Hack-A-N900/First Steps
WARNING: That's where the pleasure and pain of N900 starts. How much pleasure and/or pain depends highly on how familiar you are with linux. So make sure you know how to accomplish simple administrative tasks via a root shell without bricking your system and do regular backups.
Root Access
Start "Application Manager", install package "rootsh" and "OpenSSH Client and Server"
Open "X-Terminal" on your N900.
Gain root access:
sudo gainroot
Add extras-testing to /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/ fremantle free non-free deb-src http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/ fremantle free
Update apt cache:
apt-get update
USBIP
Connect the n900 via usb to your pc and select "PC Suite Mode".
On your N900:
ifup usb0 ifconfig usb0 192.168.99.2
On your PC:
ifup usb0 ifconfig usb0 192.168.99.1
Please refer to http://wiki.maemo.org/N900_USB_networking for a complete guide.
OpenSSH
Generate ssh key:
ssh-keygen
From this point it's more convenient to work remotely via ssh.
Copy the generated private key to your PC.
scp root@192.168.99.2:/root/.ssh/id_rsa ~/.ssh/id_rsa_n900
Put the public key to the right place:
ssh root@192.168.99.2 "mv /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /root/.ssh/authorized_keys"
Log on to your N900:
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa_n900 root@192.168.99.2
change /etc/sshd_config to denied password authentication:
# Change to no to disable tunnelled clear text passwords PasswordAuthentication no
Install essential tools
apt-get install bash coreutils-gnu grep-gnu findutils-gnu tar-gnu wget vim netcat
Change shell in /etc/passwd to bash:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash user:!:29999:29999::/home/user:/bin/bash
NOTE: Maemo ignores shebangs for shells and always executes shell scripts in busybox. You need to pass the script explicitly to any other shell:
bash ./test.sh
WARNING: Don't try to relink /bin/sh to /bin/bash. You system won't boot and you will have to reflash the device.
NOTE: Gnu coreutils and gnu grep are prefixed with the letter 'g'. Therefore you need to call
/usr/bin/gls
to use gnu ls. For some third party scripts/builds to work properly you might need to create symlinks for the gnu tools to be used.
Example:
ln -s /usr/bin/ggrep /usr/bin/grep
You might also create bash aliases for gnu utils.
$HOME/.bashrc aliases example:
# alias to gnu ls instead of busybux alias ls='gls --color=auto' alias ll='ls -l' alias la='ls -la' alias md='mkdir' alias rd='rmdir' # aliases to gnu grep instead of busybux alias grep='ggrep' alias egrep='gegrep' alias fgrep='gfgrep'
