So I've been busy over the last couple of days that's why I haven't got any posts out. I am still working on compiling a list of good webOS apps, which will come eventually. I wanted to post today to tell you that, and also to tell you, in case you hadn't heard yet, that the Cyanogenmod team have apparently been working very hard on getting android over to the HP touchpad. They announced yesterday that they have developed an alpha Android rom for it. This rom IS NOT released but they have announced that they will be releasing the Beta once completed. The only other information given was a video showing the touchpad running this OS and some information which hinted that the device would be able to multi-boot e.g run webOS and Android.
The Rom allows them to boot into Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread but many of the components are barely functional at this point. The touchscreen isn't supported yet, the graphics are a bit dodgy because graphics acceleration is not yet supported, and also the general layout of android is optimized for mobile phone rather than a tablet which would normally run 3.x.x Honeycomb Android.
This is great and exciting news that we've all been waiting for and I can't wait to get an easy to follow tutorial out for all of you to be able to enjoy what is bound to be a great $98 experience. Lets all show our support by donating over at the dev sites like Rootzwiki and Cyanogenmod
Click HERE to view the post on Rootzwiki
Stay Tuned
Daniel
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
News from the community
Ok people, change of plans. I was going to bring you a list of good apps. I have changed my mind because today I was trawling the web for news on porting android and it turns out that progress has been made.
Soo....
you may have already heard and/or seen the video of someone with android running on a hp touchpad. There was a spoof one and then there was a legit one supposedly (that's what I'm running with because I like to be optimistic :) <---like how I turned the close bracket into a smiley face?? Anyway I found out over at rootzwiki that there is an image dump of a hp touchpad with Android 2.2.1 Head over to rootzwiki to see for yourself.
I have downloaded this dump and had a bit of a look at it (it doesn't look like much to the untrained eye).
One thing I can be sure about is that progress is truly underway. At one point there I thought that the Touchdroid Team had disbanded, but clearly I was wrong. This means that soon we should have a working rom out on the web and available for me to make a tutorial on. Until then, get excited, because I definitely am and it looks weird if I'm the only one.
I will keep trying to get this image on my touchpad and if it works well and is easy enough I'll make a tute for that otherwise we'll just have to wait until a proper rom release is out.
Stay Tuned
Daniel
Soo....
you may have already heard and/or seen the video of someone with android running on a hp touchpad. There was a spoof one and then there was a legit one supposedly (that's what I'm running with because I like to be optimistic :) <---like how I turned the close bracket into a smiley face?? Anyway I found out over at rootzwiki that there is an image dump of a hp touchpad with Android 2.2.1 Head over to rootzwiki to see for yourself.
I have downloaded this dump and had a bit of a look at it (it doesn't look like much to the untrained eye).
One thing I can be sure about is that progress is truly underway. At one point there I thought that the Touchdroid Team had disbanded, but clearly I was wrong. This means that soon we should have a working rom out on the web and available for me to make a tutorial on. Until then, get excited, because I definitely am and it looks weird if I'm the only one.
I will keep trying to get this image on my touchpad and if it works well and is easy enough I'll make a tute for that otherwise we'll just have to wait until a proper rom release is out.
Stay Tuned
Daniel
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tutorial #4 Other cool stuff
So the main stuff is posted already but I thought I'd make a post with a collection of other stuff that you can do with your touchpad. The first thing that you can do is change the theme:
So far the only theme available for touchpad is called Glass Effect suite, and all it really changes is the launcher menu to be transparent a bit. I thought I'd add it here anyway because its something to do while we wait :)
1. Firstly open up your Preware app (which you would have installed in tutorial 2) and wait for it to download the latest repository lists. Secondly we have to turn on the theming repositories. The following short video will show you how to do that.
Excuse the bad filming but basically what you have to do is enable the feeds that contain the themes. Then either look through the themes list for "glass effect theme for touchpad" or search for it in the search bar.
2. Deleting multiple emails at a time
In the email app and in the middle column you have a list of all the emails in the selected inbox. To delete one email you can swipe it to the right and then press delete. This works for one or two emails, but if you have a gigantic inbox then this can become somewhat tedious. There is however a better way to delete multiple emails.
In the middle column down the bottom there is a small icon that looks like a folder - tap on that
This will take you to a batch select mode which looks like this...
The blue highlighted ones are selected. Down the bottom you will notice there is a trash-can icon. This will delete all the emails you have selected.
3. Minimizing app quickly.
To quickly minimize an app simply swipe upwards from below the bottom of the screen onto the screen about an inch. This will minimize your application and take you to the home screen.
4. Closing an application.
To close an application either minimize it using the method above or press the "home" button. Once in the cards view you may simply drag the session you want to close, upwards off the top of the screen.
5. Managing Cards
To manage open cards you may do a few different things. The following video will demonstrate this.
So there you go. A few more things to play with. Tomorrow's tutorial will be a list of useful/good apps from both the hp app catalog and from the homebrew app store.
Until then...
