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Linux on iPad
- ngcc_hk 6y agoAnyone use the altstore and how safe is that. Got source like GitHub or just binary?
- gbraad 6y agoStill have some old ipads (new iPad, 3rd gen, iOS9) and other iDevices. Would live to run Linux in them... But this is not doing that, right?
- vaccinator 6y agoWhy would you use an ipad for linux when you pay triple what you should for the tablet to get Apple's OS on it? Must be just a challenge since you don't own your tablet (AKA root).
- m463 6y agothe website says "With hardware becoming more and more powerful every year, obsolete iPads (according to Apple) should be allowed to continue to serve a purpose."
- vaccinator 6y ago> obsolete iPads (according to Apple) should be allowed to continue to serve a purpose props to apple for pushing linux (just kidding)
- saagarjha 6y agoApple's tablets are essentially the only ones worth buying; nobody really makes good ones these days.
- vaccinator 6y agolol... you must be a stock holder
- tluyben2 6y agoThe latest Samsung Tab is pretty good; did you try it?
- dredmorbius 6y agoAmong other factors: standardisation of form factors providing a useful hardware accessory market. Tablets of and by themselves are pretty, but not especially useful. aa folio keyboard combination (case with integrated keyboard) is a game-changer ... but must be specifically fit to every individual tablet size, which Android device manufacturers have insisted on not standardising. Desktop systems need only agree on connector ports, tablet design requires agreement on all dimensions of the tablet. And nobody's doing that in Android land. https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq (There are othher grievous problems with Android, I'm focusing on the physical here.) Apple's iPads, at least, offer a set of fixed sizes and are (for now) ensuring matching keyboards through third-party vendors. Many of those keyboards are crippled for Linux use (missing critical keys, such as esc, or entire rows, as with function or numeric keys), but there are at least a few options. Apple are also providing extensive onboard storage up to 1 TB or more), where Android offerings are still often only a few GB. The latter is insufficient for my primary use: as a portable text library. (128 GB is about the minimum useful storage for this). Audio, image, or video work is even more constrained. The reader function is where tablets shine over laptops, at least in form. The latter have compute power and flexibility, but displays are unsuited to reading, especially at 9:16 ratios: too short to read portrait, too small to display 2-up readably, and incapable of rotating in most cases. A tablet in portrait mode is a reasonably good reading device. Except that the OS and app infrastructure are utterly unsuited. This is a long-standing complaint, and I'm seeing little progress. Google have no interest in breaking free of advertising-based captive markets, Apple ... I don't know why, but are similarly brain damaged. It's the war on general-purpose computing. From at least two fronts.
- noodlesUK 6y agoI just really wish there were some alternative uses for iPhones and iPads once they hit obsolescence. I’d love to use them as little smart home interfaces or poor-mans homepods. But they don’t generally support that kind of use...
- LexGray 6y agoRun a local web server for the interface and enable guided access to prevent accidental clicks and swipes. Should make a decent smart interface or destination to push video or audio.
- thewebcount 6y agoI'm currently using my old iPhones for doing camera-trap photography and videography. I've got a 5s recording some bird feeders in my yard, for example. Decent camera for filming during the day. Unlike my DSLR, it's not artificially constrained to only recording 15 minutes at time. It's tiny, and if I have it near an outlet I can even power it so I don't need to worry about recharging it. It also does slow-mo if you don't mind going down to 720p. I think an iPhone 6 can do slow-mo at 1080p.
- paulcarroty 6y agoLooks cool. How you solve the small space issue in old models?
- thewebcount 6y agoIt hasn't been an issue so far. I have recorded well over an hour at a time and had plenty of space left on the device. I haven't tried leaving it recording overnight (since the birds are in torpor then anyway). That particular phone was 64GB, which can hold something like ~4 hours of 1080p30 video. The phone contains no apps other than the pre-installed ones, and no data other than the video I'm capturing. After moving the videos to my computer, I remove them from the phone.
- pfortuny 6y agoMy mom uses an iPhone 5s as a hearing aid for her TV, with her airpods (1st gen). She cannot be happier. She does not bear using true hearing devices but this has helped her a lot.
