HP has decided to remove the Palm OS ROM from webOS 2.0 — which means that while anyone with an older version of webOS can install an app called Classic to run… well, classic PalmOS apps on the Palm Pre or Pixi, there’s officially no way to run Palm OS apps on webOS 2.0.

Motion Apps, the company behind Classic has already made it clear that there won’t be an official Classic app for webOS 2.0. But it turns out that all hope is not lost.

It turns out that if you extract the Palm OS ROM from webOS 1.4.5 and install it on a webOS 2.0 device like the Palm Pre 2, you should be able to get Classic to work.

It seems likely that HP and Palm left out the ROM simply because many users didn’t need it, but it was taking up space — or because the company wants to encourage developers to write new apps for webOS and for users to upgrade to new apps instead of relying on legacy apps for Palm OS.

You can find step by step instructions for installing the Palm OS ROM at PreCentral.

Brad Linder

Brad Linder is editor of Liliputing and Mobiputing. He's been tinkering with mobile tech for decades and writing about it since...

One reply on “How to run classic Palm apps on WebOS 2.0”

  1. It requires a license. You can not purchase a license. Not even for webos 1.4.5. No one’s selling. You’re SOL even – completely.

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