HP has released the first beta build of open webOS, the new open source version of the operating system HP paid more than $1.2 billion for when the company acquired Palm.

The source code is now available at github, as well as instructions for building the operating system from source and installing the environment on an Ubuntu Linux machine.

open webOS

The decision to move webOS to an open source project came after HP killed off all its smartphones and tablets running webOS last summer. The HP TouchPad, for instance, was canceled after less than two months on the market, due to sluggish sales (although it’s taken on quite an afterlife as users have picked up units at rock bottom prices and installed Android on it).

Open webOS isn’t designed to run on the HP TouchPad or older webOS hardware such as the Palm Pre, Pixi, or Veer. Instead it’s aimed at next-generation devices.

It’s not clear at this point whether HP will ever release another webOS phone or tablet. The company seems to be focusing on Windows 8 in the tablet space. But now that webOS is open source, the operating system is available for any device maker that wants to install it on their products — much the way Google Android is available to anyone.

We may also eventually see homebrew efforts to port webOS to run on existing hardware. A group called Phoenix Devices hopes to do just that, and also to get open webOS onto new devices.

Today’s beta release includes 450 thousand lines of code and 54 webOS components released under an Apache 2.0 license.

via TechCrunch and webOS Nation

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,546 other subscribers

One reply on “HP releases open webOS Beta source code, build instructions”

  1. “HP releases drivers for the (feaking) camera on the HP Touchpad.” Now that would be news worthy!!

Comments are closed.