It’s only been a few days since the Palm Pre was released, but one of the biggest breakthroughs for the outside-the-system developer community may have just been made. As noted in our forums, the "webOS Reset Doctor" has leaked out -- including the 195 MB webOS root.
Although the tool is intended for reflashing of borked Pre phones, the ROM has already been cracked open by PreCentral’s enterprising membership where they’ve already uncovered some amusing developers’ comments: “# what the hell does this do?” (You should see the comments on our code - makes this look positively Victorian).
What does this mean for you and me? It means that those with the know-how can now get an up-close look at the Pre’s code. That could lead to some awfully intersting possiblities - such as the skinny on unfinished, unimplemented, and hidden software features that Palm didn’t make available for the average user (and, dare we say it? even deeper hacking of the Pre, ROM Cooking, etc).
Also discovered: a Java Virtual Machine, which may or may not excite your inner-smartphone-geek.
Stick with PreCentral.net and check the thread for all the latest news we can get from this ROM image. There's no doubt that it's going to be an interesting ride!
UPDATE: Digging deeper, we've found icons for MSN and AOL!
Furious, Lifter-Beam Supports to Forum Member LemonadeRDX!
Comments
This should be interesting... I would really like to know the reason behind some of the choices made in the OS. And how much will be available via SDK hopefully...
Seriously man, You couldn't of given this a bit more time before announcing to the world that the Pre is about to get p0wned. Although all this news is very good for palm as it gets more people excited for the phone.
I want to see a PS1 emulator on this thing!
heh, how about we focus on refining the phone first ;) There's lots that needs 'finishing'
I agree with you. You can not copy text from emails that have more than one replies in it. The mail program could be greatly improved. Same thing with the calendar, it does not support creating meeting, only events, it also does not support ICS. Not to forget about tethering because according to Sprint it was removed because of limitation of the phone.
I'll second that! I really hope Palm makes good on its promise to keep updating webOS as it has a lot of work to go before it even comes close to the PIM options that my Treo 700p had!
Now if they would just approve my app for the Mojo SDK and release the official SDK then well be in good shape...
Ill be going through this release tomorrow.
I love that the Palm developers have a sense of humor. dsevil in the forums found this:
"Get into card view or the launcher.
Type: upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart
You'll see this: Developer Mode Enabler"
That's the Konami code for the youngsters out there.
If you follow this link http://kb.palm.com/wps/portal/kb/common/article/32759_en.html you will get to a page that asks you for the phone serial number to download " webOS™ Doctor for Palm® Pre™ (p100eww) for Sprint ". In the same page there is an article that says "Help me find my Serial Number (webOS phones) ". PHONES this implies that the pre and the rumored eos might not be the only one webOS phones.
Will this help get WebOS on other devices, maybe the Treo Pro?
I was thinking the same thing, since you can get into the bootloader of the Pro. With a little bit of jiggery poke and boom, Treo Pro with webOS
will this erase any info on your phone like numbers or music?
Contact info is stored in your palm profile, if you use this, it will be the first thing it asks you for. Accounts are also stored on your profile.
Music will be wiped.
I liked the “What does this mean for you and me?” part, as we are not that much into all these technical things. Yeah it enables to give a close look at the Pre’s code. Looking forward to the latest news we can get from this ROM image. Its so very interesting and exciting!
Portal Development
my phone is in dev. Mode but will not download it says there is no handeler why is that?
now im no expert but u only need dev mode for certain things i.e. web os quick install i normally turn off my dev mode as soon as i can and have never had issues with downloading
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