7 ms·

How cool would it be if the iPhone got a pro variant running the M1 chip, someone unlocked the bootloader and installed Linux on it. Plug it into a thunderbolt

How cool would it be if the iPhone got a pro variant running the M1 chip, someone unlocked the bootloader and installed Linux on it. Plug it into a thunderbolt dock and you have a full Linux desktop.

Teledhil 6y ago
The A14 is basically a M1 with less CPU and GPU cores, so I guess most of the work done for supporting the M1 on Linux could be reused for the A14.
vetinari 6y ago
In the past (pre-Android 10), you could do that with Samsung Galaxy phones - plug them into USB-C dock, launch Linux-on-Dex and you got Linux desktop.
- goffi 6y ago
  you can do that right now with a PinePhone.
  - apatheticonion 6y ago
    Wait... What?! EDIT: ah, sadly looks like it's not something that's daily drive-able https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKMxzz9cjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKMxzz9cjs
    - goffi 6y ago
      you can get a convergence pack with more RAM (3GB) and storage and with a USB-C docking bar (that you can also buy separately). Once plugged, you have a desktop GNU/Linux, I've tested with Plasma Mobile and it's working quite well (got a few crashes, but it's not flagged as fully stable yet).
    - josteink 6y ago
      The software is OKish and getting better at a steady rate. The SOC in the PinePhone is nowhere near beefy enough though. Running the same stack on an M1-chip would probably a game changer usability-wise.
- PeterisP 6y ago
  What changed with Android 10?
  - Liquid_Fire 6y ago
    Samsung discontinued support for Linux-on-DeX (which was always experimental/beta anyway). I assume whatever hacks they had in place to make the thing work were too hard to port to Android 10 for what was essentially a feature for hobbyists. You can still use DeX itself to get a desktop environment when you plug your phone into a dock, but it's an Android desktop environment, with Android apps running in floating windows.
  - vetinari 6y ago
    Linux on Dex (ubuntu in container) was abandoned and cannot be launched anymore. Dex itself works, but that is just an Android desktop.
- randallsquared 6y ago
  Still works with my Samsung on Android 11. ETA: actually, still an android interface, not X or anything.
  - vetinari 6y ago
    That's why I wrote Linux-on-Dex, not Dex. Dex itself works, Linux-on-Dex doesn't anymore. Linux-on-Dex was Ubuntu container with X11.
- zibzab 6y ago
  Can do that already: * Termux on any android * dex on highend Samsung * moto has something similar * chromeos also has a built-in VM
  - apatheticonion 6y ago
    This is pretty cool. I could host my development environment on my desktop PC and using Termux, ssh into it and use vim as an IDE. I can also forward ports so I can access things from my browser, though no debug, console, network tooling. There is an obvious lack of tooling - a full fat Linux desktop would be much better equipped, but it is incredible that this is possible at all. I'll experiment with this.
  - awoimbee 6y ago
    The AnLinux app is great to setup a linux rootfs on linux. But it's limited, you can't run docker for example. I would love to recycle old phones into Kubernetes nodes !
mhh__ 6y ago
I think the probability of Apple allowing that is pretty slim.
protoman3000 6y ago
That really is the dream, but the natural data barrier between phone and desktop is very useful too. I wouldn’t install some npm package on such a Linux iPhone device.
k_bx 6y ago
What would be cool is if apps (like Uber etc) were all available on web and many people would actually be ok with a simple Linux-with-a-browser phone
- millerm 6y ago
  That’s exactly what Firefox OS was. It didn’t work… at the time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS
- apatheticonion 6y ago
  I very much agree with you. It would be amazing. We even have the ".app" domain extension. Apple don't like the idea but I think it's great.
  - easton 6y ago
    Apple likes the idea fine, they just don’t want every website in the universe being able to send notifications to a user’s device. I don’t understand why people don’t see why that’s a bad idea.
    - apatheticonion 6y ago
      It's more about bridging the gap between mobile and web. Installable web apps that have as much access to the OS as a native app (through user-initiated consent) is a great direction to move towards. The browser can now run any language through web assembly, threads and all. The HTML/CSS layer is just a portable, expressive markup for visual assets. I made a fitness goal tracking web app that worked completely offline. If you've used "strong" on android, it's basically a free clone that. It stored all the records on the browser via indexeddb and the timer would ping you with a push notification when the rest timer would expire. iOS erases the persisted storage after 7 days and doesn't let me use push notifications. I'd love it if iOS asked "hey this web app wants to store data long term" or whatever, but it doesn't.
      - 6y ago
propertymagnate 6y ago
The pinephone does this, they call it "convergence". https://twitter.com/hadrianweb/status/1384548445579583489 https://twitter.com/hadrianweb/status/1384548445579583489 https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-convergence-package-linux-smartphone-open-for-preorder-soon/?v=0446c16e2e66 https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-conve... (be aware the pinephone software is still very much in beta, also sorry I couldn't find a better link then a few tweets)
- Bancakes 6y ago
  Does the pine phone still run at 5FPS and barely run youtube videos?
  - kop316 6y ago
    ...no? Maybe that was the case when it first came out, but that hasn't been the case for a while.
    - Bancakes 6y ago
      I'd love to be filled in. I saw some videos of Manjaro which was dreadful (latest version). Ubuntu seemed to run fine until you do something performance intensive (for 2005 standards).
      - kop316 6y ago
        I'd advise you to look at the blogs of Pine64, PostmarketOS, and/or some of the other distros.
  - fsflover 6y ago
    If you need more performance, consider Librem 5 instead.
  - matsemann 6y ago
    What a loaded question.
madeofpalk 6y ago
Samsung Dex, Motorola Ready For, and I'm sure there's others. Many have tried this before, "no one" is interested in it.
thathndude 6y ago
This has been the dream for so long. Computer in your pocket. Dock at a desktop. Same computer. Ubiquitous
- MuffinFlavored 6y ago
  I'm sure you know this but: "Computer in some far away server. Dock at a local thin client. Connect to VDI via VNC or RDP or comparable."
alfonsodev 6y ago
Maybe Apple can do this themselves by creating a partition in iPhone that contains iPad OS, and releasing an Apple Cinema touch screen, like the Wacom screen, I guess only make sense for them if the profits of people buying the touch screen would be bigger than people buying current devices, iPhone, iPad and current screen.

