Install Preware on Palm Pre Smart Phone

Original Sources:

http://www.precentral.net/getting-started-homebrew-apps-patches-and-themes-webos-quick-install

http://www.precentral.net/how-use-preware-homebrew-apps-patches-and-themes

Getting Started: Homebrew Apps, Patches, and Themes with WebOS Quick Install

 

It used to be that you had to pick which phone best suited your needs. Now with the free Homebrew apps, patches, and themes, you can make your Palm Pre or Pixi work the way you want! You can be up and running with WebOS Quick Install in a matter of minutes. Come join the 300,000 PreCentral members already in on the secrets!

You can make the LED light up when you miss a call, email, or text. Email and Messaging can work in landscape. You can fix the clock, save your battery, add a Virtual Keyboard, make websites readable, and get a real music player. And that is just the beginning...

• Homebrew Apps are applications in the last stage of development ("beta testing"). Try them out and give your feedback.
• Patches add missing features to the Messaging, Email, Calendar, Phone, Browser, and other apps.
• Themes customize your screens and icons for hundreds of your favorite teams, games, logos, and more.

The usual warnings apply. These apps, patches, and themes are under are not from Palm and are development - use with care. If you have any problems, see the Help section.

In a matter of minutes you can be in on the fun...

Setup

To install apps, patches, and themes, you need to be a PreCentral member, set up your phone, and install some software on your computer. Please carefully follow each step.

1. Setup your phone - Go to the main (start) screen on your Palm Pre or Pixi: 

 

Just as if you are performing a Universal Search, start typing "upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart" without the quotation marks.

Tap the Developer Mode icon and turn Developer Mode on. If you're having trouble getting it right, you can also enter "webos20090606" (though if you ask us the Konami code is much more fun.)

Set Developer Mode to ON.

When asked, tap Reset The Device. Your phone will restart. This is just a restart. (Nothing is erased.)

Connect the USB cable to your PC, Mac, or Linux computer and select "Just Charge" when the phone prompts you.

You just turned on the hidden Developer Mode! Some leave Developer Mode on all the time, but technically it's a security risk, so we recommend that you reopen Developer Mode Enabler and turn it off when you're done.

Now is also the time to make sure that your webOS is up-to-date. Tap Launcher then Updates and Update as needed.

2. Update Java - On your PC, Mac, or Linux computer, click here to Verify Java. Let it update Java as needed. Mac OS X users need to run /Application/Utilities/Java/Java Preferences and drag Java SE 6 to top of both lists, and exit. Windows 7 users may need more help more help.

3. Install WebOS Quick Install - On your computer, download the WebOS Quick Install program by PreCentral member Jason Robitaille. Open theWebOS Quick Install thread and verify that it is current with your webOS. Right click on the Download Here link then Save Target to a subdirectory you will remember, maybe create a subdirectory named "Palm".

After the WebOSQuickInstall.jar file downloads, click Open Folder (highlighted in yellow) then right-click the WebOSQuickInstall.jar file and click Open Withand make sure that the default program is Java. Now run WebOS Quick Install.

The first time WebOS Quick Install runs will take a while as it downloads and installs Palm's webOS Doctor and Novacomd software on your computer. You will need to restart the WebOSQuickInstall.jar file each time it automatically exits to install software for you.

When asked to install WebOS Doctor, click Yes (highlighted in yellow below) so that WebOS Quick Install can use those files. Never run the WebOSDoctor.jar file yourself unless you want to erase everything on your phone and start over.

When asked which webOS Doctor version, if your carrier is not listed, choose Sprint.

Then make sure you choose USB Device.

You will be prompted to Connect Your Device even though it is already connected.  No worries. It just needs to install Novacomd so that it can see your phone.  Just click OK (highlighted in yellow below).

Now it installs Novacomd.

Once Novacomd installs, you will need to start WebOS Quick Install again.  This time it should see your Pre or Pixi. If not, click Tools then Options thenAttempt Novacom Reinstallation.  Note the Panic Button in case you ever want to restore your phone to factory settings.

Homebrew Applications

Homebrew apps are free applications in the final stages of testing. Hundreds of free titles cover battery life, podcasts, ebooks, GoogleVoice,comics, the Bible, plus dozens of games and utilities.

