Maemo is here

Almost two weeks ago, I got my hands on this new internet tablet from Nokia. Nokia N900 is the first maemo device, which also holds mobile broadband connections inside. I have also previous models, N770, N800 and N810 and therefore I was quite hungry to evaluate this.

I have to say that I am impressed, not only functionality of this device - but also Nokia's courage to bring this for the masses.

Ubuntu Sunday

After Ubuntu 9.10 arrived, I equipped my primary laptop (Panasonic CF-W7) with it and enjoyed a lot of upgraded system. After that I took directions to upgrade my eee pc, which is now fantastic little device. I am sitting now in coffee and writing this blog post with eee pc's integrated 3G connection. I even managed to get screenshot for you to review.

I wonder why peoples are still looking to microsoft products. Freely available solutions can now a days achieve so much more and with a ease, what others seems to lack. Even my long time windows friends are now a days excited to install ubuntu every computer they face. I call that revolution.

Phone adventures

I have played a lot with this Nokia 5530, with touch screen and music. It's a nice phone, but still - something missing. Mainly keyboard and logic of S60 with touch is something totally awful. No wonder why Nokia is dumbing Symbian in favor to Maemo.

After a 5530, I played a bit with my HTC Hero, but it's something too fragile and a bit too unusable for me. I wonder why touch screen keyboard is not so bad as in 5530, but it must be the size of screen or something. From HTC Hero I returned to Samsung B2700, which is nice phone - but lacks a bit usability compared to Nokia S40 series.

But somehow I needed a bit robustness, usability and set of features and ended up to Nokia 3720 today. It's really nice looking unit, making it easy to use and fast. Somehow after S60, this feels just right. It has no 3G or fancy wanna be features from S60. Just plain phone. Mostly I like touch of text messaging in this, it's fast and easy. Almost as good as my E71.

Major day

Today, I did one of the biggest decision in my life.

After having thoughtful discussion with my daughter, I understood that we all have problems and worries. Mine are related to technologies, family and future in these times and she has her own in school world. I think we become out fine and therefore I did my decisions today. What was that 'big thing'...?

I announced today to Nokia that I withdraw from senior specialist position, which we signed on July. It's something I've been thinking a whole summer, all my vacation and every spare moments in my life. And question is, why's that ? Reason is simple, I got offered possibility to do full time in my own company, which is good (again, in these times). Of course, it's something that might be harder, but somehow I believe what I know and that's base for all.

Big thanks to loving family, going to be there now.

Nokia N900 - answer is arrived

Wait is over. Thing which I've been talking endlessly is announced now. Nokia is offering Linux based phone for all of us.

I see this as big thing, since 770 tablet, N800 and N810 was showing a way for me and I knew that great thing would be combined GSM/3G communication for the platform.

I hardly cannot wait to get my hands on this. I really enjoy to get some coding done for this one, I just have to hope that Nokia is offering full access to every part of phone. I have big plans for m2m communication and other interesting uses.

HTC Hero

Before my holiday in Spain, I managed to get HTC Hero for evaluation. And I must say that it's really something after crappy symbian phones (mainly E71). Customized user interface with capacitive touch screen is ease to use and modify, sms threading is joy to use and other features are very attractive, compared to any symbian device.

No wonder Nokia is afraid at the moment. They leaked N900 to promote their Maemo phone line, which is starting very slowly and uncertain steps. What we need, is strong indication that Nokia will drop Symbian and focus to Maemo and Linux communities.

After buying my Samsung B2700 I said that I will never ever acquire Symbian phone and it is still valid statement. I've been using now Samsung B2700 and HTC Hero and yes, they are both very capable. Basic ruggerized phone and Linux based flag ship.

Samsung B5702

I must say that something hit me. I acquired second Samsung phone in a week. I was searching phone with multi sim capability and came across the fact that in Finland there were no such thing. Which I think is unforgiving!

While visiting colleagues in Estonia, I was able to spot this wonderful phone from Samsung. Samsung B5702. It hosts two sim cards simultaneously and both of them are registered to network constantly. So, when ever some one tries to reach you from another operator, it succeeds.

Only thing, which is preventing to utilising this fully is lack of Finnish set of language in phone. I can accept that user interface is in English, but when there is no T9 dictionary and our alphabets (ä,ö) available in text messages, I think it's tough. Let's see if I can reach some one in Samsung to answer me for this.

