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I was a day 1 zaurus owner and this is exactly what the Zaurus should have been but was not. Out of the box, you pop in the included 64meg memory card, turn it on, and boom right in front of my face is my web browser, my RSS reader and e-mail. Best of all since its Linux they support all the secure e-mail connections (tls, ssl, imaps everything) so I don't have to compromise my security while using it. It has a huge library for something that has only been out for a short while. It's package management is 100x better than the zauruses! I jump on WIFI or Bluetooth to my phone to the internet, browse to the maemo.org site, click a package and it asks to open it in the package manager! It uses Opera 8 with Flash support. Plays full screen videos just fine, and let me tell you the screen is incredibly bright and detailed!

Its a 800x480 display, just beautiful! Not to mention the browser is a full one! No PDA versions of web pages, no side scrolling. You can zoom in, browse history and book marks it works!

I installed very easily mind you, GAIM for IM, Doom a bunch of other little games, an xterm, they have SSH for it, and the library is growing!

Drawbacks:
Occasionally, when using it not as intended, say using the not-ready or polished GAIM, or lets say loading up 20 web browsers, with your rss feeder in the background its going to run out of memory. This is an internet tablet, it has RSS feeder, web and e-mail and its all fully featured and ready to go out of the box. If you use it as intended it works and thats that!

Contrary to any reviews I have NEVER encountered any wifi flakyness or bluetooth crazyness. I have used it every day for about a week now, and it is just SOLID. Its design is slick as snot! check out the screen shots below, and check out nokias own site for the 770, its silver metal case and its included pouch is just awsome.

and of course, it runs linux! all my Ipaq and palm friends are very jealous!

check out http://maemo.org/ for more info.
For screenshots: http://maemo.org/screenshots.html
Third party applications you can install at the click of a button: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog
Another Nokia 770 site: http://www.internettablettalk.com/

I was a day 1 zaurus owner and this is exactly what the Zaurus should have been but was not. Out of the box, you pop in the included 64meg memory card, turn it on, and boom right in front of my face is my web browser, my RSS reader and e-mail. Best of all since its Linux they support all the secure e-mail connections (tls, ssl, imaps everything) so I don't have to compromise my security while using it. It has a huge library for something that has only been out for a short while. It's package management is 100x better than the zauruses! I jump on WIFI or Bluetooth to my phone to the internet, browse to the maemo.org site, click a package and it asks to open it in the package manager! It uses Opera 8 with Flash support. Plays full screen videos just fine, and let me tell you the screen is incredibly bright and detailed!

Its a 800x480 display, just beautiful! Not to mention the browser is a full one! No PDA versions of web pages, no side scrolling. You can zoom in, browse history and book marks it works!

I installed very easily mind you, GAIM for IM, Doom a bunch of other little games, an xterm, they have SSH for it, and the library is growing!

Drawbacks:
Occasionally, when using it not as intended, say using the not-ready or polished GAIM, or lets say loading up 20 web browsers, with your rss feeder in the background its going to run out of memory. This is an internet tablet, it has RSS feeder, web and e-mail and its all fully featured and ready to go out of the box. If you use it as intended it works and thats that!

Contrary to any reviews I have NEVER encountered any wifi flakyness or bluetooth crazyness. I have used it every day for about a week now, and it is just SOLID. Its design is slick as snot! check out the screen shots below, and check out nokias own site for the 770, its silver metal case and its included pouch is just awsome.

and of course, it runs linux! all my Ipaq and palm friends are very jealous!

check out http://maemo.org/ for more info.
For screenshots: http://maemo.org/screenshots.html
Third party applications you can install at the click of a button: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog
Another Nokia 770 site: http://www.internettablettalk.com/

I was a day 1 zaurus owner and this is exactly what the Zaurus should have been but was not. Out of the box, you pop in the included 64meg memory card, turn it on, and boom right in front of my face is my web browser, my RSS reader and e-mail. Best of all since its Linux they support all the secure e-mail connections (tls, ssl, imaps everything) so I don't have to compromise my security while using it. It has a huge library for something that has only been out for a short while. It's package management is 100x better than the zauruses! I jump on WIFI or Bluetooth to my phone to the internet, browse to the maemo.org site, click a package and it asks to open it in the package manager! It uses Opera 8 with Flash support. Plays full screen videos just fine, and let me tell you the screen is incredibly bright and detailed!

