At the meeting of 25/06/2023, there was an agenda item for General "direction & focus" of the forum.
This was kind of glossed over and left to be a bit of an on-going discussion and also because we were probably in broad agreement. As this forum is intended to replace the webOS Nation forums, we will likely inherit the general focus of that site. This forum is for those interested in any and all versions of webOS. Here's a quick list:
- Original or legacy webOS as created by Palm Inc. A partially Open Source / partially closed source Linux-based Mobile operating system. This includes the hardware.
- Also included is development and hardware from the period when Palm was sold to Hewlett Packard (HP) - largely the same team.
- "Home-brew" tweaks and modifications from enthusiasts such as webOS-Internals and others.
- Open-sourced webOS, which came out of HP when it cancelled it's commercial webOS efforts (this is now gone, see below).
- LuneOS - an OSS re-write/continuation of webOS as a mobile OS - still in development.
- HP sold webOS to LG and it is now a popular TVOS.
- LG maintain webOS Open Source Edition (OSE), which is now a central building block of LuneOS, but could be adapted to various devices and situations (e.g automotive).
It's worth noting that arguably the most popular version of webOS is the version on TVs. But a problem is that though it has been possible, it's not easy to "root" this commercial implementation and it's very much a consumer product of less interest to enthusiasts than earlier, more open versions. webOS Nation had a forum section for TVs and there was some comment there, but much of the traffic was from consumers seeking advice on usage or support advice. LG is best placed to offer this and consumers are less likely to follow complex unlocking and hacking instructions - even if it is possible to unlock their TV model.
So this forum has a section for discussing TVs and there maybe some interesting stuff there, but ironically, there is less interest in this most popular (by device numbers) form of webOS.
In order of interest, it's likely that most people are here for a somewhat nostalgic interest in the original phones and tablets, including keeping them working over a decade after they were no longer produced.
Then there's LuneOS as a modern (but still developmental) mobile OS and the devices it can be deployed to.
Finally there may some interest in generally developing / deploying webOS to other types of devices.
That's my attempt to describe the focus of the site by essentially describing the focus of the old webOS Nation forums. Of course, focus and direction may change. Other companies are now making webOS TVs and new products may appear or Open source development might increase.
