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Linux finally ported to iPhone!

linuxoniphone.blogspot.com — Many months after the beginning of the project, enough of the iPhone's low-level hardware interface has been reverse engineered to get the linux kernel up and running. A video of it is linked from the article, and obviously, all source code is available.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 29, 2008

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  • Armor1901, on 11/29/2008, -18/+341I showed this to my girlfriend. Her response was "Why?"

    I left her.
  • whataboutdave, on 11/28/2008, -9/+161So they have everything working except the wireless and the touchscreen. Right...

    In all seriousness, though, good luck to all involved.
  • Alfarin, on 11/28/2008, -7/+149Great news. Major props to the dev team!
  • AboveandBeyond, on 11/29/2008, -26/+125What we don't have (yet!):

    - Write support for the NAND
    - Wireless networking
    - Touchscreen
    - Sound
    - Accelerometer
    - Baseband support

    ---------

    So just like linux then huh?
  • EVILTHETURTLE, on 11/29/2008, -10/+108Your girlfriend seems to have infinite wisdom.
  • ridd1e, on 11/29/2008, -3/+85Mad skills. I can only imagine what will be available if the dev team successfuly reverse-engineer the rest of the hardware. And Android for the iPhone? This is some serious *****.

    So the question is… is Apple going to strengthen its efforts in fighting the jailbreak community? Hacking iPhone to support it in other countries is one thing, adding some harmless applications is another, but changing almost every piece of software and practically rebuilding the whole thing? I don’t think they want that to happen.
  • Icebird, on 11/28/2008, -6/+85Wow, that sure came out of nowhere!
  • handheldchimp, on 11/29/2008, -2/+62Guys, I think I found the Grand Master of Poor Choices!
  • chequeredmaniac, on 11/29/2008, -10/+66Could this be on Diggnation Next Friday???? Kevin, Alex, I'm talkin' to you.
  • Astark, on 11/29/2008, -3/+59THE ULTIMATE FANBOY VORTEX HAS BEEN ACHIEVED!
  • LucasVB, on 11/29/2008, -0/+51Dude, you better put that hand on some ice and rush to the hospital.
  • soccernamlak, on 11/29/2008, -3/+52Today: Linux finally ported to iPhone!
    Tomorrow: Apple iPhone Security Update 11-29-08
  • handheldchimp, on 11/29/2008, -1/+45Guys...I'd hate to say it, but I think this is the only way we'll be seeing Flash on the iPhone...
  • inactive, on 11/29/2008, -2/+35Hey hey hey hey hey!


    Linux usually has write support for NAND!
  • epiphonegibson, on 11/29/2008, -1/+34Lemme tell ya, I'm all for this open source jazz and linux and all that, but seriously, what can linux on an iphone do for me that a jailbroken iphone can't? Once again, people buy the iPhone for it's nice interface and ease of use... Linux tends to have hard to understand interfaces and not alot of help involved.. Nice for a toy, but like most linux distros, will not appeal to the masses...
    Is there anything Linux WON'T run on??
  • robsonde, on 11/29/2008, -4/+37I have no problems with putting linux on every toy you can but......

    the iphone runs BSD, do we realy need to put linux on it??

  • timdorr, on 11/28/2008, -10/+40Kick ass! The amount of work that must have gone into that is crazy.

    I wonder how many bricked phones the iphone-dev team has laying around from all their antics? :D
  • GeckoSlayer, on 11/29/2008, -4/+29Hey! Windows doesn't support any of them either on the iphone!
  • DigitalisAkujin, on 11/29/2008, -0/+24Now that you can just download the OS and run it, it's much easier for programmers that know how to write drivers to get to work without having to figure out how to boot the kernel first.
  • Myztry, on 11/29/2008, -1/+25Doesn't really matter what they want to happen.
    Modification of IP is one thing. Replacement is a totally different matter.
    The physical phone is sold. You can eat ice cream with it if you wish, and there isn't a darn thing that can be done about it.
  • MCA2142, on 11/29/2008, -1/+24slow down neo. It doesn't even support audio yet.
  • junkneo, on 11/29/2008, -4/+26iPhone + Linux = myPhone.
    Freedom at last.
  • netneutrality, on 11/29/2008, -1/+22It's not meant to appeal to the masses. It's for the challenge, and the power of having a full terminal and potentially desktop apps running on it. Speaking as a geek, it sounds incredibly cool.
  • SmilinJoe, on 11/29/2008, -2/+21I would be VERY interesting to see Android in the iPhone / iPod; I would go out and buy another iPod Touch just to play with it.

