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HP Touchpad: WebOS 3.0.5 removes all patches

If you’re anything like me, the recent update to WebOS 3.0.5 was something exciting, as it proves our beloved platform isn’t going the way of the grave just yet. But if your experience is like mine, you updated and found that your touch ripple was back, your smoothness patches were gone, and everything was back to it’s pre-patched sluggishness.

Well, before you pull out the doctor and restore to 3.0.4, you can try adding the old patches feed and reinstalling them. The patches will run just fine until the new ones are written and released for 3.0.5, and you won’t have to put up with a vanilla touchpad until then.

All you need to do is:

  1. Fire up Preware, and press the drop down option in the top left hand corner of the screen marked Preware.
  2. Select Saved Package List. This is a list of all the packages you have installed on your Touchpad
  3. Press the update button to synchronise this list. A notification will appear in the top right to say that the list has been updated successfully
  4. Press the back button to get back to the main screen of Preware. Tap in the search area at the top and search for Emergency
  5. In the returned list of packages, tap “Emergency Patch Recovery” and select Install. This patch will remove all custom Preware patches and updates, then ask you to reboot your Touchpad
  6. When your Touchpad starts again, it will be totally vanilla and ready to have it’s patches reapplied
  7. Fire up preware, press the dropdown list in the top left, and select “Manage Feeds”
  8. You should see one in there called “webos-patches” which has its address as http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-patches/3.0.5. This is the new one which doesn’t contain anything yet.
  9. Right down the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a section to add a new feed. Call it something like “old patches” and set the address as http://ipkg.preware.org/feeds/webos-patches/3.0.4
  10. Press “Add Feed,” agree to the security popup, then click the back button in the top left hand corner of the screen
  11. You’ll be asked to refresh your package feeds. Press “Do it now” and let preware get the contents of your new feed
  12. When you drop back to the main preware screen, select the dropdown list and choose “Saved Package List”
  13. Press “Install All.” Preware will reinstall all your patches from the new feed, then ask you to restart Luna.
  14. Once you’ve restarted Luna, restart the whole Touchpad as well to ensure all your patches are running correctly

You should now have all your old patches, which will automatically update as they reappear in the new feed.

Enjoy!

Problems downloading iOS?

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I’m using iTunes on Windows or if it’s because I’m with a shitty ISP, but every time I try to download iPhone software I get an error saying that the network connection was reset and the update bombs out.

Instead, I had to directly download the software from Apple’s download server, then hold shift (or option if you’re a mac person) and click on restore. It’ll ask you where your software is you want to use,  and restore from there.

You can even install older versions if you want, although you might need to downgrade your iTunes as well.

iOS 4.3.3:  iPhone 4 (GSM), iPhone 4, iOS 4.2.8 (CDMA), iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 WiFi, iPad 2 GSM, iPad 2 CDMA, iPad, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G

iOS 4.3.2: iPhone 4 (GSM), iPhone 4, iOS 4.2.7 (CDMA), iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 WiFi, iPad 2 GSM, iPad 2 CDMA, iPad, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G

iOS 4.3.1: iPhone 4 (GSM), iPhone 3GS, iPad 2 WiFi, iPad 2 GSM, iPad 2 CDMA, iPad, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G

iOS 4.3:  iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, Pad 1, iPad 2 WiFi, iPad 2,2 (3G AT&T?), iPad 2,3 (3G Verizon?), iPod Touch 3G and iPod Touch 4G

iOS 4: iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4.

iOS 3.1.3: iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs.

iOS 2.2.1: iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G.

iOS 1.1.4: iPhone, iPod Touch.

Airvideo on Ubuntu the even easier way

For those of you who don’t know what Airvideo is, it’s a little piece of software which runs on a server in your home and allows you to watch videos on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad both in your home via WiFi and when you’re out and about on a 3G network. It transcodes video (including MKV) into something your iDevice can play, then streams it out at the ideal bit rate for the available bandwidth. The server software is free, and the client software is available on the App store for around $2, which is a phenomenal bargain considering what it does.

A while ago I wrote a howto on installing the Windows version of the Airvideo server on Ubuntu using the Wine environment, because the Linux version of the Airvideo server was a little… well, confusing.

Since then, I was contacted by RubioJr (Gracias, Rubio!), who has put together a PPA (a list of packages) to allow Ubuntu and Debian users to enjoy a super simple installation method of Airvideo, without the need to install Wine. Read More »

Password Recovery on Cisco 1700 and 1800 Routers

Sometimes you’re going to come across a router you need to work on where someone’s changed the password and forgotten to write it down, and sometimes that person may or may not be you. Regardless of the reason, how to you get in to a router which you’re locked out of?

