Ready to jump into the wide world of homebrew on your TouchPad, Pre, or Veer? Alright! Here’s what you need:

• Your webOS tablet or smartphone
• A computer, Mac or PC, connected to the internet
• A Micro-USB cable to connect the webOS device to your computer (you can use the cable that came with the device, but any Micro-USB cable will do)
• A stiff drink (this isn’t required, but you’ll deserve one for being awesome enough to be doing homebrew)

Got that? Okay, time for some clarifications. webOS devices do not need to be “rooted” – they come from the factory open enough that special tools aren’t needed to install apps outside of the App Catalog or gain access to the operating system. The process of getting a homebrew installer set-up is relatively straight-forward and doesn’t involve anything scary or potentially warranty voiding (there are potentially warranty-voiding things you can do after that, but everything described in this how-to is perfectly acceptable).

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After a short absence from the webOS development world due to studies, Canuck Coding is back in action. Formerly know as Canuck Software, Canuck Coding has now posted details of upcoming changes and a roadmap of things to come.

Among other things, the roadmap details plans for WebOS Quick Install v4.0. This release is planned with the aim to simplify things for users and improve stability, while adding must-desired features like dependency support, and wireless support via SSH.

Another interesting detail was the plan for Internalz. As webOS 2.0 has changed the landscape for developers so must Internalz change. Java is gone, meaning FileMgr needs to be rewritten in C. And more importantly, webOS 2.0 offers the possibility of seeing a more-restrictive App Catalog-compliant release of Internalz, expanding the user base to non-hombrew users too.

Also making news today is the debut of a video tutorial series, Internalz Tipz.  A prequel #0 episode has been released for those unsure how to install Internalz, and the latest episode #1 has been embedded above. Excluding the prequel, there will be a total of 20 episodes, one released every other day. Each will be very short and simplified for new users to understand.

Chances are over the course of the 40 days, you’ll learn a few new things. The goal is that by the 20th episode, the new C-based FileMgr will complete; a countdown of sorts that many will surely appreciate. So take a watch of the debut episode and enjoy. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to speak up in the official series thread.

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A little over a month ago, Internalz v1.2 was publicly released, introducing a wealth of new features like master mode, the ipk installer, and the patcher. Today, Internalz is taking another step forward with the release of version 1.3. This time however, the focus isn’t on adding features, but rather refining the usability of existing ones and improving the quality of the user experience.

As the video changelog above shows, the main new feature in v1.3 is the introduction of a dark theme.  Absolutely every aspect of the application is changed. Everything from dimmed icons, dark backgrounds and even dark re-skinned message box pop-ups.

Another big change lies with the text editor, though you wouldn’t expect it, as it looks nearly identical to how it was in v1.2.  However, under the hood, it’s a completely and has been heavily optimized using completely redone coding. This new text editor is far more expansive, and offers many future possibilities. This is evident in v1.3, as changeable font size has been added and text entry on larger files is much more responsive.

That’s not all! A bunch of smaller, yet equally welcomed changes and optimizations have been introduced.  Internalz now registers itself as handler for the view-source:// URI scheme, a first for webOS. And although this isn’t mentioned in the video, Internalz v1.3 has extended it’s international localizations to now cover French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, and Simplified Chinese.

If you haven’t yet tried Internalz, or are new to homebrew, now’s the perfect time to try it out. Don’t worry if you feel bogged down trying it for the first time; just try it one step at a time. Coming soon, there will be an Internalz Tipz YouTube video series, showing how to get the most out of Internalz, shown in short informational videos.

Internalz v1.3 is available right now on the PreCentral Homebrew Gallery and on the PreCentral feed.  As the slogan says, "Control your device, don’t let your device control you."

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Developers and users alike have all noticed this “Default Apps” option in the webOS launcher. Right now the only out-of-the-box option users are presented with is a choice of Google Maps or their carrier’s navigation solution (if applicable) for the default mapping software. But below the defaults for web, email, and phone, there’s a long list of file types and the default app used to open them (PDFs opened by PDF View, .WAV opened by Music, and so forth).

When the Default Apps scene appeared back in November with webOS 1.3.1, and was enabled with 1.3.5 a month later, we were all aflutter as to what that could mean for webOS. Pick your own third party dialer app (Google Voice), web browser, and more? That’d be grand. Sadly, Palm has yet to release an API for developers to set their app as an option for default apps, but that hasn’t stopped Jason Robitaille and Rod Whitby from hacking their way onto the Default Apps screen.

The addition of service calls registers an app with the Default Apps service, selecting the app as the default when no other apps present open that file type, and setting it as an option when there are already apps that open said file. For example, Robitaille’s Internalz app is registered as the default app for more than twenty different file types, and appears as an option for .TXT, with Doc View as the other and default choice. Tap on the file type, select the new apps, back swipe, and you’re good to go.

Jason does note that it’s not entirely stable (thus Palm not publishing the API), and that some not-all-that clean "mimetype" registering to get Internalz to be an option for file types already defaulted by another app (e.g. a PDF viewer app would have to masquerade as PDF View to trick Default Apps into giving it the option).

Of course, it’s worth noting that because Palm has not released the APIs to performing these service calls, any app submitted (be it to the App Catalog, beta, or web distribution feeds) will be automatically and summarily rejected. But that’s not to stop developers from wishing, hoping, dreaming, and preparing. And releasing via homebrew… nudge nudge, wink wink.