From Nokia W71 to Samsung B2700

Got tired of my Nokia E71, because it was slow and symbian is so yesterday. While waiting Nokia Linux phones and tablets, I took liberty to change phone to Samsung B2700. It's a bit robust one and should support essentials things for me.

I have made my personal communication strategy and Samsung will be part of that. More of that in coming days. I have big things in my mind.

Battery life in EeePC 901 GO

Yesterday I had possibility to test how long my freshly installed EeePC 901 would keep rocking and results were nice. I turned computer + 3G connection on and left it still. While lid was closed most of the time, it kept running from 17.00 - 20.40 and it showed still some juice in battery meter of ubuntu. So, I am quite pleased for that! Hopefully I can gain some more real life results in future, with actual usage of it while testing. Because I think display would take major part of consumption.

Nice combo, eee901 Go + ubuntu

Installation to my eeepc 901 GO went smoothly. Now I am running ubuntu 9.04 on GO and it works like a charm. Even compiz and 3D magic works. It's actually quite nice PC for traveling, because integrated 3G modem gives network where ever you are.

I've been watching this now for a while and I have to admit that it's little bit too small for primary computer, but it's certainly something more convenient to take with you for a trip. And most important thing: it's free from windows..

Ubuntu to Eeepc 901 GO

Q: What is most important feature of Windows ?
A: Ability to replace it with Linux.

I am currently installing Linux (ubuntu 9.04 alternate) to this hardware. I need to explore it's abilities in mobile environment for one project. And yes, it always feels good to over write that copy of Windows :)

weak signals

From yesterday 'employment figures' - I continue today to give you another weak signal. You all know this nice web site, where British guys keep up with the Nokia phones: http://allaboutsymbian.com/

Now they registered domain: allaboutmaemo.com

When will it strike us? I personally have been waiting and waiting that Linux strategy from Nokia. Please let it arrive before I turn my head to android.

Hot words

Every now and then I take peek to employment situation, making few queries to Finnish employment and economy office information system for open positions. Today I gained following results:

Query word / positions open:
Symbian: 26 positions
Microsoft: 41 positions
Linux: 56 positions

What does it tell you?

Graphed future

I spotted this nice graphics from Chris Heathcote website and it surely describes well what I've been trying to tell my friends. Personal implication of this graph is the fact that our family quit subscribing new paper a year ago and my personal television watching time has decreased quite a bit. If I ever catch a show, it happens through tvkaista.com service.

One thing which I could argue regarding this graph, is social increase part. I just don't know are we ready to be that social..

Firmware update of E71

On last Friday, I took time and checked with one Windows machine in our office, is there a new firmware version to my crappy E71. And indeed there was. I've been wondering my E71 sluggish usage and corruptive menu graphics, which tells me that there is some serious memory leaking issues in operating system. No reboots could heal that, they tend to come up again and again.

I did firmware update to 210.x and now it remains to see, if it was worth it? Strange thing is that I cannot check version of my phone *#0000# because phone won't display anything.

All this tells you something about the frustration which I am facing with these Nokia symbian smartphones. At the beginning phone was working nicely and fast, but somehow after loaded with two email accounts and some sms messages, everything changes. It's really unacceptable.

iPhone vs Nokia

I am Finnish engineer, I should be pressing towards Nokia innovations. But why am I watching iPhone now? I just quickly previewed WWDC 2009 keynote of iPhone and I must say, why Nokia cannot innovate like this?

There is huge difference between features in Nokia 'smartphones' and iPhone and I cannot see why. Nokia should be able to push more but they don't. Only thing I am still waiting for from Nokia is new Maemo tablet with 3G connection. Symbian is so yesterday.

xubuntu 9.04 on Aspire One

Installation is complete. Now my Acer Aspire One has xubuntu 9.04 running. I installed it from alternate (i386) cd and enabled encrypted lvm. I thought that it could affect performance, but so far I have not noticed such thing.

I jumped around xfce configurations and found out suitable theming and fonts for system. Now everything fits nicely in this small screen. I also updated Firefox theme to foxdie.