Its a 800x480 display, just beautiful! Not to mention the browser is a full one! No PDA versions of web pages, no side scrolling. You can zoom in, browse history and book marks it works!

I installed very easily mind you, GAIM for IM, Doom a bunch of other little games, an xterm, they have SSH for it, and the library is growing!

Drawbacks:
Occasionally, when using it not as intended, say using the not-ready or polished GAIM, or lets say loading up 20 web browsers, with your rss feeder in the background its going to run out of memory. This is an internet tablet, it has RSS feeder, web and e-mail and its all fully featured and ready to go out of the box. If you use it as intended it works and thats that!

Contrary to any reviews I have NEVER encountered any wifi flakyness or bluetooth crazyness. I have used it every day for about a week now, and it is just SOLID. Its design is slick as snot! check out the screen shots below, and check out nokias own site for the 770, its silver metal case and its included pouch is just awsome.

and of course, it runs linux! all my Ipaq and palm friends are very jealous!

check out http://maemo.org/ for more info.
For screenshots: http://maemo.org/screenshots.html
Third party applications you can install at the click of a button: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog
Another Nokia 770 site: http://www.internettablettalk.com/

hmm, wonder if their new 770 linux based tablet will suffer the same fate?
It was finally released in europe & US last week and there has been a rush. New stock due in next week

According to the maemo developers list, there is a microphone. There's just currently no voice recording application to take advantage of it.

http://maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-developers/2005-J une/000315.html

Mike

https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=100

Apparently xrandr (mentioned by another poster) is too much of a hit on performance.

For the people that have one already, can the display be rotated for left-handed people?

Unfortunately not, but I know it's being considered.

Also, is the kernel source available? All I can find on the maemo site is a root image.

Here you go. All the packages are also available separately from the root image, with source.

It's a modified Debian system. Third party applications are delivered in DEB packages, some of which you can already find here.

It's not a crippled version of Linux either, it runs a full X server, comes with the GTK, DBus, GStreamer, SDL, almost everything you need to develop comfortably for the device. This makes porting applications really easy, you can concentrate on optimizing for the small form factor instead of fighting with the framework.

Of course the source is available. There are also tools available for creating your own filesystem images you can simply flash onto the device. By starting out with the minimal developers rootfs available you can install your custom applications, package it all into a image and flash any number of devices. The developer possibilites are endless; disable the default GUI in the startup scripts and run your own point of sales system interface, bundle the device with a BT GPS receiver and your own softare, run Apache (I have tried this :) in your pocket!

It's a modified Debian system. Third party applications are delivered in DEB packages, some of which you can already find here.

It's not a crippled version of Linux either, it runs a full X server, comes with the GTK, DBus, GStreamer, SDL, almost everything you need to develop comfortably for the device. This makes porting applications really easy, you can concentrate on optimizing for the small form factor instead of fighting with the framework.

Of course the source is available. There are also tools available for creating your own filesystem images you can simply flash onto the device. By starting out with the minimal developers rootfs available you can install your custom applications, package it all into a image and flash any number of devices. The developer possibilites are endless; disable the default GUI in the startup scripts and run your own point of sales system interface, bundle the device with a BT GPS receiver and your own softare, run Apache (I have tried this :) in your pocket!

It's a modified Debian system. Third party applications are delivered in DEB packages, some of which you can already find here.

It's not a crippled version of Linux either, it runs a full X server, comes with the GTK, DBus, GStreamer, SDL, almost everything you need to develop comfortably for the device. This makes porting applications really easy, you can concentrate on optimizing for the small form factor instead of fighting with the framework.

