blackberry modem… SUCCESS!
Last night i got to nerding it up again, this time with the 8703e blackberry, work phone, and linux.
Using this howto. My blackberry service is through Sprint, so my primary difficulty was with get the pppd settings to work, not until i began scrolling through some of the comments that i found someone using wvdial instead. once i tried it, that worked on the first try. i found on the BlackBerry website, they actually recommend that you can call your service provide and ask what APN can be used. from this howto, the APN is the "wap.voicestream.com". either way should achieve the same end result.
the openmotif and openmotif-devel i was able to find in a typical SuSE-10.2 repository, but the Xlt libraries and the XmBlackBerry i had to download and compile from source, which was pretty straight forward.
if you are a slacker, i've made the SlackBuild scripts for these three packages, currently they are available here (xlt, openmotif, and xmblackberry)
cheers
vb
skype-2.0.0 for linux, Now has video!
YAAH!
i was in class and opening skype to see if i could find someone in Japan to talk to, and i figured i would see if there is a newer version of skype available, indeed there was.
but the jump from 1.4.0 -> 2.0.0, is the addition of video to linux, this is great, really great. now i have to dig out my webcam so i can get it working. 
snapshot
n770
so i am thoroughly enjoying this nokia internet tablet, i had reflashed it to an early version of it's OS, but quickly returned to the 2007 hacker's edition. the only thing i'm lacking, that is missed, is the flash player plugin. so, many website functions are not available, but i'm ok with this.
much of what i do on a regular basis is reading news feeds ,playing Mahjong, listening the local mp3's or internet radio. but i've ultimately enjoyed the fact that it is like home in my pocket, i found HowTo's to put a root kit on it, and give the ability to start treating more like a native linux machine. i have had to refrain from just totally decimating it, so i don't have to re-flash it, because there is still a level of laziness to my methods.
it is a debian base system, and their frontend package manager is a fine package manager, but once you have added the community repository enough to install the xterm program, then you can just 'vi /etc/apt/source.lst' and add more repos their. of the extra things i've installed so far is the 'minimo' mozilla browser, xterm, nmap, mplayer, pidgin (xmpp,aim,irc), video center (video podcast manager), vncviewer, maemopad+ (notepad database thing...), maemo-wordpy (wordpress client for blogging),
here are a few more random snaps i've just taken,
* n770 xterm
* n770 FileManager
* n770 HomeScreen
* n770 pidgin
* n770 pdf
battery life is very dependent on usage, i try to keep the screen almost as dim as it will go and only kick on the wireless mode when needed. and even if i'm surfing the web, i'll turn off the bluetooth if i'm not using it. on average i will deplete it every other day. But if i'm hammering on it, or just surfing the web for hours, it will die in just a couple of hours. you give and take.
most of my browsing is done in doors, so i can keep the screen tuned all the way down. but if you need to look at it and you are out doors, the brightness cranked all the way up is visible for a LCD type, but it can still be challenging. i can accept this for now, many devices are like that.
portability, i carry it in my pocket most everywhere i go now. it spoons with the brick of a work phone (700w Treo) i carry. if i'm going home to work, vice versa, i'll probably through it in my bag. But as soon as i'm at the office, its on my desk or in my pocket. the only thing about its apperance that *partially* disturbs me is that people might think i'm playing a PSP or some gameboy type console...
Cool Toys
So this blog is coming to you from a Nokia n770 internet tablet. l'm test driving it to see if it's something l would spend my money on. The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but l can look past that. So far l reflashed it with the 2OO7 hacker edition so it has the feel of the new N8OO model. Nokia has used the Debian package manager, and there's plenty of good repositories for open source apps, and they've made the GUl package tool easy to add repos add/remove apps. Because of this, l've now got vnc, terminal, ssh, this wordpress blogging app and a significant textpad. But i've got to run now, i'll post more later.