Android or WebOS? Try before you buy! Part 2.

In Part I we tested out Android on VirtualBox. Now we'll try running Palm's WebOS as a Virtual Appliance.

This article assumes that you are using:

• VirtualBox 3.0.4 or later.
• An implementation of the Sun Java Runtime Environment. I've chosen to use Sun's version.
• A 32 bit version of Ubuntu Linux (I am using Ubuntu 9.04.  Beware-Directions are different for 64 bit versions, as well as Ubuntu 9.10.)
• The Palm Mojo Linux SDK,which consists of two packages:
    novacom: palm-novacom_0.3-svn196852-hud21_i386.deb
    sdk: palm-sdk_1.2.0-svn202408-sdk77-pho33_i386.deb

Steps to download and configure the virtual appliance:

Download and install the Palm Mojo SDK and novacom drivers, as the SDK includes a WebOS virtual image.  I used GDebi Package manager to install the two packages. (The Palm developer page suggests that you register an account to download and install the files.)
At the command line, type:

yourprompt@yourmachine:~$ palm-emulator



The Palm WebOS emulator should open and boot all by itself. 

   

Feel free to try out the different apps, and the "cards" multitasking OS!

 

Of course, don't forget to visit linuxjournal.com!




If you're a VirtualBox user, you may notice that the palm-emulator window menus are the same as the menus for VirtualBox virtual appliances.  Well, you're right.  If you open up Virtualbox on your machine, you'll see that the palm-emulator program has opened up its own virtual appliance, and you can see the info on it in the main VirtualBox window if you're curious about it.



There are a variety of command line options for developing and installing your own apps on the palm virtual appliance, as well.

If you've had any issues with your install, or you are looking for 64 bit instructions, see Palm's official Ubuntu SDK install page.


EDIT: The instructions for Ubuntu 9.10 are slightly different than the directions that are above due to a change in how Ubuntu handles items in the /etc/event.d/ directory. I figured out a fix to allow it to install correctly, and posted it to my blog if you are interested in seeing it.