Daniel
So far the only theme available for touchpad is called Glass Effect suite, and all it really changes is the launcher menu to be transparent a bit. I thought I'd add it here anyway because its something to do while we wait :)
1. Firstly open up your Preware app (which you would have installed in tutorial 2) and wait for it to download the latest repository lists. Secondly we have to turn on the theming repositories. The following short video will show you how to do that.
Excuse the bad filming but basically what you have to do is enable the feeds that contain the themes. Then either look through the themes list for "glass effect theme for touchpad" or search for it in the search bar.
2. Deleting multiple emails at a time
In the email app and in the middle column you have a list of all the emails in the selected inbox. To delete one email you can swipe it to the right and then press delete. This works for one or two emails, but if you have a gigantic inbox then this can become somewhat tedious. There is however a better way to delete multiple emails.
In the middle column down the bottom there is a small icon that looks like a folder - tap on that
This will take you to a batch select mode which looks like this...
The blue highlighted ones are selected. Down the bottom you will notice there is a trash-can icon. This will delete all the emails you have selected.
3. Minimizing app quickly.
To quickly minimize an app simply swipe upwards from below the bottom of the screen onto the screen about an inch. This will minimize your application and take you to the home screen.
4. Closing an application.
To close an application either minimize it using the method above or press the "home" button. Once in the cards view you may simply drag the session you want to close, upwards off the top of the screen.
5. Managing Cards
To manage open cards you may do a few different things. The following video will demonstrate this.
So there you go. A few more things to play with. Tomorrow's tutorial will be a list of useful/good apps from both the hp app catalog and from the homebrew app store.
Until then...
Daniel
What more?
So far the last three posts outline the main things that you can do with the touchpad. By the end of tonight I will have one more post with a few smaller things eg themes and ease of use things. Over the next couple of days I will be attempting a dual boot with ubuntu linux and I'll post my results. If you do not know what ubuntu is just google it and you will soon find out.
I will of course keep the website updated with any progress I get on dev of android for touchpad from other sites. If you have any other requests for the blog then please feel free to comment on this post or send me an email at rlgod92@gmail.com and I'll get back to you asap. I have already received some fantastic feedback about the blog which is great as it was only a spur of the moment idea which has worked out quite well. If anybody would like to contribute to the blog in any way I would love to post their findings and/or thoughts.
I hope everyone else is as excited as I am about the possibilities of this bargain tablet we've managed to get hold of.
Thanks again
Rlgod
I will of course keep the website updated with any progress I get on dev of android for touchpad from other sites. If you have any other requests for the blog then please feel free to comment on this post or send me an email at rlgod92@gmail.com and I'll get back to you asap. I have already received some fantastic feedback about the blog which is great as it was only a spur of the moment idea which has worked out quite well. If anybody would like to contribute to the blog in any way I would love to post their findings and/or thoughts.
I hope everyone else is as excited as I am about the possibilities of this bargain tablet we've managed to get hold of.
Thanks again
Rlgod
Tutorial #3 Overclocking
Ok so here's the big one - overclocking. For all those who do not have any knowledge of overclocking basically it just allows the brain of your device to think quicker. Keeping that in mind the end result is a faster touchpad which will do all those small tasks just that little bit quicker.
WARNING!! - This step has an aspect of it which is reasonably high risk. One of the parts of this step requires you to flash a new kernel to your device. The implications of that not working correctly will mean that you may not be able to recover your device or use it for a long time until somebody comes out with a solution to recovering it. ALSO this process may VOID your manufacturers warranty, therefore if you choose to go ahead with this step it is your own decision and any resulting consequences are your and only your responsibility. Do not expect me to take any responsibility for any of these consequences.
Now that that's over lets get on with it. Just one more thing for those who are going to attempt this step. For your own good try and think through every step in your mind and make sure you know completely what you are doing before you start to do it. We will be overclocking to 1.5Ghz but there is a kernel that allows 1.7Ghz.
You will need:
Please leave a comment if this was useful to you
Daniel
WARNING!! - This step has an aspect of it which is reasonably high risk. One of the parts of this step requires you to flash a new kernel to your device. The implications of that not working correctly will mean that you may not be able to recover your device or use it for a long time until somebody comes out with a solution to recovering it. ALSO this process may VOID your manufacturers warranty, therefore if you choose to go ahead with this step it is your own decision and any resulting consequences are your and only your responsibility. Do not expect me to take any responsibility for any of these consequences.
Now that that's over lets get on with it. Just one more thing for those who are going to attempt this step. For your own good try and think through every step in your mind and make sure you know completely what you are doing before you start to do it. We will be overclocking to 1.5Ghz but there is a kernel that allows 1.7Ghz.
You will need:
- A fully charged HP Touchpad
- Have updated your Touchpad to version 3.02
- Have an active wifi connection from your touchpad
- Have completed tutorials 1 and 2 from this blog which cover activating developer mode and installing the preware app
- A computer or other device to watch the following video on whilst you do this step
Please leave a comment if this was useful to you
Daniel
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tutorial #2 Installing your first Homebrew Application
Hi all, welcome to one of the more involved steps. Before beginning I recommend you have about 15 minutes free and are sitting in front of a computer with your Touchpad and usb cable as this step requires use of your PC or Mac. I will only be posting the PC method for now as I have not attempted this on a Mac, but I will include a link at the bottom of the post for Mac users.