Source: MetaViewSoft

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Just in time for WebOSQuickInstall’s birthday, the day is finally here:  Internalz v1.2.0 and FileMgr v1.1.0 are available for public download! The above video is a quick tour of all the changes and you’ll want to watch it to the very end.   Among the long list of changes posted in Internalz’s forum thread, v1.2 most notably brings "Master Mode", a built-in Ipk Installer, and a built-in Patcher.

Internalz, for those who have yet to try it, is "the first and best file manager for the webOS".  You can create, edit, rename, move, copy and delete virtually any file or directory on your device. Not only that, but Internalz features a built-in image viewer and built-in text editor.

Not sure what "Master Mode" is? Well, put simply, it removes all restrictions in Internalz. Normally, you aren’t allowed to edit, move, or delete files outside of the USB Mode section or /var.  With "Master Mode" enabled, the sky’s the limit. However, this means uninformed users could accidentally destroy their system, which is why the feature is disabled by default.

And what’s this Ipk Installer you keep hearing about?  The Ipk Packager is able to open .ipk files, letting you install or uninstall it. Better yet, it scans the .ipk file, displaying package information, so you know what you’re installing. And since Internalz registers itself as the default .ipk handler (among other file extensions), you can simply tap a .ipk link in the browser and it’ll open in Internalz.

Lastly there’s the Patcher. It lets you install or uninstall .patch files, similar to WebOSQuickInstall. Since the Patcher is an extension of the Text Editor, you’re able to view and edit the patch file too!

So if you haven’t tried Internalz yet, now’s your chance. As the slogan says, "Control your device, don’t let your device control you."

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This morning brings great news for webOS users from both Rod Whitby and his webOS Internals team, and PreCentral’s own Jason Robitaille. The latest version of Preware, 1.2.0 (now in the webOS Internals testing feed), includes a new Install Package feature (accessible via the dropdown menu) which enables users to install a homebrew application or other package from a URL or the USB partition on the phone itself. This capability has been lacking from the Pre since Palm closed an early security hole more than a year ago that allowed users to install packages via an e-mail link. According to Rod Whitby of webOS Internals this morning on Twitter, the Preware implementation addresses potential security issues by displaying the real URL or local file path before asking the user to confirm the install."

Not to be outdone, Jason Robitaille also let the Twitter world know this morning that version 1.2 of his multifaceted file browser Internalz, which is scheduled for release on July 25th, will also include direct package installation along with some other cool new features like text editing. Jason intended to keep package installation "a secret bonus for v1.2 release," but after webOS Internals announced its release, he decided to tell the public.

This type of cooperative competition, continuing expanding the limits (and abilities) of webOS, are one of the best aspects of our community, and no doubt a major reason why HP’s Phil McKinney gave an explicit shoutout to the homebrew community at his MobileBeat 2010 keynote on Monday morning.

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While we’re still waiting for our Palm Profiles to start backing up text messages and our call history, PreCentral reader Devon chimed in to let us know how to do it ourselves. Not only will this let you save your text messages for the potential of calamity – these backups can be used to transfer your messages and history to another webOS phone. The how-to of backing up and restoring is after the break.

Update: be sure to hit up the comments (especially volcom45’s) on this post before attempting – this is definitely a power-user/at-your-own risk procedure.

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After months of private on-the-side development, Internalz, the first and only file manager for the webOS, has been released with 1.0 status. Along with it, the custom service powering Internalz, FileMgr service, has also been release at version 1.0.

Internalz made its first public appearance way back on August 18th. Back then, it was essentially a proof-of-concept application, with that early FileMgr being my first attempt at custom webOS service. And after a few minor revisions, I decided to switch to private development and testing. This is the result.

The above video show much of the central features: full device browsing, file/directory moving and copying, easy deletions with optional swipe-to-delete feature, simple renaming, built-in image viewer, built-in text editor and more.

However, there were a few features I forgot to mention in the above video. First off, Internalz supports many international languages. It fully supports English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. As well, tapping on the "Name" header toggles sorting by name, and tapping on "Size" toggles that respective sorting. In addition, tapping and holding on the "Size" label will toggle it to a label for filetype.

FileMgr, the custom service that powers Internalz, is also hitting version 1.0. As a result, I’ve released a public API specsheet for developers to freely use. Among other things, this allows developers to write data to files locally on the device. Such a feature is already employed in at least one app, MapTool, by Metaview.

Internalz 1.0 is now available here and FileMgr service is available here. Both are also on the PreCentral feed for OTA installation. Huzzah for homebrew!

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We’ve been able to confirm through anonymous sources that webOS 1.3.5 has been seeded to developers and it fixes the app space limit. The fix for the much-hated shortcoming comes courtesy of a unique solution that will allow user to use for apps as much of the available 7 GB of free space on their Pre or Pixi as they like.

Palm’s solution has moved apps out of the fixed-size /var partition and into a new folder on /media, otherwise known as the USB drive partition. The /media partition is the largest on the device and provides about 7 GB of free space out of the box.

In order to prevent users from just copying apps out of the folder when in USB drive mode, Palm has set the folder to be encrypted when the phone is hooked up to a computer and put into USB drive mode. When out of USB drive mode, the folder is switched to unencrypted mode and apps are free to be used again. You can’t use your phone when in USB drive mode anyway, so there’s no loss here.

Currently, apps stored in /var are visible to the Internalz app, this won’t change with webOS 1.3.5. While the new apps folder won’t be visible to most webOS apps, Internalz’s all seeing eye will still be able to view the folder just the same.

All-in-all, this is the kind of solution that we were hoping for. It’s ingeniously  simple yet doesn’t lock down webOS anymore than necessary. When webOS 1.3.5 lands (we expect it in the next few weeks), it’ll be a good day for the App Catalog. Bye bye, app space limit warning!

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