Software update for Nokia N800 tablet leaks, fans go gaga

Updated Again:Nokia has released a legitimate upgrade for the N800 tablets. N800 owners no longer need to follow these instructions to update their OS. Instead, go visit the official Nokia website for info.

Updated: This post was edited for clarity, and to provide an alternative method for generating a N810 serial number (see below).

Details of a major operating-system upgrade for Nokia's Linux-based N800 Internet Tablet device was leaked Wednesday afternoon. Fans of the N800 (and soon-to-be-released N810) have been waiting eagerly for the last few weeks for any word of a final release date.

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

(Credit: Nokia)

While the N800 and new N810 device share the same software, recent reports indicated that the update for the N800 was to be held back for a couple weeks to give the N810 time to shine. Fans had been told to expect the N800 update sometime in December.

On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Internet Tablet Talk community forum posted a link to the official software download location for the new N810 device, which itself is yet to hit store shelves.

The two devices made by Nokia run the same software, and so it was only a matter of hours before hackers had found a way to install the software update on their own N800 Internet tablets. Forum posts included some fairly nudge-nudge, wink-wink instructions for evading the serial number check required to download the software.

The new operating system is fantastic (at least from this blogger's few minutes of playing with it). It's faster, includes a Mozilla-derived Web browser, and boosts the speed of the N800's internal processor from 320MHz to 400MHz. After months of waiting, YouTube is finally usable.

While all eyes are on the new N810 Internet Tablet, this operating-system release makes the N800 one of the best buys on the market--and an iPhone competitor. The Internet-enabled wireless device now includes support for video-based chat using the built-in Webcam, Skype, voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, service , as well as a very active developer community.

At less than $250, compared to the N810's $450-plus price tag, the improved N800 gives the average user far more bang for their buck.

Brave N800 owners wishing to upgrade to the latest operating system will need to follow a few steps (this may brick your device, of course. This is only for the fearless, and any tears or financial loss are your own problem):

1. Go to the N810 software download page.
2. Enter the serial number for a valid N810 device. To get one of these, pick any number between 001d6e9c0000 to 001d6e9cffff. Pick any random 4 digits (between 0-9 and a-f hex) as the last 4 digits.
3. Download the file named "RX-44_2008SE_1.2007.42-18_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin."
4. Download the latest firmware-upgrading software, "flasher-3.0".
5. Now that you have the firmware flasher and the 2008 N800 software update in the same directory, open up a terminal (on a Linux desktop/laptop), and type:
   chmod a+x ./flasher-3.0
   ./flasher-3.0 -u -F RX-44_2008SE_1.2007.42-18_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin.
6. That will unpack the software, and it may take a few seconds. Once that is done, plug the N800 into your computer, using the included USB cable, then reboot the Nokia device while holding the home button. Now execute the following commands:
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 --enable-rd-mode
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -k zImage -f
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -n initfs.jffs2 -f
   sudo ./flasher-3.0 -r rootfs.jffs2 -f -R
7. That should be it. Your device should now boot up with the new 2008 version of the Nokia Maemo operating system.

[blizzardville]

Worked like a charm!

The instructions worked beautifully, and I was impressed that Nokia has an AMD64 version of the flasher utility. Right on Nokia! Very timely as I just installed 64bit etch for the first time a few days ago.

Red pill mode is still the same. Enabled maemo apps in the app-manager and installed openssh-server then telneted in and changed the root password.

I wanted to check the speed improvements out but made the mistake of doing it with a shell script. Apparently there is a 22x speed increase in running a simple shell script. See below where I have ran it before and after the update. This doesn't really say anything about whether the processor is running faster, I should have compiled some c code...

Nokia-N800-26:/home/user/MyDocs# vi looper
#!/bin/ash

date
i=0
while [ $i -lt 40000 ]
do
let i=i+1
done
date
~
~
Nokia-N800-26:/home/user/MyDocs# ./looper
Sun Jan 28 22:07:44 MST 2007
Sun Jan 28 22:09:35 MST 2007
Nokia-N800-26:/home/user/MyDocs#


<<<<<NOW AFTER THE OS2008 INSTALL

Nokia-N800-:/home/user/MyDocs# ./looper
Wed Nov 14 10:33:30 UTC 2007
Wed Nov 14 10:33:35 UTC 2007

<<< I had to run it again just to make sure

Nokia-N800-:/home/user/MyDocs# ash < looper
Wed Nov 14 10:35:12 UTC 2007
Wed Nov 14 10:35:17 UTC 2007
Nokia-N800-:/home/user/MyDocs#

[youareme7]

nice article!

I did this with my N800 this afternoon, it works great! The instructions worked to the T and now my N800 kicks even more a$$! It runs faster and is generally smoother. Plus Nokia Maps!! I'm downloading the USA east now, then will goto the west. (1.5GB or so total, wowza)

For anyone else wanting to download maps, your memory card needs to be in the "internal" spot (next to battery)

[stephentheh]

CAUTION some applications not useable/installable!

upon installing the new OS2008 on my n800, i found out that some applications are not yet available for the OS [most notably Skype] and thus if you rely on certain of these apps, you should check to make sure they are available on the new OS before you make the jump.

also, overall performance did seem faster, however the browser tends to crash A LOT. i think i'll wait for the official OS2008 release for the n800 before i try to upgrade again. for now i'm going back to 2007.

[stefaan_bolle]

hi,
in reply on your post here, i would like to ask you if there is already an update os2008 for the nokia n800?
it would be nice if you can helf, cause i ve proved to mess with things like this :d
Thx in advance
Stefaan

[watadoo]

Nokia rolled out a new application for the 800 810 -- WeBot. WeBot allow one to stream music and/or view photos from multiple computers spread out anywhere on the web.. the way it works is you install a WeBot bot on a computer (win, mac or linux), associate music and photos to the bot and then on any computer -- and now the 810 adn 800 Internet Tablet -- you access all your media instantly. if you have multiple computers, say on a home network, work, networked drives, etc.... you can get to all of the content and manage it (add remove directories). it's pretty cool. check it out. here's my blog which explains in a bit more detail. http://webotland.blogspot.com/

[enstnie86]

If I weren't so homophobic I could kiss you, This just brought my non booting n800 back from the dead.

[donaldpitt1]

pls u guys plss i have had the nokia n800 for a long time and havent done anything prductive with it pls this i know would make my n800 better but i ask pls can someone write indetails how this thing would work pls this is my email [e-mail] i beg u pls help me i will be really glad pls thank u ver ymuch my name is donald