Of course the source is available. There are also tools available for creating your own filesystem images you can simply flash onto the device. By starting out with the minimal developers rootfs available you can install your custom applications, package it all into a image and flash any number of devices. The developer possibilites are endless; disable the default GUI in the startup scripts and run your own point of sales system interface, bundle the device with a BT GPS receiver and your own softare, run Apache (I have tried this :) in your pocket!

"I guess this might appeal to PDA people, but don't they have everything that this offers for less, in a smaller package with the same or better battery life?"

Have you tried to browse the Internet on a PDA for three hours?

Exactly. I just got my Nokia 770 developer device on Monday. I was never interested in a PDA-type device before, but I love the 770. The 800x480 screen makes all the difference. On the Nokia I can view any web page easily. I can read web comics without scrolling in every direction just to see a single panel! And it turns on instantly, and is small enough to carry around and use at the breakfast table or in an elevator or on the bus (unlike my 5-pound work laptop).

The 770 isn't the perfect device for me, I admit. I would love to have an 8- or 9-inch screen and more storage space. When something like the Flybook is available for less than US$1000 then I might get one. But the Nokia 770 does most of what I want, and I can afford it *now*.

Gmail works perfectly fine. Just tried it on my 770.
Battery time is quite good. If you are listening to streaming radio through the WiFi connection it lasts just over three hours (the built in speaker is better than I imagined, but far from HiFi, with earphones it sounds very good).
If you're not connected/downloading stuff all the time it lasts much longer.

I believe calendar and PIM stuff will be available soon (as third party add ons). You can already find some stuff here: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog

Instructions for running ssh on the Nokia 770 are in the Maemo wiki:
maemo.org/maemowiki/InstallSsh

No thumb keyboard, but there is bluetooth keyboard support.

One of the best things about using this for ssh in a handheld is that the wifi is VERY sensitive, so it is fairly easy to get low latency connections to 802.11 access points. In my world, there's nothing worse than a really SLOW-response shell.

http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog - see item 12.

There is a bootable Linux live CD that has a development environment for the ARM chip in this thing: maemo.org/maemowiki/LiveCD


I got a development unit on Friday last week. It took me about a half an hour to get ssh, vi, and nmap running on it. Shell tools are a variant of busybox. The ssh client and server that are the easiest to get running are from dropbear project. I'm working to compile gdb for this thing.

Other comments: wifi is INCREDIBLY sensitive. Will make a great stumbling platform and 1G MMC cards are only like $75. Bluetooth works, and requires that you sync with a 4 digit code every time. The big question is whether it will work with bluetooth GPS.

As a side note, hats off to Nokia for sending units to developers before sending them the press. Don't get me wrong, CmdrTaco, I hope you get the free unit that you feel entitled to in a few months from now, but the fact that Nokia wants these in the hands of developers before the press speaks volumes about how successful this platform will be.

It's all about the software.

By the way, if you want, I can paste a dmesg from this thing. It feels pretty quick, especially running X. Native RAM/storage is 128MB and it comes with a 64MB storage card. MP3 playing slows it down a bit. It can play movie files, but pretty much if that's the only app you're running. Chess, Mahjong, and a Marbles puzzle game are all very nicely built out. The RSS feed reader in this Nokia770 is AWESOME and puts the PalmOS equivalents to shame. The web browser feels like Firefox in your hand and already has Flash support in it. Blah blah blah; I'm rambling, if you have questions, post them here and I'll do my best to answer.

Apparently your browser doesn't underline links in sentences like "It features a Debian-based distribution called Maemo ?

Just for completeness... http://repository.maemo.org/pool/maemo1.1rc6/free/ b/bash/

It will be really interesting to see how Nokia reacts given their tremendous investment in, and control of, Symbian.

http://www.maemo.org/?

