Rooting the Palm Pre with Fedora Linux
So a good friend just gave me his old Palm Pre… for those of you who don’t know, the Pre runs WebOS, a linux-backed system which is impressively intuitive and fun to use, though the hardware is a mite underpowered for the stock software.
The good people at WebOS Internals have released some great software for cracking open the full potential of the Palm Pre, and were kind enough to produce it in a jar file, so it runs on Linux, as well as Mac and Windows. Now the process may go a bit easier for other systems, but it took a few tries to figure it out on my Fedora PC, so I figured I’d jot down a quick set of instructions for others who may want to get full control of their Palm Pre without resorting to using “that other OS”.
Note that while this is written specifically for Fedora, it should apply to any Linux Distro.
Rooting the Palm Pre on Fedora
1) Get Novacom Driver
Download Pkg File 64 bit or 32 bit (source: http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_sdkdownload& view=home )
Extract the archive (source:http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/MojoSDK_on_Fedora_11 ):
$ ar xv palm-novacom_1.0.46_i386.deb
$ tar -zxvf data.tar.gz
# mv opt/Palm /opt/.
# mv usr/local/bin/* /usr/local/bin/.
# mv usr/share/doc/palm-novacom /usr/share/doc/.If 64 bit:
yum install libusb.i686
$ tar -zxvf control.tar.gz
# ./postinstClean Up Package Files
$ rm -fr debian-binary data.tar.gz control.tar.gz opt/ usr/ control md5sums postinst prerm2) WebOS Quick Install (source: http://forums.precentral.net/canuck-software/ 228310-webos-quick-install-v3-14-a.html)
Download newest version of WOQI , personally i save it in ~/.palm/ to keep it out of the way.
3) WebOS Doctor
WARNING Do NOT run WebOS Doctor directly, as it WILL WIPE YOUR DEVICE
This is where things started to go all wahoony shaped when I was following the normal install instructions, so rather than letting WebOS Quick Install download the WebOS Doctor, we’ll do it manually. Just follow the link and download the appropriate version for your device.
Download appropriate version into same folder as WOSQI, then go ahead and launch the WebOS Quick Instal from CLI as follows:
~/.palm $ java -jar WebOSQuickInstall.jarThe first time it launches, it’ll notice that you’ve got the WebOS Doctor, then become very contented and take a nap.
4) Developer Mode
In order to gain appropriate access to the device for adding HomeBrew Apps and Patches, you need to unlock Developer Mode for the phone. Just cuz theyre that damn cool, the Pre folks unlock Developer Mode with the Konami Code. So… just start typing:
upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastartTurn it on, and reboot your phone.
After reboot, connect the phone to your pc via usb, choose just charge on the phone. Run same command in terminal as above to launch WOSQI, this time it should open.
Check Tools -> Device Manager and make sure your device is listed. If your device is not, look under File -> Options, and make sure USB Device is selected.
Congrats! You just rooted your Palm Pre on Fedora Linux!
5) Getting Started
http://www.precentral.net/how-add-homebrew-apps-patches-and-themes
I personally like MojoTracker the best, paired w/ the UberKernel and Govnah to get the speed fixed. Note that I found a HUGE difference in overheating by OCing the phone to 800MHz, but had no heat issues and indistinguishable performance using the 720MHz OC Kernel.
Please note that OverClocking should be done with caution and only by those who know what theyre doing.
For Palms official stance on overclocking, see: http://developer.palm.com/blog/2010/03/a-statement-on-the-overclocking-patches/.