Our lovely friends over at Maemo.org have finally finished creating an application which helps you  setup  your own boot videos.

The application is called BootScreen. The main thread for this application is here.

A big thanks goes out to the creators:

Valerio Valerio aka(VDVsx)
Claes Norin aka(claesbas)

If you looking for more videos to use I found a few pretty good ones over on Symbian-Freak so check out thier thread too: Tutorial: How to Mod your Boot Screen , Please note that Most of thread is still talking about the old way off changing your boot screen, but there are links to some nice videos.

The application is accessed through the settings screen on the N900:

The thing I love about this app is that it is simple. There are not loads of settings/options/buttons that will confuse you.

All you do is pick if you want multiple videos on boot (having more than 3 is not recommended) , or if you want a random video.

You simply need to put the videos on your N900 and then browse for them and you are a go. (At the moment the application filters to only show avi files)

A few weeks ago I came across this thread on talk.maemo.org: Customize N900 Conversations.

Basically the guru’s worked out which css/js and HTML files to edit, giviing us the ability to create custom Conversation windows.

Here are a few screen shots of what is possible:

Download here

download here

Download HERE

A big thanks goes out to B666m for helping us find the files and pointing people in the right direction with some basic how-to stuff.

So how do you do the mod?

Firstly let me say this is all done at your own risk and if you are not clued up on any of the code, please be very careful…

So basically there are 9 files that are involved. Please not that depending on what you are doing you may only be changing some of the files. It is also possible too have two completely different styles for you SMS and IM conversations windows.

The files are called:

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.css

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.js

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.html

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.css

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.js

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.html

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.css

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.html

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.js

The original files can be downloaded from here: BACKUP

I thought I would share the love of custom SMS/IM screens in the Nokia N900’s Conversations app.

A few weeks ago I came across this thread on talk.maemo.org: [url=http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36618]Customize N900 Conversations[/url].

Basically the guru’s worked out which css/js and HTML files to edit, giviing us the ability to create custom Conversation windows.

Here are a few screen shots of what is possible:

[img]http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8461&stc=1&d=1269716897[/img]

[url=http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8496&d=1269853764]Download Here[/url]

[img]http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8494&stc=1&d=1269851905[/img]

[url=http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8495&d=1269851942]Download here[/url]

[img]http://content.foto.mail.ru/mail/lohman1/8/i-13.jpg[/img]

[img]http://content.foto.mail.ru/mail/lohman1/8/i-14.jpg[/img]

[url=http://www.mediafire.com/?kyzkmy2ar25]Download Here[/url]

A big thanks goes out to [url=http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=30543]B666m[/url] for helping us find the files and pointing people in the right direction with some basic how-to stuff.

So how do you do the mod?

Firstly let me say this is all done at your own risk and if you are not clued up on any of the code, please be very careful…

So basically there are 9 files that are involved. Please not that depending on what you are doing you may only be changing some of the files. It is also possible too have two completely different styles for you SMS and IM conversations windows.

The files are called:

[quote]

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.css

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.js

MessagingWidgetsChatConversation.html

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.css

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.js

MessagingWidgetsSingleSMS.html

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.css

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.html

MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation.js

[/quote]

[url=http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=7064&d=1265893365]The original files can be downloaded from here:[/url]

Before following the below steps, you will need to do the following if you want to view your avatar.

1 – Get an Image of yourself, resize it to 64×64 pixels.

2 – Rename it to avatar and save it as a png (avatar.png).

3 – Copy the image to the test folder that is mentioned below.

4 – Continue as below…

These steps have been provided by B666m:

just unzip them anywhere in your MyDocs-folder when connected via mass storage mode to your pc. for example make a new folder called “test” and copy them over there.

then unplug the usb-cable and open x-term on your phone. for the first command you need to have “rootsh” installed.

1. sudo gainroot
2. cp MyDocs/test/* /usr/share/rtcom-messaging-ui/html/
(3. rm -r MyDocs/test)

after the second command go to your conversations, open any one, close it and open it again for reloading the layout.
(the third step is only for removing the test-folder with all files it contains)

(If you want to use one of the mods above, simply unzip the files of the “theme” you want into the test folder mentioned above and copy everything over.)

As you can see the hack allows you to add Avatars to conversations and make the Avatars alternate from left to right.

Seeing as though this is all done in CSS/html and java files, I assume that this means almost anything is possible. Perhaps we will see people doing embedded maps and webpage previews when sent through SMS or IM.

So what are you waiting for, start downloading or simply create your own and don’t forget to share you creative items with everyone over talk.Maemo.org

If you are getting bored of the old “nokia handshake” boot video as I’m sure most of you are (it’s been going on for how long now?), never fear because Maemo is near

If you have rootsh installed on your N900 you can now change the boot video, in fact if you wanted you could have multiple boot videos.

So how is this all done and where do I get the videos from? It seems that also long as the video can be played by the native media player on the N900 then you can use it at boot, which means we could potentially use any video, provided it’s not too long. Personally I’m a creative monkey so I won’t be creating my own videos, once again this is were our community friends have stepped in to help us.

There are many threads flying around over maemo.org about boot videos including a small post over on the wiki.

These are a few of the videos that I have like so far:

This I think is the original and thanks to @Claesbas for sharing:

Thread Link

This one is called Shodan:

Thread Link

This is the one I use:

Thread link
If you want to find more try searching for “boot video” at talk.maemo.org.

Now we get to the how. This is simply the method that I found easiest for myself, and some of you might find better/different methods within the above threads.

Before I start let me tell you that I am not a linux guru, and take no responsibility for any damage you may place upon your beloved N900.

Firstly you will need to download your avi file to your Documents folder.

You will then need to download a default.conf file to the same location.

Now the most important thing to remember for those that don’t understand the file system for maemo, is that this code will work if and only if you have saved the above documents to your Documents folder.(NOTE NOT your MyDocs folder)

sudo gainroot
mv /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/default.conf /etc/hildon-welcome.d/
mv /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/myboot.avi /opt/
cd /usr/share/hildon-welcome/media/
ln -s /opt/myboot.avi myboot.avi

In the above code I have called my video myboot.avi, which means that the default.conf file needs have the same name for the AVI inside, for example my conf file looks like this:

[hildon-welcome]

filename=myboot.avi

I have noticed that some people have add issues with the above x-term code at the stage of the first mv(move command). If you have a problem try do a copy instead. Note this will mean that you default.conf file will still be found in your Documents folder after the code is run:

sudo gainroot
cp /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/default.conf /etc/hildon-welcome.d/
mv /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/myboot.avi /opt/
cd /usr/share/hildon-welcome/media/
ln -s /opt/myboot.avi myboot.avi

So if this hasn’t made you happy or the idea of using the x-term to change your boot video scares you then check this thread out. @Claesba has started brainstorming/discussions regarding creating an application to help make this process easier and code free.

Now that we got all the geeky-coding stuff out the way , lets go and show off our new boot videos.

[hildon-welcome]