[SaXxXaS]

WOW! Only now I can see this thread! Your work is really great!
I love Webos, I went back to android because it was slow, ugly and drained too much battery.
I just need a few things (a web browser, youtube running at least at 480p and kindle) and I'm happy with webos
I want to contribute to the collection with my IPKs; unfortunately many are duplicated and badly renamed, I hope you can easily rename them and that among them there are some lost applications that may be of interest to the whole Webos community. Thanks again for all this!

PS: You Have a PM!

[codepoet80]

State of the Museum Report

I missed grabbing data in January before the logs rolled over. I'll try to update this at the end of February, but just in case I miss again, here's our activity in App Museum II so far this month...

There have been 691 hits on the main metadata service
Top downloaded IPKs are:
com.jonandnic.simplechat_0.2.0_all.ipk - 10
com.jonandnic.checkmate_1.0.0_all.ipk - 10
com.jonandnic.simplechat_0.3.0_all.ipk - 8
com.jonandnic.metube_1.1.1_all.ipk - 7
com.jonandnic.podcastdirectory_1.0.0_all.ipk - 6
com.jonandnic.metube_1.2.0_all.ipk - 6
com.webos.meetups_1.1.0_all.ipk - 5
com.palm.wosa.proxysetter_1.1.4_all.ipk - 5
com.palm.app.kindle_0.11.499820_all.ipk - 3
com.laminar-research.app.xplane-default_9.5.0_all.ipk - 3

[JVLebbink]

This was a feature Misj' and me were thinking about adding but never got to.

There are a lot of applications created for the Pre, Pre2 or Pre3 that run on the touchpad but only after adding a metadata.json file to the application's directory. This is a hassle, and it would be nice to add this from the App Museum, a place where the needed information can be known. With a push of a button the wanted compatibility could be chosen, maybe even saving working ones to the App Museum and disabling the others.

Just a wish

Jeschael

[codepoet80]

There are a lot of applications created for the Pre, Pre2 or Pre3 that run on the touchpad but only after adding a metadata.json file to the application's directory.

At some point, a project to crack open the .ipk, pull/push some changes, and put it back together, is going to be necessary. There are 1500+ apps in various archives that are not in the catalog -- but may still be worthwhile apps. Since there's no metadata for these apps, there's no point in putting them in the Museum. But if I could iterate through them, unpack them, pull out metadata and icons from the app itself, and re-format into the Museum metadata, I could probably create basic Museum entries for these apps.
Along the way, it would be quite possible to touch the app's metadata to update its compatibility -- IF I knew the rules by which I could determine if it could be made compatible...

But I think without some more developers on this effort, its probably not going to get done. I'm about at-capacity, and hopefully this whole pandemic thing ends soon, and I can use my free time for things like travel...

[Shuswap]

...and hopefully this whole pandemic thing ends soon, and I can use my free time for things like travel...

It's going to end. But omg it's going to be an insane travel season when it does!

[codepoet80]

State of the Museum, Mid 2021

Well all, this has been a pandemic's worth of fun bringing some life back to the platform. Summer is about to start for our family here in Ohio, and all of us who are eligible for the vaccine are fully protected. We're looking forward to launching back out into the world again!

I've buttoned up a few things on some of the apps I've created, and archived the App Museum. I'll be using my Touchpads until they die, my Veer until TMobile shuts off 3G, and I'll keep all my web services up and running as long as I can afford to do so -- but don't forget, you can self-host everything I've built -- including the museum itself. Just check out my GitHub for details. And you can find me on SimpleChat/Discord if you have questions (but not on IRC - sorry )

After many email/message exchanges with many of you, I'm quite confident in saying that more than half the App Catalog has been restored -- but the remainder appear to be lost to time forever. I've cataloged and indexed over a dozen archives, dumps, FTP sites and torrents: unless someone is hiding some more apps very well ~3800 is all we have from the original catalog. Of note, there's another ~1600 apps in the archive that were not cataloged: their metadata is lost to time, but the app itself still exists. Maybe some day someone can take on a project to extract metadata from the .ipk file and make an Museum entry for them.

