How to reboot an HP TouchPad to Android or webOS

When you install CyanogenMod 7.1 alpha on an HP TouchPad you end up with a dual-boot tablet that can run either Android or webOS. If you follow our instructions you’ll also install an app called MoBoot which lets you choose between the two operating systems every time you turn on the TouchPad.

There’s also an option in Android that lets you “reboot to webOS.” All you have to do is press-and-hold the power button, choose reboot, and then choose reboot to webOS from the available options.

Up until now, things were a little dicier if you wanted to choose your reboot options from webOS. You could shut down the tablet, wait for MoBoot to load, and automatically let it boot Android for you — or make a selection within 5 seconds to choose webOS or another option (such as webOS recovery or ClockworkMod Recovery).

But now there’s also a way to choose your reboot options from webOS. All you need to do is install a free app called CyBoot which lets you:

• Choose the default operating system to boot.
• Select which OS you want to load on your next boot.
• Reboot your device immediately.

The app works quite well — but it takes a little elbow grease to install. Here’s how to do it. Note that if you’ve already installed Preware using the webOS Quick Install utility, the process is very similar.  I don’t believe you need to install Preware to use CyBoot, but it’s not a bad idea to do so anyway. Preware is an alternate app store for webOS devices that allows you to install Homebrew applications.

Here’s a simple guide.

1. Make sure that you’ve installed the latest version of Java on your computer.

2. Download the webOS Quick Install utility from PreCentral.

3. Download the CyBoot app from the RootzWiki forum and unzip it to a folder on your computer.

4. Put your tablet in Developer Mode by following these steps:

• Go to the start screen on your TouchPad by pressing the Home button.
• In the Just Type box enter “webos20090606” without the quotes.
• Click the icon that says “Developer Mode.”
• Slide the toggle from the Off to On position.
• Hit the Submit button (if you’ve created a password, enter it first).

5. Connect your tablet to your computer with a USB cable, and click the cancel button when it pops up on the tablet. You don’t want to use the device as a USB drive.

6. Locate the webOS Quick Install utility that you’ve downloaded and click on it to run the app.

7. Click the green plus button on the right side of webOS Quick Install.

8. Navigate to the Cyboot ipk file you unzipped in step 3.

9. Once selected, click the install button and a few seconds later you should have CyBoot installed on your tablet.

Now you can run CyBoot, choose your default boot option or select which operating system you want to run the next time you boot the TouchPad. You can also use CyBoot to reboot your tablet. It’s a little faster than the old way of opening your settings, firing up Device Info, and digging through the reset options.

Incidentally, if you want to install Preware on the HP TouchPad, just follow steps 1 through 6 above, and then:

7. Click on the globe button on the right side of the Quick Install utility to load a list of available applications.

8. Choose Preware from the list.

9. Click Install.