Wake-on-LAN for WebOS (Palm Pre)

Published Friday December 04, 2009

Introduction

2011-08-18: Today is a sad day :( http://gizmodo.com/5832291/hp-killing-webos .

2011-08-15: This app has been accepted in Palm App Catalog so you should be able to install it from there .

2011-05-23: Source code for this app is now available on google code .

Wake-on-LAN (WoL) is an application for the Palm WebOS that sends a magic packet to remotely wake up computers and other devices. For more information about WoL please see the wikipedia page for it.

Below is a quick video demo of this application.

Screenshots

The interface is very simple. You add a target, and then click on the item in the list to send the magic packet.

How to get it

If you have webOS 2.0 or newer then you can install it from the official Palm App Catalog. Search for “Wake on LAN Client.”

Preware showing the entries for WOL. If you install the first one the second will be automatically pulled in as a dependency.

If you have a device that is on webOS versions older than 2.0 then you will have to use Preware. Because of the use of undocumented APIs, this application will not be available in the regular Palm App Catalog for pre-2.0 webOS. Instead you will have to install one of the homebrew installers like Preware that has the Preware repository as a source. The application is available in there as “Wake-on-LAN client.”

Disclaimer / Licensing

The MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Comments

I was glad to see someone make a WOL program (been relying on pWOL -and more!- through Classic). However, and granted I haven't had a chance to test yet, but how does the program know what IP to send the magic packet to?

also, will future versions include ways to manage entries, like editing and/or deleting?

thanks for your hard work!

Right now I have it broadcasting to all interfaces on 255.255.255.255 (so only the "local" network, i.e. routers won't forward). I will be updating it so it only sends it on the wireless network (i.e. not cellular).

Version 0.5 already includes the ability to delete entries (swipe the entry to left or right), but I haven't figured out the interface enough to decide how to best allow the user to edit an existing entry. I didn't want that to be the default action (i.e. tapping on an entry) because most of the times you will be sending the magic packet rather than editing.

Let me know how you like it once you have had a chance to try it out :)

Excellent tool, easy to provision and use.

Hi, like the app, any plans to allow sending the magic packet to an IP address using your internet connection (WiFi or cellular?).

I like to leave my home PC off but occasionally want to VNC in when out and about and being able to do this makes it all happen.

Hello, I just sent you an email.

- Farhan

I've been wanting to try your product as I set up a media server with my HTPC. However, I don't think the service installs correctly on 1.3.5 when I check the about page on the front end it can't contact the service because it says it's not running. I installed through Preware.

This happens to me as well. When I go into "About Wake-On-Lan," I get the Error "Sorry, the service call failed: com.thebitguru.wolservice is not running."

I also can't uninstall the WOL service in Preware, as I get an IPKG error so I can't try reinstalling.

Would love to see this fixed as I've been waiting on a WOL client for the Pre!

Steve, I just sent you an email. Let's continue there. Thanks.

Thanks for reporting, this should be fixed now (version 0.5.2), make sure to update the feed before installing because I pushed 0.5.1 that didn't work as well :)

I am also someone who is glad to see a WOL app. I saw another post regarding the ability to submit a WOL packet when not on the local network. I'd definitely be interested in that, as I too sometimes have the need to transmit a "wake-up" to my home computer when I'm out of the house.

I was wondering what I needed to do on my computer. So Hibernate or sleep. Ect.. I also have router so which MAC address do I use? This is a little confusing so I would love your help. Please respond via email.

Check your email.

Sorry To add in a separate post. Will this work on anything with a MAC address, which is on the same network. Like a Ps3? Xbox 360?

it does exactly what it's supposed to. managed to get it working on the mac, too. added some relevant info to the wikipedia page for those floundering. unfortunately, i don't have a way to test if this can wake a WoWLAN-equipped machine. is that possible? i would say that's something i'd love to see, personally. when i get a new computer :/ it would also be rad to see this work over the internets (especially on the cell network). wouldn't imagine it would be too difficult given that the appropriate port forwarding was set up. which reminds me: if that does happen, i would personally request the option to select the port you want to use. thanks farhan!

The ability to send WoL packets to external networks (e.g. cell network or internet in general) has been added. I have also added the ability to specify the port that the packet should be sent on. Please update to the latest version for these changes. Here is the official announcement: http://www.thebitguru.com/blog/view/347-Wake%20on%20LAN%20for%20webOS%20updated

Thx for the personal email and glad the Wikipedia contribution helped. Wish I could offer assistance re: WoWLAN, but it's probably a bit early for that anyways, eh? Anywho set up a new entry to the existing MAC address to go through my external IP and a specified port which I had forwarded appropriately, turned off wifi on the phone and hit send. Awakened remotely! Yey! Thx!

I can't found the nice app in preware. Where is ist?

If you search for "wake" you should see the following two entries. I just installed a fresh 2.1 image along with Preware and confirmed that these show up. I have posted a screenshot under the "How to get it" section above.

Any news related to WebOS 2.x support? I am really missing this app ...

Hi,

It could be that I am too early still for webOS2.1 on my Pre2, but it does not work for me.
When I go into "About Wake-On-Lan," I get the Error "Sorry, the service call failed: Not permitted to send to com.thebitguru.wolservice."

And no matter how I set my command (with/out IP, different port#, etc) it does not work.

Does it indeed not work yet on webOS2.x?

Hi Mario,

Sorry, I have been very busy with my job and haven't had much time to devote this. I have the code updated to node.js based web service that is compatible with WebOS 2.0, but I am having a few issues. Also, the code is now available at http://code.google.com/p/wol-for-webos/ in case if someone wants to help. I am hoping to publish this as a free app on the market once the kinks are worked out.

- Farhan

Hi Farhan,

thank you very much for your quick response. Did you already solve the problem? Please, don't feel pushed or anything ;-)

Cheers,
Mario

Hello Richard,

The version in preware does not work in WebOS 2.x. I have the code updated and working on 2.x, but I am having issues publishing it on the market. I am waiting for Palm to respond to my inquiry. In the meanwhile, if you are familiar, you can install the app from the ipk: http://code.google.com/p/wol-for-webos/downloads/list

- Farhan

Not yet. Hopefully soon :)

Hello Farhan,

YES! This version 0.8.0 is working fine, both over WiFi and over GPRS.
Thank you, now I can switch on my HTPC/mediacenter/media store from anywhere on the planet... :)

Tested on my Pre2 on webOS 2.1.

Regards, Richard.

Hi!

Sadly the version currently provided through the app catalog does not even install on My Pre3. . Any hints?

A developer recently volunteered to help with the Pre3 update. We should be publishing an updated version soon.

Hi, just doctored my Pre2 webOS 2.1.0 but still can't install this app. Just says "Install failed" over and over again (retry/dont install). Used this app before it was in app catalog successfully, but can't get it back now :( Really good and useful app. Any tips for me?

same for me. Any pointers? Install from source ?
Thanks.

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