March 1st 2010 | Posted by
Jonathan I Ezor
pReader, a homebrew graduate that already supported Secure eReader and Secure Mobipocket formats for e-books (something that has substantially softened the impact of eReader’s own lack of webOS plans), reached another milestone this week when its author Jappus announced “experimental ePub support” with version 0.8 (for now available only via the app’s PreCentral Forum homepage).
As e-book and Apple fans alike know, ePub is an open standard for e-books that Apple has announced will be the chosen format for its iBooks app on the iPad. Other e-book readers and stores already support ePub, as does Popelli Reader for webOS. pReader, though, is the first webOS appp to combine ePub support with compatibility for other secure formats, allowing users to read DRM-protected e-books from sites like Fictionwise. With this latest improvement, along with ongoing tweaks of other functions, its open-source status, and its continued $0 cost, pReader maintains its leadership among e-book reading programs on the Pre.
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February 24th 2010 | Posted by
Robert Werlinger
It’s official – there are over 2000 applications (not including the multitude of patches and tweaks) available to US Pre and Pre Plus owners, and just under that number for Pixi owners. How’s that possible, you ask, when the App Catalog only reports about 1600 available apps?
Here’s how it works: Palm has a unique
application distribution program that allows developers to distribute their apps in three different ways – The on-device App Catalog, the web-only feed, and the beta feed. Combine that with the multitude of applications available from third party repositories such as the PreCentral homebrew gallery, and the options quickly balloon to over 2,000.
Sure, 2000 apps is a drop in the bucket for companies who pull 5,000 applications out of their App Store in one fell swoop based on what are
arbitrary double standards, but it represents solid momentum for Palm who has added over 600 applications in the last 2 months.
And hang in there, international webOS users. We have heard your
frustrations about not having access to everything we do here in the States, but remember: Paid apps should be available everywhere the Pre is sold sometime next month.
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February 24th 2010 | Posted by
Jonathan I Ezor
As we reported in early January, one of the more exciting announcements of the webOS Internals team was the efforts to port the ScummVM virtual machine to the Palm Pre. This week, PreCentral user kayahr posted his port of the ScummVM as homebrew on PreCentral, which meant it is available via the PreCentral feeds in Preware and webOS Quick Install.
Scumm, the “Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion,” was the platform on which LucasArts and others wrote many classic games. ScummVM is a multiplatform, open-source architecture that was created to run the games on modern desktop, console and mobile devices, now including webOS:
Keep in mind that ScummVM is not a game itself, but a way of running existing games; users have to install and run ScummVM, obtain game files separately, then follow the instructions in the ScummVM homebrew description to sideload and play the game files on their Pres. Also, while some ScummVM games are free and downloadable via the ScummVM project Web site, others may be more difficult to obtain and load (especially those on 5.25” floppy disks!) and subject to possible copyright issues. Users may find old games in boxes in their attics, via eBay and other used game sources, or via other, more creative approaches, but they should be sure to check the compatibility list beforehand.
Kudos to kayahr and the webOS Internals team for continuing to expand the functionality and fun of webOS!
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February 12th 2010 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
As I’ve often recommended for my friends sporting Windows-running machines, rebooting every day or so is good for the soul. Well, it’s good for the stability of the operating system, and the same can be said for webOS. With limited memory available, especially on the Pixi models and the non-Plus Pre, apps with memory leaks can very quickly overwhelm the device and make it all slow and sluggish. If you can manage to go for several days without being forced to reset, you may notice that it just keeps getting slower and slower.
While the solution to that is to trigger a reset of Luna (the layer of webOS with which users interact), wouldn’t it be nice if that could happen in a more automated fashion? Thankfully, homebrew developer zinge has come to our rescue with the Reboot Scheduler app. It’s pretty straightforward: you set a time every day for the phone to completely restart (I picked 3:00 am so it won’t happen when I might be using the phone). This is a complete shutdown/restart, so everything starts all fresh and chipper when the phone is finished rebooting. And if you happen to be using the phone when a reboot is scheduled to happen, you’ll get a notification pop-up letting you know that a reboot will happen in 15 seconds. From there you can dismiss the reboot and delay it to happen the next day.
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December 29th 2009 | Posted by
Dieter Bohn
webOS 1.3.5 is upon us! It brings with it a new way of handling apps.
For the non-nerds, er, non-homebrewers: the big news here is that Palm is now storing apps in a new place – the USB partition – so you are limited only by the 8 gigs of onboard storage. Install away, friends! While you’re at it, rejoice in the knowledge that the Official App Catalog is no longer tagged "Beta." Now we’ve hit the big time.