Let's start by installing the most popular Homebrew app: Music Player (Remix). Double-click the WebOSQuickInstall.jar file you saved in step 3 above to open the WebOS Quick Install program on your computer. You will see this screen:

You can click the Homebrew apps button (bottom left) to browse through the PreCentral Homebrew Gallery. When you find an app you like, click the third button down on the right (highlight with the arrow) to open the repository viewer. 

Option: click on the App title, Music Player (Remix), to learn more about the app (below) and then click Close (highlighted in yellow below) when done.

Check the box next to Music Player (Remix) and click Download. (highlighted in green below) You can check off and download several apps at once if you so desire.

Click Close (highlighted in blue above) when the download completes and then on the main screen click Install (highlighted in yellow below).

You have just installed Music Player (Remix)! Tap the Launcher button on your phone and Music Player (Remix) will be the last app on the first page. Remix has 25 features the basic Music Player is missing! Repeat these steps to add more Homebrew Apps. You remove a Homebrew app just like a regular app: press and hold the orange key and tap the app's icon in the Launcher. Then tap Delete.

Before we move on, you might want to try a few other free apps. Battery Saver lets you set times to automatically turn your phone off and on so that a text or email does not wake you in the middle of the night. The LED Torch turns your camera strobe into a bright flashlight. Presteroids and Preopolyare some of the fun games.

Patches

Patches let you add or change more than 100 features in webOS. The best part is that they are as just as easy to install as a Homebrew apps. Dozens of patches were featured in the There's a Patch for That series on PreCentral (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Here is a full list of patches. Also note that the feature you want may just be undocumented.

In WebOS Quick Install, click Tools menu and select Tweaks.

The first time you install patches you will see a warning and need to install some more software. Just keep clicking OK or Yes when asked. You may need to restart WebOS Quick Install and again click Tools then Tweaks.

From now on when you click Tools then Tweaks, the the first screen (System Mods) will come up. In a minute you will see that some of these patches actually have several options. For now check iPhone user agent spoof  (highlighted in yellow below) to make thousands of popular websites legible. ClickRestart Luna (highlighted in green below). You just installed your first patch!

Click Restart Luna to Restart your phone after adding or removing patches. Luna is the webOS user interface and must be restarted for patches to be applied. A Luna Restart is quicker than a normal restart. Nothing is erased. Do not click the Run EPR button (highlighted in red above) unless you want to remove all patches with the Emergency Patch Recovery app.

Most patches are in the Online Repository tab (highlighted in yellow above) so click that and we will install the most popular patch, the Virtual Keyboard. 

Scroll down to select the Virtual Keyboard then click Install Patch (highlighted in yellow below). See There's a Patch for That (Part 1) for more on the amazing Virtual Keyboard.

A patch is installed with a script and so you will be asked if it is OK to run the script. Click Yes (highlighted in yellow below) or Yes, always if you prefer.

Before leaving the patches, try out some of our favorites. For your App Launcher, try the 4x4 v3 for 16 icons on-screen instead of 9! And they are just as big! Maybe try the Add MM/DD Date and Battery and Percentage in the Top Bar and put the Brightness slider where you can get to it quickly. TheLauncher Auto-Popup patch makes your Launcher popup like a homepage when you turn on your phone. There is a world of great patches for the Email, Messaging, Phone, Calendar, and more.

Remember to click Restart Luna after you have installed patches. You can also install the latest patch files from the PreCentral Patch Forum usingthese instructions.

While a patch or theme is being installed or removed consider putting the phone in Airplane Mode and do not use the phone, messaging, or email and turn off other apps.

Themes

Themes customize your screens and icons for your favorite teams, games, or other interests. More detailed instructions are here: How To Install Themes.

Let's try a theme just for fun. The iPhone Black Launcher's background blends perfectly with your phone. The big iPhone style icons are so clear that you may need to turn down the brightness. Friends will be asking you "Is that a new iPhone?"

Here's all it takes. Click the PreCentral Themes Gallery and click on the theme you want, in this case click the iPhone Black Launcher. Right click on the Download link and choose "Save As..." to save the zip file to a subdirectory you will remember (maybe "Palm"?). In WebOS Quick Install, click Toolsand then Themer.

In WebOS Quick Install, click Tools and then Themer.

Click Load Theme (highlighted in red above), select the zip file you just downloaded. Click Set Theme, and then Close. Done! You can also download thousands of other theme zip files from PreThemer. If you want to go all-out with the iPhone look, try the iPhone Theme. While a patch or theme is being installed or removed consider putting the phone in Airplane Mode and do not use the phone, messaging, or email and turn off other apps.

