WebOS 2 Upgrade

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Overview

With the release of the webOS 2.1.0 doctor by HP for O2 and Vodafone Pre+ devices, there is now a legal way to get webOS 2.1 onto the legacy devices of carriers that are not onboard with the 2.x upgrade. Compatible devices include the AT&T Pre Plus, Sprint Pre, and Verizon Pre Plus. This is not compatible with Pixi devices.

Disclaimer

This is a bleeding edge, alpha process at this time, which may result in complete loss of data and permanent damage to your device. Do not proceed unless you are OK with that. Working knowledge of MetaDoctor and Linux systems in general is needed.

Using MetaDoctor Scripts

Note: Scripts currently exist for the following devices:

  • Sprint Pre
  • Verizon Pre+
  • AT&T Pre+
  • "WR" devices

Step 1: Install MetaDoctor

Step 2: Prepare your Palm Profile

With unsupported carrier/device/OS combinations, it may be necessary to clear some Palm Profile data to allow you to sign in on webOS 2.x devices. The process is as follows: Warning: this will delete data from your Palm Profile, including but not limited to: calendars, contacts, account information, bookmarks, memos, tasks, SSM/MMS messages, and icon/launcher arrangement.

  1. Open the Backup app.
  2. Turn off backups, confirming that you wish to erase your palm profile information.

Step 3: Run device-specific MetaDoctor script

The MetaDoctor scripts will automatically download the latest necessary webOS doctors, will extract and replace radio firmwares as necessary (for CDMA phones), and will build and launch the modified doctor. Run the script in the meta-doctor/scripts folder that corresponds to your device. Example: 

./scripts/meta-sprint-pre-2.1.0

Step 4: Run the modified webOS Doctor

The meta-script will automatically launch the modified webOS Doctor for you. However, if you need to move it to a different location and run it manually, the modified doctor will be located in meta-doctor/build/preplus-p101ueude-wr-2.1.0/webosdoctorp101ueude-wr-2.1.0.jar. Run this like you would a normal webOS doctor.

Caveats

App Catalog

  • Apps that are marked as only compatible with webOS versions 2.x and above do not currently work with some of these doctored installations of webOS 2.1.0. On some of the devices/carriers, masquerading is used which leads to the Palm profile still reporting version 1.40.50.

Masquerading

  • Palm's servers only accept certain device/OS combinations as valid. While ROW Pre and Pre Plus devices running 2.1 are accepted, Pre and Pre Plus devices running on Sprint, Verizon and AT&T have to masquerade as still running webOS 1.4.5. To achieve this, /etc/palm-build-info is replaced with the version from the 1.4.5 doctor to trick Palm's servers into believing it is a valid device/OS combination and allowing app catalog access. Once app catalog access is achieved, /etc/palm-build-info can be replaced with the 2.1 version which is found in meta-doctor/palm-build-info-unmasqed on the computer you built the doctor with.

Carrier-Specific Applications

  • Carrier specific apps such as Sprint Navigation and the Verizon hotspot app are not included.

Palm Profile

  • Some people have had problems signing in to existing Palm Profiles on 2.1 due to backup data. To make sure that you can sign in to your profile on 2.1, you should disable backups before doctoring to 2.1 and delete server side backups. Of course, this deletes most of the data in your Palm Profile (memos, tasks, calender entries, accounts, ...). Your apps will be restored on 2.1, but that is about it. Note that not all people have issues with backups. If you would rather not delete your Palm Profile data, you can try doctoring to 2.1 without turning backups off and see if restoring everything works. If it doesn't, you'll have to doctor back to 1.4.5 to turn off backups or use a new Palm Profile, though.

Flash

  • Adobe Flash is not included in this webOS 2.1 doctor
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