Well it isn't like the nokia repos for the n8x0's had a great deal in them in the first place...
rarely do I ever need anything from them...
and ...of course I would not think...nor dare dream of violating Nokia's copyright laws by having a back up of those few nokia bits anyway...

custom repos ?
I got mine...
but yet again it is only in case of nuclear war...
haven't really needed to use them either...
other than some 3rd party repos which need to be either brought under the n8x0 official repos...or saved in their entirety to wayback
for access, research purposes and download...the main repos are perfectly fine...

and yes of course some apps have not been maintained...
But that can be remedied in most cases where the problem is just that.. ...by people taking the time to maintain them...
The bulk of the maemo4 apps work fine still..

I putter and use many of them all the time...

and yup ..it is slow compared to 16gb ram octocores nowadays...
and yup ...consequently due to browsers not investing time in older hardware...it is slow compared to modern devices with modern browsers...

as far as no gsm...
yup ..it isn't a "phone"
and for all the greatness of the n900 (and the n900 is truly the best linux phone past present and for a little while to come...yet....)
there are plenty enough issues which have come about for endusers with the gsm end of things...
Just look at the number of issues...there are plenty of threads....
right down to the infamous "No telephony...." thread.

In the end...the durability of the devices..and the fact that 10 years on..it is STILL a device and platform with use and life...
says volumes...
How many devices are useless after a few years nowadays?


In the end...
It truly depends what you want....what you expect ...out of a device...

and how you wish to make it work for you.