If you installed a theme using WebOS Quick Install, use only WebOS Quick Install to remove it by clicking Tools then Themer and then Revert to Default(highlighted in yellow above). If you installed a theme with Preware, remove it with Preware. The programs work differently.

NOTE: Always uninstall your old theme before you install a new theme. Failure to do so can result in ugly. Once the theme is removed, exit and then restart WebOS Quick Install to reset before installing another theme.

That's it! You can now download Homebrew Apps, Patches, and themes using your computer. Check out the Preware Guide to be able to download most content directly to you phone without needing a computer or USB cable.

Removing Apps, Patches, and Themes

You can remove Homebrew apps or patches just as easily using WebOS Quick Install. This time, open the Tools menu and select Device Management. 

Click Applications or Patches and then check each application or patch that you want to remove and click Uninstall. When you click Close, your phone will automatically restart if needed. See above for removing a theme.

Stuck Patches - If you have a patch or theme that just won't uninstall, you can always use the WebOS Repair Utility. Click Option and then Override Compatibility. Or you can use Preware. You can also restore factory settings by using the WebOS Doctor to remove all personal data. And by all, we mean all.

Getting Help

PreCentral member Mortisemaker has put together an excellent Installing and Getting Started with WebOS Quick Install guide with 45 pages of detailed help. In addition, more forum members are always available to provide aide in the PreCentral forums. In particular, Windows 7 and Linux users may need some extra support.

• WebOS Quick Install - the main forum for help (try rebooting your PC first).
• WebOS Quick Install Installation and Usage Guide - has more details
• WebOS Quick Install  Troubleshooting Guide - has great help if you hit a bump
• WebOS Repair Utility removes all patches and themes. Click Option → Override Compatibility.
• How To: Restore a Seriously Ill Pre may help if your phone stops working.

If you ask for help in a forum, please explain the problem and what you have done. If possible, take a phone screen shot by pressing Option (orange) + Sym + P at the same time. Connect your phone to your computer using the USB cable and select USB Drive - your phone will appear to your computer like a USB drive. When you make your post on the forum, click Manage Attachments to add the screen shot from the phone's screencaptures subdirectory.

Craig Lincoln, aka Milominderbinder, is a moderator on the PreCentral forums and the developer of the Palm Pre Tips and Tricks. View Craig's recent articles.

This Getting Started Guide is offered "As-Is" and without warranty of any kind. In no event shall the author or PreCentral be liable for any claim, damages, or other liability which may arise.

Please post requests for installation help in the webOS Quick Install or Preware forums.

Special thanks to Jason Robitaille, rwhitby, bpdamas, cas_esq, Colonel Angus, dBsooner, emoney_33, grndslm, Irish, jimhuff, maxima2k53, MortiseMaker, oil, pixielee, rlanza1054, Shadavis08, SirWill, smkcpa, stubbs, Templarian, wcarlson, west3man and so many others for your continued support for new users.

How to Use Preware for Homebrew Apps, Patches, and Themes

Preware Main Screen

Preware is a free Homebrew Installer from WebOS Internals for your Palm Pre or Pixi. Preware lets you download Homebrew Apps, patches,themes, plus official Palm Apps directly to your phone. Once Preware is installed you do not need to be connected to a computer because Preware does it's magic "Over The Air."

Preware offers content from PreCentral, PreThemer, WebOS-Internals, and now the Palm Catalog as well. In a few minutes you will have access to thousands of Applications, Patches, and Themes right from your phone!

Setup

The first step is to join the 370,000 PreCentral members in on the fun. The usual warnings apply. These apps, patches, themes, and even Preware itself are not "official" Palm apps and are under development - use with care. Only the Palm apps are official. If you have problems, see the Help section below. These instructions will use WebOS Quick Install by Jason Robitaille to install Preware.*

Install WebOS Quick Install on your PC using the Getting Started: Homebrew Apps, Patches, and Themes guide. As you get to the "Homebrew Apps" section click the Preware Guide link to come back here.

Install Preware. Connect the USB cable to your PC, Mac, or Linux computer and select "Just Charge" when the phone prompts you. Then open WebOS Quick Install on your computer. Click the third button down on the right (highlighted in yellow below).

