How to Run #BB10 on your BlackBerry #PlayBook
EDIT/ WARNING - THIS HAS NOT BEEN TRIED WITH THE OFFICIAL BLACKBERRY 10 OS, AND DOES NOT WORK WITH THE MOST RECENT DEVELOPER ALPHA OSES!
We know that BlackBerry10 will eventually be coming to the PlayBook. If you need further proof of that, you can install BlackBerry 10 onto your PlayBook right now.
A few days ago, OSBB reported that RIM had finally pushed out a BlackBerry 10 reload image for the Developer Alpha Devices. Well, just as with PlayBook OSes, it was possible to extract the Developer Alpha OS.
OpenSourceBB readers probably remember Dingleberry, a tool which was used to obtain root access during the 2.0 Beta. While rooting is no longer viable, Dingleberry also has a feature that allows you to update/downgrade the OS on your PlayBook. This update feature, in conjuncture with the BB10 Developer Alpha OS, can be used to run BlackBerry 10 on your PlayBook.
Before beginning, let me say that doing this probably voids your PlayBook Warrenty. Further, it could potentially ruin your PlayBook, your computer, and numerous small animals which might be in the vicinity. While this process has not resulted in any problems on my personal PlayBook, that doesn’t mean it can’t cause problems for you. I and OSBB assume no responsibility for your actions (unless you win a crapload of money, in which case I claim full responsibility and request a large portion of the winnings).
With that out of the way, here’s how to install BB10 on your PlayBook:
0. Ebable Developer mode and wifi file sharing on your PlayBook. Also, make sure that your PlayBook is charged to at least 25%.
1. Download Dingleberry. It is still available from http://dingleberry.it/
2. Download the BB1o Developer Alpha OS. You can choose either of these versions:
10.0.4.197: http://www.filefactory.com/file/3ll7369t3qtj/n/10.0.4.197.zip
10.0.6.386: Has not been confirmed to work, but can be downloaded from: http://www.filefactory.com/file/1gw5vcwv0a9r/n/10.0.6.386.zip
3. Open the zip file and extract the qcfm.image.com.qnx.coreos.qcfm.os.sdk.desktop.xxxxxxxxxxxx.signed.bar (the other bar seems to be a wireless radio that is not compatible with the PlayBook). The bar you want is the larger of the two.
4. Place the qcfm.image.com.qnx.coreos.qcfm.os.sdk.desktop.BB10_0_04.197.196525.signed.bar in the \Firmware\Custom folder of the Dingleberry folder. If this directory does not exist, create it.
5. Run Dingleberry and select Firmware. Select custom, and click update. Your firmware should update.
Note that the update may fail a few times, but it will eventually load, and you’ll be running BB10 on your PlayBook.
Now, the current version of BB10 is very crippled. It lacks many features that will be contained in BB10. App World doesn’t work, nor does Docs To Go, and many other apps. To be honest, at this point there’s no practical reason to install BB10 on your PlayBook… other than to have BB10 on your PlayBook.
That being said, RIM should be pushing out an update to the Dev Alpha this week RIM JUST pushed out an update to the BB10 Dev Alpha. Hopefully this procedure will work with that OS as well (the OSBB Team will make sure to make that OS available if possible) and we might be running a fully featured BB10 on our PlayBooks!
To return to OS 2.0.1 or OS 2.1, you can just load the QCFM from either of those OSes, or do a security wipe (I prefer just using Dingleberry to downgrade to 2.1, because that doesn’t require reinstalling all your apps).
BB10apps
