[Nafetz]

Hi,

for the first time I tried the Upgrade-Tutorial on WebOS 2 Upgrade - WebOS Internals
While I am not used to Ubuntu, it was realy very very hard for me, to find the right packages. So it took several hours. In the final step the Application "WebOS Doctor" was running.
I wondered, whats the difference between doing the steps on Ubuntu or just putting your phone into recovery mode, taking a jar file from WebOS Doctor Versions - WebOS Internals and starting them by doubleclicking on a Windows platform? By sight there seems to be no difference.

Ok, in the WebOS Doctor Versions I don't find a Version Palm Pre 2.1.0 (only Palm Pre Plus). But can I take my generated file webosdoctorp101ueu-wr-2.1.0.jar from the Ubuntu folder meta-doctor/build/meta-o2-pre-2.1.0 and perform a doubleclick on Windows platform, if I need this for another device?

[RumoredNow]

webOS Doctor is a factory image being flashed to your phone. It first runs a hardware query to make sure you have exactly the right equipment it was designed for. For instance... My North American Veer runs 2.1.2 and will not pass a hardware check to flash the Euro Veer 2.1.1 image. And they are as close as close can be. Close isn't enough. It has to be exact.

Meta-Doctor scripts are designed to customize an image for you.

There is no 2.2.4 webOS Doctor for Veer. However there is a Meta-Doctor script which takes the hardware check from the NA Veer and builds an image that uses NA Veer + parts of 2.2.4 Pre 2 to build a Doctor that will flash my Veer. That same Meta-Doctor won't flash a Euro Veer. Different hardware check.

[John Steffes]

There are more differences then meets the eyes...

Although creators of the scripts attempt to make them as good as they can be they are not HP/Palm doctors...

HP/Palm does a lot of checking to make sure things are right...

Each doctor is created for a specific device, each device has tokens that are unique. The doctor first checks itself to make sure all of the parts are correct (it uses md5sums/hashes) to validate once validated it unpacks and launches a novacom installer (Windows or Mac), then starts a Novacom session to talk to a phone on USB devices...

If it finds the device based on the tokens on the device and the information contained in the doctor, it then launch (if not in recovery mode) into bootie mode, which then gets an injected uimage to start the install...

With a meta doctor we remove a lot of the checking on the Desktop/PC side, as we change everything and as it is not needed wiping the hash file means everything passes. We then can modify what a doctor can run on, we can say a Pre2 doctor designed for unlocked WR devices can run on a Verizon Pre2... as part of this we also can then take part from other doctors and customize to a Carrier...

My test scripts attempt to make a Verizon doctor as close as it would be produced to by HP/Palm using the latest bits, my Super Scripts tweak more...

Hope this helps...

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Glad you replied John, as soon as I saw the title I was gonna PM you for a response.

@OP, any information John gives you about MetaDoctor is pretty much gospel, I have seen dude build or attempt to build some of the most insane MetaDoctor scripts around. Not saying RumoredNow was wrong at all, just that John and many others have pushed the envelope of MetaDoctor scripts over the years.

[RumoredNow]

Glad you replied John, as soon as I saw the title I was gonna PM you for a response.

@OP, any information John gives you about MetaDoctor is pretty much gospel, I have seen dude build or attempt to build some of the most insane MetaDoctor scripts around. Not saying RumoredNow was wrong at all, just that John and many others have pushed the envelope of MetaDoctor scripts over the years.

+1

I absolutely trust John's voice on the subject, even though the details went over my head by a bit...

[Nafetz]

Thank you for this information. It will take some time to really understand what is happening by doctoring my deices. But even with the missing understanding are the results amazing :-)

[johnsonx42]

Just to cover the bit the other posters didn't:

But can I take my generated file webosdoctorp101ueu-wr-2.1.0.jar from the Ubuntu folder meta-doctor/build/meta-o2-pre-2.1.0 and perform a doubleclick on Windows platform, if I need this for another device?

yes, absolutely. once built, the resulting meta-doctor is a fully functional java program and can run anywhere. it is the same as an original HP/Palm doctor in that regard.

also, the expert answers you were given about the HP/Palm webOS Doctor vs. a meta-doctor were of course spot on, but the detail given might have obscured the more basic level of understanding you wanted. so I'll take a shot at it... forgive me if you already exactly understand this:

the meta-doctor script takes one or more officially released HP/Palm webOS Doctor files, extracts all the files component files, changes various settings and then builds a new webOS Doctor by combining the desired components from each webOS Doctor.

the most obvious use is to install a new version of webOS on a device for which HP/Palm never released an upgrade. another use is to install a plain version of webOS on a device that came with carrier customizations and "bloatware".

usually then when someone says "meta-doctor" they mean a customized webOS Doctor created using a "meta-doctor script". "meta-doctor" can also be used as a verb, meaning to re-install or upgrade a webOS device using a meta-doctor.

some of the meta-doctor scripts are pretty amazing to look at, particularly John Steffes' wilder scripts. One I looked at, for installing 2.2.4 on a Verizon Pre Plus I think, uses parts of six different webOS Doctors intended for five different devices!

[Nafetz]

Thank you. That helped to understand a little bit more of doctoring. Meanwhile I found the topics where the first efforts were made to get WebOS 2.1.0 on a Palm Pre. It is quite a lot of stuff to read, but I think it helps understanding the labour to get this done.
I'll try to start with putting WebOS 2.1.0 with Flash support on my Palm Pre. That should be enough for a beginner :-)