- unnouinceput 6y agoTL;DR - it's a wish
- noisy_boy 6y agoFrankly even though I have been a Linux user for a long time now, I don't even want/wish/hope for Apple to let me run it on Apple hardware. As long as they let me sync my files with something like Syncthing, I'll be happy (also because some of their apps are actually high quality). But even that seems like a no no which is really disappointing.
- hedora 6y agoIsh might support that. It can export its file system as an ios folder, and there’s a way to force ios to let it run daemons in the background. However, you might have to manually start it at each reboot or something.
- captn3m0 6y agoThe focus is on older devices - which Apple might still support somewhat - but most apps won't. I can't get any new apps on my iPad 2, which went upto iOS9. I'm having to run it on iOS8 though, because iOS9 basically makes it unusable by being super-slow.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y agoI always felt manufacturers should be forced to open the boot-loader of their obsolete devices if not for consumer rights at-least "for the environment". Motorola offering unlock codes on their website albeit voiding warranty felt like a breath of fresh air[1]. PinePhone, other open smartphones are not available in my country due to embargo; So Moto G4 Play was the obvious second choice[2] for PostmarketOS due to availability of robust mainline kernel(MSM8916). But guess what, Motorola removed unlocking support for older devices from their portal[3]! So even though G4 Play is available widely in the used market it's useless for any aftermarket OS efforts. There's absolutely no explanation for this decision from Motorola, other than making people buy their latest devices. So, it seems that the devices unlocked(hacked) by the community is still a better choice in the long run just because the manufacturers cannot be trusted for the devices 'we own?'. [1]https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/b... [2]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11rieZf6ODM-HQkEpFYWXIyqWsC1DDIqDMAh4YHJPt9E/edit#gid=1399530391 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11rieZf6ODM-HQkEpFYWX... [3]https://support.motorola.com/us/en/solution/MS87215 https://support.motorola.com/us/en/solution/MS87215
- AntiImperialist 6y agoSamsung has had bootloader unlocking as a feature in all their mobile devices for a very long time. It is available for all devices, new or old.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y agoDidn't 'Knox' mess that up for newer phones? Anyways, couple of Samsung A/J series phones does seem to work well with PostmarketOS but unfortunately display brightness cannot be adjusted making it a hard choice.
- AntiImperialist 6y agoYou'll void your warranty and never be able to use Knox again if you switch back to Samsung firmware once you unlock bootloader. But no, Knox doesn't prevent you from unlocking bootloader in any way.
- tluyben2 6y agoIt has jailbroken Linux on iPhone 7; there are no full jailbroken iPad (Pro) options?
- BadJo0Jo0 6y agoI was hoping this would bring a dead weight ipad mini back to life, but was very sad to not see it on the support list. Great project either way!
- Razengan 6y agoEveryone here harping on about how everything should be as open as “PCs”: Do you realize that maybe some people desire things that are locked down and curated, and perhaps that may be the reason why Apple is richer than Scrooge McDuck? And indeed, PC is the odd one out here; Apple have been locked down since before 1984 like the Commodores and Atari STs they grew up with. Why can’t we have both? The current balance is perfect: Apple for those who like Appleness and PCs/Androids/etc. for everyone else. By insisting your dogma upon upon those who don’t want it you’re yourself becoming the monsters you profess to combat. Although yes, I too would like the iPad to be more open. iOS is such a painful gimping of such beautiful hardware.
- saagarjha 6y agoWhy couldn’t Apple provide this choice?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Razengan 6y agoWhy doesn’t every company do everything? Why doesn’t Nintendo make phones? Why doesn’t Boeing make game consoles? They chose a market and they’re serving that, and millions of their customers are happy with them. If people need something different then other companies are there to cater to them.
- saagarjha 6y agoRight, because phones with a few bits changed is equivalent to a company making an entirely different product…
- globular-toast 6y agoThey don't seem mutually exclusive. iPad could be exactly the same for people who want that but still open for people who don't. I assume you're not suggesting people buy Apple stuff because they know others can't play with it, like some weird jealous children?
