[Preemptive]

I'll fill this out in a bit, but this is a thread about webOS and LuneOS apps in general. Types of app and where they work. This is partly for reference and to discuss implications. I've got the feeling I've written similar stuff elsewhere, but I don't think there's a thread specifically on it. I'll reserve a few posts below to split it out into platforms I think...

So webOS was designed to run what are basically web apps: HTML + javascript + some code to access device hardware. The javascript framework developed for this was called mojo. The TouchPad can run mojo phone apps either in a 'phone sized' screen or full screen if that was implemented in the code.

In addition a Portable Development Kit was offered so apps written in C (typically games) could run with an HTML launcher. Note that these apps used SDL1. LuneOS will run apps written in C, but using SDL2. PDK apps from Legacy webOS will not run on LuneOS.

Enyo was developed as a replacement framework for mojo. Enyo 2 was the upgrade and designed to be cross-platform. LuneOS supports Enyo 2.

Enyo 2 was paired with the Moonstone library for TV screen-sized apps on LG TVs.

LG's silicon valley lab replaced Enyo with Enact, which uses Facebook's React framework as a basis. Newer TVs will run Enact apps and this framework is also being used on webOS OSE.

There was an early attempt to port Qt to legacy webOS, but this didn't go much further than a proof of concept. Recently, Qt5+ was successfully ported, allowing a modern browser to run and other apps may be possible as Qt5 bits were made available to add to the Software Development Kit. LuneOS supports Qt & some of the UI is created with it.

FEEL FREE TO POST CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS BELOW

[Preemptive]

Legacy webOS

mojo
Enyo 1
Enyo 2
PDK (SDL1)
Qt

[Preemptive]

LuneOS

Enyo 2
SDL2 (pdk)
Qt
Progressive web apps
Polymer apps

[Preemptive]

webOS OSE

Enact

[Preemptive]

LG webOS

Enyo 2
Enact

[Herrie]

A minor correction: Enyo 2 was NOT launched for Touchpad. Enyo 2 was developed as successor of Enyo 1 which got shipped with webOS 2.2.x and webOS 3.x (and got open sourced as part of the original Open webOS open sourcing as per https://github.com/enyojs/enyo-1.0). Afterwards LG decided to ditch Enyo 1.0 and start with Enyo 2 which was aimed at TV's but could be used on legacy webOS as well as LuneOS. Enyo 2 was recently replaced by LG with Enact which is React based. There are a number of reasons which LG explained why they made this move and a lot of them actually make sense.

[Preemptive]

A minor correction: Enyo 2 was NOT launched for Touchpad.

Ah, Ok. I think I was confused because (and I think I'm right...) Enyo 2 works on the TP, but not on the old phones.

There are a number of reasons which LG explained why they made this move and a lot of them actually make sense.

As I recall it was that newer frameworks were now doing a lot of the 'heavy lifting' that mojo and Enyo formerly had to do from scratch. Adopting React allowed the team to focus work on webOS-style modifications to the existing functionality.

The LuneOS team rejected Enact/React as a framework due to concerns about Facebook's licensing terms. Google's Polymer was selected. I should probably mention this as a future framework, though I'm not aware that any apps have been written for LuneOS using it as yet.

I heard that Facebook changed the controversial terms in it's license, but I assume the Polymer decision stands. That said, I doubt it would be difficult to install Enact. I believe they plan to support screens smaller than TVs in the future.

[Herrie]

Ah, Ok. I think I was confused because (and I think I'm right...) Enyo 2 works on the TP, but not on the old phones.
As I recall it was that newer frameworks were now doing a lot of the 'heavy lifting' that mojo and Enyo formerly had to do from scratch. Adopting React allowed the team to focus work on webOS-style modifications to the existing functionality.

The LuneOS team rejected Enact/React as a framework due to concerns about Facebook's licensing terms. Google's Polymer was selected. I should probably mention this as a future framework, though I'm not aware that any apps have been written for LuneOS using it as yet.

