new to webOS? Time to tinker! (Homebrew and Overclocking via Preware)

Soldato
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So i presume that over the last few days, webOS has gained a lot of users.

I'll presume as we are on OcUK, we like to tinker with our new toys. Now with other platforms, you need to jailbreak, or root your phones. With webos, its extremely simple.

start by typing (in just type) "webos20090606" without the quotationmarks. An icon probably will pop up saying developer mode. Go into it, turn it and restart ones device. Type in the code and again and click the icon and see if its still turned on after the restart.

Now if you want to help the webOS hombrew community, from here go buy the app "Preware Homebrew Documentation" from the app catalog and follow the apps instructions. Its only 79p.

If like many of us, we are too cheap for 79p, do what i did

Download WebOS Quick Install (WOSQI) here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774158/WebOSQuickInstall-4.2.3.jar

Now open it up and let it install the novacom drivers. Its only 11MB. Connect yuor device over USB, and select charge on the device. Do not go into the USB mode. Then select the round undernear the plus and minus icons. Search for preware and let it download it. Click the install button, and once its done, remove your device and restart.

Open your apps and preware should be there. Go in, let it download the respositories and have a browse around, and welcome to homebrew.

Since this is OcUK, we will be wanting to overclock, no? What there isnt in preware are the custom Kernels. There is the aproves webos-internals ones, they are extremely stable, maybe as much as the stock kernel, but they arnt the fun uberclocking ones. To get them, follow the next bunch of steps.

To get these kernels you need to get into the Testing feeds. Remember these testing feeds are just that. they maybe alpha or beta apps/kernels etc, so use at ones own risk.

What you need is the webOS Interals testing feed, and then the custom kernels feed.

You need the testing feed because it has a very useful utility called Govnah. This is like CPU-z for webOS. it has temps, clocks, etc etc, but using it you can set the clocks of the kernels, voltages, restrictions etc etc. There are also other useful applications in the testign feed such as freetether (wifi tethering program) or save/restore which back up all your application data, so if you ever get a new device or reinstall webOS via webOS doctor your apps will have their data).

To get the testing feed, open preware and wait for the loading to finish. Now click on the top left icon on the information bar of the device, where it says preware. This is the menu for the app. Click manage feeds and scroll down to the new feed box. Copy and paste (or type)

http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-internals/testing/all

In the correct section, and make sure the URL doesnt have a slash at the end. Make sure that "is compressed" is set to YES. Click Add Feed and then tap Yes when the alert pops up.

Repeat the above but with the URL being:

http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-internals/testing/armv7

For any devices that arnt the pixi or pixi plus. For pixi users:

http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-internals/testing/armv6

Now swipe back to the main screen and close preware and re-open, or click update feeds (in the menu).

Now to add the kernels feed, go back and create a new feed. Name it "webos-kernels-testing" without the quotes. In the URL section, add

http://preware.is.awesome.com/

Make sure the is compressed is set to yes. Add the feed and imediately reboot the device. when rebooting, preware changes the dummy URL above, to the one for the testing kernels. YOU MUST REEBOOT. When rebooted, open preware, and check if the new kernels feed is there.

Choose a kernel and happy OCing.


So hopefully that was an okay intro to homebrew and overclocking and have fun.
 
The wording of this post and the subject matter is full of win.

Can I ask a question about webOS here? Can I copy files to the device somehow via wifi? I can't figure out how! or do I need to root first?
 
I know how to SSH, it appears I need to root or install Preware to do that, am I right?

If you follow that guide i posted and get Preware installed which is like an unofficial app store there is a few SSH clients such as Dropbear (available packages>Optware>Utilities).
 
If you follow that guide i posted and get Preware installed which is like an unofficial app store there is a few SSH clients such as Dropbear (available packages>Optware>Utilities).

right, thanks. Transferring files via wifi from my linux download box via SSH overnight sounds a good idea to me, reckon that sounds good?


BTW is there any risk with following your guide to putting Preware on there? All I think I want is SSH access for file transfer over wifi (it's so much more convenient and probably quicker than USB cable) which it would be a shame to expose myself to root access for.
 
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cheers for the dropbox idea.

I agree with you Diablo I am absolutely loving WebOS. I'm a rare breed me, I have an Android phone but I prefer iOS to it, especially for tablets. Although now i've tried WebOS (albeit only for a few hours so far) I'm struggling to think of reasons why it's not my favourite mobile os :eek:
 
Trying to get Putty to work i can get it to connect and Touchpad asks for a username but i don't know what user to put, so more reading i think.
 
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