Points of Interest

Gerrit Visser managed to compile the current SVN code of Navit for the N8×0. Though he shared some valuable hints (thanks a bunch!), I didn’t manage to compile the current Navit code in my own Scratchbox environment yet. I’m pretty confident we will iron this issue out some day. Gerrit also added some code to start the gpsd on the Maemo platform during Navit’s startup. Previously, you needed to start another GPS application in order to get a position in Navit. Now it’s done automatically. Feels a bit like Xmas time :) .

Anyway, for the time being, you can find automatically built precompiled binaries on Navit’s download pages.

Just for the records, I managed to repair the broken filesystem on my N810 right during lunch break. Here’s what I did:

ssh root@localhost
password:****
umount /dev/mmcblk0p1
mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
reboot


That’s it. I’m copying back the data right now using ssh respectively fish://.

Note: If you follow the above steps, you do it at your own risk. Ensure you know what you are doing. Then adjust the above commands to fit your configuration and device. Do not blame me if something goes wrong.

A couple of days ago, I tried to copy some files and folders to my N810 via ssh. Unfortunately, this gave me an error. Maybe this was due to some german umlauts in the file names. To circumvent those issues, I put all the stuff into a zip file and copied it over with no further problems. After that, I connected the N810 to a Mac using the N810’s USB cable. There have been errors mounting, and I was unable to copy the zip file to the Mac. I unmounted the device and tried the same on Windows Vista which gave some errors again, but finally I was able to get the zip file.

Today, I noticed that the internal flash card gets mounted read only on the N810. I googled a bit, and the usual hint reads as reformatting the card. Not a big deal, as it only hosts some maps for Maemo Mapper and Navit, but nevertheless it causes some traffic.

No prob as I’m a technician and long time Linux hacker, but I wonder how Joe Average coped with such a situation. I still have no clue when and why this happened. Admittedly, Joe Average would never have used ssh to copy files to the device. Maybe there’s a hardware defect. Maybe the umlaut files caused a filesystem error. Maybe it was just voodoo.

I create a backup of the files on the flash disk right now. Will reformat it tomorrow.

There are rumors that Google is about to develop a new desktop operating system. Additionally, Nokia announced Maemo 5, which supports the OMAP3 processor. I’m really curious about the next Nokia internet tablet. If it shared the specs of the N810, featured the OMAP3 and, mainly, more RAM (I dream of 512MB but doubt this will happen), I guess it will be an irresistible device. The winter seems to be saved :) .