
There is no official Mac Software Update tool, but Andrew Flegg has created a very handy tool called 770Flasher.app which you can download from his site. Don’t be put off by the name, it works great on the N800 and I’ve successfully updated my unit more than once. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the flasher app on your computer, you can proceed to download the binary file from Nokia here. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT EXPAND THIS FILE! SAVE IT DIRECTLY AS A .bin.
While things are downloading, you should take this time to remove the memory card from your Tablet, if you have one in the bottom slot (seems to cause fewer problems) and power down your unit. You should have a good solid charge in the battery to avoid any critical issues as it is recommended that you be disconnected from your charger during the process.
If everything is on your Mac, you can now open the 770Flasher app, accept the warning (it’s fine) and begin the update process. Simply point the flasher to your .bin from Nokia and once it states it’s waiting, power-up. You should see a USB icon in the top right corner and then the Flasher will kick in and do the update. Mine took less than 2 minutes to process.
When you power back up, you will likely see a prompt to restore your settings. I chose this option and my preferences and some system settings (including my network connections) all came right back online. As I’ve been installing applications I’ve seen my apps prefs restore as well.
I hope this is helpful for you … Good Luck!
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As I showed you during the Installation Manager overview, most applications install into your Extras folder by default. You can leave this just as it is or if you are anything like me, you might want to start creating some new folders so you can keep things more organized and easier to find.
To start, open your Control Panel up…. and scroll down to the not so well named Navigation option.
As you can see, once this is open there’s an option to Organize Applications. Inside there, is a “file manager like” tool to create new folders, move them around and even delete them if you change your mind later.
On this initial screen, you can update what shows in your initial Applications Menu above the folders, which is called Favorites in Maemo nomenclature.
Here’s a quick glance at a folder I’ve created for my multimedia applications…
Another “hidden” preference from within the Navigation Control Panel is the ability to set which of your statusbar items are displayed or hidden. Simply tap the right tab on that initial Navigation panel when it opens up or when you are done with your Folder settings. There’s no way I know of to update the order in which they appear (thanks Darla!), but you can turn things on (like Bluetooth for example) to get a quick visual for whether it’s on or off when you need it.
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In the first part of this two part piece, I walked you through the Applications Manager and did a quick install from within the viewable apps on the N800. This part will cover the Downloads and Garage sites which are great resources for finding new applications to try.
Downloads
Both sites are hosted on the Maemo.org site which is definitely worth spending some time on if you are looking to learn more about the platform in general Downloads is a nicely structured directory, though it’s still a work in progress.
What’s really nice about Downloads is that the mission is to make it very simple to find and install applications. You can browse by subject on the left or try a search on the right. When you get to a detailed page, you’ll see something that looks like this:
The green arrows will enable a one-click install procedure, which means that if you do not already have the required repository on-board, the install process will make sure you do to prevent any glitches. It’s best to make sure the application is supported by your device (N800 vs. 770) though I’ve been finding that quite a few older applications run fine on the N800, though your mileage may vary.
Garage
Garage is a very different site. It’s more of a community in itself to help the open source development community track progress on development, interactions with users and also provides hosting for downloads, lists and a fair bit more.
Personally I really like Garage as it’s a great way to stay current on applications and updates as they happen. Much of what is here, is in early phases on life and may not be for every user, but it’s a lot of fun to be actively involved testing and providing feedback back into the system. A great application that is in active development is the g-Podder Podcast client. As you can see (or perhaps need to click through to the larger image) from this image, you need to install a few things in order to get going.
It takes a bit more time as you need to pay attention, but there’s nothing to shy away from if you really want to check things out. One great thing again about the Garage site is that there are forums in which both users and developers actively participate to provide help and feedback.
I’m not sure of the process or timing from when applications in Garage make it into Downloads, but it seems like that’s the plan as things get certified / approved for a broader audience. For now, you feel free to explore both…
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This is the first of what will be a two part piece…
Probably the number one thing people will do after initially exploring what’s on their tablet is think about what else might be able to run on the unit. Initially, the best way was to surf the wiki on the Maemo site and simply scroll down to find things of interest. While this still works for some things today, the Wiki is actually no longer as up to date as sources (Downloads and Garage) which have come to replace it. Before I go into detail on these new sites I should cover a few basics.
