The Nokia N900 is a smartphone that runs Maemo 5 Linux, one of the precursors to the new MeeGo operating system for netbooks, smartphones, in-car systems, kiosks, and other mobile devices. While Nokia doesn’t plan to officially sell the phone with MeeGo, the folks behind the MeeGo operating system have announced that MeeGo has been ported to run on the N900.

The operating system now supports audio, 3G, and phone calling functionality on the N900. That’s the good enws.

The bad news is that Nokia isn’t officially supporting MeeGo and has no plans to release a consumer oriented version of the software to users. If you own an N900 and want to install MeeGo, it looks like you’ll have to do it on your own and take responsibility for any problems that arise.

The good news is that the MeeGo teams says that the next official software update from Nokia will make it possible for MeeGo users to dual boot both Maemo and MeeGo on their phones.

via The Nokia Blog and SlashGear

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6 replies on “Nokia to offer MeeGo dual boot option for the N900”

  1. Nuanced though can be a nuisance.

    There’s a huge difference between somebody not helping you do something good and somebody preventing you from doing something good. For example, you don’t have to help me cook dinner, but at least stay out of my way. I think that you are WAY underselling this:

    “you’ll have to do it on your own and take responsibility for any problems that arise.”

    In an era where popular devices won’t even allow you to replace a battery in an independent or affordable manner, this level of staying out of the way is HUGE. In fact, this isn’t merely staying out of the way. This is resourcing one with sufficient tools and materials and then giving them their freedom. Since when was freedom and responsibility such a huge burden that it has to be treated with such a mopey tone? That’s a rhetorical question. People are pretty rotten that way. Personally, I’ve witnessed enough horrific poverty that I’ve never once allowed myself to declare cooking my own dinner a burden. Sure, Nokia isn’t opening a fun, casual fast food restaurant here. Nokia isn’t offering you a free meal. Nokia isn’t even offering to do prep work for you in the kitchen. However, it is letting us forage around in its garden and take what we want to do with as we please. Forge that. I can get a Big Mac at the mall.

    1. I think my point — if I had one, is that this is pretty much all coming from the MeeGo team, not from the Nokia team. Earlier today there were a number of reports making it sounds like Nokia was launching the dual boot option for consumers. That’s not entirely true.

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