So, ubuntu netbook remix was ok, but somehow power computing needs traditional window management.

xubuntu testing

Back from Washington. To compile more omap3 stuff. I also decided to give a try xubuntu in my Acer Aspire One. Will follow up shortly how it's working.

Back to ubuntu

Amazing how fast I returned to gnome from kde 4.2. After experiencing few segfaults in plasma and meeting some garbage in my editor, I was ready to back off. It took additional half an hour to install ubuntu 9.04 and sync my home directory in place and now I am again in familiar gnome.

It's funny, because in days of kde 3.5.2 - I said to everyone that gnome is not for me. Now I am totally opposite with my opinion.

Kubuntu 9.04

Monday morning, before 6 AM - I decided that it would be perfect moment to try out kubuntu 9.04 and KDE 4.2. My loyal and long served ubuntu installation has been in use almost year now and it's time to move on. Last time I did this move, I came back to ubuntu world in few weeks. Mainly because KDE 4.x was buggy for me.

My update strategy is simple. I bought another harddrive on Saturday and removed completely old drive containing ubuntu installation. So in case 'oh, I forgot that...' I can always run back to ubuntu. I think it's worth that 50€ what hard drive costs.

Installation is ready! I let you know.

N810 vs Acer Aspire One

Day before I bought this Acer Aspire One netbook, I witnessed my Nokia N810 internet tablet touch screen failure. I read from tableteer website, that it's quite common problem with N810. Now I am thinking, will I get it never repaired?

My eyes were opening with this Acer, since price and features are worth mentioning. Most things which I missed mostly in my N810, are now possible:

• Standard processor platform (it's just too much to have SDK environment to do cross compiling for some fast code tryout)
• Application pool with decent amount of software. N810 and ubuntu repositories are just not compareable.
  
• Possibility to use Thunderbird with enigmail plugin (gpg emails are requirement for my business)
• Keyboard. N810 has it, but doing some emailing requires just a bit more.

Last thing which should act as eye opener for Nokia is the price. How they dare to ask 500-900 € of 'smart phone', which is not smart enough to deliver encrypted email possibility and to break free from operators cage. Think about it.

Television of Today

Finnish broadcasting company 'yle' is in big trouble, peoples are not believing any more the official truth and Internet is going to take over. Big issue is now broadcasting companies and their funding, but let me say that with delay, politicians are going to find out that it does not matter any more, who is sitting on what chair in Yle.

I think it's natural evolution, things will rise and things will die. If you're lucky, you just morphing. I don't know yet will Yle die completely as an instance, but in many eyes it has already done so. And those eyes which are already looking over broadcasting to more competive media, they will stay open longer. That's just life.

I have found my personal television once again, but not in form what broadcasters want. I can choose what I watch, I can participate and contribute. By television is computer, while I sometimes watch a movie or show, I often find myself compiling that new fun program. Or writing something of my own. Closest thing to television is very nice service called 'TV-Kaista', which brings me all Finnish channels to my computer. I am no longer tied to schedules of programs, I can watch them when ever I want and where ever I am.

There are huge benefits for consumers and producers from this kind of concept. Like exact statistics, how many views per show, what are most interesting watching times etc.

This is my television and Madventures III,
join the party!

Forgive me Nokia

I have been loyal user of your phones, smart phones and normal ones. But while I visited today local Gigantti store here in Finland - I came across some internal vision. While I bought this Acer aspire one for 150 €, I took look at smart phone offerings from Nokia. E75 was something like 475 € or so, making it look pretty stupid along these mini laptops.

This new 'baby laptop' is so much more than 'this is what computers have became' smart phones. I bet Nokia has to recognize this? With their phones or 'computers' I just cannot do things, which are possible with ubuntu on my mini laptop. Costing just a fraction.

Of course, when this vision is just a geeks one - it probably does not matter, but I met in store older gentleman who was buying same Acer because 'his vista sucks'. I think this is very strong signal of something. I really hope that Nokia will officially announce their Linux usage plans on phones, since if they miss this, it might be fatal. Since when these 150 € pc's with Linux are holding internal 3G modem, game is over.

Bellow is picture of Nokia's HQ in Espoo, Finland. Taken at 25.4.2009 with my E71.

Ubuntu 9.04 NBR on Acer Aspire One

I must say that this is truly something. Just came home from my colleagues office, where Vista gave him quite a headache on PC which costs fortune. Nothing worked and "are you sure" questions kept popping up.