Like most platforms, Maemo applications come with a standard file format (.deb) which is actually a carryover from their roots in Debian Linux. Many apps will install as simply by tapping a web link to download the file but quite a few actually have dependencies, or additional libraries that are required to get things working. The Nokia team has done an admirable job making things easier since the N800 launch in January and the Downloads site has quite a few one-click install links which can automatically handle adding dependencies as you install things. Previously, you would have to manually add a repository (file library) or two for an application that was not automatically able to be found by your device through the Applications Manager and this this actually applied to most things…
This post will mainly cover the Applications Manager since that is actually built into the device and can serve as a simple way to install and keep applications current. The downloads and garage sites will come in Part 2 as they are external and really should only be player with after you’ve got a bit of knowledge on how things work.
A Tour of the Applications Manager
Starting at the top… Let’s open the Applications Manager and have a look around. Tap your Applications Menu and then head down to Tools. Application Manager is the first option.
Once you’ve got this open, you’ll see three main options (more from the menu…) which are Show Installed Applications, Browse Installable Applications and Check for Updates.
When you click Show Installed Applications, you’ll get a long list of all the files currently loaded that are either actual applications or the library dependencies I mentioned earlier. Here’s what mine looks like:
If you tap the cookie crumb text link for Main View, we’ll be back at that first screen and can then choose to Browse Installable Applications. When you do this, depending on your set-up, you might see a prompt to Refresh Package List.
I suggest you select OK, which will then update the known (via the web) application versions with what you currently have installed. Mine looks like this:
You can choose to view by any type here including all, but unless you really know what you’re doing or need a very specific file, I suggest clicking on Applications to see what’s there. Mine again looks like this:
Heading back now to the Main View of the Applications Manager, we can select the final option which is Check For Updates. You will likely be prompted here again to refresh which again I would suggest tapping OK, since that’s the very point of checking this one out…
As you can see I have one app which is both installed and updateable — according to the repository from which I installed it initially. There are actually quite a few repositories on my N800 and viewing installable apps by All (not just applications like I previously showed) reveals quite a few things that are available to update or even ready to be installed for the first time.
Before we move on, let’s take a quick peek in the Menu system here so we fully understand what’s happening within this part of the device. If you tap the Menu hardware button (the indented middle one in the column of three), you can then navigate the menus…
Within the Application menu, you can choose: Install which will install the selected app in the main screen (same as that nice big install button at the bottom of the screen); Install from File which will let you browse your device or memory card(s) for a previously saved file; and Details which will give you more info about the application, developer and possible dependencies (also available by tapping the blue i button at the bottom of your screen).
The View menu option should be pretty self-explanatory. You can sort the view, go fullscreen and show or hide the toolbar.
Tools is where some of the more advanced options lie. You can manually refresh the view which will update as we’ve seen previously here if that had not happened for you. Settings will let you control how frequently your device refreshes the local library against the online information. Applications Catalog is where you can view, edit and add new repositories (not covered here). Search does what you would expect and searches the application manager library for an application or library. This is good if you think something is there, but just can’t seem to find it. Log will show you a history of activity and is something most people won’t need to review.
Let’s actually install something
Now that you’ve got a pretty good feel for what’s around in the Applications Manager, let’s use it to install something. If you recall from the Check for Updates view, FBReader (an ebook reader) has an update available.
I just tried to use the updater and ran into an error on install, so instead I’ve chosen to uninstall the application and start fresh. I’m not trying to confuse anyone, but things can run amok pretty quickly when you least expect it. In my case, I am unable to update, and after an uninstall, I did not see FBReader in my ˆ view from within View Installable Applications. Instead I had to choose All. Regardless, the process from here is pretty standard:
OK gets the process started…
Fair Warning from Nokia about installing 3rd party apps.
Extras is the default for most new apps, but you can easily pick another folder, or even create a new one. You can also move things later on if you want…
Once you see this message, it’s all good and you can browse to where you’ve installed your new application.
In Part 2, I’ll walk through both the Downloads and Garage sites which are great resources for finding new applications to explore.
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So you’ve decided to buy a Tablet or perhaps have been given one as a gift… what now? After charging it up, you can get online within a few clicks and begin checking your email, chatting with friends, browsing the web, reading RSS feeds and streaming online radio stations. Locally, there are a few games, a media player for both audio and video and even a PDF reader if you want to take docs or travel schedules with you.
Did you know that there was a handy User Guide actually on the device? I personally found the included docs to be a bit brief, but had the benefit of coming into the N800 from the 770. If you are new, I’d recommend giving the manual a good read-over. Here’s how to find it:
Your home page probably looks something like this…
Start by opening the Applications Menu and navigate down to Utilities :
Once the PDF Reader is open, you’ll want to find and open the User Guide. It’s waiting in your Documents folder:
Once it’s open, you can read through at your leisure or if you prefer, email it to your desktop so you can either print it out or view from a larger screen.
Compose your message and go!
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