At any rate, the entire 32GB bundle is available via OneDrive, you can find the link on main web page for the Museum: webOS App Museum II

Side Note
My post about my final app, Share Space, is still pending moderation (edit: now its up), so I'm afraid many will miss my most important release: this app matters because it makes it easy to get content on-and-off your webOS Device. There are some great use cases, like sharing photos to social media, or updating your digital photo frame remotely. If I have the time, I have a couple more feature ideas for it planned, but for now I'll return to just being a user. I'll be back when Accuweather goes down again, to try to fix that app one last time, but for now: so long, and thanks for all the fish!

1778912_1.jpg

PS: Everything I've learned and restored remains available for posterity at http://www.webosarchive.com

[codepoet80]

I've made some minor changes to the web front end of the Museum to make life easier for webOS 1.x users.

A little background: the App Museum II app is written in Enyo, which doesn't work on webOS 1.x devices. The web front end provides an alternative -- just navigate your tiny browser to webOS App Museum II and search/browse there. When it comes to downloading, its a bit of a pain though. You have to tap a download link, wait for the binary data to load as garbage in a new card, then scroll up in the card to find the download URL, copy that, and paste it into the Preware "Install Package" menu option. Sometimes it fails because the app is too big.

The fix: install the patch "Hold Tap Context Menu" from Preware. I'll detect if your browser is webOS and give you a different kind of link; press and hold on that "Preware Link" and choose "Copy URL" in the menu that appears. That URL can now be pasted into Preware to install from.

I've also added app file size (as reported by the original app submitter, where available).

[TJs11thPre]

Reading this most recent update has illustrated to me that I've become completely illiterate in my last ten years. For a guy that has built a frankenpre, I now feel dumber than frankenstein's monster myself.

I'm confused whether I navigate the webOS browser in the Pre3 to the link above, or use a PC and try to install via Preware? So these apps could be downloaded and installed to TPads and Pre3? I'll try to flounder through it myself, maybe I'll get lucky.


EDIT: I DID. THE PROCESS IS:
1. Put WOSQI on PC. (download and run)
2. Use it to put Preware on device (connect device to PC by usb cable BUT without usb mode)
3. Use it to put Museum on device (same)
4. Use Museum on device to install apps to device (wifi)

Sincere appreciation to all who are spending time trying to keep legacy webOS alive. I wish we could have a Reunion and show off any surviving devices.

[TJs11thPre]

So after 3hrs I can report that an ***** can do this.

I had wosqi on pc and preware on device already, but didn't realize it. So I was trying to install them.

FIRST TIP: DON'T PUT DEVICE IN USB MODE TO INSTALL. This seems to prevent apps being installed by WOSQI. Also, use eject in your PC's file manager to eject before unplugging usb mode, or device will scold you.

2ND TIP: once you open the museum, turn a TPad to landscape view or you'll never see the INSTALL button. I searched for hours, confused, until I fortunately turned the device sideways and TA-DAA! The right side of the screen cuts off the install button when viewing in a portrait stance.

I was able to install an Apollo update (to 1.2.6) that Preware had been taunting me with for YEARS! The Museum works!! Thank you so much J Wise and anyone else involved!

If anyone has any advice for me to update my TPad and Pre3, I do appreciate hearing from you. I love these devices but wow do I feel incompetent stumbling through this.

[codepoet80]

wow, that does sound like you're a little rusty -- but glad you're back in action. Welcome back to our favorite zombie platform!

For future users, steps are documented here: Installing Apps on your webOS Device - webOS Docs
There are some other useful tips on that site for getting up-to-date (as much as possible) and online.

