Disable webOS's (flawed) Browser Cache

So it turns out webOS's browser cache is far too over aggressive, to the point that a web page will never show updates unless the refresh button is pressed. The only answer I've found? Totally disabling cache.

Sure that means pages will load slower, but I still think that's better than a quick initial cache load followed by a manual refresh after realising your reading 3 hour old news.

This will work with both the default browser and Advanced Browser.

1. Install Preware if you haven't already (google will help you with this)

2. Install Internalz Pro from Preware.

3. Open Internalz Pro -> app name in top left corner of the screen -> Preferences -> turn on 'Master Mode' -> app name again -> close

4. Open /etc/palm/browser-app.conf

5. Change the following:

MemCacheMinDeadBytes=0MB

MemCacheMaxDeadBytes=0MB

MemCacheTotalBytes=0MB

DiskCacheEnabled=false

6. Reboot your tablet (Luna restart isn't enough)

7. Done

Advanced Browser - Fixing Tabs

One last tweak (fix) for Advanced Browser. There's a bug where when closing a tab, another one would not always be automatically selected.

Really hope the developer releases a general bug fix update soon....until then, here's my fix:

1. Open /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/com.maklesoft.browser/source/BrowserApp.js

2. Find the closeTab function, and replace it's contents with the following (inside the curly brackets for non-coders):

var browserIndex = sender.parent.value;

var currentIndex = this.$.tabs.getValue();

if (this.$.tabs.getControls().length > 2) {

this.$["tab" + browserIndex].destroy();

this.$["browser" + browserIndex].destroy();

if (browserIndex == currentIndex) {

//start by looking left

for (var i = currentIndex-1; i > -1; i--) {

if (this.$["tab" + (i)]) {

this.$.tabs.setValue(i);

this.tabChanged(this.$.tabs);

return true;

}

}

//then look right if not found

for (var i = currentIndex+1; i < this.tabCount+1; i++) {

if (this.$["tab" + (i)]) {

this.$.tabs.setValue(i);

this.tabChanged(this.$.tabs);

return true;

}

}

}

}

return true;

3. Reboot tablet
4. Done

Un-Fullscreen Advanced Browser on TouchPad

As always, I'm not responsible if by following this guide you brick your TouchPad, do at your own risk.

Welcome to my second Advanced Browser for TouchPad tweak guide.

This time we'll be forcing the app out of fullscreen mode, so the status/notification bar is still visible while browsing.

Interestingly it looks like the app's developer started to work on the ability to switch between fullscreen and normal as their are options under Preferences, their just hidden and not functional at the moment (in theory I could finish this correctly but I'm sure the developer will get around to it, and besides this 'hack' works fine in the mean time).

"Let's'a'go"

1. Install Preware if you haven't already (google will help you with this)

2. Install Internalz Pro from Preware.

3. Open Internalz Pro -> app name in top left corner of the screen -> Preferences -> turn on 'Master Mode' -> app name again -> close

4. Open /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/com.maklesoft.browser/source/BrowserApp.js

5. On line 5, change 'true' to 'false'

6. Restart your tablet

7. Done

Making Advanced Browser Default On TouchPad

As always, I'm not responsible if by following this guide you brick your TouchPad, do at your own risk.

If you're like me (and thousands of other bargain hunting geeks) and snapped up a cheap HP TouchPad, I'm sure you're using the third party browser Advanced Browser from the App Catalog.

Whilst it is much better than the stock browser, it's not without it's problems. The most common complaints I've seen on forums and reviews are:

1. Unable to make it the default browser that opens when clicking links in other apps, eg. email etc.

2. It covers the status/notification bar.

I'll be showing how to fix both of this. But lets make it default in this post. "Let's'a'go"

Method 1 - (Disable/Hide Default browser)

1. Install Preware if you haven't already (google will help you with this)

2. Install Internalz Pro from Preware.

3. Open Internalz Pro -> app name in top left corner of the screen -> Preferences -> turn on 'Master Mode' -> app name again -> close

4. Navigate to /usr/palm/

5. Create a new directory called 'hidden' (or anything really)

6. Navigate to /usr/palm/applications

7. Move the directory com.palm.app.browser into the newly created hidden directory

8. Navigate to /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/com.maklesoft.browser

9. Open appinfo.json

10. Change the second line, starting with "id" to:

"id": "com.palm.app.browser"

11. Restart you tablet

12. Done

Method 2 - (Make Advanced Browser default, but stock browser still useable)

1. Install Preware if you haven't already (google will help you with this)

2. Install Internalz Pro from Preware.

3. Open Internalz Pro -> app name in top left corner of the screen -> Preferences -> turn on 'Master Mode' -> app name again -> close

4. Open /usr/palm/applications/com.palm.app.browser

5. Change the second line, starting with "id" to:

"id": "com.palm.app.browserOrg"

6. Open /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/com.maklesoft.browser

5. Change the second line, starting with "id" to:

"id": "com.palm.app.browser"

7. Restart you tablet

8. Done