Category Archives: News

[Pre] Recommended Incomplete Preware Packages List

As of version 1.4 it seems Palm has managed to get WebOS out of beta status. Anyway there are still some things that could be a tiny bit better. We therefore compiled an (incomplete) list ;-) of packages, we are currently using on our Pre’s.

The Requirements

These packages require a Palm Pre put into developer mode and an installed Preware installer.

  1. Putting Palm Pre into Dev Mode by simply entering the Konami Code – see here how to do it
  2. Install WebOS-Internals’ Preware installer – see here how to do it.

Both steps are easy as saying “1, 2, Pre”…

The Incomplete Preware Packages List

Done and happy? Ok then, here we go:

Package Description PreWare Folder
Battery Saver Turns on airplane mode each night at a defined time Application
Brightness Unlinked Brightness of Keyboard and Brightness of Screen can now separately be adjusted Applications
MyTether Turns your Pre into a WiFi to 3G router. Extremely helpful on vacation. Not on PreWare, get here only…
Terminal Allows Accessing the Linux Terminal from within the Pre Applications
4×4 icons v4 No Arrows Plus More 4 Icons on Launcher Screen per line Patch
Ad Blocker Being on GRPS/Edge sometimes, you definitely don’t want to spend bandwidth on ads Patch
Capture with Volume Keys Shoot Images with the Volume Keys Patch
Confirm Delete Confirm Deleting an Email Patch
Fullscreen Mode Browser No Urlbar, No Application Frame, No Notification when scrolled down. Extends the browser to the full screen size Patch
Reduce Minimum Brightness Changes Minimum from 10 to 0 Patch
Fullscreen Mode Browser No Urlbar, No Application Frame, No Notification when scrolled down. Extends the browser to the full screen size Patch
Send All Contacts via Email Creates a vCard containing ALL contacts and attaches it to an Email Patch

Shouts fly out to the WebOS-Internals team and the guys at the Precentral Forums. That’s awesome work you’re doing.

[PS3] GeoHot Reenables “Other OS” (Linux) Support

What happened so far?

GeoHot has had a reverse-engineerer’s look into Sony’s high tech gadget and Sony immediately declared war.

Obviously in panic, Sony announced to deactivate Linux (Other-OS) support with their latest firmware 3.21. This was the time when people were wondering how long it would take until GeoHot would reenable it.

The magic PUP files

So it did not take too long. That notorious hacking genious did it. He says he’s using a custom PUP file. A PUP file basically is an update file for the PS3. The interesting point is usually PUP files are signed by Sony.

Speculations

Could that mean there is a major flaw in Sony’s implementation of checking the authenticity of update files (at least until firmware 3.15, which GeoHot mentions is the latest that allows to install his custom PUP).

Anyway, the next weeks will be very interesting.

[iPhone] How Multi-Tasking is Gonna Look Like

Leaked vid showing multi-tasking on iPhone 3GS

It seems someone has got his hands on a developer beta of iPhone OS 4.0. The vid below shows how multi-tasking is gonna be implemented on the iPhone. We say: yes eventually multi-tasking, but no: Palm’s webOS approach to multi-tasking is unbeaten at the moment. Apple should consider buying Palm. They are cheap and half the staff is former leading elite Apple people anyway ;-)

Apple’s golden rule: product lifecycles are two years, amigos

Sadly although Cydia users know that multi-tasking is possible even on first gen iPhones, Apple will not enable multi-tasking on devices older than iPhone 3GS.

iPhone 2G users already made a bitter experience when MMS was not enabled on their devices with the 3.0 update.

[Pre] Open Office Running on Palm Pre

Notorious WebOS Internals Team has managed to compile and run an X-Server on our beloved latest gadget Palm Pre, thus allowing to run Open Office. As Rod Whitby states:

Just a note to say that we do have a roadmap of being able to install native Debian X11 GUI applications (like OpenOffice) via Preware. But don’t hold your breath, cause it looks like we need to write a whole new FUSE filesystem driver to be able to do it. Think weeks to months, rather than days.