Not all product will be a success, and yet you have to try, I don't like NGATE, but that is just my personal view.
I am looking forward for the Nokia Tablet. I believe and hope Nokia will do better with the Linux platform. The maemo development platform, open up many possibilities for others to join in, that is a good sign.
The only thing that I want to complain is the size. I though the tablet size could be like a PDA, but look from some of the photos, it is much bigger in size.
Is not my ideal device, but can't wait to take a close look at it!

The maemo guys are doing some amaizing things with this device. They have just ported over Mono amongst other things. Can't wait for mine to arrive.

I know that several people are asking for Linux support, and I echo that. But, I'd like to go further and ask about the possibility of specific Linux support, namely Maemo support.

Maemo is the version of Linux that is going to run in the upcomming Nokia 770 which will be a cool little tablet. I think it would be absolutely steallar to be able to play Civilization on this device, all over my house, while watching TV, etc.

So, is it possible that there will be Linux support in Civ IV? Maemo support? If not, why not? Support costs? Development costs? Both?

I am anxiously waiting the release of the 770 and would like to buy a dev preview my self!

Anyways, the open source ui effort is called Maemo and you can download the dev platform and check out contribution options at http://www.maemo.org/community/getting-involved.ht ml

As to getting a developer preview it looks like they have stopped, but you can try this link and see if you can apply. I read in Linux Journal they offered this at the last GUADEC to all the developers (only 99 euros - sweet!!!) .

I'm not affiliated with Nokia in any way, but if all the features are true, I'm waiting for this one.

As to getting a developer preview it looks like they have stopped, but you can try this link and see if you can apply. I read in Linux Journal they offered this at the last GUADEC to all the developers (only 99 euros - sweet!!!) .

I'm not affiliated with Nokia in any way, but if all the features are true, I'm waiting for this one.

It's rather difficult to find a device with qt/embedded that's programmable in C++. The only thing that I can think of is the new Nokia surfing tablet, but IIRC it's not available yet.

Actually, the Nokia is/will be GTK based. Even though the 770 isn't out, you can download and play with it's Debianesque OS (called Maemo) here

Remember to check http://www.maemo.org/ it's development platform for 770.

Nokia is currently doing 2 WebKit (based on KHTML/KJS by the KDE project) related webbrowsers:

1) for 770/maemo
this will be shipped with an opera-browser, but WebKit was ported to GTK+ (the toolkit used by maemo) as part of the feasability study. This port can be found under the name gtk-webkit and is used for the atlantis browser.

2) for the Series60 (Symbian based)
For this series Nokia is porting WebKit to the Symbian OS and Symbian toolkit, and will thus create a new browser.

links:
http://khtml.info/
http://kde.org/
http://gtk-webcore.sourceforge.net/
http://www.akcaagac.com/index_atlantis.html
http://www.series60.com/
http://www.symbian.com/
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,1522,,00.html?orig=/7 70
http://www.maemo.org/

g'luck...
Cies Breijs

They should look into the maemo project that Nokia has for their Nokia 770: http://www.maemo.org/

Do you think a console manufacturer is ever going to embrace homwbrew software, or will they always do their best to stop it?

While not really a console, there is the Nokia 770 Linux tablet discussed on Slashdot last week. The SDK is a free download and the device has a well documented developers site. Also, at $350 USD is seems reasonably priced too.

Do you think a console manufacturer is ever going to embrace homwbrew software, or will they always do their best to stop it?

While not really a console, there is the Nokia 770 Linux tablet discussed on Slashdot last week. The SDK is a free download and the device has a well documented developers site. Also, at $350 USD is seems reasonably priced too.

FYI/
Nokia's new 770 Tablet - Debian Linux, X, Gnome, Opera, 802.11g, Bluetooth 1.2, 800x400 widescreen, handheld form factor - supposed to go on sale for US$ 350 within 4 months. (No phone included.)

Nokia's site for open-source components for the 770: Maemo.org has Linux sources and application development resources.

