The early reports from Pre 2 users (including those who received them during the "Oprah moment" at webOS Developer Day in New York) have been largely positive. There is, though, one potentially problematic new development, or maybe it’s better to describe it as a blast from the past: webOS Doctor for webOS 2.0 not only restores webOS to its default configuration, but also wipes the USB partition. This is a return to the behavior of webOS Doctor prior to webOS version 1.3.1, released approximately one year ago.

The webOS Doctor, if you’re not familiar, is the last-ditch way to clear your webOS device by restoring it to the factory ROM image by downloading it to your computer and loading it onto your phone via USB. Learn more about how to use it in our "How to fix a seriously ill Pre" article.

What does this mean? First, Doctoring is no longer quite as hassle-free a process, since users must remember (and take the time) to fully back up the USB partition before running the Doctor, if they don’t want to lose everything. This is especially important for those of us who depend on webOS Internals’ SaveRestore to preserve application data, system settings, etc.; those files are stored in the USB partition, so they must be backed up as well before running the Doctor. Previously, all that was necessary after Doctoring was to reinstall Preware via webOS Quick Install as described here, use Preware to install SaveRestore, and in turn use SaveRestore to restore information from the untouched USB partition. Now, a full USB restore must also be part of the process.

It isn’t clear why Palm has made this change, or whether it will be permanent. 

Source: PreCentral Forums (Thanks to pastorrich1 for finding this!)

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PreCentral forum member and homebrew developer Arthur Thornton just earned himself a page in our book of awesome people: he figured out the so easy a caveman with Terminal access could do it method to getting Classic to work on webOS 2.0. It’s simple in concept and execution: extract the Palm OS ROM from the webOS 1.4.5 Doctor, and then load it onto your webOS 2.0 device. Tada, Classic instantly works.

It seems to be as simple as that, which makes us wonder why Palm decided to drop the Palm OS ROM from webOS 2.0 and shaft MotionApps in the process. The only thing the Palm OS ROM does is take up space (not a lot, it is Palm OS after all) and wait for Classic to launch it, so why cut it out. Unless Palm is pulling an Apple (dropping the floppy drive) and forcing developers and users to move on from old tech. Full instructions after the break.

Source: PreCentral Forums; Thanks Arthur!

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webOS 2.0 will be coming to Pre, Pixi, and Plus variant devices in “the coming months,” but if you’re like us, you want webOS 2.0 right now because you have the attention span of a… hey, who finished the ice cream? Thankfully, the masters of satisfying our impatience – the code genies at WebOS Internals – have decided that they don’t want to wait either.

With the release of the 2.0-restoring webOS Doctor for SFR’s Pre 2, Rod Whitby and the gang have taken to hacking and splicing the 2.0 Doctor with the already released webOS 1.4.5 Doctor. Yes, that’s a gross oversimplification, but all the code gibberish is far over this author’s head (as evidenced by my calling it gibberish). In essence, they’re setting out to make a webOS FrankenDoctor, with the aim of installing webOS 2.0 before Palm and carrier partners finally get around to releasing the update. Really, who wants to be at the mercy of Sprint and Verizon?

Right now it’s very raw. As in it’ll render your device unusable and possibly physically damaged. There’s a reason the forum post on the subject starts off in 24-point bold red type. But, if you’re of the super-geeky Linux inclination, capable of in-depth debugging, and feel like chancing a permanent bricking of your spare Pre (do not, I repeat, do not try this on your primary device), then feel free to join in. After all, it takes a village to make a Frankendoctor – or maybe the village chases and kills the Frankendoctor – never could get that straight. In any case, there are roadblocks to be overcome.

Just don’t blame us if things go south in a hurry – if patching and kernels are homebrew, then this is, well, we don’t know what to call this except for friggin’ awesome.

Source: PreCentral Forums; Thanks to sketch42 for the heads up!

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The Pre 2 is only available in France right now (and only on French carrier SFR), but even then our amis français may find themselves in a near-bricked Pre 2 bind. Thankfully, Palm is continuing with its history of releasing the full device ROM in the form of the phone-reviving webOS Doctor. For the uninitiated, the Doctor essentially reflashes the phone’s operating system to overwrite any errors caused by, well, it doesn’t matter exactly what. Thanks to the robust and forceful nature of the webOS Doctor, it’s near impossible to brick a webOS device.

This latest release is the first packing webOS 2.0 and will provide the first chance for the code divers to dig in and see what code is lying dormant in the new operating system. For those interested, this is webOS 2.0.0, build 70. Also, for those interested, no, you cannot use this Doctor to load webOS 2.0 onto your older Pre or Pixi device. It won’t work, and if it does, it won’t.

Source: Palm; Via: WebOS Internals (Twitter)
Direct Link: SFR Pre 2 webOS Doctor

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Mere hours after finally pushing webOS 1.4.5 out to Sprint customers, Palm has updated the webOS Doctor tool to match.  For those unfamiliar, the webOS Doctor is a utility that allows users to reinstall and/or repair and replace damanged webOS files from either a Mac or PC – handy for when you "brick" (thanks to tools like this, webOS phones aren’t really brickable) your phone experimenting with some of those bleeding edge, 1.2Ghz kernels from the webOS Internals testing feed.  Interested parties can click here for a direct download link. 

