N900 - How to clear all the phone data & settings

N900 is a great phone with a lot of drooling features (refer to this post "N900 - A phone running open source OS & programs"). Particularly, because it is running Maemo which have a active & generous community. But I've to give it up because I've found a phone that fits more into my lifestyle. Nonetheless, it is still great mobile phone to have.

The N900 is different from other mobile phone. The usual way of resetting the phone from the phone settings menu will only clear the mobile phone settings, but the OS & data (eMMC) are still intact. Before selling off this phone to the next person, I've gotta clear all the stuff in it, especially the data.

Below are the steps on how to flush the phone & clears all the data and settings :

N900 - How to overclock the processor speed of N900

The N900 is a flexible mobile phone that runs Maemo operating system. It should not be compare as a mobile phone but rather as a mobile tablet with an extra function, phone. As my previous post introduction, it comes with a large display, keyboard & a snappy processor. Because of Maemo, now it even allows processor overclocking.

By overclocking to 850mhz, I've noticed that the average battery usage life have increase up to 30%. From an average of 3 days per charge to less then 5 days per charge. And of cause, because the processor is running faster then the default 600mhz, it boosts the response of application execution. To anyone that is interested in overclocking this phone, this post will show how to overclock the N900 to 850mhz which I find this speed is a balanced between speed & battery life. Anything higher then this might spoil the phone. You've been warned.

Here's how to overclock the processor of N900 :

N900 - A phone running open source OS & programs

N900 is the latest offering from Nokia that answers the open source crave for software freedom, it runs Maemo, an OS based on linux, specifically Debian. Maemo also uses "apt" as package manager. Its GUI is fantastic, with accurate touch screen experience. Command line comes with it by default, to access the very core of the OS. And not like some other OS that hides hard to NOT let user touch it (even that, users managed to "jailbreak" it so to access the command line :p).

The N900 hardware runs a fast ARM cortex A8 processor (overclockable), 32GB internal storage with expandable micro MMC external storage card, touch screen with 800 × 480 pixel resolution, QWERTY slide hardware keyboard, 3.5 mm audio jack, A-GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, 3G internet connectivity and the long list goes on.

A big note here, the Maemo community is active & generous to its user that wants to have software freedom. Freedom to choose software from a community that offers alternatives, community that patches and write software just so that we all can use freely and not bow our heads to companies that charges software, even minor function. The Maemo community is active in providing patches both to the OS & 3rd party programs.

We all know that Debian is a hacker friendly linux distribution that seems more and more linux distribution derived from. e.g. Ubuntu family, Knoppix, Damn Small Linux, here & here. Maemo is based on Debian.

The price is unbeatable consider that it comes with such fast & furious hardware, OS and most importantly, the active & friendly open source community.

This post will list out my other blog post that's written based on N900. Here are some of it :

1. N900 - How to ssh into N900 using OpenSSH
2. Perl - A happy note, on N900 
3. N900 - How to overclock the processor speed of N900
4. N900 - How to clear all the phone data & settings
5. Stay tuned, this list will be update periodically.

Adios !!!

Perl - A happy note, on N900

The Nokia N900 runs perl :

~ $ perl -v

This is perl, v5.8.3 built for arm-linux-gnueabi-thread-multi

Copyright 1987-2003, Larry Wall

Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the
GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source kit.

Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on
this system using `man perl' or `perldoc perl'. If you have access to the
Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.org/, the Perl Home Page.

Cheers !!!

N900 - How to ssh into N900 using OpenSSH

Since the Nokia N900 runs on Maemo, Debian based Linux, it also offers open source programs. The secure shell is one of open source gems. Maemo offers the OpenSSH variety of secure shell.

OpenSSH on Maemo not only offers encrypted secure remote shell, it also comes with functions that runs like the desktop version. Such as ssh socks 5 tunneling, that can be used to encrypt traffic transmit of the programs that supports socks 5 proxy.

Here's how to do it :

Nokia E71 and E63 tips - shell or command line access using ssh (secure shell)

The Nokia E71 & E63 is a versatile phone for people that needs the business suite of application, e.g. email, messenger, documents & spreadsheet, camera and most importantly, the symbian platform. The symbian platform is widely used on mobile phones. Symbian's platform also have a wide variety of applications.

For *NIX system administration, shell access to the command line (using ssh) of the  servers are part of our life. Having to own Nokia E71 or E63 is one of the best thing as Putty is available on symbian platform. Putty is a symbian application that can connect to server using shell access or command line by ssh, which take advantage of the built-in QWERTY keyboard on Nokia E71 & E63. Putty also allow to use public key authentication, if the private key is installed on the phone or the memory card (mmc). It also allow to configure ssh (secure shell) client to connect to other ports then the default port 22.

Nokia E71 and E63 tips and short cut keys

Nokia E71 and E63 are great phones, operating on Symbian S60 series operating systems. Its keyboard is easy to type, the LCD is sharp, the keys position are great and most importantly, the battery last long enough, approximately 5-7 days for an average user like me. The phone also comes with a lot of practical applications, e.g. word processor, spreadsheet, simple note pad, email client and etc.

The phone's operating systems is also able to upgrade from a normal PC or laptop with USB connectivity. The last upgrade my phone had have significantly improve the responsiveness and also some functionality. e.g. typing the phone book entry on the Home Screen will directly search for it (rather the usually need to access the phone book before able to search), press shift twice will activate the secondary input language and others.

But this post is about tips and shortcut keys available on the phone, below are some of it discovered along using the phone all this while :

Apple mac OS X tiger 10.4 isync plugin for nokia E71 & E63

Just bought a Nokia E series smart phone that runs symbian OS. It is able to sync with Apple mac OS X 10.4 tiger isync & ical application. But during the isync with nokia E71 or E63, it complain about not recognizing the new nokia E63 or nokia E71? No worries, it is just a few click away to download the driver for it. (Surprisingly nokia-asia.com does not have the driver, but europe.nokia.com has it)

Problem :
iSync does not recognize nokia E63 or nokia E71 after "Add Device" to sync, using bluetooth.


Solution :