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Run the KDE Desktop on a Nokia N800

"Newbie Step-by-Step Instructions"

These Instructions:
1. Partition the internal SD card
2. Enable system boot from internal SD card (dual-booting)
3. Install KDE on internal SD boot partition

Things NOT Covered Here:
1.  Upgrade to 2008OS
2.  Installing / running SSH client on your IT
     (exteremely useful - control IT console from main computer)

Note: This should also work on a Nokia N810

Credits:

I am in awe of the work done by PenguinBait of the InternetTabletTalk forums for making KDE available on the Maemo platform!  It is far beyond my coding ability, and almost beyond my comprehension how he was able to accomplish this.  More than 99.99% of the information on this page came from the work of PenguinBait, PenCushionQueen, and others in the Maemo community.  My contribution is infinitely small by comparison.

I am a Linux novice.  This page captures my experience installing the KDE Linux desktop on my N800 Nokia Internet Tablet.  The value others may find in this page would be having all the steps in one place, plus the few steps I added because of difficulties I encountered because of my low experience level.  In addition, I have formatted this page for easy viewing on an Internet Tablet.  A text version is also available (link at the bottom of the page).


Notes:

1. The starting point of these instructions is my N800 w/ 2008OS installed and no boot partition other than the internal flash memory.

2. These instructions set up a 2GB SD card in the N800 internal SD slot such that ~ 1.5 B is partitioned for bootable system files and ~ .4 GB for extra storage.  When it's finally done, the available extra space is <300 MB on the internal SD card boot partition.  I'll probably redo this on a 4 GB SD card so I have more room for additional applications and files.

3. Internet access is required.

4. All these steps require root access in Xterm (instructions for that not shown here). You'll need to become root after each reboot of the device.

5. You're going to get a lot of "Are you sure?" questions throughout this process.  WTF - Just answer "Y" and go with it!

6. Most of these steps are covered elsewhere.  I have added additional steps I needed to take, and have deleted steps not applicable to my hardware.  You will find much more information on the InternetTabletTalk forums.
Problem and Observations:

1. Because of my "Newbie-ness", I had a lot of trouble with Tar and Bzip2.  I probably have some redundant steps here associated with installing them and unpacking tarballs.  I'll validate the steps in the future and will correct any errors.

2. Some of the tarball files are pretty large and will fill up the available space on the partition if left behind.  On my first attempt I "copied" tarballs from the download directory (Documents) to the desired locations.  This left behind unneeded archive files.  Make sure you "move" these files vs. "copy."
Credits (folks on the InternetTabletTalk forum):

* PenguinBait
* PenCushionQueen
* Aisu
Let's Get Started!

1. Create Partitions:

# apt-get install e2fsprogs
# umount /media/mmc2
# sfdisk /dev/mmcblk0
/dev/mmcblk0p1:1,15000,6 (this is a ~480 MB FAT32 partition)
/dev/mmcblk0p2:15001,, (this is a ~1.5MB Linux_83 partition)
/dev/mmcblk0p3: <return>    
/dev/mmcblk0p4: <return>
2. Format Partition 1

# umount /media/mmc2 (this step is omitted from other guides)
# mkdosfs /dev/mmcblk0p1
# shutdown -r now        
(device will SD and Restart)

3. Format Partition 2

# umount /media/mmc2 (this step is omitted from other guides)
# mke2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2
# shutdown -r now        
(device will SD and Restart again)
4. Download the flasher application from here and save to "Documents"

http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/initfs_flasher.tgz
Install the flasher application to create a boot menu (won't have to repeat this if you redo these steps in the future for a new SD card)

# cd /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/
# tar zxvf initfs_flasher.tgz (check location of Tar first)
# cd initfs_flasher/
# ./initfs_flash
The VFAT partition will be mounted by the system automatically at start-up. To mount the EXT2 partition you must open an Xterm and type as root. Notes: (1) I'm not quite sure about this because my EXT2 partition seems to auto mount.  Perhaps these modules were already loaded?  I did the steps anyway. (2) Check version of omap files on your device.  Some instructions I read referred to 2.6.18.  Mine had 2.6.21.  Others may be different. Adjust as per your device.

# insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/2.6.21-omap1/mbcache.ko
# insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/2.6.21-omap1/ext2.ko

5. Install the OS on Internal SD Card

# mkdir /opt/
# mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /opt
# mkdir /floppy/
# mount -t jffs2 -o ro /dev/mtdblock4 /floppy

Some users experienced errors here because /opt/ and /floppy/ already exisyed. You can ignore this error and continue.
6. Download and Install TAR (an archive file unpacker)

Verify Internet connection is ON, download the tar package, and save in "Documents".

Get Tar from :
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/maemo3.2/free/binary/tar_1.14-2.1osso_armel.deb

Create a directory called Tar-Temp and unpack Tar in it

# cd /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/
# mkdir /tar-temp/
# dpkg -x tar*.deb /tar-temp/

7. Install bzip2

# apt-get install bzip2
8. Disconnect from the Internet, then

# cd /tar-temp/bin/
# cp tar targnu
# ./targnu cf - -C /floppy . | ./targnu xvf - -C /opt

9. Watch the files transfer for a few minutes.  When complete, reboot.

# cd /
# umount /opt
# umount /floppy
# chroot /mnt/initfs cal-tool --set-root-device ask:mmc2
# shutdown -r now

10. You should get a boot menu - select boot into External MMC.  

choose - "MMC card, partition 2, ext2"

Now you are booting from your SD card!  This is a good place to take a break.  Explore the new boot partition.  Delete applications, tarballs, and other files you don't want here to free up space.  Change the desktop image to make it different than when you boot from internal memory (provides a visual reminder that you are running on the SD card).  Move forward when you're ready.
11. Download KDE and the SUP and save to "Documents" folder

http://tablethacker.com/kde.html

12. Move the KDE and SUP files to root < / >. In my first attempt I "copied" vs. "moved" the tarballs - big mistake. That leaves behind huge tarballs in "Documents" that take up valuable SD card space.

# mv /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/KDE358.tar.bz2 /KDE358.tar.bz2
 # mv /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/SUP.tgz /SUP.tgz

13. One at a time, Unpack the KDE and SUP tarball on top of 2008OS
(in root dir).  Hint: Remember where Tar is located from earlier steps.  It will have been duplicated in the same place on the new boot partition.

# cd /
# /tar-temp/bin/tar jxvf KDE358.tar.bz2     (takes ~30 minutes)
# /tar-temp/bin/tar zxvf SUP.tgz        (takes ~15 minutes)

You are finished! 

KDE will be an icon in the "Extras" menu.
Most recent update: Feb 25 , 2008

posted by Pronuke
Comments are welcome and appreciated!

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