- anderspitman 6y agoMy old iPad Air still might have the nicest screen I own across all devices, and great battery life ~7 years later. But it's feeling sluggish and is no longer supported. It's a real shame I can't run Linux on it or at least use it as a portable monitor for my Android phone.
- sashazykov 6y agoIt's also possible to get Linux on iPad with raspberry pi as an accessory: https://youtu.be/IR6sDcKo3V8 https://youtu.be/IR6sDcKo3V8
- tommyswede 6y agoI think that Apple should make available the private HW keys on the day when they stop support its idevices. This would support a greener planet and happier people that could keep enjoying their devices based on linux or whatever.
- xorcist 6y agoWhat is the status of Android on iPhone? The checkmk8 jailbreak seemed promising, and it given all the crazy talented people in the world, it wouldn't be completely unexpected to see a useful Android port soon.
- grishka 6y agoIIRC someone ran some very limited Android builds. They supported the bare minimum of the hardware features. I wonder, though, why use Linux kernel? This feels like one of those 10-year projects that will never reach any semblance of a usable state because reverse engineering hardware enough to write drivers is quite an insurmountable task for a project that runs on sheer enthusiasm. Wouldn't it be much easier to use the original Darwin kernel with its 100% working drivers and port the Android userspace to run on top of it, including the .so loader and any necessary shims?
- lxgr 6y agoa-Shell [0] is missing from this list. It's a completely different approach from iSH (a couple of precompiled binaries and the capability to execute WASM/WASI "binaries", rather than userspace x86 and Linux syscall emulation) but complements it quite nicely in my experience. [0]: https://holzschu.github.io/a-Shell_iOS/ https://holzschu.github.io/a-Shell_iOS/
- kioleanu 6y agoI have an iPad mini on which I've forgotten the password and no longer have access to the E-mail address. I didn't steal it, I was using a work address. I no longer work there nor am I on friendly terms with them anymore so access to the e-mail address is out of the question. The ipad is now blocked. I would love to install linux on it just to get it working, but I can't find any way of unbricking it. I also don't know what to search for on Google. Do I have any chance with it?
- ThePowerOfFuet 6y agoIf the iPad was your property but you used an Apple ID associated to an email address you didn't control, and you forgot the password, you're out of luck. There is precisely one exception: if you have a copy of the original purchase receipt/invoice which shows the serial number, contact Apple Support and request that Activation Lock be disabled.
- kioleanu 6y agoI got the iPad from work when it was replaced after going out of service after 3 years. I had my apple account set on it, but initially it was activated with the work address. Now it's under "Activation lock" unless I input my old address and password. It says "This iPad is linked to an Apple ID. Enter the Apple ID and password used to set up this iPad" Obviously I don't have the receipt.
- ngcc_hk 6y agoTry vi and after escape cannot type q! May be why they said only Ed
- solaceb 6y agoWas surprised to learn people have booted Android on iPhone 7 successfully. Could others really build a full OS from the exploit?
- zepto 6y agoAndroid isn’t really what I’d call ‘Linux’ on the iPad. I’d be interested in running a real Linux on my old iPad hardware.
- pabs3 6y agoAndroid uses the Linux kernel too, if the Linux kernel can run on the iPad, it is probably relatively "easy" to switch to a different userspace. At minimum, one can run (for eg) Debian in a chroot on Android: https://wiki.debian.org/ChrootOnAndroid https://wiki.debian.org/ChrootOnAndroid
- Franciscouzo 6y agoI think you meant GNU/Linux instead of "real".
- zepto 6y agoAndroid is a real Linux in the same way that iOS is a real BSD Unix.
- damnyou 6y agoNo, I don't think that's true. Android is just Linux with an Android userland. Richard Stallman was quite correct to call it GNU/Linux, as much as I dislike the guy.
- zepto 6y agoiOS is just BSD/Mach with an iOS Userland. Here is the kernel: https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu
- damnyou 6y agoYes. it's accurate to describe iOS as iOS/Darwin, and macOS as macOS/Darwin. But "BSD" implies a BSD userland to most people, which macOS has but iOS doesn't.
