some assorted questions related to webOS and its revival

comix64

what is the email for the discord curator, on the webOS archive site? i couldnt find it anywhere. is the discord for casual users, or is it a developer-centric room? (edit: im blind, you just click the text…)

all of the guides on emulation and such are very compact. i find them a little hard to read. are there any simpler-written guides? i'd like to get a VM or something of normal, original old webOS on a linux machine going, to get a taste for how it feels and works.

and, while the revival stuff is really cool, do you find, as a user of a webOS device, that you can really use it as a day-to-day device? i have an old iPhone with iOS 6, and through a variety of tweaks and IPA files for it (e-mail fixes, cert updates, IPA files for Twitter, Tumblr, etc., iMessage and FaceTime fixes, stuff like that), ive been able to restore it to something i can really use daily. i dont have any webOS devices, but im considering buying one of those tablets from the webOS archive site, though i only want to get one once i feel i can get use out of it. personally it appeals to me firstly because of its interface, i really like those sorts of skeuomorphic interfaces. but most devices like it tend to be almost unusable now…

is there any way to dualboot a modern GNU/Linux? ive heard of dualbooting webOS and Android, but i'd prefer desktop-style Linux, like Kubuntu. i don't need it to be a fully fledged desktop, im more than happy with just a terminal, but i'd like something i can install at least semi-usable programs on (e.g., CVLC, Links, Profanity, btop++, yt-dlp, ffmpeg, bash, fish, etc.) to turn it into a daily-driver sort of device, for checking email, texting via Jabber/XMPP, maybe perusing a few websites (not those modern ones with a million scripts, though, i mean the more basic ones), watching videos, taking pictures, listening to music, that sort of thing. if its unable to run modern GNU programs, i imagine it'd be harder to find webOS applications for everything i'd like to do on one, but if there are enough apps i'd still be happy without a proper terminal. i have an old Amazon Fire tablet, and over a few days managed to dig up older versions of those sorts of apps, and while i dont use it often, i can make do with it if its all i have at the moment. i dont want all the polish, but i'd like to get something old but usable, you know?

does LuneOS at least look/feel like webOS, visually and tactilely? it seems promising, easy to install to a raspberry pi, at least easier to get running somewhere than the original webOS, but my main want here is something skeuomorphic. it doesn't need to look identical, but i'd like if it at least retained a little of that style. from what ive seen of it it looks great, though!

codepoet80

Hey there, I can try to answer some of these:

I wouldn't call it a revival (one hobbiest dev is not enough to revive a platform!) more just a limping along a little (OK, a lot!) longer than anyone thought.
Its usable daily, if your daily needs fit within its capabilities. I read Reddit in the IAmAReddit app, Hacker News in QupZilla, and a dozen non-algorithmic news sources via RSS in Feed Spider 2 every morning over coffee with my TouchPad, then listen to the Up First podcast in Dr Podder while I do my morning exercises. My wife uses her TouchPad as a weather station and for recipes in the kitchen. Another TouchPad has a constant view of our security cameras. On a lazy Saturday, there's plenty of games still to play through in the App Museum, and I still enjoy tinkering with app development on the platform. In a pinch, it can be a remote desktop for computers inside my home network. Lots more ideas are here.
There was a version of Ubuntu (I think 14) that I understand was fully functional on the TouchPad, but even if you can find the bits, all the apt repos are long gone, and scouring the Internet for them hasn't been fruitful. You're very unlikely to get a modern Linux distro working, but there's still Linux underpinnings in the OS, so you can do some command line stuff.
Older versions of Android work reasonably well, but less-and-less apps work on it these days (until about 2 years ago, Netflix still worked, but they cut that off).
LuneOS is not a daily driver -- more like a hobby OS, and increasingly the TouchPad is not an attractive target. Its just too slow for a modern environment. It looks reminiscent of webOS for sure, but its a bit of a Frankenstein from a UI-perspective.

I'm all out of TouchPads in the WOSA store right now, but you can still find working units on eBay. Unless you're a collector, don't bother with the phones -- they're either too old to be capable of much, or capable but rare and irrationally over-priced (like the Pre3).

We are approaching 15-years post-cancellation of the platform, and 10 since any original developers were involved in the sustainment effort. Set your expectations accordingly, and I think you'll find its still a delightful platform in its own way. Its a vision of a mobile future that wasn't loaded with spyware, ads and in-app-purchases -- a mirage of what could have been. As such, it remains enjoyable to use…