Changing Your Nokia N800 Start-Up Image

Did you ever have an image that really bugged you? For me it was the Nokia N800 (or N810) start-up image. Two hands stretched across the screen (see image below) ... an adult reaching for a child's hand. Every time I started up my Nokia, this image imprinted on my brain. My problem is that I am not a LINUX geek. I know enough to be dangerous, and thus was smart enough to avoid messing around with my operating system, but man ... I hated that image!

Thus, started my research to change that file and become root on my Nokia's LINUX OS (see all my Nokia Posts). Follow these instructions and you too can enjoy your own images at start-up! All of these commands assume that you are browsing via your tablet, not your PC or Mac. For the purposes of these instructions I often use "<" and ">" to set off and indicate commands. These symbols ARE NOT part of the input! All other symbols are as indicated, including spaces.

1. Visit the Repository for Nokia Tablets
   • Scroll down to Eko One
   • Click to Install
   • After the download completes and the catalog refreshes ...
     • Enter your Nokia 800's Application Manager.
     • Select <All Applications> and install <becomeroot>
2. Start up your Nokia's X Terminal application
   • Type <sudo gainroot>
   • Do not shut down X Terminal
3. Backup and Create your own new Nokia system image files
   • You need to back up two files (the current system start-up images)
     • qgn_indi_startup_nokia_logo.png (800x480 pixels)
     • qgn_indi_nokia_hands.jpg (800x480 pixels)
   • These files are located in the following directory:
     • /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/
   • Now create one or two image files with the same pixel size
     • Give these files the same names as the originals
   • I like to use GPE-Filemanager to locate my files
     • This utility allows you to see Nokia LINUX OS files
4. Overwrite the old system files with your new image files
   • Go back to X Terminal
   • Change to the directory where your new image files are located
     • Command: cd /<directory name 1>/<directory sub-name 2>/<etc.>
   • Overwrite the Nokia system images using the copy command (this exact text)
     
     • cp qgn_indi_startup_nokia_logo.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/
       (and / or)
     • cp qgn_indi_nokia_hands.jpg /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/

In summation ... here is the image I replaced, and my new start-up image (my cabin's lakeshore in Northern Minnesota.

Comments

[Sandy]

Thanks for the tip. This will help personalize my N800 even more!

[Susie]

Thanks for this. I also hate the hands... Now, I can look at a much more pleasing image, when booting up!

[Chris]

It should be noted, that those images are cached.

If for some reason it doesn't appear to change, rename the file /usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache and it will update.