We’re also pleased to see that the App Catalog can download apps in the background so you don’t need to sit and stare at the progress bar anymore. Also, all Official App Updates are now handled within the App Catalog instead of showing up both there and in the Updates app. The Updates app still checks for app updates, but it sends you to the Catalog to download them.
There were a few hiccups, though. Willxcore lost his paratrooper high scores and there may have been other apps whose preferences and other metadata may have been lost. Major bummer, but not much we can do at this point.
As always, our forums have the latest information. Here’s the Official webOS 1.3.5 Issues thread. If you’re feeling down, you can find plenty of cheer in the Official webOS 1.3.5 New Features and Changes thread. As with every webOS update, there are lots of hidden features and tweaks that aren’t on the official changelog, so definitely hit that thread.
After the break, we’ll explain the janky photoshop above and we’ll tell you what homebrewer and patchers need to do to get their apps shuffled about to the right place.
read more
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December 17th 2009 | Posted by
milominderbinder
Preware Main ScreenPreware is a free Homebrew Installer from WebOS Internals for your Palm Pre or Pixi. Preware lets you download Homebrew Apps, patches, and themes directly to your phone. Once Preware is installed you do not need to be connected to a computer because Preware does it’s magic "Over The Air."
In a few minutes you will have access to hundreds of free Homebrew Applications, Patches, and Themes right from your phone!
read more
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December 6th 2009 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
Welcome to Round Table, which is in fact not a table at all. Round Table is a continuing series on PreCentral where we pose a question to the staff and they provide their thoughts and insights. The question could be something simple like “what’s your favorite webOS app?” or something a bit more complicated, like “what do you want from the next Palm device?” Or maybe we’ll just end up chatting about our favorite sandwiches, you never know. This time around we’re looking back at six months of life with the Palm Pre and webOS.
Check it all out after the break: What was the most important event for Palm in the last six months, and what will be the most important in the next six months?
read more
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November 24th 2009 | Posted by
milominderbinder
There is a whole world of wonderful improvements that you can add to your Palm Pre or Pixi including homebrew apps, patches, and themes. You can be up and running with WebOS Quick Install in a matter of minutes! Come join the 280,000 PreCentral members already in on the secrets!
You can make the LED light up when you have missed notifications and have Email and Messaging work in landscape. You can fix the clock, save your battery, add a Virtual Keyboard, and get a real music player. And that is just the beginning…
- Homebrew Apps are applications in the last stage of development ("beta testing"). Try them out and give your feedback.
- Patches add missing features to the Messaging, Email, Calendar, Phone, Browser, and other apps.
- Themes customize your screens and icons for hundreds of your favorite teams, games, logos, and more.
The usual warnings apply. These apps, patches, and themes are under development – use with care. If you have any problems, see the Help section.
In a matter of minutes you can be in on the fun…
read more
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November 18th 2009 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
Yikes, what a title! There are five different systems out there to get apps, patches, and themes onto your webOS phone. With each choice comes different features and abilities, and pretty much the only thing they all have in common is that they can all install apps. From there, each installer is as different and comes with its own unique capabilities. So what makes fileCoaster different from Preload, Preware different from WebOS Quick Install, and where does PreUpdate fit into the mix? The chart below should answer your impassioned query in a most comprehensive of manner – it’s up to you to pick the installer, or combination thereof, that fits your style.
Click for a larger version
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October 24th 2009 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
Since webOS 1.2.0 landed, many readers have reported to us that they keep getting webOS update notifications, even though they installed the update the first (or second or third) time it asked. We’ve been puzzled for an answer and the only thing we could think of was that somehow their update installation had gone screwy and the Update app had detected that something was wrong and decided to redownload and reinstall the update just to be safe.
As it turns out, we were thinking in the right area, but not quite specific enough. Our man Chuq von Rospach of Palm chimed in on our forums with the answer: something that you installed (i.e. a homebrew app) put a file (or files) into the root folder and the Update app is seeing that as something wrong.
Sadly, deleting the app won’t fix the problem, nor will installing that update the phone keeps begging for. Even running the WebOS Repair Utility won’t make it all better, as that only looks for changed files, not added files. The only way to fix it is to run the webOS Doctor and start from scratch. The Doctor is available from Palm.com – be sure that you get the version applicable to your carrier (we wouldn’t want you to flash an O2 Pre with a Sprint ROM and have a shiny, but worthless, paperweight).
Now don’t be afraid of homebrew apps, as only a few apps actually install things into the root directory (we’re advising our developers to update their apps accordingly if needed), but if you’re having this problem, there’s your depressing solution: doctor your phone. Hopefully future webOS updates will include and update to the Updates app that will only check for corrupted installs and not construe new files as broken files and try to download a new update (too many updates in this sentence).
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