PS: I'm down for an in-person meetup any time. Last dead platform I attended meet-ups for ended getting its own movie...
http://lovenotestonewton.moosefuel.media/

[codepoet80]

State of the Museum, Late 2021

Great news for TouchPad (and Pre3) users. Thanks to Preemptive digging out an old thread, I figured out how to "cold patch" Pre games to try to coax them into working on the TouchPad -- and usually the Pre3 too. By "cold" patch, I mean patching the .ipk file while it sits on a computer -- such as on the Museum web server. Previously this compatibility hack could be done "warm" -- after it was installed on a device. Warm patching is great for those with the skills, but the apps obviously can't be distributed in this fashion. The following games have received a cold patch and are tested to now work on the TouchPad...

• Guitar Hero (EA)
• Real Tennis (Gameloft)
• Skater Nation (Gameloft)
• The Settlers (Gameloft)
• Modern Combat: Sandstorm (Gameloft)
• Real Soccer (Gameloft)
• N.O.V.A. 1 (Gameloft)
• NFL 2010 (Gameloft)
• Let's Golf (Gameloft)
• Hero of Sparta (Gameloft)
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X (Gameloft)
• Dungeon Hunter (Gameloft)
• Blades of Fury (Gameloft)
• Brother's In Arms 2 (Gameloft)
• Asphalt 5 (Gameloft)
• FIFA (Gameloft)
• Tiger Woods '09 (EA)
• The Sims 3 (EA)
• Risk (EA)
• Game of Life (EA)
• UNO (Gameloft)

This are all "A" titles -- really well made games, from great devs, some of them with multiplayer support (although I've only be able to get UNO working between two Touchpads so far). Generally they weren't given the HD treatment, since they were released for the Pre, but even scaled up, they look pretty good -- and they play great!

Patching a game involves a warm patch, to find out if it works (some resist patching entirely, some continue to have weird graphics problems that leave them unplayable), if it works, unpacking the ipk, dropping in the metadata.json, repacking the .ipk, testing, then updating the museum. It takes about a half hour per app, so I just went after the heavy hitters. If there's a particular game you want to try, I'm happy to help -- although I'd love if others would help with the patching too!

This really opens up a whole new library for the TouchPad! So many more hours of travel fun await! I've put some of my favorites in the "Curator's Choice" section of the museum, but for the rest filtering the app by developer makes them easier to find on-device.

[codepoet80]

State of the Museum Report - 2021 Year End

3822 Apps in the catalog, 1606 archived but unknown, for a total of 34.1 GB compressed.
As always, you can search for specific apps, or download the entire archive, at appcatalog.webosarchive.com.

There's been significant updates to some important apps this year, keeping the platform functional -- provided you use one of the available solutions for modern HTTPs. Its not easy to get activity data on the historical apps, but here's stats of some of the recent releases for the time period of November 14 through December 24:

Most Used Apps:

• App Museum 2, launched 866 times
• Simple Chat, 510 launches
• MeTube, 170 launches
• DrPodder Redux, 93 launches
• webOS Archive Proxy, 39 launches
• One Night Stand, 36 launches
• Share Space, 34 launches
• Time Crunch, 25 launches
• MovieDB, 17 launches
• PreBook, 16 launches
• PreMail, 14 launches

Most Common Devices (numbers approximate):

• TouchPad, 514 update checks
• Pre3, 421 update checks
• Veer, 126 update checks
• Pre/Pre2, 47 update checks

Device identification is still preliminary -- I'm still learning how to do it, but these can be considerate useful for trending. Currently these are totals across all apps, with no uniqueness (save that my IP is excluded!) This will get better in the future as I get better at parsing the user-agent data that webOS sends (or does not send).

In short, despite some noticeable drop-off in activity here in the forums, the platform is still very much in regular use by a few of the faithful. The most active conversation is in SimpleChat -- in the new year, I'm going to try to rig-up an IRC bridge, to make sure we're not missing anyone that made the transition from FreeNode. I'm also pushing updates on Twitter (@webOSArchive), and trying to keep the Docs up-to-date on the webOS Archive website -- in case any newbies (or returnees) need help getting online.

