As we mentioned in an update to our post yesterday, we have our first patches for webOS 2.0 available in Preware (including node.js javascript services). Sconix, Oil, and others have already got their patches up and running and in the above video you can see them installed. One nice thing with webOS 2.0: no need to reboot after enabling or disabling Developer Mode.

Preware and many of the most popular patches are developed and maintained by WebOS Internals. In order to get these patches and software working on webOS 2.0, more of the team is going to need to purchase the Unlocked Palm Pre 2 to develop on. To that end the PreCentral community has organized another telethon to support homebrew developers. The current target is $6,000 to purchase phones for the developers that need them. As of last Friday, based just off donations from people in our forums, they've already hit $4,200. That's pretty incredible when you think about it, but it's not quite at the goal yet.

So a small push is all that's needed to jump start the homebrew movement for webOS 2.0 and the Palm Pre 2. Anybody who donates more than $30 before December 1st will get to have their title in our forums changed to "Top Homebrew Supporter."

Go Donate

PreCentral community member Sconix, who has already wowed webOS 1.4.5 homebrew users with the Advanced Configuration for System Preferences and Advanced Configuration for App Launcher mega-patches, is readying the next set of Advanced Configuration patches for installation under webOS 2.0. These patches, which can already be seen as placeholders in webOS Internals' webOS Patches feed, will provide a variety of new customization options for webOS 2.0. Hit the source link for details on Sconix's work on Advanced System Menus: Framework, App Menu, Mode Menu, Today Menu, Device Menu, and Power Menu!

Source: PreCentral Forums

UPDATE: As WebOS Internals chief Rod Whitby noted on Twitter, the Advanced System Menus - Device Menu, contains what turns out to be the first new homebrew JavaScript service for webOS. As you may have head, webOS 2.0 is doing away with Java, and thus the homebrew Java services developed over the past year won't be functional in the new OS. But, there's now support for both C services and JavaScript services. Sconix's new patches now include JavaScript services written with node.js to do fun stuff like trigger the LED flash as a flashlight.

Source: WebOS Internals (Twitter)

One of the most requested features of webOS has got to be more "at a glance" information, including an agenda view of your Calendar data, as well as an ability to search your calendar. Unfortunately, due to security limitations of webOS, third-party apps are only allowed to see and modify calendar entries that the app initially created, severely limiting the ability to create any kind of calendar-type app. Fortunately, homebrew apps and patches have access to same APIs that the stock webOS apps use, but as a result will never be available in the App Catalog. Keep reading after the break for a few simply Homebrew solutions to gain access to some at-a-glace and calendar search options.

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One of the great aspects of webOS is the level of customization that you can make to the base Operating System, without any real coding knowledge on your part. While you can install the SDK to get access and manually tweek various file, tools such as webOS Quick Install and Preware make the job really easy. For this tip, we are going to review a number of (non patch) styling modifications that you can make to your device to really personalize it as your own.  Keep reading after the break to learn how

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Smartphones are tricky animals sometimes, especially if you’re a power user or geek (as many of us are these days). You want to get into the very guts of your device and find out all of the cool and secret things about it, try out leaked software and hack it all to hell. But unless you’ve got extra money lying around that you like to blow on new devices every few weeks, you definitely don’t want to do anything to actually brick your device.

Testing those limits is fun, but everyone gets upset when they go past the point of no return. Luckily for us webOS users, ‘bricking’ your device is near impossible aside from breaking the device in half. If you run into a problem with your device, just go to the Palm website and grab the webOS doctor for the version and carrier of your choice. There's a very clear set of steps you can go through to fix nearly any serious webOS issue.

Win/Win. You get to mess with your device and not worry (too much) about breaking it beyond repair.

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Palm's Jon Zilber got some time over at HP's official The Next Bench Blog and used the platform to talk a bit about you, the webOS community. Specifically, Zilber called out homebrew (which may not be the best term for the apps, patches, overclocking, and general white-hat-hackery it's meant to encompass, but it's the best we've got), writing:

[..] a robust community of developers and fans has evolved around homebrew apps, beta apps, and unofficial system tweaks. Palm generally can’t offer support for these apps, but we do support the community’s ability to create and use them (at their own risk).

