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CyanogenMod 9 Delivers Ice Cream Sandwich to HP TouchPad

- By - Source : (via Engadget)

If you were one of the lucky few who managed to snag an HP TouchPad during the fire sale, you might like to know that you could be running the latest version of Google's Android OS instead of webOS. Engadget reports that an early Alpha 0 build of CyanogenMod 9 is now available via the fine folks over at Rootz-Wiki.

"You asked for it, so here we go," a post from Rootz-Wiki's James Baxter reads. "We're very happy to announce that the Touchpad team has released Alpha 0 CyanogenMod 9. Probably the most anticipated ICS release so far, we imagine that this update will receive a few more downloads than Palm’s official Webos 3.0.5 fix," he continues, before adding, "If your Touchpad is itching for ICS here’s the thread link. As per usual the developers take no responsibility for bricked devices, please read every instruction and make backups before you get started."

Of course, if you do decide to go the Ice Cream Sandwich route, your experience won't be bug-free and smooth, at least not at first. Here are the known issues listed by Baxter:

  • Hardware Video (OMX). As a result, Netflix does not work, YouTube works only only in non-HD videos.
  • Audio is a mess. The microphone does not work. Work on the current libaudio solution has halted because we will eventually switch to a CAF libaudio.
  • Camera does not work. The only libcamera.so that we have is from froyo and its closed source. There is a wrapper for QCOM gingerbread libcamera libraries that could likely be used as a basis to get our camera working.
  • Market filters prevent some apps from being installed (this can partly solved by switching back to standard DPI settings(120, 160, 240). The current build is using 160 which fixes the market but makes everything look ugly and low resolution.
  • Titanium Backup crashes the kernel. There’s an investigation in progress...There are reports that older versions do work.
  • Most of the hardware problems from CM7 still exist in this CM9 alpha build.

Baxter says they're working on fixes for these bugs but encouraged other Android developers to get their hands dirty and help out, too. Head on over to Rootz-Wiki to get started.

Some Notes About CM9 Release for TouchPad

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amuffin 01/19/2012 1:03 PM
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Nice! I will get this when they fix up some of the problems in the alpha version. For now CM7 is perfectly fine :)

soccerplayer88 01/19/2012 4:24 PM
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ARGH!!! I just finally made the move to CM7 last week and they just came out with this!

Well I guess it's still a pretty rough build, but with it's source code up for grabs it shouldn't be too long until all the bugs are worked out.

Congrats Cyanogen Team!

tomaz99 01/19/2012 5:42 PM
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Maybe others are more 'tolerant' of Alpha builds, but I don't think a congrats is due yet.

I do congratulate them on all the time and effort; I can't find the time to install this let alone develop it. But other than booting up, it doesn't appear you can do anything (well).

And the disclaimer absolving themselves of any "bricks" makes me think i'll just keep the WebOS...yes this is a hack...use at own risk is always assumed. But with no more TouchPads being produced, bricking it will put a quick end to the "experiment".

Sure you only paid $100-$150...but you won't be able to replace it for that amount.

How many apps do I need anyway...I haven't even finished Need for Speed yet :)

ap3x 01/19/2012 6:14 PM
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tomaz99 :
Maybe others are more 'tolerant' of Alpha builds, but I don't think a congrats is due yet.I do congratulate them on all the time and effort; I can't find the time to install this let alone develop it. But other than booting up, it doesn't appear you can do anything (well).And the disclaimer absolving themselves of any "bricks" makes me think i'll just keep the WebOS...yes this is a hack...use at own risk is always assumed. But with no more TouchPads being produced, bricking it will put a quick end to the "experiment".Sure you only paid $100-$150...but you won't be able to replace it for that amount.How many apps do I need anyway...I haven't even finished Need for Speed yet



The installation is painless. I was really surprised how the new releases setup dual boot automatically and everything. I will wait for a few more releases of CM9 and then install it. CM7 is pretty buggy with wireless not working properly 100%. If wireless was completely working it would be easy to not switch back to WebOS but right now that seems to be the case. Hopefully they keep chipping away at it and we can get a beta or rc build sometime soon.

cptnjarhead 01/19/2012 6:53 PM
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dual booting is very cool, but i love webOS. once you update and patch the touchpad, it runs smooth as silk and flys @ 1.7ghz. sure webOS is dismal in the app department, but i cant stand using anything else when it comes to mobile platforms. my wife loves her atrix and all the apps, but she doesn't even use 90% of them after a while, they just clutter her phone.

Razor512 01/19/2012 8:21 PM
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Currnetly using both, I still feel that webOS 3 has a better UI

it is much more screen space friendly. the swipe gestures allow the task bar to be hidden and only bought up when needed. The keyboard is many times better (it actually has a number row)

Just look at how much better the keyboard is, and how it doesn't have a task bar that is always visible.

http://i.imgur.com/OqoOG.png
http://i.imgur.com/TbvTz.png
http://i.imgur.com/Xe4j7.png

3Ball 01/19/2012 9:21 PM
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Installed it this morning, went fresh install coming from CM7 Alpha 3.5 MUI. The CM9 Alpha 0 is a significantly better experience for me thus far. I tossed back and fourth with the idea of waiting until a more stable release, but am glad I went ahead and jumped on CM9. Dual booting with webOS 3.0.5 of course.

gidgiddonihah 01/19/2012 11:35 PM
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Now we need to get ICS for Honeycomb devices....

Anonymous 01/20/2012 4:15 AM
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Why would I want to use an alpha build when I can just keep on using the REAL multitasking Champ webOS, which is already in my "PalmPad" (TouchPad) !?

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