The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet has a very useful undocumented feature where it can operate as both a USB peripheral and as a USB host. In peripheral mode it will function as a USB mass-storage device when plugged into a PC so that files can be copied onto the device. In USB host mode it is possible to plug various USB devices into the tablet and have them work.

I've used the host mode to connect my Garmin eTrex GPS to my N810. With this setup I am able to download the tracklog and waypoint data from my GPS using a Maemo-compiled version of GPSBabel and store it in my Nokia tablet. This document explains what I did.

Being your average techie, I use a multitude of computers depending on what I want to do, or where I am. I've got a dual monitor PC in my office, a Mac laptop, a Windows laptop and a Nokia Internet Tablet. At work I have a vast number of Windows PCs that I use (being an IT teacher means you have many many computers at your disposal). Due to the large number of computers, and their different operating systems it's important I can access my information on all of them. The current buzz word for this is "living in the cloud".

To make things a bit simpler, and to give me a virtual "home" on the Internet I have a Linux server running GNU Screen. Inside that runs Irssi, the IRC client.

This setup means I can secure shell into my machine from anywhere and chat to people without having to sign in or install chat clients on every computer I want to use.

The drawback is that I get no status notifications, if someone sends me a message or tries talking to me, and I'm not looking at the SSH window at that moment, I miss out. And that's where Twitter comes in...

This is a compiled binary of GPSBabel which has been created for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. No changes have been made to the source, it was simply compiled using the Maemo scratchbox. If you wish to use this software to download data from a real GPS, you will need to read this thread on the Internet Tablet Talk forums.

The GEM Desktop is a GUI, mostly remembered from the Atari ST which used it as its default user interface. GEM bears a not accidental resemblance to the Macintosh desktop, with icons and a menubar at the top. Before Windows 3 became popular on DOS PCs, GEM was one of the many alternate DOS GUIs that were available. Whereas other DOS GUIs such as Norton Commander focused on presenting DOS concepts such as file copying and directory manipulation in a more friendly way, GEM went a bit further with fully windows applications that ran on the GEM desktop.

Inspired by a post on the Internet Tablet Talk forums, showing Windows 3.11 running in DOSBOX, I thought I'd have a go with something. I used to own an Atari ST and so GEM seemed a nice thing to try.

Making it work was very simple...