(Download This YouTube Video using FREE FLVDirect software)

(screenshot of SSH Top command showing processes running on my Palm Pre)

Since the Palm Pre is based on Linux, I figured that you could probably run a Wordpress blog on the Palm Pre.   Well, after about 3 hours of research, I found a way to run a wordpress blog using Optware Lighttpd and MySQL server.  (Lighttpd is a “light” version of Apache pretty much and would be perfect candiate for the Palm Pre since its hardware isn’t made for full-fledged websites rather for a smartphone.)

I think this might be a great way to host your personal websites that your family and friends visit without having to pay for hosting fees.  (Well, just be careful Sprint doesn’t find out…)

Anyways, I am amazed that you can actually run a Wordpress blog on the Palm Pre, here’s detailed step-by-step instructions so you can do it too.

You will have to first learn how to SSH into your Palm Pre, after doing that follow the rest of the directions outlined here.

P.S. If you have never dealt with Linux, just be patient and feel free to ask me questions on the comments line as I will do my best to help you setup a Wordpress blog on your Palm Pre.

1) First, we will need to mount the filesystem to be writable.  Go SSH into your Palm Pre to the linux command prompt and type the following.  (Please press enter after any of these code lines of course…)

sudo mount -o remount,rw /

2) Next, let’s install optware MySQL package by typing the command below:

sudo ipkg-opt install mysql

You will get the following messages if installation is successful.

To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy support-files/mysql.server
to the right place for your system

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:

/opt/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/opt/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h castle password 'new-password'
See the manual for more instructions.

You can start the MySQL daemon with:
cd /opt ; /opt/bin/mysqld_safe &

You can test the MySQL daemon with the benchmarks in the 'sql-bench' directory:
cd sql-bench ; perl run-all-tests

Please report any problems with the /opt/bin/mysqlbug script!

The latest information about MySQL is available on the web at

http://www.mysql.com

Support MySQL by buying support/licenses at http://shop.mysql.com
Starting MySQL SUCCESS!
Successfully terminated.

3) Let’s reset our MySQL root password by typing the following command where new-password should be your new password.  (Please make a note of your MySQL root password as we will need it later for Wordpress configuration file.)

/opt/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'

4) Next, let’s create a new database for the MySQL server so we can use it for the Wordpress blog.

/opt/bin/mysql -u root

mysql> create database test;

mysql> quit;

5) Next, we will install Lighttpd, which is the light version of Apache.

sudo ipkg-opt install lighttpd php-fcgi

Your web root will be in the following directory:

/opt/share/www/

6) Next, we will edit the Lighttpd port to 9999 to not interfere with other httpd processes on the Palm Pre:

sudo vi /opt/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Change the server.port form 8081 to 9999 like here:
(You will need to type “i” to start typing…refer to complete VI command instructions here or you can use your favorite linux editor too.)

## bind to port (default: 80)
server.port                = 9999

Press the Esc key on your keyboard and “:wq!” to save file and exit back to command prompt.

7) Next, we will setup a start-up event so our lighttpd and mysqld server runs at boot time and when your phone is on:

sudo vi /etc/event.d/optware-lighttpd

Copy and paste the following: (hit “i” and Shift+Ins in the editor)

# don't start until the WebOS finishes it's normal boot
# that way no delay is added to the GUI startup
start on stopped finish
stop on runlevel [!2]

# Restart the lighttpd daemon if it exits/dies
respawn

exec /opt/sbin/lighttpd -f /opt/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

pre-start script
/usr/sbin/iptables -D INPUT -p tcp --dport 9999 -j ACCEPT || /bin/true
/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 9999 -j ACCEPT
/opt/bin/mysqld_safe &
end script

Press Esc key and “:wq!” to save file and exit VI editor.

Now we will need to install the blog. Since this is a test, we will install it in a subdirectory called /blog.

Browse to the web root by typing the cd command below:

cd /opt/share/www/

9) Next, let’s make a new directory called blog:

sudo mkdir blog

10) Enter the blog directory:

cd blog

11) Let’s download the latest version of Wordpress:

sudo wget http://wordpress.org/latest.zip

12) Unzip the Wordpress zip file:

sudo unzip latest.zip

13) Copy the files in wordpress directory to the blog directory like this:

sudo cp wordpress/* . -rf

14) Open up your dynamic domain name on your browser like this:

http://MyDynamicDNS.blogdns.com:9999/blog/

15) If you get a screen like below, you are ready to rock, let’s go back to the Linux command prompt and edit the Wordpress configuration files so we can setup the new Wordpress Blog.

16) We will first move the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.

sudo mv wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

17) And let’s edit the Wordpress config file:

sudo vi wp-config.php

18) Change the following lines to your database name and root password:

define('DB_NAME', 'test');
define('DB_USER', 'root');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'mypassword');

19) Since we are using Lighttpd, we need to tell PHP where the www root is, so let’s edit the php.ini file like this:
(This is to enable the MySQL server to work with Lighttpd!  If you don’t do this step you will get a DATABASE ERROR message because PHP cannot find your web root.)

sudo vi /opt/etc/php.ini

20) Find the following line and add /opt/share/www to doc_root parameter:

doc_root ="/opt/share/www/"

21) Hit Escape key and “:wq!” to save and exit.

