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There will be millions of no-longer-supported Apple units out there, it makes sense to give them a second life with Linux rather than throwing them in a landfil

There will be millions of no-longer-supported Apple units out there, it makes sense to give them a second life with Linux rather than throwing them in a landfill. And linux on it would not run Apple apps, it would run Firefox or Chromium.

rtpg 4y ago
So loads of people have testified that using old Androids as long term computing devices just doesn't work cuz the machines can't deal with being on all the time. I wonder if iPhones and the like are any different on this front. Would you be able to build up a little serve farm of these things?
- alistairSH 4y ago
  That's kind of weird, since phones are generally on all the time when being actively used. I guess it depends on what active/sleep "modes" are available - ie can Linux on Apple run processes with the screen asleep or whatever. As long as it's plugged in, it should be workable, maybe. But, in my mind, you wouldn't try to build a server farm out of 5+ year old iPads. Instead, you'd continue to use them as consumption devices. Read books, browse web, ie all the things most iPads are doing when new.
  - rtpg 4y ago
    I believe what people have said is that the components can’t handle continuous use (instead of basically idling on user input). Even when being in use for the most part these machines just are rendering some textures onto the screen and the cpu is not doing much
    - alistairSH 4y ago
      That wouldn't surprise me. Could still be fun for tinkering and light consumption.
    - newswasboring 4y ago
      Oh damn. That sort of explains why my phone gets super hot when I try to solve a project euler problems on it. I never thought about this.
    - zozbot234 4y ago
      > I believe what people have said is that the components can’t handle continuous use That could be worked around by using the existing Linux featureset to manage hardware utilization. Especially if CPU/GPU use turns out to be the main issue (as opposed to, e.g. powering the display and radio components).
- usrn 4y ago
  The Android userspace is absolutely god awful and makes those projects hard. This would be running straight GNU/Xorg/wayland.
woojoo666 4y ago
I think they are just saying if you buy an Apple device to install Linux on it, you are still supporting Apple (including their walled garden approach). Not to mention Apple is constantly fighting against these sorts of hacks so you'll always be playing mouse in their cat-and-mouse game
- tmikaeld 4y ago
  I'm all for open hardware, but objectively, it's either landfill or Linux, I'd rather see it come to use than become useless.
- jraph 4y ago
  I completely agree with this line of thinking. That would almost makes me against this kind of projects. However, thinking about the consequences completely flips the coin for me: - without these projects, Apple will still continue doing whatever they are doing - I don't expect many people to actually buy a new iThing because of these projects. Maybe they'd buy second hand iThings on which Linux is guaranteed to work. So Apple is not making new money with this - Yes, they may save some devices from the landfill - it might show Apple that yes, opening their devices a bit may actually increase their sales (but I would not count on it) If I ever need a tablet and these projects work out without too many drawbacks, I'd actually probably consider getting a second hand iPad and install Linux on it. At this point I'd rather avoid both Android and iOS. I'd probably look into Pine64's (and other such manufacturers) devices first though. I hope these projects will help save 2 old iPad 2 sleeping somewhere in my family. These otherwise perfectly capable devices are worthless now just because of one thing: the old version of Safari combined with the fact that Apple forbids browsers with alternative browser engines on these devices. That's so dumb. And I'd probably prefer using existing devices than buying new ones if possible. So, yes please, port Linux to the Apple devices!

rtpg 4y ago

So loads of people have testified that using old Androids as long term computing devices just doesn't work cuz the machines can't deal with being on all the time. I wonder if iPhones and the like are any different on this front. Would you be able to build up a little serve farm of these things?

alistairSH 4y ago
That's kind of weird, since phones are generally on all the time when being actively used. I guess it depends on what active/sleep "modes" are available - ie can Linux on Apple run processes with the screen asleep or whatever. As long as it's plugged in, it should be workable, maybe. But, in my mind, you wouldn't try to build a server farm out of 5+ year old iPads. Instead, you'd continue to use them as consumption devices. Read books, browse web, ie all the things most iPads are doing when new.
- rtpg 4y ago
  I believe what people have said is that the components can’t handle continuous use (instead of basically idling on user input). Even when being in use for the most part these machines just are rendering some textures onto the screen and the cpu is not doing much
  - alistairSH 4y ago
    That wouldn't surprise me. Could still be fun for tinkering and light consumption.
  - newswasboring 4y ago
    Oh damn. That sort of explains why my phone gets super hot when I try to solve a project euler problems on it. I never thought about this.
  - zozbot234 4y ago
    > I believe what people have said is that the components can’t handle continuous use That could be worked around by using the existing Linux featureset to manage hardware utilization. Especially if CPU/GPU use turns out to be the main issue (as opposed to, e.g. powering the display and radio components).
usrn 4y ago
The Android userspace is absolutely god awful and makes those projects hard. This would be running straight GNU/Xorg/wayland.

woojoo666 4y ago

I think they are just saying if you buy an Apple device to install Linux on it, you are still supporting Apple (including their walled garden approach). Not to mention Apple is constantly fighting against these sorts of hacks so you'll always be playing mouse in their cat-and-mouse game

tmikaeld 4y ago
I'm all for open hardware, but objectively, it's either landfill or Linux, I'd rather see it come to use than become useless.
jraph 4y ago
I completely agree with this line of thinking. That would almost makes me against this kind of projects. However, thinking about the consequences completely flips the coin for me: - without these projects, Apple will still continue doing whatever they are doing - I don't expect many people to actually buy a new iThing because of these projects. Maybe they'd buy second hand iThings on which Linux is guaranteed to work. So Apple is not making new money with this - Yes, they may save some devices from the landfill - it might show Apple that yes, opening their devices a bit may actually increase their sales (but I would not count on it) If I ever need a tablet and these projects work out without too many drawbacks, I'd actually probably consider getting a second hand iPad and install Linux on it. At this point I'd rather avoid both Android and iOS. I'd probably look into Pine64's (and other such manufacturers) devices first though. I hope these projects will help save 2 old iPad 2 sleeping somewhere in my family. These otherwise perfectly capable devices are worthless now just because of one thing: the old version of Safari combined with the fact that Apple forbids browsers with alternative browser engines on these devices. That's so dumb. And I'd probably prefer using existing devices than buying new ones if possible. So, yes please, port Linux to the Apple devices!