  • NinjaPig, on 11/29/2008, -7/+25Oh here we go. Its time TO KICK SOME ASS.
  • TSSaloic, on 11/29/2008, -3/+20Low Blow.
  • zwaldowski, on 11/29/2008, -0/+17etruscan: Um, hey, the point is to get those things to work... it's not like they're refusing to work on it.
  • mlavergn, on 11/29/2008, -1/+18The answer is simple, it's "because it can be done". Anyhow, I don't think Apple has released the iPhone BSD port sources yet, I might be wrong, so this is the first "open" OS for the iPhone in that sense. The boot loader they wrote is particularly cool, and this might be the first dual boot mobile device as well.



  • virtualball, on 11/28/2008, -8/+25I'm sorry, but really? That comment is basically the title rearranged...
  • jfb392, on 11/29/2008, -0/+17This relies on the DFU exploit, which is part of the bootrom.
    It will forever exist in the 1G iPod touch, iPhone 2G, and iPhone 3G and no software update can change that.
  • kris33, on 11/29/2008, -0/+16http://linuxoniphone.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-ipho ...
  • UpperUpsilon, on 11/29/2008, -4/+18That's what she said.
  • waluigi14, on 11/29/2008, -1/+14TO PAINT FLAMES ON IT!
  • Ellipsys, on 11/29/2008, -3/+16In the event they manage to get something rockbox-esc or Android up and running on it, maybe I'll finally be able manage my media via copy-paste, with Amarok, any software I wish, or no software at all. How about additional codec support, so I can use my FLACs and MKV encoded videos? Currently, I can't do this on my iPhone. Right now, the iPhone is only easy to use if you use it exactly the way "His Holiness Steve Jobs" wants you to. I don't like being told what to do with my hardware, and I don't like software that locks me down into "The Fair, Just, and Right Apple Way".
  • battletops, on 11/29/2008, -3/+16Now, dual-booting Android and iPhone OS would be great!
  • KirbyMeister, on 11/29/2008, -2/+13Android on iPhone would be the ultimate slap-in-the-nuts for Apple.

    ***** do it.
  • MCA2142, on 11/29/2008, -2/+13Shout me her number.
  • deepleet, on 11/29/2008, -1/+12Can it copy and paste?
  • DuMbGuM, on 11/29/2008, -3/+14No ***** Sherlock.
  • TommyTikal, on 11/29/2008, -0/+10That's democratic news for ya...

    It's awesome. :)
  • inactive, on 11/29/2008, -0/+10Says the lonely lonely man.
  • waluigi14, on 11/29/2008, -0/+10The iPhone doesn't get automatic security updates. All updates are manual (you have to click a button in iTunes).
  • ZincSaucier, on 11/29/2008, -1/+10shes a keeper if she didn't leave you when you showed her a video of linux on iphone
  • mrsteveman1, on 11/29/2008, -0/+9Other than the 2g touch they can't do much at this point. There is a hardware vulnerability they can't easily fix, and once you load some other OS on the thing Apple has little say in the matter.
  • zakatov, on 11/29/2008, -0/+9You know that the first-gen iPod can dual boot linux and the original OS, right?
  • netneutrality, on 11/29/2008, -0/+8That's not hardware. That's like asking if an all-terrain vehicle can drive around on top of another car.
  • inactive, on 11/29/2008, -1/+9and sound.
  • LukeBeaumont, on 11/29/2008, -3/+11Even though it looks pretty primitive with missing drivers and just a terminal, I guess now that the community has seen it a lot more people might jump on board now. Has a lot more potential than the iPhone OS anyway.
  • CyberSteve, on 11/29/2008, -17/+25Android for the iPhone would be amazing!
  • jermm, on 11/29/2008, -1/+9You can always put it into restore mode by holding both buttons on startup. I don't think you can completely kill an iPhone unless you use a hammer.
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