I. Backing up and restoring your User Data
Realize that we will be performing some non-standard hacks to the N770, so if you have any valuable
personal information, or want your user settings to be saved then you should always perform a backup
before taking the steps outlined in this guide.
Steps to backup
- Make sure your memory card is inserted and the USB cable is disconnected
- Go to the Control Panel
- Double click the Backup/Restore icon
- Click the Backup button
- Enter the name for your backup and click OK
- Press OK one more time to backup all data, or choose individual sections to backup.
(Without performing the
Extended Root File System
step this does not backup installed applications or it’s data)
- Press Continue one last time and your data will be backed up to your memory card
Steps to restore
- Follow steps 1 thru 3 as you did to backup your data
- Choose Restore
- Press OK then Restore and Close all to restore your settings
II. Flashing your 770 to the newest image
This is the obvious first step on your journey to a more improved N770 experience.
- Download the latest image from
http://www.maemo.org/downloads/nokia_770 - Download the latest software update wizard from
http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,8764,79636,00.html
or
http://nokia.com/770
and click “Support and Software for Owners” then “Software Update” - Run the software update wizard and follow the onscreen instructions.
- Once you have finished all the steps from the wizard, restore your settings as described in section I.
Backing up and restoring your User Data
III. Get Root Access and Installing VIM
To gain root access there are a few tools that you will need to perform modifications to your N770.
All the provided links are free downloads.
Setting up your virtual Linux Desktop (The Browser Appliance) on your Windows PC
Download these to your Windows PC
The VMWare Player and Browser Appliance downloads are used together to provide to you a virtual
Linux desktop that you can run right from within your Windows system. This is the easiest way to
get a working Linux installation if you don’t want to make your system into a dual boot. Another
option would be to get a Live CD of some variety, but it’s kinda nice to have it as a virtual desktop
in a window instead, so that you can [ALT]-[TAB] to your browser if you already have some instructions
up to follow along to.
Install the VMWare Player. Once installed start the application, and you will be prompted to browse for
a virtual machine configuration file. Point this to your Browser-Appliance.vmx file which you extracted
from your Browser Appliance download. For further instructions on how to utilize the Browser Appliance make
sure to read the Getting Started guide which comes in the Browser Appliance zip file. This will provide
you information with setting up networking, security and more.
Once you have this all set up you basically have an Ubuntu Linux desktop running on your Windows desktop! 
Gaining Root Access and making VIM useable from any directory
Follow the steps outlined at
http://www.maemo.org/maemowiki/HowDoiBecomeRoot.
This will require you to download and install XTERM
We will install VIM after enabling R&D mode via the dpkg
method which uses the following syntax :
dpkg -x vim-*.deb /.
For example if you have downloaded your vim file to the root of your memorycard, the syntax would look as follows :
dpkg -x /media/mmc1/vim-*.deb /.
This will make it much easier to edit your gainroot script as well as make it so that vim is available to any
user from any directory while in XTERM.
Once you have installed VIM, we will make the modification so that we can have root access with R&D mode enabled.
vim /usr/sbin/gainroot
Again follow the examples at
http://www.maemo.org/maemowiki/HowDoiBecomeRoot
to see which lines need to be commented out of this script.
IV. Extended Root File System and Adding an extra swapfile
We will be following the instructions at
http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ExtendedRootFilesystem
to perform our file system modifications.
Click Here for a thread with discussion on this topic.
For our windows setup we will make the FAT partition the largest portion of the memory card, and the
ext2 partition will be just for the extended file system and for swap.
This approach means that large media files will need to still be stored on the memory card in
self-made folders instead of through the folders in the file manager interface (Audio Clips,
Documents, etc)
The other suggested methods would be to make your FAT16 partition 64MB or 128MB. This means when connected
to your Windows PC via USB only that size will appear as a mass storage device, as Windows will be unable to see
the second partition you made using ext2 formatting.
I thought perhaps we could make a symbolic link, later on to point these to the FAT partition.. But then they
would not be available when connected through USB (which might not be an issue since when I am connected it is
to transfer files anyway… Any thoughts on this?)
Otherwise, this will keep the ease of being able to transfer files via USB.
These posts helped when trying to partition and format the memory card.
Post on partitioning and formatting
Post on fixing the script for ext2 file system
I would also suggest modifying the extrootfs script and commenting out the last line for the auto reboot. This way you protect
from rebooting if some of the settings were not correct.
I made my FAT partition 915MB and assigned the rest (129MB or so) to the ext2 partition. This gives us an
extra 64 MB of space over the default partition size to install applications on or make a swapfile. To be able to
read and write correctly with a Windows PC, you might need to also format the memory card from within Windows.
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V. Customizing the Applications Menu
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=728
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VI. Changing the Startup Screen Image
http://maemotalk.feelslikeburning.com/2006/04/21/personalizing-startup-images-bluesun-hack/
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