Looks like someone decided to install and boot WebOS off their Dell computer. It should be possible since WebOS is a linux operating system.

Aside from everything else, this proves that WebOS could easily be ported to many other devices, perhaps HP/Palm can start getting some more phone manufacturers to use WebOS?

via precentral

(My Sprint Palm Pre (Web OS 1.4.1.1) running Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot for FREE!)

Demo video of the Mobile Hotspot running flawlessly on my Sprint Palm Pre:

I know I have been using MyTether for awhile but for some reason, recently it broke down.  I think Sprint blocked it or something.   MyTether USB still works well but wireless seems to have been broken with version 1.4.1.1.

Anyways, I heard some rumors that some people were installing Verizon’s mobile hotspot on their Palm Pre.  After some serious hours of research, I have found out that it does indeed work on the latest WebOS 1.4.1.1.

The steps are rather simple, just follow these step-by-step directions so you can install Verizon’s mobile hotspot on your Palm Pre:

1. Download WebOSQuickInstall.jar (java program, also check this thread on PreCentral for the latest version) and you will also need to download the latest WebOSDoctor.jar. (you can download this later)

Also make sure you have Java installed as these files won’t run without Java.  If you don’t have Java installed, simply point your browser to Java.com and you can install it.

2. Also download these two files, com.palm.app.mobilehotspot_1.0.14_all-already_patched.ipk (the actual Verizon Mobile Hotspot patched to work with other Palm Pre OSes), and us.ryanhope.freetetherd_0.0.3_armv7.ipk (which will re-route your IP address to the Mobile Hotspot).

3. Now put all of them in the same directory and run WebOSQuickInstall.jar.   Run the program and if you don’t have WebOSDoctor.jar downloaded, it will ask if you want to download it.  (Say yes of course)

4. Make sure you have Novacom installed, if you don’t run WebOSQuickInstall.jar then go to File->Options then select, “Attempt Novacom (re)installation.”  This will work on Windows, for linux, download these drivers.  For Mac OSX, you will need to install the whole Palm SDK, which comes with Novacom, download Mac OSX Palm SDK here

5. Now the fun part, put your Palm Pre into dev mode by going to home then typing “upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart”.  (You should see a dev mode menu pop up where you can enable dev mode.)

6. Connect your Palm Pre to your computer.

7. Run WebOSQuickInstall. (or go back to it if it’s already running)

8. Click on + button and add the file us.ryanhope.freetetherd_0.0.3_armv7.ipk. Click Install.

9. Click on + button again add the file com.palm.app.mobilehotspot_1.0.14_all-already_patched.ipk. Click Install.

10. Check your phone to see if the Mobile Hotspot app has appeared, if it has, you are done!

Just in case you have trouble, I made a short YouTube video detailing every step on how to install the Mobile Hotspot app on your Palm Pre:

{Sorry, I had to take the video off as I accidentally left my numbers on it…}

Troubleshooting

If you are getting any connectivity errors, then you probably need to make sure novacom is installed. If it is installed, try re-booting your computer then try again.

If your Palm Pre’s storage is full, you won’t be able to install programs, so make sure there’s free space if you get errors while trying to install the ipk files.

Huge thanks to PreCentral, I wouldn’t have been able to install Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot app on my Sprint Palm Pre.

You can either visit http://ws.palm.com/webosdoctor/serialnumberinitial.htm on your Palm Pre to access WebOS Doctor over the web OR you can also download WebOS and run it on your computer.

Also, PreCentral has a great guide on how to backup all your contacts info if you want to backup and restore your profile and contacts.

Above link is for Sprint Palm Pre only, for complete list of WebOS Doctor versions and carrier matches, see the list here at Webos-internals.org.  You should be able to install an older version of WebOS using these Java jar files, although I don’t know why you would since video camcorder functionality was added to WebOS 1.4.

For those of you who’ve had MyTether’s Wifi tethering for awhile now, you probably noticed that your Palm Pre or Palm Pre Plus has been upgraded to WebOS 1.4.

Well, I have heard that some people are having trouble using their MyTether application and I did too.

Simply, download the latest install file (you have to be a donor) and install it.  I’ve confirmed both WiFi and USB works flawlessly after upgrading to MyTether version 2.1.0+.

*Note: There’s also a Mac install file now too for Mac users!  (And Ubuntu/Linux too!)

Don’t forget to put your MyTether in development mode first before installing!

If you have old versions of MyTether, the exe file will simply write over that so no need to uninstall anything!

Btw, I got a Nexus One when it came out, I just got USB and WiFi tethering working on that too, see my new Nexus One Hacks blog at NexusOneHacks.net for that if you have a Nexus One.

<?php
$iphone = strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],”iPhone”);
$android = strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],”Android”);
$palmpre = strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],”webOS”);
$ipod = strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],”iPod”);
if(!$iphone && !$android && !$palmpre && !$ipod) {
?>
Your code goes here that you want only executed when it’s not a smartphone.