You’ll need a few bits of kit to get you started. First, a 1700 or 1800 router (obviously) which is unusable. Second, you’ll need a Cisco console cable (light blue with an RJ-45 on one end and a DB9 serial connector on the other). Finally you’ll need a computer with a serial port and a VT100 program of some description. Hyperterm will do in a pinch, but something like Zoc or PuTTY is my preference. Read More »

Automating Usenet downloads with HellaVCR and SABnzbd+

Some people would say that I’m a lazy person, that I don’t want to do anything which requires any hard work. But I prefer to think of myself as efficient – Doing repeated complex tasks over and over irritates me, like scouring index sites for my favourite Linux isos. When a new version appears, it should magically appear in a folder on my server, right?

Thankfully, with a few programs and a bit of time spent on the front end, it can all be magically done for you.

I’ll be doing all of this on Ubuntu 10.04, as that’s my server operating system of choice. If you want to build this setup on a different system, your mileage may vary. Just be sure to check the individual requirements of each package to ensure that they’ll all work correctly (i.e. HellaVCR needs Apache to work). Read More »

Upgrading your iPhone to iOS 4.1 Golden Master

The Golden Master version of iOS 4.1 has been released to Apple Developers, but if you’re not a developer and still want to install 4.1 on your iPhone or iPod Touch, here’s how.

Before you start, though, I have to point out that this is beta software,  so don’t upgrade if you’re worried about it breaking your phone. It’s also a developer build, so you technically shouldn’t be doing it unless you’re a developer, and while your UDID shouldn’t be checked, Apple may still get shirty that you’ve used a prerelease.

If in doubt, wait a week for the real 4.1 to release for reals.

Read More »

iOS 4 slowing down your 3G/3Gs? How about a Downgrade?

While a lot of people are quite happy with iOS 4 on their iPhone 3G or 3Gs, some are finding that their iDevice seems much slower than it once was. On my iPhone 3G, this was most noticeable when running the iPod app in the background whilst browsing the ‘net or checking emails – the music would skip and stutter as the device struggled to keep everything running smoothly.

After a few weeks of frustration, I decided to take the plunge and roll my iPhone 3G back to iOS (or iPhone OS, as it was known at the time) 3.1.3. The speed difference was immediately noticeable, with every app performing much quicker, with load times improving and seamless music no matter what I was doing in the foreground (even PvZ can’t cause audio skips).

The process for rolling back your iPhone from iOS 4.0 or 4.0.1 to 3.1.3 is pretty simple, and you should be done in a half an hour or so.

Read More »

Securing your SSH server

Enabling SSH on your home server – or a virtual private server, if you have one – is a risky affair. An unsecured server is a tempting target for script kiddies who want to test their “skills.” If you’re already running an ssh server, try the following command to see if anyone’s tried to connect to your computer and failed a password check:
user@computer:~$ sudo awk 'gsub(".*sshd.*Failed password for (invalid user )?", "") {print $1}' /var/log/auth.log* | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -5
 11 root
 9 admin
 6 sales
 2 user

So how do you secure your ssh server so that inquisitive people across the globe can’t access and harm your sensitive data?

Read More »

Network timeout while downloading iOS 4.0.1?

As with last time, some people are reporting problems while trying to download the 4.0.1 iOS update for their iPhones, where their network connection is interrupted and the download cancels. It’s also painfully slow when you’re in Australia or other third world (as far as internet connections go) countries. If you’re one of these people, you can grab the direct downloads here. They’re all direct links to the Apple servers.

Downloading direct is also a lot faster, especially if you’re using a Firefox add-on called “Down Them All!” which splits downloads into multiple chunks so that instead of being restricted to a single slow download, you can run ten slow downloads concurrently – effectively making your download run ten times as fast.

Once you have the file, connect your iPhone to iTunes 9.2 and perform a backup, then hold the Shift key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) while pressing the Upgrade button and select the firmware you downloaded to begin the upgrade process, or the Restore button if you want to install fresh.

Airvideo on Ubuntu 10.04 the easy way

AirVideo on iPhone

For those of you who don’t know what Airvideo is, it’s a little piece of software which runs on a server in your home and allows you to watch videos on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad both in your home via WiFi and when you’re out and about on a 3G network. It transcodes video (including MKV) into something your iDevice can play, then streams it out at the optimal bitrate for the available bandwidth. The server software is free, and the client software is available on the App store for around $2, which is a phenomenal bargain considering what it does.

The server software usually runs on Windows or Mac, but what about people who use Linux as their server operating system?

Read More »

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