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:: Research Group Embedded Interaction :: Media Informatics :: Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

Nokia 770 Project Page

Project Description

The first thing you should do with your Nokia 770 is to download the latest version of the Nokia 770 software from Nokia as all installed applications will be deleted upon the the update. You can download the lasted software at the Nokia product page for the Nokia 770. Make sure that the battery is fully loaded before the update.

Flasher Utility for the Nokia 770

Before starting to anything else with the device, make sure to enable the root mode and the USB host mode on the Nokia 770. The process can result in a completely unusable device, as described in the Flasher homepage. Do everything at your own risk.

The flasher utility homepage can be found at http://maemo.org/downloads/d3.php.
The process required to gain root access is described in the Maemo Wiki at http://maemo.org/maemowiki/HowDoiBecomeRoot.
A comprehensive overview on the flasher utility is to be found at http://www.maemo.org/platform/docs/howtos/howto_use_flasher_rootfs.html.

Now that you are root on your machine and have the usb host mode enabled (see the flasher utility command line switch --enable-usb-host-mode) we can go on.

USB Host Mode and USB Devices on the Nokia 770

It is possible to connect arbitrary USB devices to the Nokia 770. The first step is to enable the USB host mode using the flasher utility as described above.

We so far were able to connect an USB mouse, an USB keyboard, an USB hard disk and an pl-2303 USB to serial converter to the Nokia 770.

The schematics for the small circuit needed is shown below. Click on the image for downloading the schematics created with Eagle. If you think you found an error in the circuit, please drop matthias @ hcilab . org a note.

Please read the following notes:

Make sure to use shielded wires for the USB data lines!
The pin numbers follow the pin numbering inside the USB A-female adapter.

Use the circuit described below at your own risk! We are not responsible if you blow up your little toy.

Use the circuit described above at your own risk! We are not responsible if you blow up your little toy.

Here is a photograph of our soldered adapter, click on the image to enlarge it. The adapter can be connected to an external voltage source using a standard power supply unit or a 9V block.

Images

Photograph of our development workplace (left) Screenshot of the SSH login on the Nokia 770 after connecting a USB-to-serial converter to the Nokia 770 (right).

Network Access to your Nokia 770

As the device is well not very usable for text input, configure your network (Bluetooth or Wavelan) according to the documentation provided by Nokia at http://nds1.nokia.com/phones/files/guides/Nokia_770_UG_en.pdf. You should now be able to surf the net and do whatever you want to do (why did you buy it?).

For Bluetooth access to the internet using a mobile phone, see the Maemo FAQ at
http://www.maemo.org/maemowiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#head-86beb725d88a39903b6d6e94153ebad494edab2b.

Other options are USB networking as described in the Maemo HowTo at http://maemo.org/maemowiki/HowTo .

We suggest that you use Wavelan for network access as we need the USB port for more important things.

Now install SSH on your Nokia 770. See the Maemo Application Catalog Wiki in the System Tools section: http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationCatalog
#head-63fdb5829e44b95e94f65ccd4507699cb9aa86ea.
Now you can remotely access your Nokia 770 with a real mouse and keyboard. :-)

Development Setup

Install the Maemo development kit as described in
http://www.maemo.org/platform/docs/tutorials/Maemo_tutorial.html#Installation
Be sure to use the scratchbox version 0.9.8.5 as described in the tutorial, as the commands have changed from version 0.9.8.5 to the later versions (sb-config to sb-conf and sb-menu). Also, there seem to be some unresolved issues with the development so that the usage of a later version of scratchbox than 0.9.8.5 does not seem appropriate.

To start graphical applications from your scratchbox you need a running X server on your host system. The Maemo how-to suggests to use Xephyr. As there are no precompiled packages for any system except Ubunto available and you would have to generate the binaries without ready-to-use configure scripts (though the files for the autotools are provided), I can currently not recommend using Xephyr. Another alternative seems to be Xnest, as described in the Xnest howto page. There also seem to be some problems. I was able to launch the Maemo GUI within the X server but after clicking on a shortcut, the GUI disappeared. The setup I use here is with Xvnc, as described in
http://maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-users/2005-June/000008.html.

Note: you have to start the X server on your host machine, not in the scratchbox.

Make sure, independent on which X server you use, to have a color depth of 16 bit on the host system. For a X server from Xorg, the configuration line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the Screen section is DefaultDepth 16 (see below). For older X servers, it is DefaultColorDepth 16. (example of the relevant parts of my /etc/X11/xorg.conf)

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Before starting the X server on the host machine, add the following to your .bash_profile
export DISPLAY=IP_ADDRESS:2

if you intend to use the :2 display for the X server for scratch box. Make sure to re-read the file by issuing the following command:
. $HOME/.bash_profile

The next time you log on, the file will automatically be read in.

Install xvnc and xvncviewer on Debian based systems by issuing the following command as root:
apt-get install vncserver xvnc4viewer

Then start the X server as user by:
Xvnc -geometry 800x480 -dpi 96 -ac :2 -depth 16 &
vncviewer :2 &

Go back to the scratchbox. Before starting the GUI the first time, make sure to create the following directories as the startup script obviously cannot create them.
mkdir $HOME/MyDocs
mkdir $HOME/MyDocs/.videos
mkdir $HOME/MyDocs/.images
mkdir $HOME/MyDocs/.sounds
mkdir $HOME/MyDocs/.documents

Start the graphical user interface by issuing the following command as user inside the scratchbox:
af-sb-init.sh start

The GUI should now appear in your X server.

Contact

This page was compiled using free information and own experience with the Nokia 770 by

You can contact us using the email addresses given on our pages above (follow the links!).

Acknowledgements

The work has been conducted in the context of the research project Embedded Interaction ('Eingebettete Interaktion') and was funded by the DFG ('Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft').

We thank Nokia Corporation for providing us with three Nokia 770 Table PCs for our research.