We can't help but compare this to Apple's official stance that jailbreaking the iPhone violates their end user agreement (though it's still protected by the DMCA).

Speaking of homebrewers, there has been an annoying bug in the official App Catalog that breaks the automatic update checker for users who have non-Palm-feed apps installed (which is to say it affects developers and people who have installed homebrew apps). From what we can tell it's an innocent bug and Palm is pushing out a fix at this very moment.

So to sum up: HP / Palm: works together with the homebrew community to make sure everybody has a nice experience. Apple: files a patent for detecting and deactivating jailbroken phones. Just saying.

Source: The Next Bench; More on the App Update bug in our forums and Palm's forums.

There are a lot of patches for webOS, but after awhile the most popular ones tend to become apparent until the good folks who create them turn them into 'Advanced' patches with lots of configuration options - to the point where they almost feel like full-fledged apps.

Such is the case with Advanced Configuration for App Launcher by Sconix. It basically makes all other Launcher patches unnecessary by offering darn near all of the as configurable options. Want to set the number of icons in a row and their spacing? Check. Want to add pages, name them, and manage their order? Check. Want to hide the QuickWave Launchbar? Check. It's the kind of patch that makes you want to donate to WebOS Internals.

Be sure to remove other Launcher-related patches before you install it then spend some time tweaking your settings. You'll be glad you did. New to patching and homebrew? No worries - this how-to article will get you started.

On webOS Homebrew's Birthday, we asked you what your top patches and tweaks for webOS were. You answered and here they are, in alphabetical order:

• 4x4 Launcher icons (or several different variants): Changes the number of icons visible on a Launcher page
• Add Bing and Yahoo: Adds more options to universal search. Some also remove Twitter
• Ad blocker: blocks ads. Makes bloggers cry
• Add Date to Top Bar (either MM/DD or some variants): Adds the date next to the time in the top bar
• Advanced Configuration for Launcher: A grand, unifying patch that adds a ton of options to the launcher
• Advanced Reset Options: Replaces the pop-up menu that you get by holding down the power button with something much more powerful
• Audio/Video Attachments: More MMS options
• Battery Icon and Percent (and variants): replaces the battery icon with a percentnage
• Call Duration in Call Log: Shows the call duration in the call log.
• Character Counter: Shows a character counter in the Messaging app
• Close slider to end calls (& variants): Makes hanging up much more satisfying
• Device Menu Megamix: Adds options to the righthand dropdown menu, giving easier access to the Flashlight, GPS, Brightness, and Phone settings
• Enable Verizon aGPS Server for Improved GPS: Helps the busted GPS on Verizon webOS devices
• Faster Card Animations (& variants): Adds the illusion of speed by shortening animations and transition effects
• Glass Effect: replaces the dull grey background of the launcher with something much better looking
• Hiding Apps (various versions): Don't like any of the preloaded carrier apps? Hide them
• Match State to Area Code: If you don't have a caller in your address book, you can at least see what state they are calling from
• Notification repeat: Repeats the notification sound
• Open to Alarm List: When you open the Clock app, jump right to the alarm view
• Read/Delete All Email: Adds the ability to triage your email
• Ringer Switch Icon: Shows an icon in the top bar indicating your ringer switch state
• Slider Blocks Orientation Change: Stop webOS from going into landscape mode when the slider is open
• Unthrottle Download Manager: provides for faster downloads
• Video Downloads (for YouTube): Gives you the ability to download and save YouTube videso
• Virtual Keyboard: Adds a virtual keyboard to webOS.

That's how your average PreCentral patcher tweaks up a Pre. Everybody is a little different, though. Any of your favorites that didn't make the list?

Once you get starting down the path of homebrew and patching, it can become pretty addicting to tweak the heck out of your device with your own mix of patches and apps. PreCentral forum member snowdizx put together his list of patches and tweaks that truly make his Pre a power user's dream.

After the break, find his list of patches and tweaks and settings, all done, we might add, without the need to flash a ROM, unlock a bootloader, or 'get root' on the device. Yeah, webOS is truly open even if it's not opensource.

Since today is the homebrew-aversary, we thought it would be a good time to ask our Power Users: what is the mix of patches and tweaks that make your webOS device yours?

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