Comment by metageek | Hacker News Reader

Comment by metageek | Hacker News Reader

I've had Maemo in my pocket nearly four years now--first the 770, then the N810. I love my N810. The browser's only so-so, but the xterm is fantastic. I can do development on it, running gcc, python, python3, clisp, guile, hugs, mosml, emacs, and I forget what else. git and svn, of course.

When I got a new phone a year ago, I considered the N900, but held back because its 3G was only for T-Mobile. (Yes, I actually travel in areas where T-Mobile doesn't have 3G. I spend one week a year in a spot where they don't even have GSM coverage.) But I figured I'd get its successor in 2012 or so.

Then Nokia and Intel announced MeeGo. I still haven't seen a good explanation for this--merge two OSes, only one of which has shipping products, instead of dumping the one that doesn't? Cue sinking feeling.

Nowadays I don't think I'll ever run MeeGo. Even when I get an Android phone, I'll have to carry my N810 until it dies. When it does, I'll have to try building a decent dev environment on Android. People have xterm running on it, but it doesn't have most of the tools that make Unix useful.

Sigh.

Just being curious, are you comfortable doing serious coding on a machine with such a little keyboard? I can't even imagine using Emacs efficiently on a device like that. Don't you think a small netbook would increase your comfort and productivity without a considerable loss of portability?

>Just being curious, are you comfortable doing serious coding on a machine with such a little keyboard?

It's certainly slower than with a larger screen. The keyboard doesn't actually slow me down much. Hacking with one of the crappy 3-row keyboards common on phones (e.g., the N900, mrphl) would be a lot worse; but the N810 has most of the symbols I need right on the keys. For the others ({}, [], |), the xterm has a customizable palette; I just tap the right button on the screen.

>I can't even imagine using Emacs efficiently on a device like that.

Shrug. It's emacs. I've been using it for 20 years now; the control keys are burned into my brain. The main impediment is the screen size; I can't see much of my code at once.

>Don't you think a small netbook would increase your comfort and productivity without a considerable loss of portability?

No. With the N810, I can hack while walking down the street. Can't do that with a netbook.

I am impressed that you can hack while walking down the street! When I'm coding my wife has to call my name 3 or 4 times before I notice she is speaking to me. I would be doomed on a busy street.

Long years of practice reading while walking through crowds. Mind you, I do have to look up to cross a street. :-)

I think Moblin had shipping products. Not on any great scale, but the Maemo tablets didn't really set the world on fire either.

I think fairly pure Linux plus Qt, with the heft of Nokia and Intel behind it is a fairly good hand, I guess we'll see how they play it.

>I think Moblin had shipping products.

...oh, you're right. [1], second paragraph.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblin

Well, MeeGo6 is really Maemo + Harmattan, at least for N9 if I remember the gossip correctly.

I'm happy as long as they don't take away the Maemo core(i.e. being deb based). Also the article reeks with FUD.

I believe you mean "Maemo 6", i.e. what Harmattan would have been if there was no MeeGo.

Latest MeeGo release is 1.1 for handsets, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems, each with their own "user experience" layer on top. The handset UX in 1.1 is for developers to have a peek on the new direction. 1.2 is coming up in a couple of months.

MeeGo distribution will be RPM based; that is inherited from Moblin. That shouldn't change anything substantial. The kernel and other guts are still all true Linux goodness.

Another N810 user here. Love it!

I have N900, but it SUCKS - the screen and keyboard are too small for doing anything serious. My girlfriend uses it now, mostly as a phone :)

As an N900 user who has never had an N810, I love it! The keyboard is fine for hacking and the screen is pretty high resolution. The CPU is fast and it has lots of memory. The JDK works great on it too :)

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