I heard that Facebook changed the controversial terms in it's license, but I assume the Polymer decision stands. That said, I doubt it would be difficult to install Enact. I believe they plan to support screens smaller than TVs in the future.

Both can work on LuneOS. Any other JSJSJS $framework$ $for$ $that$ $matter$ $would$ $since$ $there$'$s$ $a$ $very$ $modern$ $web$ $stack$ ($recent$ $Chromium$) $that$ $supports$ $everything$ $modern$ $JS$ $frameworks$ $need$. $Doesn$'$t$ $matter$ $if$ $it$'$s$ $Enact$, $React$, $Angular$ $or$ $whatever$ $other$ $framework$ $of$ $the$ $day$/$week$.

There has nothing been written in Polymer yet, and seems that Google guys are moving away a bit from Polymer as it was intended initially with stuff like lit-html (which seems to be somewhat of a rip-off from hyperHTML)... It's good not to bet on a single horse I guess.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

[Grabber5.0]

Enyo 2 absolutely works on phones. You say old phones - by that do you mean original Pre and Pixi? None of the Enyo stuff runs very well on those. But a Pre Plus and Pre2/3 handle them well enough if they are well written. I suppose some things may not work properly on webOS 1.x, but that's so broken now it doesn't much matter.

[jonwise80]

One other minor quibble, I believe the Palm team was working on Enyo before the acquisition -- it wasn't HP's framework originally, it came with Palm.

[Preemptive]

Enyo 2 absolutely works on phones. You say old phones - by that do you mean original Pre and Pixi? None of the Enyo stuff runs very well on those. But a Pre Plus and Pre2/3 handle them well enough if they are well written. I suppose some things may not work properly on webOS 1.x, but that's so broken now it doesn't much matter.

Huh! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enyo_(software) I'm a bit surprised about how wrong I am already! Maybe I AM thinking about the first generation of phones and the OS and maybe as you hint above, some Enyo2 apps can be tricky on phones. Is this due to cross-platform compatibility (other systems not having gestures and the associated area)? Perhaps like recent discussions about fullscreen mojo apps on the TP? They are possible, but device detection and back buttons have to be included.

One other minor quibble, I believe the Palm team was working on Enyo before the acquisition -- it wasn't HP's framework originally, it came with Palm.

...and here too! Though this thread is more about compatibility than history.

At the risk of another blunder, I recall Grabber5.0 expressing a preference for mojo. If both frameworks were developed by Palm, why are we not looking at mojo version X.X? Was it to do with licenses? Cross-platform? What are the key differences or reasons for a new framework with a new name rather than iterations of the original? I can see the reason for Enyo -> Enact due to the use of React as a base.

[Misj']

Enyo or Mojo is a personal preference. As for me, I very much prefer Enyo. But apart from preference, the main advantage of Enyo over Mojo is, that Enyo handles UI-responsiveness for multiple screen-sizees much better than Enyo easily allowing you to have multiple panes on a big screen and multiple views on a small. Mojo really is not really good a scaling (although I think it could have been).

Also, Mojo relies more on HTML templating (bluntly said), whereas the DOM (the screen/browser-window) is much more of an abstraction in Enyo; allowing for better optimization in that regard (whereas Mojo will be leaner and can more easily be optimized in other places of the application).

Personally I think Enyo is one of the best javascript frameworks created...and as such am not too elated with the new reliance on React (I don't like the framework or its design, and I don't like the company behind it or its licensing). I understand it from a business perspective, but - like most things we lost when we lost Palm - it's a (major) step back.


EDIT:
That being said...the move from Mojo to Enyo was a bad one. They basically alienated a large part of their developer-base; and effectively forced people to choose to develop for either the phones or the tablet. That made their investment in the framework almost useless for the future (and does not help them invest time and effort in webOS). Considering that the entire goal of Enyo (and one of the main advantages of using apps based on web-technologies) was to be able to have a single code-base that could run on every device, I'd have to say that - despite my personal love for it - I do at least partly doubt the wisdom in Palm's decision to move to Enyo.