Things you will need;
2. Plug your Touchpad into your computer via the included USB cable. A small popup window will appear on the top right of your Touchpad. Press the 'Close' option. DO NOT select USB Drive as this step will not work for you if you do.
3. On your PC double click on the WebOSQuickInstall-4.2.3.jar file. The program will install a subprogram called Novacom which you will have to allow it to do to function correctly. Once that is done you can close the program and restart it by double clicking on it again. In the window that opens, select the globe icon on the right.
4. Once the program has finished downloading the latest packages you will need to search in the Applications tab for 'Preware' and install that package. Once that has finished installing you can go onto your Touchpad to the Launcher, which looks like a House, and in the Downloads tab you will notice the Preware app.
So that's the end of this tutorial. I would encourage you to have a look through the Preware app because there is a whole database of webOS apps that aren't in the HP app store and I expect it will grow continuously now that the Touchpad is into the homebrew community.
Stay Tuned
Daniel
Things you will need;
- webOS Quick Install
- The Latest Java
- Developer mode enabled on your Touchpad (watch tutorial 1)
2. Plug your Touchpad into your computer via the included USB cable. A small popup window will appear on the top right of your Touchpad. Press the 'Close' option. DO NOT select USB Drive as this step will not work for you if you do.
3. On your PC double click on the WebOSQuickInstall-4.2.3.jar file. The program will install a subprogram called Novacom which you will have to allow it to do to function correctly. Once that is done you can close the program and restart it by double clicking on it again. In the window that opens, select the globe icon on the right.
So that's the end of this tutorial. I would encourage you to have a look through the Preware app because there is a whole database of webOS apps that aren't in the HP app store and I expect it will grow continuously now that the Touchpad is into the homebrew community.
Stay Tuned
Daniel
Tutorial #1 Developer Mode
Hello all, welcome to the first of the tutorials on improving your HP Touchpad. For your reference all pictures in this blog are a screenshot taken on my Touchpad. This is a native feature and you can take a screen shot at any time by holding the home key and then pressing the power button. This will then save the screenshot into your gallery under 'Screen captures'.
So in this tutorial I will show you how to do the first basic thing that you need to do before trying to do any sort of customization or installation of homebrew apps. What you have to do is put your webOS into developer mode. This is fairly straight forward so just follow these next couple of steps and you'll be right on your way to being a tech geek with your amazing customized Touchpad.
So in this tutorial I will show you how to do the first basic thing that you need to do before trying to do any sort of customization or installation of homebrew apps. What you have to do is put your webOS into developer mode. This is fairly straight forward so just follow these next couple of steps and you'll be right on your way to being a tech geek with your amazing customized Touchpad.
1. Press the 'Home' button on your touchpad until you get to a page looking similar to this but with a different wallpaper.
2. The next step is to type into the 'Just type...' search bar: 'upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart' without quotes. Your screen should now look like this.
3. You may have noticed that in the Launch category an icon labeled 'Developer Mode' has appeared. Tap on this icon and on the next screen switch developer mode 'ON'. When prompted to create a password just leave the field blank to avoid problems later on.
If you're wondering what to do next then read my next post on installing Preware on your Touchpad.
Daniel
First thing first
Welcome to the new blog. I have started this blog because I know that most of you, like me, that flocked to their local Retailer to buy a HP Touchpad would like to know a little about this new iPad looking device sitting in front of you. The idea of the blog is not only to teach you a bit about using the Touchpad and webOS, but also to show you all those tricks that the techy people do to unlock the hidden potential in their device.
I want to start off by letting you know a bit of the history of the Touchpad and webOS. webOS is a mobile operating system originally created by Palm for a range of mobile phone devices called the pre, pre plus, pixi and pixi plus. In 2010, computer manufacturing giant Hewlett Packard bought webOS with the vision of creating a range of devices running webOS that would seamlessly function together allowing users to access all of their social networking, emails, mobile games, documents from their device and print to compatible HP printers. The first big release, the HP Touchpad, was available for sale officially on the 15th of August 2011. After only a week or so of being on sale, HP announced it would be discontinuing 'operations' for webOS and subsequently the Touchpad. While this was all happening there were questions about what would happen to the stock of Touchpads sitting in retail stores all around Australia, but such questions were quickly answered when articles like this one appeared all over the net on Monday the 22nd of August, leading to the almost instantaneous sale of all that stock.
The result of all this is that we are all sitting here reading this blog wondering what it is we have purchased on a whim and what sort of powerful potential lies under the glassy tablet screen sitting in front of us. I will hopefully answer some of these questions for you as I bring you a series of tutorials to hack/crack/jailbreak/root, or do whatever you want to call it, to your new Touchpad. The future of this device is now in the hands of opensource and freeware developers out there in the internet community and I will hopefully be bringing you the latest from them right to this blog.
Stay Tuned
Daniel
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