Flashing webOS Open Source Edition

This page provides details for flashing the webOS Open Source Edition (OSE) image to a microSD card. In addition, this page describes how to verify the flashed image on the target device.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have completed the following:

Build the webOS OSE image on a Linux machine. For more information, see Building webOS OSE. To flash the image from Windows or macOS, you must copy the built image from the Linux machine.
Note
If you cannot afford to build the image on your own, try with pre-built images.
Insert a microSD card in the microSD card reader device connected to the host machine.

Flashing the Image

This section describes how to flash the webOS OSE image to a microSD card, for each host operating system.

Windows

Flash the image using Win32DiskImager.

Linux

First, change directory to where the image is located.

$ cd <path where the image is located>

Check the device name of the microSD card using the following command.

$ sudo fdisk -l

To flash the image to the microSD card, run the following commands.

$ sudo umount /dev/sd<xN>
$ sudo dd bs=4M if=./<webOS OSE image> of=/dev/sd<x>
$ sudo umount /dev/sd<xN>

sd<xN> denotes the device name of the microSD card, where N is a number suffix.
For dd command, you must pass sd<x> (without the suffix number) to the of operand. sd<x> indicates the mass storage device, not the partition.

Note

If CoreUtils 8.24 or higher is installed on your system, you can use the status=progress option to the dd command to see the copying process.

$ sudo dd bs=4M if=./<webOS OSE image> of=/dev/sd<x> status=progress

Otherwise, the shell prompt will not display any message, so you need to wait until the copying process is complete. For more information on dd command, see the Wikipedia page on dd.

Flashing Command Example for Linux

$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1
$ sudo dd bs=4M if=./webos-image-raspberrypi4.rootfs.wic of=/dev/sdb
$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1

macOS

First, change directory to where the image is located.

$ cd <path where the image is located>

Check the device name of the microSD card using the following command.

$ diskutil list

To flash the image to the microSD card, run the following commands.

$ sudo diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk<N>
$ sudo dd bs=4m if=./<webOS OSE image> of=/dev/rdisk<N>
$ sudo diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk<N>

disk<N> denotes the device name of the microSD card, where N is a number suffix.
For dd command, you must pass rdisk<N> to the of operand to speed up the copying process.

Note

If you receive the error “dd: bs: illegal numeric value” while running the dd command, make sure that the value of the bs operand is 4m (with lowercase “m”).
If CoreUtils 8.24 or higher is installed on your system, you can use the status=progress option to the dd command to see the copying process.
```
$ sudo dd bs=4m if=./<webOS OSE image> of=/dev/rdisk<N> status=progress
```
Otherwise, the shell prompt will not display any message, so you need to wait until the copying process is complete. For more information on dd command, see the Wikipedia page on dd.

Flashing Command Example for macOS

$ sudo diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2
$ sudo dd bs=4m if=./webos-image-raspberrypi4.rootfs.wic of=/dev/rdisk2
$ sudo diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2

Verifying the Image

After you finish flashing the webOS OSE image to the microSD card, you can check how it works by taking the following steps:

First, eject the microSD card from the reader device and insert it in the target device.
Connect the target device with peripheral devices.
- For webOS OSE 2.0.0 or Higher
  - Connect the target device with a monitor through Micro HDMI cable.
  - (Optional) Connect the target device with a touchscreen through Micro HDMI to HDMI cable.
  - Connect Ethernet cable to the target device.
  - (Optional) Plug a keyboard and a mouse into the USB ports of the target device.
- For webOS OSE 1.x
  - Connect the target device with a monitor through HDMI cable.
  - Connect Ethernet cable to the target device.
  - Plug a keyboard and a mouse into the USB ports of the target device.
Set the input mode of the touchscreen (or monitor) to the port connected with the target device.
Plug the power cable into the target device. The target device will boot up. Wait until the start-up screen with webOS OSE logo appears on the screen.
Start the webOS OSE App Bar or Home Launcher.
- For webOS OSE 2.19.0 or Higher
  After starting up the target device, you will see the App Bar popping up from the bottom side of the screen. App Bar should contain a list of pre-installed apps, as shown in the figure below.
  For more details on how to use webOS OSE UI, see webOS OSE UI Guide.
- For webOS OSE 2.0.0 ~ 2.18.0
  After starting up the target device, you will see the Home Launcher UI popping up from the bottom side of the screen. Home Launcher should contain a list of pre-installed apps and icons for quick access menu, as shown in the figure below.
  The names of quick access menu icons are as shown below. Currently, only the icon for System Settings app is working. The others will be implemented in a future release.
  If you want to close the Home Launcher, tap the outside of the Home Launcher. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen will show the Home Launcher again.
  Note
  The Edit button in the Home Launcher is not working.
- For webOS OSE 1.x
  Press the Windows key (Linux, Windows) or the right command key (macOS) on your keyboard, and you will see the Home Launcher UI popping up from the right side of the screen. Home Launcher should contain a list of pre-installed apps and an icon for Settings app, as shown in the figure below.