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How to Install VLC Media Player on the N900

VLC, being the mother of all media players, can also run on the N900 as well. To get it installed, first download the files from here (it’s a torrent file).
  • Open the terminal and run as root
  • Then simply use dpkg -i .deb to install the files.
  • You might want to first navigate to the directory in which you saved the file in case you did not save it in the root of MyDocs (now why would you not?).
Of course you’d need to change to the name of the files you just downloaded. To reduce the amount of typing you’ll do on the terminal, you might want to rename the downloaded VLC files in simple terms like VLC1, VLC2 etc.

After running all of them, you should see VLC on the list of menu items or under multimedia if you have Catorise installed.

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Organize The Nokia N900 Menu with Catorise

By default, the menu on the N900 simply lists all the packages you have in an uncategorised manner. When the list of your installed packages begin to increase, navigating the menu can be a real pain of an exercise.
To bring some sanity to your menu, you might want to install Catorise. You can either use Hildon Application Manager, Faster Application Manager or open a terminal and running as root, type sudo apt-get install catorise.
As the name may imply, what it does is to categorise your installed packages into their group or category.
So for instance, when you install VLC, it is added to the Multimedia sub-menu. This keeps your menu organised, easy to navigate and eye pleasing.
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How to Fix the Android Market Issue on NITDroid Gingerbread

When you install the Nokia Internet Tablet version of Android, the Market somehow does not come with the complete catalogue of applications. To see this, try searching for an app like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck.

You’ll need to clear the Market app’s cache and Google Services Framework data to correct this issue. To do that

    Go to Settings– Manage Applications

    Click on the tab that says to see the list of all installed apps.

    Click on Market, a new window opens up

    Click on end process, click ok to confirm.

    On the same window, click clear cache, confirm if you are asked

    Then go back to the list of apps and choose Google Services Framework

    Again kill this process

    On the same window, click clear data, confirm when asked.

    Now close all the windows and reboot

Go to the Market and search for the app that you could not find initially, it should now show. If apps still don’t show, you’ll need to do a few reboots to get things showing.

That’s how I got the Market on Gingerbread to show fully all the apps available on the Nokia N900!

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How to Force Portrait Mode on N900

By default, the N900 is basically set in landscape mode. To force applications to portrait mode, do the following.

If you’ve not done so yet, add and enable all repositories.

Install the Community Seamless Software Updates
Install a small package called CSSU Features. You can either search for it in the app manager or use the terminal

root (assuming you have Rootsh installed)
apt-get install cssufeatures

Go to the newly installed Cssu features, scroll down to Forced App auto rotation and choose all apps.

Click on the update button.

From now, all applications will be forced into portrait mode if the phone is so rotated.

Caveat
Please know that the CSSU is still under development and you intall it in the knowledge that you might have to reflash your device should you brick it in the process.

I’ll not be responsible for any nuclear war started as a result of a bricked or broken device…:-).

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Community SSU- Keep Your N900 OS Constantly Updated Without Nokia

Seamless Software Updates is a term coined by Nokia to refer to the pain-free method of updating the OS of your Nokia Internet Devices like the N900.

With the company now defecting to the Windows camp, the maintenance of Maemo 5 has virtually fallen on the shoulders of the community. To enjoy continous updates of your OS from the Maemo Community, you’d need to install the Community Seamless Software Updates or CSSU.

Basically what this does on setup is that it runs a small script which adds the Maemo Community repos to your software sources and tells the Hildon Application Manager to use the custom community repos for updates.

It comes with bug fixes and features such as support for portrait mode in the menu and also the ability to force applications to use the portait mode. It is important to know however, that this software is still under development and only recommended if you are willing to risk a flash of your device.

I have installed it however and find it working perfectly with no system upsets. Installing the CSSU is easy and takes just a few minutes by following the steps on the wiki page. I highly recommend it to all N900 enthusiats who want to enjoy the use of this awesome device for a long time to com.