This article is about using SSH (Secure Shell) and scp (Secure Copy) to transfer files wirelessly to the Nokia N800 instead of continually plugging in that damn USB cable.

You will need to have a Wireless Access Point setup and know the TCP/IP address of your Nokia N800 for this to work.
I have set my DHCP server to give my N800 a specific IP address and set my DNS server to match - this allows me to use the name nokia to address the device.

1. Install SSH on your workstation.

This is easy with a Linux system , for systems using apt-get like Debian and Ubuntu just apt-get it :-

sudo apt-get install ssh

2. Generate a set of RSA keys

Open a Terminal on your workstation and type the following to create a set of RSA keys to use with passwordless logins

ssh-keygen -t rsa

When it asks for a password just press return.

3. Install OpenSSH server and Nano Editor on the Nokia N800

Use Application Manager to find and install the openssh-server and nano applications.

During the installation process it will ask you to define the root user password

4. Test login and set the user password

Now that the OpenSSH server is installed on your Nokia N800 we should test its working and change the user password.

In your terminal login via SSH :-

ssh root@nokia

You will be asked for your previously set root password , after entering this you will be logged into the Nokia as the root user.

The default user has a randomly set password so now we will change it to something we know.

passwd user

When asked for the new password enter a secure password.

We also need to disable the Strict Modes on the OpenSSH server , so lets open the config file in the nano editor :-

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Scroll down the file and find the line :-

StrictModes yes

and change it to :-

StrictModes no

Then save the config file with Control-O and exit with Control-X.

Finally we restart the Open-SSH server to see the changes to the config file :-

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

When complete you can logout of the N800 by pressing Control-D , this will return you to the shell on your local workstation.

5. Copy Public RSA key to Nokia N800

In the terminal on your workstation enter the following to securely copy your public RSA key to the Nokia N800 :-

scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub user@nokia:/home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys

To test the key is working try logging in as user :-

ssh user@nokia

After a few seconds you will be presented with a terminal running on the Nokia N800 :-

6. Create a script to send files to Nokia N800

On my workstation I store this file in a directory called bin in my home folder , ~/bin/send2nokia

#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to send files to Nokia N800 memory card 2 (internal)
# 20080331 - added $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS variable - works on NFS exports now via Nautilus
#
scp $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS/$1 user@nokia:/media/mmc2/

This script uses scp to send the file to the OpenSSH server on the Nokia and put it onto the Internal Memory Card.

If you use Gnome you can create a link in the Nautilus scripts folder :-

ln -s ~/bin/send2nokia ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/send2nokia

Now any file can be easily sent to the Nokia by right-clicking on the file and choosing Scripts , send2nokia

Hope that makes transferring files a little easier for you.
Any comments or suggestions can be left below , thanks.

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