<?php } ?>

This could be great if you want to load a different version of your website or even just to test your website on the Palm Pre.  That way, your regular readers from desktop computers and laptops won’t get affected while you test your version of website for the Palm Pre.

Developer of the WiFi tethering app for the regular Palm Pre, Raja, has just pinged me on the status of his My Tether app.

My Tether now officially supports Verizon’s Palm Pre Plus, meaning you don’t have to pay the extra $40/month Verizon is charging you.  On top of wifi tethering, you also get USB or bluetooth tethering with the My Tether app.

As a user of My Tether for the last 6 months ago since I got my regular Palm Pre, I would say this is a LOT better deal at a flat fee of $14.95 versus Verizon’s $40/month.

The new My Tether that works on Palm Pre Plus is available as beta here. (You will need to donate $14.95 to access it.) 

Additional features of the new My Tether beta includes network usage graphing, DHCP client list viewing, and also the best part is that you can actually “kick off” any devices that’s not supposed to be there.

On top of everything, there’s also WEP/WPA2 security options.

I don’t see how you can lose by going with the new My Tether.  Certainly, paying Verizon $40/month will mean you’d pay about about extra $400 per year.

I should have an updated video review of the new My Tether with all the latest features so watch out for that too.

(Thanks Raja for the tip!)

My Tether Homepage

Palm is offering $30 off any purchase $99 or more at the official Palm store during Black Friday! (valid till 12/01) – Click this link to redeem

This might be a great time to stack up on multiple touchstone chargers, one for your office and another for your car.

Here’s a ridiculously cool hack that shows you how to make a Touchstone Palm Pre Car Mount.  As for me, I will keep my Palm Pre Touchstone on my desk where its used more often but I might consider putting one in my car soon too for turn-by-voice GPS navigation.

I personally use a Duracell Inverter which does a great job of re-charging all of my gadgets including USB and AC.  If you don’t want to open up and hack your car’s dashboard, you might want to use the inverter instead too.

I have tried my Touchstone on my car using the AC power via my Duracell inverter and it works really well.  When I tried using the USB (which Touchstone manual says not to), it simply didn’t work but this hack should work since it’s driving power directly from 12V DC of the car battery.  (The author says it should work flawlessly if you use the Palm 12V to USB charger (which I have) so I would suggest to try it out and let me know in the comments!)

Beauty of open source, when you make something open source, you get all these hackers flocking to make free apps.  This video hack example proves how quickly the open source community can develop programs. (faster than Palm development team!)

The video right now does 320×240 pixel only and there’s no sound but I am finding that the video feature is a cool add-on until Palm developers make it part of their default apps.  And certainly, this video hack proves that video will be added on to the Pre in the near future.

Here’s step-by-step instructions for computer-dummies so you can enable this cool video feature.

1) Download video-cam-test.zip here.  (via PreCentral Forum)  Unzip it of course.

2) Download both WebOSDoctor(Sprint or Bell), download WebOSQuickInstall from PreCentral and put them in the same directory like this:

*NOTE: If you don’t have Java installed, you will need to install it, just goto Java.com to install.  If you can run WebOSQuickInstall.jar, you have Java installed so…

3) Click on WebOSQuickInstall.jar and it should automatically install any files needed. (for the first time)

4)  Then connect your Palm to your computer via a USB cable.

5) Then click on the “+” button on your WebOSQuickInstall program and select both ca.canucksoftware.videocam_0.1.1_all.ipk and com.canucksoftware.videorectest_1.0.0_all.ipk.

6) Now, click on “Install!” and it should install on your Palm Pre.

7) Reboot (Power OFF and ON) your Palm Pre.

You should see new app like this:  (Press IT!)

9) Hit the “ON” button on your Pre.

10) Hit “Start Rec” to start recording and “Stop Rec” to stop.

11) Now, this app doesn’t actually show you the video itself while its recording so you will simply have to shoot your Pre. (somewhere…)

12) To re-play your videos, you will need to transfer the MP4 files to your computer.

To do this, connect your Pre to your computer via USB cable and choose “USB Drive” option.

13) Browse your Palm on your computer and you should see MP4 files in the root directory such as “09_29_09_04_48_20.mp4″ which is basically timestamp for your videos.

14) Copy the MP4 videos over to your computer and either use SMPlayer to view the videos or upload to YouTube.

*NOTE – I found that the portable SMPlayer works the best, don’t use the install version, I haven’t got those to work.

Enjoy~

FULL VIDEO Step-by-Step directions on how to install the video hack on your Palm Pre for computer dummies:

(Download This YouTube Video using FREE FLVDirect software)

Test videos I made:

My first video with Palm Pre in front of mirror:

My second using whiteboard:

My third while at Fishermen’s Wharf:

My friend actually just got a new Palm Pre and we taped the whole process on my digital camera.

(Download This YouTube Video using FREE FLVDirect software)