- darig 6y agoThe title on the page is "Linux on iPad"
- OJFord 6y agoIt's just inviting 'GNU with Linux' jokes really, isn't it.
- sedatk 6y agoand the caption is “iPad Linux”.
- andybak 6y agoYes. Can someone fix this? I only clicked because I was puzzled. Was expecting something about emulating iOS on Linux.
- redvenom 6y agoI was thinking the title meant that I could sync an iPad with Linux...too bad. I was hoping that someone made it possible to sync music with the latest iOS.
- daniellarusso 6y agoWhat is a good tablet that can run Linux?
- mr_toad 6y agoNot a tablet exactly, but some Chromebooks can run a Linux VM.
- ddalex 6y agoa container, with all the things that this implies - no direct network hardware access, for example
- hedora 6y agoThis is what I’d buy: https://www.pine64.org/pinetab/ https://www.pine64.org/pinetab/ Haven’t used one. I like the pinebook pro.
- justinclift 6y agoIt's out of stock though. :(
- arsenalist 6y agoGoogle seems to be pushing for Linux on Chromebooks with Crostini and I was excited with the idea of having a tablet that can spin up Linux on the go when Lenovo launched the Ideapad Duet earlier this year. Unfortunately couldn't get one as it's not released in my region and it's running on a mid range Mediatek so it's nowhere close to iPad level performance.
- denysvitali 6y agoGoogle Pixel C: https://github.com/pixelc-linux/documentation https://github.com/pixelc-linux/documentation Disclaimer: I'm one of the authors
- dredmorbius 6y ago
- samdixon 6y agoSomething like this would be great. Linux running on an iPad pro would be a dream mobile setup.
- themodelplumber 6y agoI'd settle for Rockbox on older hardware...a full Linux setup would be amazing.
- simonmales 6y agoI was gifted an iDevice but sold it recently as Apple stopped supporting it. Having spent years bringing all PCs back to life with Linux all I could do was think what a waste of hardware! I agree totally with ipadlinux.org! > Obsolete iPads could be affordable personal computers and useful for project builds. We believe Linux is the key to bring new life to these devices. Looking forward!
- darren_ 6y agoThis is one place where apple’s ban on alternative browser engines really hurts users, IMO. I’d be pretty comfy using an old iPad that was out of security support, _if_ it had an up to date browser. But since browser engine updates are tied to OS, there’s no way for obsoleted iPads to keep being safely used as cheap browsing machines. in this sense it might even be possible that using an outdated android is safer, if you’re just browsing and you’ve got an up to date browser.
- Eric_WVGG 6y agoI’ve been hoping to see a project like this surface for vintage iPhones. Even devices going back to the iPhone 4S are absurdly fast in a way, great networking, would make fine brains for robots and all sorts of devices. It’s a pity that so many disappear from the world in one way or another.
- torgian 6y agoI actually still have a 5s that I barely used due to country zone restrictions at the time. It would be cool to unlock this and get this running on a Linux os
- judge2020 6y agoWhat iDevice? The iPad air 2 from 2014 is supported on iPadOS 14 [0] and iOS 14 goes back to the iPhone 6s from 2015 [1]. Even though older devices "aren't supported", Apple still might release an essential update for older iOS like they did with 13.7 [2], 12.4.9 [3], and 10.3.4/9.3.6[4]. 0: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-14/#content-toggle-spatial-audio:~:text=iPadOS%20is%20compatible%20with%20these%20devices https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-14/#content-toggle-spati... 1: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-14/#content-toggle-fast-loading:~:text=iOS%2014%20is%20compatible%20with%20these%20devices https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-14/#content-toggle-fast-loadin... 2: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210393#137 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210393#137 3: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211940 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211940 4: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210239 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210239
- amelius 6y agoWhat happens when Apple fixes the exploit? Perhaps they can even do it remotely. From this my only reaction is: why even bother with Apple hardware? You can't build on the brand, it's just a too unreliable path to take.
