The Ultimate HP Touchpad Speed Guide

So you just got your HP Firesale Touchpad but notice a bit of lag and sluggish performance. The HP TouchPad has a vibrant homebrew community that makes patches available to help speed things up. It is possible to overclock the TouchPad, turning it into one of the fastest tablets around. The webOS homebrew community has been around since the platform launched several years ago. It has evolved into a sophisticated operation that produces apps and patches for the OS that helps deal with problems and adds features.

Here is your guide to get everything you need to know about improving your Touchpad’s performance.

System Updates

Out of the box, your TouchPad comes with the WebOS 3.0, HP has tried its best to fix the lagging problem in the System Update 3.0.2 build 68.  It offers improvements in the Calendar, Email, Music, Photos & Videos, Text Assist, Web Browser, webOS System, and Security.

1. Choose the Launcher button
2. Choose the “Settings” tab and select “System Updates”
3. Choose “Download Now” when prompted
4. Once validation completes, choose “Install now”.
5. Once completed, the system will reboot.
6. Check if the update was successful by selecting the “System” tab and selecting “Device Info”

Set Logging to Minimum

Out of the box, Debug logging is left on. Lets change this.

1. Choose the Launcher button
2. Choose the “SETTINGS” tab and “Device Info”
3. Tap on the “Device Info” and select “Custom Application”
4. Key in ##5647#
5. Select “Clear Logs”
6. Select “Change Logging Levels…”
7. Select “Set Logging To Minimal”

Turn on the Developer Mode

In order to install the homebrew patches, you need to turn on developer mode.

1. Click the home button to go back to the home screen
2. Click on the “Just type” field. This will launch the keyboard.
3. Type in “webos20090606″ which it will bring up the “Developer Mode” icon. Tab on “Developer Mode” icon to launch.
4. Change the Developer Mode to “ON”
5. Leave the Developer Mode Password blank then tap on the “Submit” button.

Install WebOS Quick Install

Before you begin this step you will need Java Run-time installed on your computer.

1. Connect your TouchPad to your computer. DO NOT choose USB Drive on your touchpad (you may click Close).
2. Download WebOS Quick Install
3. Click on the “Yes” button to install the Novacom driver when prompted during the installation (Mac users running Lion can get the driver here).
4. Once you see the message “Driver installed Successfully”, press OK.
5. Next, Select the Globe icon from left hand side. This will allow the program to download and parse the feeds
6. Once completed, Search for “Preware” and click on the magnifier icon. Click on the “install” button.
7. Once completed, you can install custom homebrew packages on your TouchPad.

Installing Homebrew Packages

We will now need to install some performance enhancing homebrew packages right on your TouchPad.

1. From Launcher, select the “Downloads” tab and click on the “Preware” icon.
2. Tap on the “OK, I’ve read this, Let’s continue” button.
3. Preware will download the latest feed information automatically.
4. Once completed, click on the magnifier button from the right hand side
5. Type in “Muffle” and tap on the “Enter” button
6. Tab on the search result “Muffle System Logging”
7. Click on the “Install” button.
8. At the next prompt, choose the “Install / Update Them” option
9. Once the package is installed, tap on the “Later” button.
10. Repeat steps 4 – 9 to install the following patches:

• Remove Dropped Packet Logging
• Unset CFQ IO Scheduler
• Unthrottle Download Manager
• Quiet powerd Messages
• Faster Card Animations HYPER Version
• Increase Touch Sensitivity and Smoothness

Over-Clocking the CPU

[note class="warn"]Over-clocking could damage your CPU and drains more power from your battery. Proceed with caution.[/note]

1. Search and install the application “Govnah”
2. Next, search and install the Kernel “UberKernel (TouchPad)
3. Once completed. Tap on the “Ok” button to restart the device.
4. Once your device restarts, launch the program “Govnah”
5. Tap on the “Ok, I’ve read this. Let’s continue”.
6. Tab on the “Palm Default” and select it
7. Tap on “OnDemanTcl 1512″.
8. Higher clock speeds are being tested on the touchpad but this is a safe bet.

Going Back to Normal

You have seen that to remove a Homebrew App just remove it as you would any app by pressing the orange key and tapping the app icon at the same time. To remove a Patch or Theme you installed with Preware, you just go back to it in Preware and tap Remove. As a rule, if you installed a theme with WebOS Quick Install, remove it with WebOS Quick Install.You can also remove all patches at once or even completely restore your phone back to the original factory settings.

Remove all Patches and Themes – With WebOS Quick Install:

1. Remove themes. Click Tools → Themer → Revert to Default
2. Remove all patches. Click Tools → Tweaks → Run EPR → Luna Restart

Remove all Patches and Themes – With Preware:

1. Remove themes. Tap Installed Packages → Theme → Tap your theme → Remove → OK → OK
2. Remove all patches. Tap List of Everything then type “emergency” and tap Emergency Patch Recovery → Install

Stuck Patches – To force the removal of all patches and themes, use the WebOS Repair Utility on your computer and click Options then Override Compatibility. You can also restore factory settings by using the WebOS Doctor to remove all personal data.

webOS Updates – Before you update to a new webOS, first remove any theme and then any patches you might have installed. Homebrew Apps, including Preware, do not need to be removed before a webOS update.

Congratulations! you can now enjoy the true power of the TouchPad.

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