Linux hits the iPhone!
By Nilay Patel 
posted Nov 28th 2008 7:04PM
posted Nov 28th 2008 7:04PM
[Via iphone-dev.org; thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Nov 28th 2008 7:04PM
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I see a jump in iPhone sales in the near future.
Oh wait, then again, the economy.
The iPhone is the number one selling american phone - surpassing the V3 Razr.
I argue that the RAZR's sales only exploded AFTER the RAZR hit Verizon. If there was a CDMA iPhone available on Verizon and Sprint as well as AT&T and Tmobile, the iPhone's sales would be unstoppable.
I have never been a lover of apple, but I can't argue that many of their business strategies are flawed, yet successful. I was showing my iPhone off to my uncle who was so happy about buying a new Nokia 6590 (i think) and when he saw everything it could do he was awed... he didn't even have wifi so he was shocked to see a browser and a screen like iPhone's which could handle goodle maps, web browsing and youtube.
Now he wants one.
But fortunately, Apple's best strategy was treating the iPod Touch and iPhone as the same platform so you can do basically everything you could do on the phone on the ipod minus the cellular data services. If he keeps his crappy phone, he can still get an ipod and have just as much as I do. And that's a good thing.
Personally, i will more than likely never buy an iPhone as long as its locked down by app store and at&t contracts, BUT, the ipod touch is different.
Give me a good version of linux minus iPhone under clocking and full touch support and we are in business!
@Ray
Why would you buy an iPhone for the sole purpose of running Linux? The iPhone OS is a huge part of what makes it unique.
I hope I win :)
I'll use that.
You want Linux on iPhone?
Why? Please don't say "because I can"...
I'm not going to bother until it's a full Ubuntu Mobile or Android port.
These are just the first steps; this news, directly speaking, means nothing for normal people.
I am using it! So happy this has happened finally, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
If anyone wants to give it a go, my guide is tried and tested (mirror included):
http://www.simonjoelrichards.co.uk/2008/11/29/guide-installing-iphoneipod-touch-linux/
test
test FAILed...
OMG cries
Yay, do android next.
what's the point of all this, the hardware on the iphone isn't super unique, its the combination of good hardware and good software, I'd say its better use getting linux on phones that need it more
@JohnTitor,
That's true, but the thing about it that is cool is that no other phone will be able to run Mobile OS X as well as Android (theoretically). Logically thinking, other phones with crappy OSes need this more. But people that are into doing stuff like this that own an iPhone are far more likely to think it's TOTALLY awesome, far more likely to use it, and far more likely not to take it for granted that its possible.
Also, most phones don't have a MULTI-touch screen (and some of the sensors are fairly unique too, but, more so, they are just pretty high quality and very accurate) . I'd really like to see Android be able to take advantage of them. The best way to compare the OSes is to run them on the EXACT same hardware. Android on iPhone would likely help to boost Android's name and push it right up to the top with WinMo and Mobile OS X. These will be the three major competitors in the next few years for mobile devices of all kinds, not just smart phones.
Android is the real hack. They should be focusing there and there only.
@dg - Those other "crappy OS's" have been able to run linux and android for ages now already. They also have all of the functionality of the iphone, thousands more apps, the ability to multi-task, the ability to do simple things like "cut and paste", and don't require the phone to be "hacked" to use most of these features.
3 words:
Blackberry
Sidekick
Prada.
Sure, the BB and Sidekick are keyboard devices, but I'd love to have anything but their default oses installed. Closed proprietary phones, of any stature, need to be freed!
Open source might finally give us copy and paste...maybe even MMS?
""i" hope so,"
You logged in to your wrong account! You only do that on your clak account!
Once more progress is made here im sure that alot of people will be using this. I for one would be really excited to see android ported over and would pay money to use it ;) Good business idea anyone?
Yes! Now I can finally.............um....wait....what does linux do thats awesome?
Koules!
It works & gives you access to the hardware you buy.
thats what i wanna know >.
The only amazing thing about linux is, it can do ANYTHING.
You are only limited by developers imagination.
What does it do that's awesome? Oh, my young naive friend. What's that you say? You want an OS that is as cool as OSX, but isn't OSX, because you hate Apple? You want an OS that has dozens of variants, each one impossibly confusing to update? Oh yes, it's awesome if you want to spend half the day digging through install packages trying to install those hairy applications, like Java.(!).
Wait, you say, that doesn't sound so good! Tsk, but my friend, it's FREE!!! And Steve Jobs didn't tell anyone how to make it!
On a sidenote, what are the G1 Mac haters gonna do now? I guess blow smoke about "Flash might be coming to Android!!!". (Or is the copy and paste thing that's their mantra?). Most are still trying to get some mileage off of the "Mac's use one button on their mice!!! Yuck yuck yuck....". Maybe MMS and cut & paste will be the new one button mouse?
Linux .. you want copy and paste wiv that? sure no problem!
"you want copy and paste wiv that? sure no problem!"
yeah. but i also get an entirely new OS... with as much as it has going for it... is still essentially a hobbyist OS.
if i wanted copy/paste sooooooooo bad... i'd jailbreak it and do it that way. not install an entirely new completely different OS. don't be ridiculous.
that said. i have wanted copy/paste entirely once so far. and it was an app that didn't have all the data detectors working for some reason. not really an Apple problem there anyway.
background notifications (like promised) are about a million times more important to me than this annoying "copy/paste" meme from folk i doubt even own an iPhone.
ssh
"You are only limited by developers imagination. "
What's the point when there is only eight of them living in their mums' basements.