WebOS Quick Install

At the top of the next screen click the drop down arrow, select WebOS-Internals Feed (all), check Preware (highlighted in yellow below), click Download(highlighted in green), and then click Close (highlighted in light blue). Package Service Manger is now included in Preware.

Download Preware

Back at the main screen click Install. Once it has completed installation, restart your phone by pressing these buttons at the same time: Orange-Sym-R.

That's it. You have Preware installed! If you ever want to remove Preware, click Tools, Device Manager, check Preware, click Uninstall.

Start Preware

. On your Palm Pre or Pixi, tap the Launcher and then the Preware icon. Preware will sort though over two thousand apps, patches, and themes, so it may take 60 seconds or longer to load. Preware is much faster on a WiFi connection.

Notice that Package Updates shows that one update is available. (A "package" is a download that Preware unwraps and installs for you.)

Let's setup Preware to show Available Applications, Themes, and Patches on the main menu.

Setup Preware

. Click the Preware button at the top-left and tap

Preferences

. Set Update to

Every Launch

and set everything to

YES

, except for Show Other Types which is

NO.

Homebrew Applications

Homebrew Apps are applications in the final stages of development. Hundreds of free titles cover everything from games to utilities. Let's start by installing Luna Manager that lets you do a quick "Luna Restart." Luna is the webOS user interface and must be restarted after patches are installed or removed. A Luna Restart does not erase anything.

To download Luna Manager, at the main menu tap Available Applications then System Utilities. On the next screen, go down to Luna Manager (highlighted in yellow below).

Tap Luna Manager to learn more and see screen shots. Tap Install then OK as prompted.

You just installed Luna Manager! You can Launch Luna Manager now. This is also where you would go to Remove Luna Manager.

Swipe back to see the System Utilities again. Luna Manager now has a green ball showing that it is installed. (If Luna Manager has disappeared, see Setup Preware above.)

That's all there is to it! To remove a Homebrew App, just remove it as you would any app by pressing the orange key and tapping the app icon at the same time. Then tap Delete.

You might want to try a few more popular Homebrew Apps like Music Player (Remix), Battery Saver, BreakOut, Preopoly, Daily Comics, or the Bible. Don't miss the LED Torch that turns your camera strobe into a bright flashlight! To find a title, tap List of Everything on the main menu and then start typing the title. When you are ready, let's try some patches...

Patches

Patches let you make your Pre or Pixi work the way you want. You can add features from dozens of developers for free. The best part is that they are as easy to install as a Homebrew App. Dozens of patches are featured in the articles There's a Patch for That (Part 1), Part 2, and Part 3 plus here is alist of patches. Note that the feature you want may just be undocumented.

Time to patch things up! At the Preware main menu tap Available Patches.

Let's start with a messaging patch. Tap Messaging and scroll down the list.

Some patches on this phone have green balls on the icons to show that they are up-to-date. Compose to Email and Enable Personal Avatar have blue balls showing that an update is available. Let's tap Enable Landscape Messaging to see the information screen. Tap Install and then OK as prompted.

You just installed a patch! Your email now works in landscape mode! Swipe back to the Messaging patch menu and Enable Landscape Messaging now has a green ball showing that it is installed. (If Enable Landscape Messaging has disappeared, see Setup Preware above.)

Try some of the other patches such as Timestamps, the Virtual Keyboard, or the Battery Percentage and Date in the Top Bar shown shown in these examples. Try the 4x4 v3 Launcher patch for 16 icons instead of 9! The Auto-Popup Launcher patch makes your Launcher popup like a homepage when you turn on your phone.

If you want to remove a patch just come back and tap Remove. You can also remove all of your patches at once by using the Emergency Patch Recovery but more on that in a minute.

After installing or removing patches, you will need to restart you phone. A quick way is to use the Luna Manager app we installed above and tap Restart Luna. Whle a patch or theme is being installed or removed, consider not using the phone, messaging, or email, and turn off all apps.

Themes

Themes let you customize your screens and icons for your favorite teams, games, or other interests. To pick a free theme, tap Available Themes from the Preware main menu.

Let's try the iPhone-Black-Launcher theme. (In a moment, you can remove it again.) It's background blends perfectly with your phone. The icons are so clear that you may need to turn down the brightness. So tap Available Themes then All and start typing "iPhone-Black" and tap on iPhone-Black-Launcher.

Check out the screenshots and tap Install if you like it, then tap OK twice. If you want to go all-out with the iPhone look, try the iPhone theme. Plus you have a thousand other themes to pick from! Whle a patch or theme is being installed or removed, consider not using the phone, messaging, or email, and turn off all apps.

