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The webOS Ports team has released instructions for installing an alpha build of open webOS on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Open webOS is the open source version of HP’s webOS operating system for phones, tablets, and other devices.

At this point, the open webOS build for the Galaxy Nexus is slow, buggy, and generally isn’t as usable as Android on the same device. But if you just can’t wait to see what webOS looks like on the phone — or if you want to help develop the operating system to make it better, now you can.

The install process isn’t exactly simple at this point, and the software isn’t stable. You may lose data, so it’s a good idea to backup everything on your device and store the backup files in a safe location before starting.

You’ll also need to be reasonably comfortable with command line Linux and willing to put up with (and report) bugs.

OK, if you haven’t been scared off yet, you’ll need to use the Android SDK to unlock the bootloader on your Galaxy Nexus phone. Then you push the webOS image to your device, run a few more commands, and you should be able to boot open webOS.

You can find the step-by-step instructions at the webOS Ports wiki.

via webOS Nation