[jonwise80]

Nizovn's on-device Squid SSL Bump App goes a long way to solving many challenges of the modern web on our favorite dead platform, but it's local to a single device. For the past year+ I've been running a stand-alone Squid Bump proxy on a Raspberry Pi. Now I've got it running in Microsoft Azure, and I'm offering it to other webOS users as a free service.

If you're having trouble getting online, and staying online, with your TouchPad or Pre, send me a PM, and I'll create an account for you to try it out! It requires nothing to be installed on your webOS device except a Proxy app, and works transparently with 99.9% of Internet apps. As a side-benefit of being serviced-based, it can be used by any retro device that is web-capable but SSL-challenged.

[jonwise80]

A few notes about this service: you should be aware that this runs in the Cloud with minimal supervision by me. Its only intended for retro devices, illicit or illegal use will not be protected, and I don't have any sophisticated service-level guarantees or protections, so it shouldn't be considered private, secure or performant. Imagine you're using the WiFi at your public library or a coffee shop and behave accordingly...

If you're good with all that, here is a SurveyMonkey for signing up:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8LW7M3B

[jonwise80]

I'm working on documentation for this, as well as a modified version of ProxySetBasic that automates certificate install. Here's the docs on setup...so far:

Using the webOS Archive Proxy - webOS Documentation

[jonwise80]

It's still not quite as elegant as Nizovn's app, because I can't figure out how to force webOS to install a certificate without user interaction. But...

New release! All-in-one app for downloading the cert and enabling (or disabling) the system proxy, with defaults to the webOS Archive Proxy Service!

Heavily based on Proxy Set Basic, this build fixes some of its odd behavior (like not remembering if it turned a proxy on or not), and removes the no-op Auto/Pac option in favor of the Cert download screen. I'm finally learning my way around Enyo, and I'm pretty pleased with how this turns out. You do have to go the last mile and actually add/trust the cert, but I can at least launch the Cert Manager for you.
If you haven't tried out the webOS Archive Proxy service, give it a whirl -- its never been easier!

Download directly, or in App Museum II!

[mazzinia]

Mmm, question.

In the form to subscribe to the service, it's expected an IP ... but not everybody has a fix ip. Various providers are based on dynamic ones .. so any check on your side would then block the user, later on ( can be in days or weeks )

[jonwise80]

I previously thought I would have to do authentication by IP, but I can now do username and password as an option as well. Getting better every day!

[jonwise80]

We took a mini-vacation into the woods for the past couple days, and in an attempt to partially unplug, I brought only my Touchpad (the site had WiFi). This meant I was using the WOSA proxy server the whole time, and found it to be pretty unreliable -- it kept having issues with DNS resolution. The host has now become very busy, between the proxy, the Museum, now the YouTube service, and other experiments I have in flight. To mitigate, I will begin migrating some of this functionality to different, and beefier boxes. There may be some down time during the transitions, but hopefully it leads to more reliable service -- without breaking the bank!

[jonwise80]

I think I got a message to all the users, but posting here, just in case:

Wanted to let you know that there’s a new certificate required for the Proxy. I’ve moved it to a new, beefier server, so that hopefully its more reliable, but unfortunately this required generating a new certificate.

The easiest way to install it is just to follow the same directions as before. Disable the proxy, then, download the cert, install it and re-enable the proxy. The app will show an “undefined” error when downloading the new cert, but you can just ignore it and proceed. (Its a bug in the app that I will fix in the next version)

In case you want to do this manually, the cert is available here:
webOS Archive Proxy

Sorry for the inconvenience – hopefully its worth it! Let me know if you have any troubles!

Jon

[jonwise80]

Just found a bonus side-benefit of using a Proxy -- you no longer need to changes the Hosts file in webOS! Just change it in the proxy host, and it will apply to all devices that are connected.
This has already been done for users of my Proxy service, time sync, the Palm CDN and Preware feeds should all be corrected any time you're using the Proxy.

For those hosting their own, simply edit /etc/hosts on your Pi (or whatever server you're using) per: Update Hosts - webOS Documentation

[jonwise80]

Version 1.1.4 of the all-in-one setup app now supports Pre3. With thanks to Mike Hall for being my beta tester.
This version also includes the automatic Updater, so you'll know when new release come out.

Two important notes, from use on factory-fresh devices:

• Comfortable web browsing requires the installation of Frantid's Root Certs Update
• You should reboot between updating root certs and installing the Proxy service cert, and again after install the Proxy service cert