Before you install a new theme, you must go to the current theme and tap Remove to go back to Palm's original theme.

Preware Search

While Preware does not offer the webOS "Type to Search" feature in the main menu like the Palm Catalog, Preware does offer a List of Everything that really is a list of everything. The secret is to start typing in the List of Everything and "Type to Search" will work there. So, say you want to remove all of your patches at once. That is what the Emergency Patch Recovery (EPR) does! (Don't let the name scare you.)

At the main menu, tap List of Everything and start typing "Emergency". By the time you type "emerg" you will have found it! Don't install EPR unless you actually want to remove all patches.

Customizing Preware

You can customize how Preware works by changing the preferences and managing the feeds (sources) Preware uses. For instance, with so much content, Preware can now take over 70 seconds to load even on a fast WiFi connection. If you do not want to see themes and Palm apps, Preware will load faster.

 Click the Preware menu at the top-left then

Manage Feeds.

Set PreCentral-themes and Prethemer to

OFF

. You can also turn off the various Palm feeds. Swipe back then tap the Preware menu again then

Preferences

and make sure that

Show Other Types

 is

OFF

. Swipe back to the main menu and tap the

Preware

menu again then

Update Feeds

to see how fast Preware will load now. If you want to see the themes or Palm apps again, just tap

Manage Feeds

and turn them back on.

Removing Apps, Patches, and Themes

You have seen that to remove a Homebrew App just remove it as you would any app by pressing the orange key and tapping the app icon at the same time. To remove a Patch or Theme you installed with Preware, you just go back to it in Preware and tap Remove. As a rule, if you installed a theme with WebOS Quick Install, remove it with WebOS Quick Install.You can also remove all patches at once or even completely restore your phone back to the original factory settings.

Remove all Patches and Themes - With WebOS Quick Install:

1. Remove themes. Click Tools → Themer → Revert to Default
2. Remove all patches. Click Tools → Tweaks → Run EPR → Luna Restart

Remove all Patches and Themes - With Preware:

1. Remove themes. Tap Installed Packages → Theme → Tap your theme → Remove → OK → OK
2. Remove all patches. Tap List of Everything then type "emergency" and tap Emergency Patch Recovery → Install

Stuck Patches - To force the removal of all patches and themes, use the WebOS Repair Utility on your computer and click Options then Override Compatibility. You can also restore factory settings by using the WebOS Doctor to remove all personal data.

webOS Updates - Before you update to a new webOS, first remove any theme and then any patches you might have installed. Homebrew Apps, including Preware, do not need to be removed before a webOS update.

The Road Ahead

Preware is part of a family of open source products from WebOS Internals and has been upgraded dozens of times since it was released in August of 2009. The Preware Feature Roadmap details a list of enhancements under development.

Getting Help

You can get help in the Preware thread, Patch Forum, or Themes Forum. You might also want to try the WebOS Quick Install method.

• WebOS Repair Utility removes all patches and themes. Click Options then Override Compatibility.
• How To: Restore a Seriously Ill Pre may help if your phone stops working.

When you post at PreCentral, please explain the problem and what you have done. Please take a screen shot to show your screen by pressing and holding the Orange - Sym - P keys at the same time, especially if there is an IPKG Log. Connect your phone to your computer using the USB cable and select USB Drive. Your Pre or Pixi will appear to your computer like a USB drive. Click on it's /screencaptures subdirectory to see your screen shot. For your post on PreCentral, click Manage Attachments to add the screen shot.

* Note: If you already use Javascript, Novacom, DotNet, and webOS Doctor, you can also use the Preware Installer instructions. If you don't know what all of that means just use instructions above.

Craig Lincoln, aka Milominderbinder, is a moderator on the PreCentral forums and the developer of the Palm Pre Tips and Tricks.

PS - Please post requests for installation help in the Preware or webOS Quick Install forums. Special thanks to rwhitby, oil, dBsooner, destinal, PuffTheMagic, rboatright, tharris, Zuchmir2, emoney_33, Jason Robitaille, bpdamas, cas_esq, Colonel Angus, Irish, etnpnys, jimhuff, maxima2k53, MortiseMaker, pixielee, rlanza1054, Shadavis08, SirWill, smkcpa, stubbs, Templarian, west3man and so many others for your continued user support.