- aardvarkr 6y agoThis is using the Checkm8 exploit which takes advantage of an unfixable BootROM vulnerability that exists on all devices between iPhone 4s to the iPhone X. This includes all ipads and other iOS devices using Apple silicon from the same generation. https://checkm8.info/blog/checkra1n-jailbreak-exploit https://checkm8.info/blog/checkra1n-jailbreak-exploit
- just-ok 6y agoIf I recall correctly, the checkm8 exploit they use is a bootrom exploit, meaning it occurs at a low-enough level exploit that it can only be patched with new hardware. Every iOS version on vulnerable hardware will forever be exploitable. See “iDevice Compatibility” on this page: https://pangu8.com/jailbreak/checkm8/ https://pangu8.com/jailbreak/checkm8/
- djeiasbsbo 6y agoHi. Just letting you know, I think this is a shady website. Pangu was a hacking/jailbreaking team, this website has taken that name to lure in people who are looking for a jailbreak tool. They also have downloads and stuff available but obviously the official sources of such tools should be preferred!
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago> why even bother with Apple hardware? 1. It's nice hardware (slim, good build quality). 2. Linux often supports hardware well after official support ends, prolonging its usefulness and keeping more gear out of the landfill.
- amelius 6y agoGranted, if you already have the device, then 2 is a good reason. But buying a new such device doesn't sound like a good idea, even if the hardware is somewhat better. You'd be supporting Apple and this means that (if lots of people have this behavior) the competition falls even more behind. There might come a day when there will be no more exploits left on Apple hardware, and then we're stuck with the choice of going to the competition which might then be worse because of the shortsightedness in our purchasing behavior, or buying into Apple's walled garden. Making purchases based on marginally better products (following the gradient of quality) may be satisfying in the moment, but is not very wise on the long term.
- layoutIfNeeded 6y ago... or as I've recently taken to calling it, iPad plus Linux.
- jamesjguthrie 6y agoThrough that website I found the iSH app and it’s amazing. It’s an Alpine Linux shell in an x86 emulator and it’s on the App Store. I just installed gcc, Java, and Python on my iPad Pro. I can also install Ruby, PHP, etc. I can do most of my work now from my iPad without using Remote Desktop. Game changer. This app should be included on iPad Pro by default.
- jamesgeck0 6y agoiSH is very good, and it is Alpine, but it's not _quite_ Linux, if I understand correctly. Note that the output of `uname -a` reports a kernel version of `4.20.69-ish`.
- Rebelgecko 6y agoIs that a real version number or just a week+sex number joke?
- saagarjha 6y agoIt reimplements system calls at the moment; you can consider it to be similar to Wine or WSL1.
- jeromenerf 6y agoIt’s nice to have. As said in previous comments regarding ish releases, from TestFlight beta to the AppStore, it’s pretty slow compared to something more "native" like termed on android. I love that it can access files (your iCloud files for instance) from the system but mounting them within "Linux" with a simple "mount -t ios . /mnt". The other way is also possible, accessing is files from the files app.
- momokoko 6y agoI think this is an important reminder about what an extraordinary accident PCs were in their standardization and openness. It’s possible we took that for granted and assumed that openness was a given in personal computing. The reality is that most devices, from cars to refrigerators, to video games, to cameras, etc are closed and proprietary ecosystems. PCs, due to a few happy accidents, were one of the rare things that enabled a vibrant, free from restriction, 3rd party ecosystem in both hardware and software. Apple may be inadvertently teaching us all a lesson about not taking the things we currently enjoy for granted as they are often not guarantees in the future
- soperj 6y agoIt's interesting to think that if Apple had won the PC wars how closed everything would be.
- gnarbarian 6y agoIt's actually /why/ they never had a chance of winning.
- nojvek 6y agoWell they are winning with iPhones aren’t they?
- gnarbarian 6y agoNope. Android has more market share despite apple having the head start.
- agumonkey 6y agoIt's somehow easier to be a follower here, Apple set the trends for years, Android only had to replicate and sell cheaper.
- 6y ago