22) Next reboot your Palm Pre so the changes take effect:

sudo /sbin/reboot

23) Open up your dynamic domain name on your browser again (on your computer of course!):

http://MyDynamicDNS.blogdns.com:9999/blog/

You should now see something like this:

24) Fill out Blot Title, E-mail, and “Install WordPress”!

25) Log In using the admin username and password provided.

26) Open up your dynamic domain name on your browser again…

http://MyDynamicDNS.blogdns.com:9999/blog/

27) You should see a new Wordpress blog, completely hosted on your Palm Pre.  Congratulations, you did it bud.

Final Words

Based on my testing, it seems that the Wordpress blog could easily handle light traffic (up to 3 concurrent users) and I am sure that could be a lot better by installing Wordpress Super Cache, which I will have some test reports later this week.  Also, when you run Lighttpd, you will need to refer to this guide on how to do human-friendly permalinks and to work with Super Cache.  There’s also ways to optimize the Lighttpd and MySQL server, which could further enhance the Palm Pre Wordpress blog.

You can also install Apache on the Palm Pre but I don’t recommend it as your Palm Pre blog will run much slower than on Lighttpd.

Well, I am sure you can also install many other types of websites running on the LAMP stack now, it doesn’t have to be a Wordpress blog but I’ve laid down the foundation for you so you can save time while developing your next mobile Palm Pre website.

I wish I could publicly show you my Wordpress blog running on my Palm Pre but Sprint will surely pinpoint me and cancel my contract so I will leave it up to you guys to try it out yourselves.   And don’t make your Palm Pre blog public either, I won’t be responsible if you lose your contract because of it.

*Note -  This guide works well and I am no linux expert myself.  I just happened to know a little bit about linux systems as I manage web servers on a daily basis.  Please follow the instructions carefully and I am sure you can do it too and learn a bunch of great stuff about linux.  If you ever have trouble or want to know more about certain commands, just google it!

FAQ

Q: I cannot edit files, I get a “readonly” error!

A: Whenever you reboot the Palm Pre, you will need to make the filesystem writable again, just use this code before trying to edit files:

sudo mount -o remount,rw /

Also, you might want to make sure to add “sudo” before any code.  This is so you have root permissions to execute files.  Sometimes I forget this and I get errors.

Q: How do I disable the web server from running?

A: To disable, use the following command and reboot your phone:

sudo chmod 000 /etc/event.d/optware-lighttpd

To enable, use the following command and reboot your phone:

sudo chmod 700 /etc/event.d/optware-lighttpd

Q: How do I reboot my phone via command line?
A: This code right here:

sudo /sbin/reboot

Reference: Commands for Restarting, Stopping Lighttpd or Mysqld

Restart lighttpd!

sudo /opt/etc/init.d/S80lighttpd restart

Start mysqld:

sudo /opt/bin/mysqld_safe &

sudo /opt/bin/mysqld_safe &

Resources

I’ve used many resources to install Wordpress blog on my Palm Pre.  I’ve hacked existing code to make this work but I have to give credit to these guides that have helped me get through problems.  (Thanks Open Source!!!)

• WebOs-Internals.Org - Lighttpd Installation instructions.
• NSLU2-linux.org – How to install MediaWiki on Optware.
• NSLU2-linux.org – How to Reset MySQL password.

Well, here’s  a list of the major Palm Pre blog and forums you can check out for further digging into the “elite” early-adaptor society:

• PreCentral.Net – PreCentral.Net has some great information through its blog, forum, and they even sell Palm Pre accessories for cheap.  Definitely worth taking time to search through their database if you want more information on the Palm Pre.  (Thanks to member iPod12345 for the forum post!)
• PalmWebOs.Org – PalmWebOs.org is another blog/forum social network for Palm Pre users.  I think their site is more oriented towards hacking and the WebOS operating system itself, another great resource to check out.  (Thanks btw to the people there for featuring our blog post, you guys rock!)
• EverythingPre.com – Here’s another great forum for hacking the Palm Pre. (Thanks to AkiTaYo for the forum post!)
• PalmPreForum.Org – PalmPreForum.Org is another good one to check out.
• PalmPreBlog.com – Cool Palm Pre blog.
• BlogPalmPre.com – Another cool blog, nuff said.
• MyPre.com – Oh I am exhausted with so MUCH info, here’s another good Palm Pre blog!

Of course, last but not least, don’t forget Palm has their own forum dedicated to the Palm Pre here.

I probably didn’t cover ALL the Palm Pre blogs and forums here but you can always add yours in the comments line and I will update the list.

I really think Palm Pre is only going to get bigger and bigger, even if they are getting scary press.  There’s a lot of Palm Pre haters out there, specifically those iPhone users who cannot accept the fact that Palm Pre is faster and can do more things than an iPhone.   Well, don’t worry, time will prove that Palm Pre is just as good or better than the iPhone.  (Take a look at the Palm Pre WiFi Router hack, I tried it last night with multiple computers and it works flawless!)

P.S. Of course, don’t forget to check out this blog too, where we will be diving into “Palm Pre Linux for dummies”.