Aston Martin
Proudly supports terrible french cars
Now that some people here have received theirs. Mine in theory early next week.
Get started at precentral
The first thing to do is update. 3.0.2 is alot better than 3.0.0.
Option one is to tap the arrow at the bottom right of your screen, swipe to the right until you get to the settings page, and select the little icon named "System Updates" (it looks like a present). Allow the system to update, reboot, and attempt to update again. Ultimately (as of 8-22-11) you want it to show your device is up to date with version 3.0.2.
Option two is to get your hands on the latest webOS doctor. You may need to do this as current load on webOS servers is extremely heavy due to the huge influx of new touchpad users. To do this, go to your main PC (NOT your touchpad) and first visit your palm profile and log in:
webOS doctor
From there, go to device options, and select webOS doctor. Once it's downloaded, run the program with your -fully charged- touchpad plugged into the computer and like magic you'll have a properly updated touchpad.
One thing to note - this webOS doctor can fix virtually any problem you manage to cause your poor defenseless touchpad. Keep it, you may find it useful later.
Now that the touchpad is up to date, it's time to take it to the next level. We are going to install some patches and tweaks that are going to make the touchpad run faster, smoother, and be more responsive. This next part will also set you up to start checking out the wonderful world of webOS homebrew in all it's glory. The best part? All of this is simple and safe to do thanks to webOS's approach to an easily usable open system. No jail-breaking required and there is virtually nothing you can do that would hurt your hardware. Worst case scenerio, you can run the webOS doctor listed above and fix your Touchpad.
Lets get started! First you need to put the touchpad into developer mode. This is pretty simple, tap on the "just type" box on your touchpad and type:
webos20090606
That'll bring up a little icon for developer mode. Tap on it and turn it ON. It will ask you to input a password etc, don't put anything in there, just keep clicking through with the password blank and move on.
Next, you'll need webos quick install - set the touchpad down for a minute and go to your home PC or MAC to download it:
webOS quick install
It's a java .jar file, so if you don't already have java on your home PC/Mac you will need to install the java runtime environment to run that file. You can download java here (just install the most recent version):
Download Free Java Software
Now, plug your touchpad into your computer with the usb cable, and open up webos quick install. DO NOT PUT THE TOUCHPAD INTO MASS STORAGE USB MODE, just leave it on normally. The touchpad will ask if you want to go into mass storage mode, tell it no and leave it alone.
Webos quick install will likely need to install a novacom driver to be able to talk to your touchpad, let it do so.
If at this point webOS quick install is STILL not recognizing your touchpad, try rebooting the computer/touchpad, double checking to ensure developer mode is on, and try a different USB port for plugging the touchpad to the computer.
Now your touchpad is ready for homebrew. First things first, you want to install the preware application. On your -COMPUTER- in the webos quick install window, click on the little globe icon on the right. That will bring up a list of applications you can install. Select PREWARE from that list and install it.
Now you can close webos quick install, pick up your touchpad. Go to your downloads folder on the touchpad (click the arrow, swipe over to downloads). Finally, open preware on the touchpad.
Finally you're ready to patch and modify in earnest. Preware lets you do all the downloading, installing, and handling of your various homebrew right on the Touchpad. Yay!
Since you have preware open, tap on "available packages", then "patch", and finally "all". Lets get some speed-enhancing patches on board.
Do/install everything on this list to speed up the touchpad -significantly-:
speedier Touchpad
On top of those suggestions, I'd also recommend removing the tap ripple since it can slow down some PDK apps and imho the pad feels more responsive without it. Remember - this is your touchpad, and customization has been one of the best features of the webOS platform, so feel free to put things however you like, I'm just suggesting the patches etc that made MY touchpad great.
So if you've followed along your patches should look something like this (I've added a few I personally enjoy as well):
ad blocker (or max block - one or the other NOT both)
remove tap ripple
Increase Touchpad Volume (lite)
advanced reset options
faster card animations hyper version
increase touch sensitivity and smoothness 10
muffle system logging
quiet powered messages
remove dropped packet logging
unset cfq io scheduler
unthrottle download manager
private browsing
Feel free to try whatever you like. The patches are easily to remove right inside preware. Have no fear, you won't break anything. Even if you somehow managed to be the rare exception, salvation is one run of webOS doctor away.
While you're in preware, there are other things you might consider doing. For example, you'll find the uberkernel there (which allows overclocking to 1.5ghz - a speed supported by the processor) and govna, a program which will allow you to actually perform this speed upgrade. There are other more advanced options for overclocking (1.7GHZ!) but you'll need to utilize these forums to learn how to perform these actions as going to this extreme is beyond the scope of an average user.
Other programs in preware worth checking out:
pReader alpha (free ebook reader that -rocks-)
internalz (file browser/explorer for your touchpad)
jstop (this program helps keep your phone running tip-top, make sure you put it into "AUTO" mode once you install it, and you might also want to disable notifications inside this program so they don't pop up every time it kills a process - it's all in the options for jstop)
That's just a small sample, feel free to browse and check out what's available.
For our next trick, we can go to HP's official apps catalog. Hit that arrow, swipe to the downloads tab, and hit the HP App Catalog icon.
A few -free- suggestions:
Angry Birds HD (it's free!)
Box.net (free 50gb online storage - this makes swapping files back and forth to the touchpad from your computer a BREEZE, and gives you a nice safe online backup location)
superNES (a SNES emulator that works nicely - I'll also be releasing a new skin or two specifically designed for touchpad soon)
USA Today (an awesome news app with some offline reading capability that is really nice)
DigiCamera Still Life (lets you use the camera to take pictures - something that probably should have been a default feature in the first place)
Epicurious recipes and shopping list (the single nicest recipe/etc app I've ever seen)
Audiophile HD (currently the main available mp3/ogg/whatever player out there, nice if the stock player isn't quite pushing all of your buttons)
Get started at precentral
Last edited: