Nokia N800

Some resources and obervations regarding the Nokia N800, an PDA sized internet tablet running Linux.

Hamachi is one of the hidden gems / killer applications for the n800. It is a free, zero-configuration VPN solution popular among PC gamers for it's ability to connect hosts anywhere on the internet into one private, virtual network through a secure, encrypted channel.

On the N800 this means, that in combination with rDesktop ¹⁾ and a bluetooth keyboard, your N800 grants you full access to your windows desktop at home. Due to the N800's exceptional video resolution, working with most software installed on your remote host this way is fast and painless.

Since rDesktop also connects your MMC cards as drives on the host computer, you can drag and drop files right from your computer at home onto your N800, regardless where you are. And even without a BT keyboard, rDesktop is still very useful as very few windows application actually need keyboard input - and for the ones that do, the Windows onscreen keyboard usually works just fine.

With Hamachi securing the channel to the remote host using strong encryption, this setup also offers a very convenient way of working and surfing safely in an unsafe environment (such as a public WiFi network).

• Hamachi Installation Instructions (hamachi wiki).

”ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the game, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed.” – ScummVM.org

ScummVM on the n800 is capable of running all supported game at great resolution (e.g. using the AdvMame2x scaler) and speed, with full sound support and voice output for later games (e.g. Full Throttle).

The Secret of Monkey Island running fullscreen on the n800

Some games emulated by ScummVM require text input (especially old AGI games), which can be problematic on the n800 if you don't own an external BlueTooth keyboard, however there are two solutions for this problem:

• Predictive text input.
  ScummVM has a predictive text input feature which can be enabled by copying the file pre.dict (available from the windows installation zip file) to a location on the n800 and pointing the 'Extras' path in the scummVM installation to that location (.e.g /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/ if you put the file into the Documents folder on the N800). Once enabled, it activates by clicking on any text input field.

• CME's modified xkbd.
  xkbd is an application independent on screen keyboard (see Dosbox topic below) that works quite well as long as scummvm is not run in fullscreen mode.

• Fanoush's scummvm port (famoush.wz).
• http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7399 (internettablettalk.com thread).
• http://www.scummvm.org (Official scummvm page).

The DosBox Emulator has been ported to the n800 by Arnim Sauerbier and runs beautifully on the N800 in combination with CME's modified xkbd for keyboard input if no BlueTooth keyboard is available.

While there are a few minor quirks (sound emulation very cpu intensive, fullscreen mode not working with xkbd, at least not yet), it is a very viable solution for playing legacy x86 games on the N800.

• ArnimS' DosBox N800 Port
• DosBox Thread on Internettablettalk.com
• xkbd Thread on Internettablettalk.com

This is outdated, there is now a better, more featured camera application directly from Application Manager

This is a compiled and application-installer-packaged version of the C language example application for the N800 Camera API on maemo.org.
This is a straightforward binary from the example source using konfoo's VMWare Maemo Appliance, no changes or improvements made.
It opens a simple hildon application with a 'Take Shot' button and a preview window. Shots are saved in the MyDocs/Image folder.

A few sample shots taken at 640x480x24 resolution. The camera's very poor indoor / low light performance is clearly visible ²⁾ and it is very clear why Nokia decided not to put an official picture taking application on the device in the first place. I'll add some daylight shots tomorrow.

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• Takes a long time to start up.
• It seems as if only one application can use the camera, so if you start a video call while this is running, it'll have a black camera window.
• The picture orientation seems to be reversed if the camera is rotated to the back of the device.
• Sometimes a zombie Camera process lingers around after closing it (kill -9 it).

• http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4034&page=3