Hi, I am going to be getting a N810 in about 5 weeks to coincide with my switch to Linux. I was wondering, there seems to be several alternate OSs (OSes?) that are near(?) full desktop OS(?). I am very interested in this but am thoroughly confused. Could someone explain this to me?

The N8x0s were released with Maemo OS. Each major release has a code name; therefore, we have Mistral, Chinook, Diablo .... The Maemo itself is a subset of Linux. We have Maemo 1 to 5 for now. Maemo 5 is the next one.

Your device should have the latest Maemo 4, Diablo.

People in this forum have been porting various Linux flavors, or even Google OS. So those OSes are now offered in the "Alternatives" if you want to try them out.

Near full desktop? Firstly we don't have a mouse; secondly the CPU is not faster than of a PC or notebook!

So unless you try it I can not tell you one way or the other!

For me, Diablo is good enough!

Debian and Ubuntu have both been ported to the N8x0 tablets and offer standard desktop interfaces like KDE, Gnome, or Xfce. These are both common desktop Linux distros available in a slightly modified versions for the tablets.

For the thread on installing Debian go here:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=21629

For the thread on installing Ubuntu go here:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=25975

Now remember these are not *near* full desktop OS's they *are* full desktop OS's with some slight optimizations for the tablets.

While these are possible, they aren't built specifically for the tablets, for that reason (and a few others), most people will agree that Maemo OS2008 is the best OS available for the tablets.

@149, your question shows that it would b useful to have a sticky topic in the Alternatives forum providing the basic information you are looking for.

It would be great is a fan of alternative OS running in the tablets could write that introductory sticky thread. You have examples of these threads in the General, N810, N800 and 770 forums.

Ah, the maemo.org wiki had the solution for your confusion: http://wiki.maemo.org/Alternative_operating_systems

Thanks for that link qgil. After having my own n810 now for a while I got the distinct impression that it would be hard indeed to beat Diablo. That being said I always did want to know what all the options were. That page does a very good job in explaining it all.

Hey thanks, YoshiMon!