It was so relief to get back home to finalize this Acer aspire one Ubuntu NBR installation. And this is amazing ! Newer seen anything like this before, this is fast and capable. And don't forget price, 150 €!

I see microsoft misery, when you put products side by side. They just cannot make it.

Installation from usb stick with image file was easy. Computer booted right from stick and installation was quite fast. Few questions asked, regarding language, keyboard and timezone and off you go.

It's truly amazing that you can get 2 € usb flash drive, sized 1 GB and you can do these kind of operating system installations right from it. And beside of that, there is also bunch of very useful applications also. Complete Open Office, instant messaging, email clients etc.

I am glad that we can share this Linux knowledge from here.

Aspire One

I just had to acquire it, Acer aspire laptop with linpus Linux at 159 €. I think it reasonable priced and good looking family laptop. Beside of that, I am still wondering how great this new Ubuntu 9.04 is ;)

Beat this

Since previous posting, I have done quite a bit. Most notably installed vmware server 2.0 (amd64). I just have to say that big thanks to teams, which are making all this possible. In 2 minutes, up and running. Without any troubles.

Ubuntu 9.04

Beat this: I came into campus and downloaded Ubuntu AMD64 alternate install CD in two minutes and installed it to this HP 6930p in 15 minutes.

I have never ever seen this easy and fast installation procedure, it's something which makes me speechless. Now I have complete new operating system in my HP laptop and everything looks very well polished.

I don't know where to start, since this new Firefox 3.0.9 is so good looking, networking works like a charm between wireless and wired ethernet and most amazing thing was speed of boot process! Never seen like that before. Now I am backing up my other laptop directories to USB drive and soon upgrade that also!

Microsoft - Let's play

Microsoft's history of anticompetitive behaviour and consumer harm [here].

Services; Nokia vs Google

It was indeed fun to read in Finnish media, how Nokia explained situation and future on Q1 result publishing. Kallasvuo said that services are key for the future and how touchscreen phone with music service is something which consumers want.

I doubt that, since after I tried 5800 model, it was far from usable and quite cumbersome. Comes with music service is also something that I could not care less, mainly because Nokia spoiled first miles with DRM issues in there. All this brings me to think, what is difference between good and bad service? How peoples are talking all the time about Google and Apple instead of Nokia?

Simple mind has simple thoughts. I bet that Google and Apple are like Linux, while Nokia is like Microsoft. This associates something which turns againts Nokia. In my mind at least.

If I compare things that Google delivers in field of services to things what Nokia is trying to deliver, I see this same difference in my everyday IT habits: if I compare my Linux possibilities to Windows 'possibilities'.

Think about it.

Nokia's Linux devices

Linuxdevices.com has nice article, where speculation of forthcoming Linux devices is running wild. I surely would like to receive official confirmation from Nokia that they will power future smartphones with Linux, rather than Symbian. There are so many reasons for this, but mainly I am sick and tired of my E71's which are limited by Symbian.

In theory I could use my E71 for various tasks, but I end up booting my laptop time after time to have manageable user experience. This includes emailing (gpg support), ssh terminals, calendars and other (mainly google) serv ices.

Comparing Google's and Nokia's services is also something Nokia should do internally. I just cannot understand why Nokia is incabable to deliver experiences which Google can. Think about it and you see 5 eyes reason, probabaly.

Be mobile

New life situation has bring to mobile world totally. I am typing this with my Panasonic Toughbook CF-W7 with integrated 3G and running ubuntu 8.10. It's really like a breeze. Encrypted emails fly with thunderbird and enigmail. I did some research to replace this combination with Apple, no luck. Integrated 3G was missing and my experiences running thunderbird on apple is not so great.

So, being mobile is not so bad after all!

Departing from Sarajevo, 14th of March 2009

Nice video, shot from a plane departing Sarajevo. Whole place was amazing experience, I have to say.

Your life

Been quite silent lately, due the fact that I've gone trough some very intensive issues. But as it's spring time soon again, I think we'll make it. I've been privileged to have my changes to meet wonderful peoples, all around globe and seeing such things that I could have just imagined a while ago.

I've also created youtube account, since my plans include to publish some videos time to time, since without sharing - experiences vanish. It's true in so many ways.