Via PreCentral.net

[PS3] Sony To Remove Linux Support for PS3

According to Sony’s Blog, the upcoming Playstation 3 firmware update 3.21 will cease to support the “Other OS” option. It will be released on April 1st, 2010.

Sony says disabling Linux comes from security concerns. This is an immediate result from the efforts of GeoHot’s attack on Sony’s hypervisor protection and the release of XorLoser’s PS3 Exploit Toolkit.

Consumers and organizations that currently use the “Other OS” feature can choose not to upgrade their PS3 systems, although the following features will no longer be available;

  • Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
  • Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
  • Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
  • Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later

For those PS3 users who are currently using the “Other OS” feature but choose to install the system software update, to avoid data loss they first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the “Other OS,” as they will not be able to access that data following the update.

Find Sony’s blog entry here

[Pre] Overclocked Kernel for webOS 1.4 Released

We recently reported that the developers unixpsycho and caj2008 released an overclocked kernel for webOS 1.3.5. allowing to run webOS between 720MHz and 800MHz. Now the testing phase is over and they released their patches for webOS 1.4. Check the vid to get an overview how amazing fast webOS is at those clockcycles.

Anyway there is warning: overclocking may result in cut down lifetime and reduced battery runtime. It may also void your warranty. Unixpsycho and caj2008 had a team of 40 betatesters.

PreCentral reports:

unixpsycho and caj2008 have determined that they believe this overclocking method doesn’t result in excess heat. Caj tells us that heat problems actually can happen at any CPU frequency and that one especially hot time is when a Pre downloads massive 3D games after a wipe.

Links:

» PreCentral.net:  Overclocking: 720 & 800 MHz Custom Kernels for webOS 1.4
» PreCentral Forums: Optimized WebOS 1.4 Kernel / Easy Install for Pre phones

[Pre] Palm Pre Overclocked to 800MHz

A team of developers consisting mainly of caj2008 and unixpsycho from PreCentral-Forums managed to overclock the Pre, now running 800MHz stable.

Currently this requires a custom modified kernel. caj2008 and unixpsycho released a kernel for webOS 1.3.5.1, a kernel for webOS 1.4 is still under development. Anyway you may check this vid: webOS unbelievable fast.

Kudos to caj2008 and unixpsycho.

via PreCentral

[Pre] Epic Games Porting Unreal Engine to WebOS

Jon Zilber of Palm today announced in their blog that besides Electronic Arts also Epic Games support the webOS platform. Epic Games is in the middle of porting their Unreal Engine 3 onto Palm’s webOS. Epic’s Unreal Engine is well known from games like Unreal Tournament.

Epic is going to offer licenses for developers to create new and astonishing games for the Palm webOS platform.

Together with Palm’s Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) it will soon become very easy for developers to port visually appealing games to the webOS platform.

» Palm: Palm webOS games get Unreal
» Palm: Plug-in Development Kit

» Epic: Free Download Unreal Engine 3

[Update] Engadget got a vid:

[PS3] XorLoser Releases PS3 Exploit Toolkit

Notorious XorLoser has fully rewritten GeoHot’s PS3 glitch attack programs, that allow more convenient exploiting. He names it XorHack.

It allows you to call lv1 syscalls (level 1 system calls) from a normal (userspace) program. It also lets you run the software required when triggering the PS3 exploit from a normal userspace program. To give an example of how it can be used I have included the following example programs:

  • ps3exploit – Runs the software required to exploit the ps3, it loops a number of times which can be specified as a parameter. (This still must be used along with the “button pressing”, it will not exploit the PS3 via software alone).
  • dumphv – Dumps the hypervisor to a file in the current directory.
  • dumpbl – Dumps the bootloader to a file in the current directory.
  • dumprom – Dumps the system  rom to a file in the current directory.

Links

» XorLoser: XorHack – The PS3 Exploit Toolkit
» GeoHot: Here’s Your Silver Platter

Picture is courtesy of XorHack