How cool would it be if the iPhone got a pro variant running the M1 chip, someone unlocked the bootloader and installed Linux on it. Plug it into a thunderbolt dock and you have a full Linux desktop.

Teledhil 6y ago

The A14 is basically a M1 with less CPU and GPU cores, so I guess most of the work done for supporting the M1 on Linux could be reused for the A14.

vetinari 6y ago

In the past (pre-Android 10), you could do that with Samsung Galaxy phones - plug them into USB-C dock, launch Linux-on-Dex and you got Linux desktop.

goffi 6y ago
you can do that right now with a PinePhone.
- apatheticonion 6y ago
  Wait... What?! EDIT: ah, sadly looks like it's not something that's daily drive-able https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKMxzz9cjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKMxzz9cjs
  - goffi 6y ago
    you can get a convergence pack with more RAM (3GB) and storage and with a USB-C docking bar (that you can also buy separately). Once plugged, you have a desktop GNU/Linux, I've tested with Plasma Mobile and it's working quite well (got a few crashes, but it's not flagged as fully stable yet).
  - josteink 6y ago
    The software is OKish and getting better at a steady rate. The SOC in the PinePhone is nowhere near beefy enough though. Running the same stack on an M1-chip would probably a game changer usability-wise.
PeterisP 6y ago
What changed with Android 10?
- Liquid_Fire 6y ago
  Samsung discontinued support for Linux-on-DeX (which was always experimental/beta anyway). I assume whatever hacks they had in place to make the thing work were too hard to port to Android 10 for what was essentially a feature for hobbyists. You can still use DeX itself to get a desktop environment when you plug your phone into a dock, but it's an Android desktop environment, with Android apps running in floating windows.
- vetinari 6y ago
  Linux on Dex (ubuntu in container) was abandoned and cannot be launched anymore. Dex itself works, but that is just an Android desktop.
randallsquared 6y ago
Still works with my Samsung on Android 11. ETA: actually, still an android interface, not X or anything.
- vetinari 6y ago
  That's why I wrote Linux-on-Dex, not Dex. Dex itself works, Linux-on-Dex doesn't anymore. Linux-on-Dex was Ubuntu container with X11.
zibzab 6y ago
Can do that already: * Termux on any android * dex on highend Samsung * moto has something similar * chromeos also has a built-in VM
- apatheticonion 6y ago
  This is pretty cool. I could host my development environment on my desktop PC and using Termux, ssh into it and use vim as an IDE. I can also forward ports so I can access things from my browser, though no debug, console, network tooling. There is an obvious lack of tooling - a full fat Linux desktop would be much better equipped, but it is incredible that this is possible at all. I'll experiment with this.
- awoimbee 6y ago
  The AnLinux app is great to setup a linux rootfs on linux. But it's limited, you can't run docker for example. I would love to recycle old phones into Kubernetes nodes !

