Disclaimer: If you are not comfortable with the command line, do not try this.

If you have installed an app from the Ovi Store web portal, you would have noticed that the process is not fast. Clicking the Download link opens the Application-Manager which takes anywhere from 30-40 seconds to prepare the system before actually starting the download. For those who don’t like to wait, the apt-get command is a great alternative to speed up things and also allow installing multiple apps (at least the ones that are free) in one go.

Prerequisites

There are two things required before starting the download. Setting up the Ovi Repo and creating an Archive folder. You need to do this only once.

Ovi Repo

If you have never used the Ovi Store, you would need to have the repo installed first. Downloading an app from the store automatically adds the repo the first time but you need an Ovi account. So if you want the apps but don’t like signing in, you can add the repo manually:
Name: Ovi
Web: https://downloads.maemo.nokia.com/fremantle/ovi/
Dist: ./

Archive Folder:

In order to save space on the root partition, create a download directory for the downloaded packages. Instructions here

Installation

For installation, all you need is the application’s package name. The apt-cache command can be used to find it. The following command will search and list all packages with the word ‘offscr’ in it:

# apt-cache search offscr

This will display the 31 nifty apps by Offscr currently available. This also searches descriptions.

Next, install the desired package using apt-get (as root of course):

# apt-get -o dir::cache=/home/user/MyDocs/apt-archive-cache install  offscr-discs  offscr-backgammon  offscr-watch

This will start the installation process for all 3 apps which will take about the same time it takes for one install from the website. Enjoy!

Latest Mobile Phones 2010

We all know N900 doesn’t yet feature a MMS sending capability. mkMMS is an application developed by Mohammed Sameer

The application is not yet finished. It’s in alpha stage but it’s working good. It lacks GUI and very limited in features.This application allows you to create a MMS and send your photo to another phone number via Nokia N900. With the current version you can attach only ONE, which can be jpg, png, gif or text file (txt). And at this point it’s still under development so we can get a full featured version very soon!. You can use it like this

./mkmms /home/temp/photo.jpg m-send-req.mms subject

You can get a Copy of mkMMS here : mkMMS

This tutorial will show you how to add an icon to the topx shortcut in Part 1.

1. Find/create a PNG image of dimension 48×48. (google this)
2. Name the file topx.png
3. Save file to /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48×48/hildon/ (you will need root access)
4. Modify the topx.desktop file to include the following line. The right side should be the name of file without the .png

Icon=topx

The topx.desktop now looks like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.1
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Name=topx
Exec=/usr/bin/osso-xterm top
Icon=topx
X-Osso-Type=application/x-executable

Save topx.desktop and reboot to see the icon for the shortcut in the Application Menu. If the icon does not show up, install a couple of apps from the Application Manager. This should update the icon-cache and display it.

Being able create a file-shortcut on the desktop is a standard feature of all desktop environments like XP, GNOME, KDE, OS X etc. Unfortunately, the N900’s desktop doesn’t allow putting any kind of link on the desktop except if its a bookmark. So if you like having quick access to certain files from the desktop, there is a workaround through the browser.

In the following example, I will create a shortcut to the agenda.pdf file. Open the file-system from the browser (see my previous post) and navigate to the folder of the file’s location.

Press and hold on the filename to bring up the menu. Select Add Bookmark. Give it a name and Save.

This will create a bookmak to the file. Now add the bookmark on the desktop.

Thats it. The file can be launched directly from the desktop.

Not so nice parts of this hack:
Web-browser launches, bookmark-folder inflates with the links, and the shortcuts on the desktop are deceptive without the thumbnail.

created using MaStory on the N900

Hello folks !

Our Maemo team will be posting about latest news, rumors, reviews and hacks . we will soon open a download section where you can download  or submit your applications , wallpapers and themes.

Enjoy your Stay !