You don't need Linux to do anything if you have a good assembly programmer.
Weel on the user side : you choose the apps that you use.
If they succeed in a real portage of Linux onto the iPhone you'll have access to tens of thousands of application (and I'm not talking about "apps" you can find on the app store which I'm sorry to say so are JOKES)
I'm talking about real C/C++ based apps that are not "3rd party" to the OS but are considered equally and therefore have acces to all the API and therefore can be competitive with the one that are preinstalled.
The only reasons people love safari so much is because they never could experiment a competitive alternative on the iPhone..
I'm pretty sure that if they could try Opera Mobile onto the iPhone they would change their mind.
It's all about this and always has been with Apple, you get something done prefectly (here it's the touchscreen interface) and then you pack tens of crapware with it and pretend their genius !
No they are not I'm sorry, safari isn't quite as good as Opera Mobile right now, but as safari is the only web browser available on the iPhone, and the iPhone has the best touchscreen drivers ever, nothing can compare to safari+iPhone.
I'm just saying : iPhone+safari >> WM HTC + Opera Mobile but this is because of the touchscreen drivers that are better on OS X
If you put Opera Mobile onto the iPhone it kicks safari's ass.
Oh and one more thing : you install linux then you can whatever you want on your iPhone, from .flv to .flac and .ogg or .mkv.
You forget about another crapware : itunes.
I hope this becomes a decent replacement for the standard iPhone OS. Much like rockbox did for the ipod but hopefully without the battery issues.
The OS on most apple products seems to be dumbed down and restrictive - thats their whole philosophy but if they know whats good for them they won't go out of their way to make the iPhone refuse to load this OS. I never understood some company's obsession with controlling *how* you use their device and what software you load on it, what do they care after they have sold it?
The OS is what makes the iPhone! Without its pretty interface and being so user friendly no one would buy it.. It would just be a big touchscreen bleh.. I have to admit the iDea of running a different OS on my iPhone is intriguing though....
People should work on getting the iPhone OS to run on the storm and all those Win Mobile devices.. Then you would have something to talk about..
In many cases control is used to generate more money, among other reasons. For example, with a closed platform you have to pay to buy applications if you want certain functionality. I'm sure Apple sees a percentage of the money you pay to buy an app. If it was an open platform people would (hopefully) develop free software that is as good as their pay-to-use counterparts.
Other reasons could include controlling the experience they identify as Apple. Controlling errors so that there are less tech help phone calls.
jc: Not all people like the Apple OS. I think the Iphone and Ipod Touch are great pieces of hardware but I won't buy one because I don't like the software, the restriction that I have to load my stuff via Itunes, and of course the price. If this worked really well on the Touch, or if Rockbox was ported to it, I would be much more inclined to buy one.
It's all about $. Controlling what is loaded on the phone helps them keep their revenue stream coming (e,g, Itunes). Thats why Flash won't work, it's considered an OS.
I find the iPhone software to be superb. It's what makes the phone great. Everything is designed just for that hardware, so the interface is fast and fluid, and actually works with a touch screen.
Also, loading things up through iTunes is hardly restrictive:
* It syncs your calendars and contacts from your native system (iCal, Address Book or MS Entourage on Mac, Outlook 03/07 on Windows)
* It takes FairPlay or non-DRMed songs
I hate people thinking that just because it happens through iTunes, it's by nature restrictive. It's not. You can choose to import your own DRM-free MP3s or rip your own CDs. You don't have to buy FairPlay songs.
Oh, and it's worth noting that FairPlay is still the more liberal than WMP10/11 DRM. FairPlay gives you unlimited CD burning and unlimited syncs to unlimited supported devices (i.e. iPods, iPhones). Microsoft DRM gives you two CD burns and syncing on two devices five times per month. See: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/drm.mspx
Well, iTunes is more restrictive than -I- want it to be. No file view. It kills me that you can only search with artist or album or genre. I want music organized how my hard drive is organized. No FLAC support. I like having lossless audio, and I don't like Apple's variety. Above that, I don't like being locked into one media player for syncing.
So, right now I'm using rockbox in my old iPod.
KarlW, don't forget that iTunes is real slow on Windows and non-existent on Linux.
@KA: At least it exists on multiple platforms. Windows Mobile can't boast that, and Android has no first-party desktop sync whatsoever.
Whilst the lack of iTunes on linux is a bit silly, I'm quite happy having a free first-party sync solution that exists for the two most widely used desktop operating systems.
@bot: Just to clarify, Apple takes 30% of for-pay apps and 100% of free apps (that is, it's free to publish free apps, which is very cool :) ) This is a lot less than the usual rates for Java ME app publishers.
@Dankoozy: ... which highlights one of the very problems free software often encounters on really hard problems; if the problems *can* be ignored, they are, because it's just too much of a time investment to fix 'em. Power management on laptops with Linux is horrible and has always been, yet it's pretty essential. It's even more essential on a mobile device, so I don't get how you can use an iPod without it.
Why? I respect the guys that do this sort of thing but whats the point?
To give you more choice in how you use your iPhone.
The same reason any adventure does anything.
Because it's there.
because whats the point of a gadget if they don't have linux on it! who cares if it even works right!
Now instead of complaining about Apple blocking apps, people can just reboot their phone into an OS that lets them do whatever the frick they want.
That's the point.
What are you talking about, ethana2? There's no way people will ever stop complaining about Apple.
All the iPhone needs now is a tuxedo
Alright, now let's get the 3G crack done.