Also notable: if you use the webOS Doctor, you will eliminate that pesky 1.4.5 game save bug.

Thanks to jnever1 for the tip!

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Is your phone all seized up? Again? Palm’s got some tips to get things back into working order, and it’s the stuff of legends. Well, it’s more the stuff that tech support would tell you to try first, so you can get this out of the way before placing that always-frustrating call. Here’s what Palm suggests, with our own commentary interspersed. The 6Ts:

• Throw all open applications off the top of the screen – this will dump your running programs and help clear your RAM of hogs.
• Turn your phone completely off and on – reset your network connection by doing this and help clear up any snafus.
• Triple-toggle restart – toggle the ringer switch back-and-forth three times while holding down the power switch to force a restart.
• Top off the battery – just let it juice up.
• Take out the battery – the ultimate forceable restart: pull the plug.
• Tether your phone to your computer and reinstall webOS – as a last resort, reinstall the OS and start over. The nuclear option, if you will.

Of course, those aren’t the only options, but they’re the Palm-supported ones. For more sub-nuclear options, be sure to check out our own How To: Restore a seriously ill Pre guide.

Source: Palm Support, thanks to HardBeatZ for the heads up.

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Back in April, we reported on a new app that was just hitting the WebOS-Internal’s testing feed called Save/Restore. The app was designed to help you restore all of your applications’ saved data and preferences after wiping your phone from a visit to the webOS Doctor or after a phone replacement. While still not officially at v1.0, the application has been in the production feeds for a few months now has been a great success and has seen some major enhancements. But before we talk about those enhancements, let’s give a quick recap on what Save/Restore actually does and why it’s necessary.

Keep reading after the break!

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Here’s some of the latest talk in the forums:

• With the PDK Hot Apps promotion set to go live on July 15th, you know an OTA update is inbound for the majority of you Pre and Pixi users out there.  Member AS4K wants to talk best practices in preparing for the next version of webOS with homebrew.
• Revival: Here’s a fun thread from about this time last year that examined how many times you’ve opened the slider on your Pre, and numbers then were generally in the 800-900 range. After following the directions found in the thread, I discovered that I’m currently at a staggering 22,152.
• Unsure what the webOS Doctor is all about?  Good news: knowing P|C forum members are here to fill you in.  
• There’s been much debate about the difference between the battery that comes stock with the Pre and the Pixi and the one that shipped with the Centro.  Many users, against the advice of Palm, continue to use the Centro battery in their webOS powered phones.  There’s a very real difference, as it turns out, and member itsjustme has the scientific proof.

We look forward to seeing you in the forums.  Not already a member?  Come to your senses and join us! 

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Since the next two days are dedicated to Palm’s own development news, we figured today would be a good day for some updates on what’s happening in the homebrew community. We just told you about Jason’s (happy birthday!) webOS file manager app and service, now it’s time for another project with wide appeal.

You know the drill: you replace your Pre or you find a need to run the webOS Doctor to wipe it clean and start from scratch, then you go through the motions of reinstalling all your apps. One problem: your saved data from many/most of those apps isn’t backed up to Palm’s servers. All that very important effort you’ve put into Let’s Golf? Gone.

Enter Save/Restore, which allows you to save data from applications to storage on your Pre, from whence you can move that data to another device, back it up to your computer, and then restore it again. Save/Restore doesn’t automatically save all the data from every app, rather support for each app needs to be built in manually. However the group has gone ahead and added support for many of the big, important apps. Webos Internals calls it the ‘Holy Grail of homebrew‘ and while we might not go quite that far, it does sound pretty sweet!

If you’re interested in helping with the testing, you’ll need to do a little legwork to install Preware Alpha and the Save/Restore App – more info here and here, be sure to read about the bounty system for adding additional app support. Otherwise, sit tight, the good folks at Webos Internals and the crew of homebrewers doing additional testing are moving things along at a heady clip.

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Everybody who can get their webOS 1.4.0 jollies on can now also ‘doctor’ their way back to a fresh OS install. Palm has released the webOS 1.4.0 doctors for the Palm Pre and Pixi on Sprint and O2 as well as the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on Verizon. If you’re not familiar with what the Doctor does, here’s a quick brief: the webOS Doctor is a Java-based computer application (works on PC or Mac) that overwrites corrupted or altered OS files with a fresh install of webOS. The Doctor is essentially the last best hope to restore a bricked phone (because of this, webOS phones are near impossible to brick from a software standpoint). While the webOS Doctor will perform a clean install of the OS, newer versions no longer wipe clean any files you have stored on the Media partition, so no worries about destroying those vacation pictures you forgot to backup.

The following webOS Doctors for 1.4 are available (direct download links):

• O2 Palm Pre
• Sprint Palm Pre
• Sprint Palm Pixi
• Verizon Palm Pre Plus
• Verizon Palm Pixi Plus

And to go along with all this doctoring fun, the folks at WebOS Internals have whipped up new versions of their Meta-Doctor tool for webOS 1.4 on Sprint and Verizon.

Thanks to Shadow 360 for the tip!

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