The Nokia n900 complete guide.
You have either just bought a n900 or you have it for many days, this guide will help you in making your n900 a better device. You may have implemented all the steps below, but it does not hurt to have a look as you have nothing to lose. I have made this guide because I found no satisfactory guide on the internet for n900.
Note: Major portions of this guide need internet access on the n900. If your internet access is limited to the computer for any reason ( eg. use of memory stick) download the software called Connectify, as it will convert your computer/laptop into a Wi-Fi router, thus enabling you to use internet on your device. Do not buy the software, get the free version as it is enough and the extra features are unnecessary.
If you are unable to do the above or are unable to download any application given below, then
Steps 1) go to the site maemo.com and then click on News.
Step 2) Then in the search box, type ‘Packages’ and click the link saying Package Interface.
Step 3) A different search box will show on screen where you can type the needed application name and you may find the needed .deb file.
1) If you have not done so the first thing you should do should be is to add the necessary application catalogues to your application manager. The following three catalogues are very important – extras, extras-testing and extras-devel (some apps in extras-devel may crash and may harm your n900, but those mentioned in this guide are completely safe) This is how to do so :-
Step 1) Go to app manager
Step 2) Select the application catalogues and then click on new.
Step 3) Enter the following in the empty field -
Catalog name: Maemo Extras 
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free
Catalog name: Maemo Extras-testing 
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free
Catalog name: Maemo Extras-devel 
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free
If you want to download any app other than those mentioned in this guide, I highly recommend disabling extras-testing and extras-devel
2) Now that you have the above catalogues, you have increased the amount of apps you can download. The first thing you need to do after this is to download rootsh application. This allows you to access the root of your n900 via the ‘ sudo gainroot ‘ command in the X-terminal. Even if you think that you are never going to use the X-terminal, there will be sometime where something causes problems in your n900 and you can’t fix it without the X-terminal. So it is always a good idea to download rootsh. After all, it’s a measly 32 kb only.
If you need the link to a .deb file, see link in the ‘Links’ section of this guide.
3) If you need additional buttons on your keyboard, they are present without you knowing it. First, activate your onscreen keyboard:
Step 1) Go to settings in type menu.
Step 2) Then select the text input option and then to the text input selection.
Step 3) there make sure the virtual keyboard is selected.
Step 4) your onscreen keyboard is now activated. To use it, go a text input location (notes, x terminal etc.) and ensure that your real keyboard is not open.
Step 5) this will cause the virtual keyboard to show. Now to access a number of ‘hidden’ buttons, go to the number section. Then select the shift button. Voila….
Links:
