Palm Pre

I just bought a Palm Pre on Sprint and will be recording some experiences. I really wish I had purchased an Android Samsung Moment but 4 days too late to exchange. Now Nexus 1, oh no it's getting worse.
Some reasons are:
a more powerful processor
32GB SD card capabilities
geekiacs will be flocking to it.

Palm is doomed to be an also ran. Despite Palm Pre's linux base, a dwindling user base will hamper grass roots development. Oh well, I'm stuck for 2 years. I refuse to pay $500 for a phone

Equipment:
Micro USB for $.01. Good cable about 3 feet long. Comes to $2.00+ with shipping. The casing around the micro end is too big for the Touchstone but works fine in the Pre. I tried whittling the casing down for the Touchstone but it starts to lose its integrity so I will just use an original cable for the touchstone. I may continue some whittling though because I want two or three for in car use with the touchstone. Buy touchstone here from Amazon for around $35. (one full kit needed for the magnetic Pre back).

In car charger for the USB cable at Amazon around $19. Don't bother with the Sprint car charger because it will not connect to the touchstone.

Seido protective case and holster. The case is nice and belt clip holster works. The clip pokes my fat so it is better for thin people.

Installing Homebrew Apps:
This is what I did. Have not found a useful app yet. For instance Sprint Navigation finds Starbucks as easily as some "Get Starbucks" app.

Synchronizing:
I like the sync with gmail, gcal, etc. I recently added contacts to gmail and they don't appear on Pre. Don't know what is up with that.

Modem Tethering:
My Tether appears to be the only solution. It works on Win7-64 machine. Follow guide on My Tether site. Pay the $15. I had to communicate a few times with Raja because my email password didn't arrive but we worked it out. He was very patient and accommodating.

Installing My Tether notes:
1. Novacom for Win7 64, this site is the way to go. Just one line to delete from the msi using Orca.
2. WebOS135 I had to uninstall My Tether and delete from Pre then reinstall. Then I patched through My Tether and it took forever. Then option to reset phone and again takes forever. Wow, it works again!
3. Win7 flags to install USB modem driver from Sprint - don't.
4. Remember to disable screen blank with M.T. or you lose connection.
5. The patch makes camera inoperable but patch can be added and removed at will. Phone must be reset each time but does not take overly long. Worth having tether around for when you need it.

Cons:
Standby life is hopeless. The thing is always dead.

Links and Credit
Palm-Pre Hacks
Tips & Tricks Post on precentral.net lots of info, better than manual thanks to milominderbinder

Things to try:
My GPS (costs $.99 and I hate paying for software)

Turning off/on WebOS update
From the Linux command line enter:

cd /usr/bin
mount -o remount,rw /
chmod -x /usr/bin/UpdateDaemon
killall UpdateDaemon

Hit enter twice between each line to get me back to a root prompt.

If you disabled your update you might want to re-enable it at some point:

cd /usr/bin
mount -o remount,rw /
chmod +x UpdateDaemon
mount -o remount,ro /

Then restart your phone and automatic updating should be back.

How to reboot: The quickest way being to slide out the keyboard and hold down 3 buttons, the Orange, Sym, and R keys.