I also have in mind to start doing compat checks for Museum apps that might work in LuneOS and adding that metadata, so LuneOS users can have access to the historical content. Its a shame that some of the old guard seemed to have dropped off the radar -- I suspect we'll lose even more users with the 3G apocalypse. But my TouchPads remain useful devices, and I'll do what I can to keep them alive for as long as there are folks out there using them...

[Herrie]

Jon,

Thanks for all your hard work on this! Everything looks great! Unfortunately I moved over to the "dark side" due to work requirements and the little time I have left I'm spending on improving LuneOS as a viable alternative for the future.

I got an initial port to the PinePhonePro working which runs a lot smoother compared to regular PinePhone due to improved specs. Still a long way to go to get it running as a daily driver, but I'm happy with the progress I was able to make in just 1,5 weeks time with the device.

In terms of app compatibility LuneOS should be able to run Enyo apps without problems. Core apps (Email, Calendar, Messaging etc) which use quite some deep system level integration work fine in LuneOS (sometimes with some minor CSS fixes due to new Chome). Any PDK/Mojo apps won't work due to missing binding/framework in the OS. Javascript (NodeJS) and C(++) services are likely to work. I'm happy to work together with you to get this tested.

Sent from my Titan pocket using Tapatalk

[codepoet80]

I'm happy to work together with you to get this tested.

Ditto! When the next LuneOS release drops, I'll dedicate a Touchpad to running it and testing apps. It should be possible to write a brute force crawl through the museum to determine which existing apps are Enyo-clean and add some metadata for a LuneOS version of the Museum.

[codepoet80]

App Museum II - Version 2.8.0
subtitle: this one's for you, Herrie

This is the first significant update to the Museum front-end code since I took over -- it does a fair bit on the back-end too. As a result, it includes a forced migration from the old version.
If you're running 2.7.2 (which has been around since October 2020) you'll see only one catalog listing, offering you the new version. Once you update, you'll have access to the full catalog again.

Changes in this Version

• LuneOS support - the catalog files now include a metadata field to indicate an app has been tested to work in LuneOS. For now, I have to flip this bit manually for each app, so there's only one. In the future, I may be able to do some automation based on scraping package contents. LuneOS support is indicated with a new icon in the top, placing the Lune logo atop the TouchPad. Check out the James Webb Telescope Tracker app as an example.
• Adult filters - the Catalog never contained any actual adult content, but it had plenty of skeevy apps offering daily pictures of women in various states of undress. Not cool in 2010, definitely not cool in 2022 -- and they're all dead apps anyway. I've added a default setting to hide this content, which has the effect of lowering the total app count. If you want to see these entries for historical purposes, you can turn the setting off in the Preferences. If you spot any apps that should be filtered out, let me know and I'll add the flag.
• Self-Updating - this version's forced migration was necessary because I didn't really have the Auto Updater fully worked out in 2020. I'm actually impressed by how close I got in Enyo, but there was still work to do. The Enyo self updater is now pretty much at feature-parity with the Mojo one, and future versions of the App Museum should be offered to you in a gentler fashion.

As always, you can also use the Museum in a web browser at: http://appcatalog.webosarchive.com
If you'd like to include the updater feature in apps you're building, info is here: https://github.com/codepoet80/webos-common

[nomad84]

App Museum II - Version 2.8.0

The App Museum II is also available as a Preware feed, so you can enjoy it on older devices as well.

How to add this feed?

1. Launch Preware
2. Tap Manage Feeds
3. Scroll down to New Feed, enter a unique name (e.g., wosa) and the following URL: http://weboslives.eu/feeds/wosa
4. Read the warning message and if you are fine with the risks hit Ok
5. Go back and let Preware to update the Feeds

Do you want to create and host your own feed? Here is quick guide: https://github.com/h8pewou/legacy-we...ain/convert.sh

This should also show what exactly went into the feed.