mhh__ 6y ago

I think the probability of Apple allowing that is pretty slim.

protoman3000 6y ago

That really is the dream, but the natural data barrier between phone and desktop is very useful too. I wouldn’t install some npm package on such a Linux iPhone device.

k_bx 6y ago

What would be cool is if apps (like Uber etc) were all available on web and many people would actually be ok with a simple Linux-with-a-browser phone

millerm 6y ago
That’s exactly what Firefox OS was. It didn’t work… at the time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS
apatheticonion 6y ago
I very much agree with you. It would be amazing. We even have the ".app" domain extension. Apple don't like the idea but I think it's great.
- easton 6y ago
  Apple likes the idea fine, they just don’t want every website in the universe being able to send notifications to a user’s device. I don’t understand why people don’t see why that’s a bad idea.
  - apatheticonion 6y ago
    It's more about bridging the gap between mobile and web. Installable web apps that have as much access to the OS as a native app (through user-initiated consent) is a great direction to move towards. The browser can now run any language through web assembly, threads and all. The HTML/CSS layer is just a portable, expressive markup for visual assets. I made a fitness goal tracking web app that worked completely offline. If you've used "strong" on android, it's basically a free clone that. It stored all the records on the browser via indexeddb and the timer would ping you with a push notification when the rest timer would expire. iOS erases the persisted storage after 7 days and doesn't let me use push notifications. I'd love it if iOS asked "hey this web app wants to store data long term" or whatever, but it doesn't.
    - 6y ago

propertymagnate 6y ago

The pinephone does this, they call it "convergence". https://twitter.com/hadrianweb/status/1384548445579583489 https://twitter.com/hadrianweb/status/1384548445579583489 https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-convergence-package-linux-smartphone-open-for-preorder-soon/?v=0446c16e2e66 https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-conve... (be aware the pinephone software is still very much in beta, also sorry I couldn't find a better link then a few tweets)

Bancakes 6y ago
Does the pine phone still run at 5FPS and barely run youtube videos?
- kop316 6y ago
  ...no? Maybe that was the case when it first came out, but that hasn't been the case for a while.
  - Bancakes 6y ago
    I'd love to be filled in. I saw some videos of Manjaro which was dreadful (latest version). Ubuntu seemed to run fine until you do something performance intensive (for 2005 standards).
    - kop316 6y ago
      I'd advise you to look at the blogs of Pine64, PostmarketOS, and/or some of the other distros.
- fsflover 6y ago
  If you need more performance, consider Librem 5 instead.
- matsemann 6y ago
  What a loaded question.

madeofpalk 6y ago

Samsung Dex, Motorola Ready For, and I'm sure there's others. Many have tried this before, "no one" is interested in it.

thathndude 6y ago

This has been the dream for so long. Computer in your pocket. Dock at a desktop. Same computer. Ubiquitous

MuffinFlavored 6y ago
I'm sure you know this but: "Computer in some far away server. Dock at a local thin client. Connect to VDI via VNC or RDP or comparable."

alfonsodev 6y ago

Maybe Apple can do this themselves by creating a partition in iPhone that contains iPad OS, and releasing an Apple Cinema touch screen, like the Wacom screen, I guess only make sense for them if the profits of people buying the touch screen would be bigger than people buying current devices, iPhone, iPad and current screen.