Homebrew App Store
| Homebrew App Store | |
 | |
| General | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | 4TU Team |
| Type | Utility |
| Version | 2.3.2 |
| Links | |
| Download | |
| Source | |
| Downloadable via the Homebrew App Store | |
The Homebrew App Store allows the user to download, manage and update homebrew apps for the Wii U directly to an SD card. It is inspired by the Homebrew Browser available on the original Wii.
Description
The Homebrew App Store allows you to download homebrew apps. Installed apps can also be reinstalled, updated or deleted. The apps are sorted into individual categories. It is an attempt at a poor man's Cydia for the Wii U!
To use it, put the downloaded app bundle in sd:/wiiu/apps/appstore, and launch it via HBL.
Apps featured within HBAS are made by other homebrew developers. If anyone takes an issue with their work being distributed in this manner, contact the respective repository owner.
Although "store" is in the name, the apps within are all free - If a specific homebrew developer wants to charge for their app, they would have to do so outside of HBAS. The name just refers to the concept of an App Store.
Requirements
- Internet connection
- SD card
- A way to run HBL (Tiramisu) or Homebrew on Menu (Aroma)
How to Use
Unzip the "appstore" folder from the zip at the above download link. This is the bundled HBAS app. Place this folder inside the /apps/wiiu/ folder on your SD card. After this, run HBL and select it from the menu.
Once the app launches, press A or touch the screen to close the splash screen. You can scroll with either analogue stick, the D-pad or the touch screen. To download an app, touch its icon and choose "GET".
Guide
- LOCAL - An app that is only on your SD card
- INSTALLED - An app on your SD card and the server
- UPDATE - An app on your SD card and the server, with a different version number
- GET - An app only on the server
Default Repository
The app bundle provided above features http://wiiubru.com/appstore as the default repository, courtesy of pwsincd. The apps featured there are hosted on his server.
Troubleshooting
- Duplicate apps - HBAS tries to figure out which apps you have installed by checking the app's folder name. You can safely ignore the duplicates, or delete the copy marked as "local".
- Update was a downgrade - Upgrading software relies on the repository maintainer to keep the version numbers up to date. Since versions don't have to be numbers, the updater performs a "not equal to" theck rather than a "greater than (>)" check.
- Crashed with white text on black text! - Report a bug on the GitHub page or GBATemp thread with a photo of what your screen looks like, and explain how you made it error.
- Seems to have frozen - Report a bug, and describe what you were doing when it froze and if you were still able to scroll.
- No apps are listed, only local ones - This happens when the server can't be reached. TubeHax DNS may be down, or your repo may be down.
- HBL/HBAS won't load anymore! - One of the app icons has been corrupted, delete the faulty program, or remove all of them until HBL and HBAS are all that's left.
- An app button was pressed, but no window opens - Pressing the buttons waits for the server to respond, so it may respond once the metadata download is complete.
Customization
place your own "background.mp3" in sd:/wiiu/apps/appstore/background.mp3 to change the background song
The HBAS binary currently expects a /directory.yaml file, and then a /apps/ folder, which contains HBL-compatible apps folder (like sd:/wiiu/apps/). You can setup the directory.yaml file without using the python script, but the script makes it easier. Once your have your server setup, you will need to create a repository.txt file on your SD card to point HBAS to it (see #Customization).
Future
See the issues page on github: https://github.com/vgmoose/hbas/issues In short, the following things are planned:
- smoother scrolling
- permissions for apps
- multiple repo management
- json instead of yaml for the directory
- handle corrupt apps/icons
Contributions to any of the above are welcome, check out the code and help out! It would be much appreciated.
Credits
- pwsincd - Helped design the web interface
- brienj - Provided many, many development tips and help
- dimok, dibas, Maschell and n1ghty - The HBAS framework code is based off HBL directly, as well as making heavy use of their custom libraries.
- QuarkTheAwesome - Development help, as well as their exception handler
- CreeperMario - Porting over some old apps to HBL format
- Dylon99 - Participated in "extreme" beta testing
- Marionumber1, yellows8 and other wiiudev members - Userland/Kernel exploits
The in-app music is an instrumental version of Slimers by (T-T)b.
License
Homebrew App Store is licensed under the GPL3 license, so it can be freely modified and used as long as the source remains public. Scream Pictures is copyright (T-T)b and is not to be distributed or used outside of an official HBAS binary.
This app is open source and free to distribute because the users (yes, you!) deserve it.