I keep finding myselg (re)scouring the Internet for these instructions...maybe having them here will help me next time. If they helped you, leave me a note!
Run WebOSQuickInstall on Ubuntu Linux
1. Connect the Pre (in dev mode) to the usb port/cord
2. Change to the directory where novacom is installedcd /opt/Palm/novacom
3. run the novacom daemonsudo ./novacomd
4. Run WebOSQuickInstall.jar (right-click, 'Open with Sun Java 6 Runtime')