Developer's FAQ PDF here

Don't forget that Nokia already contributes to open source projects: http://www.maemo.org/nokia/contributions.html .

Should have used the Preview button :(.

"Modified Hildon GTK+ is more suitable for embedded device, but it's still binary-compatible with normal GTK+."

The major milestone here is Nokia developing the GUI for mobile devices that runs on Linux (it's a tweaked GNU GTK+, in fact). That means that the premiere organization bringing mobile computing to the masses is figuring out the presentation layer. Which Linux programmers can then use to deliver apps to those mobile masses. Hildon transcends just this phone, just Nokia, and even just "phones". When someone writes a GNOME->Hildon porting tool, Linux developers and the mobile mass market will really go together nicely. And since Maemo apps are Debian packages, SW can be distributed to this huge market with a familiar mechanism that includes automatic comarketing via dependencies. This is going to be fun.

Should have used the Preview button :(.

"Modified Hildon GTK+ is more suitable for embedded device, but it's still binary-compatible with normal GTK+."

The major milestone here is Nokia developing the GUI for mobile devices that runs on Linux (it's a tweaked GNU GTK+, in fact). That means that the premiere organization bringing mobile computing to the masses is figuring out the presentation layer. Which Linux programmers can then use to deliver apps to those mobile masses. Hildon transcends just this phone, just Nokia, and even just "phones". When someone writes a GNOME->Hildon porting tool, Linux developers and the mobile mass market will really go together nicely. And since Maemo apps are Debian packages, SW can be distributed to this huge market with a familiar mechanism that includes automatic comarketing via dependencies. This is going to be fun.

"Modified Hildon GTK+ is more suitable for embedded device, but it's still binary-compatible with normal GTK+."

The major milestone here is Nokia developing for mobile devices that runs on Linux (it's a tweaked GNU GTK+, in fact). That means that the premiere organization bringing mobile computing to the masses is figuring out the presentation layer. Which Linux programmers can then use to deliver apps to those mobile masses. Hildon transcends just this phone, just Nokia, and even just "phones". When someone writes a GNOME->Hildon porting tool, Linux developers and the mobile mass market will really go together nicely. And since Maemo apps are Debian packages, SW can be distributed to this huge market with a familiar mechanism that includes automatic comarketing via dependencies. This is going to be fun.

"Modified Hildon GTK+ is more suitable for embedded device, but it's still binary-compatible with normal GTK+."

The major milestone here is Nokia developing for mobile devices that runs on Linux (it's a tweaked GNU GTK+, in fact). That means that the premiere organization bringing mobile computing to the masses is figuring out the presentation layer. Which Linux programmers can then use to deliver apps to those mobile masses. Hildon transcends just this phone, just Nokia, and even just "phones". When someone writes a GNOME->Hildon porting tool, Linux developers and the mobile mass market will really go together nicely. And since Maemo apps are Debian packages, SW can be distributed to this huge market with a familiar mechanism that includes automatic comarketing via dependencies. This is going to be fun.

I'm more hoping to get the ipkg package system working on that thing,

Yes, ipkg is nice. It is derived from Debian's dpkg. The good news for you is that maemo uses dpkg directly.

See for example the sections "Creating debian/ directory" and "Creating package" near the end of the howto for creating a new application. Another example can be found in the howto for porting an existing application.

Maemo is probably more open than you think...

I'm more hoping to get the ipkg package system working on that thing,

Yes, ipkg is nice. It is derived from Debian's dpkg. The good news for you is that maemo uses dpkg directly.

See for example the sections "Creating debian/ directory" and "Creating package" near the end of the howto for creating a new application. Another example can be found in the howto for porting an existing application.

Maemo is probably more open than you think...

http://www.maemo.org/screenshots.html

> Since it supports Linux and X11, will it run and support KDE/Qt development?

Dont see any reason why it wouldn't.
http://www.maemo.org/
Should be easy enough to get Qtopia running on it, if you dont mind using up precious storage space.