How bad it has been for me to have sold my iPad 4 several years ago when I started reading a new published in Ars Technica, and how calm I am when I read something more than the headline. The headline reads "Do you have an old iPad lying around? Could you make it run linux soon«, and immediately afterwards I thought of that iPad 4 that I could use to get Linux on a decent tablet (not like the PineTab, forgive me PINE64). I have been calmer to see what apple tablets are testing it.
Because the point is that there are some developers who are working to be able to install Linux on some iPads, more specifically those that use Apple's A7 and A8 chips. The 4 used the A6X, so it didn't work for me. Goodness. It was the first iPad Air that made the jump to the A7, the first of two that are currently supported. And it is that the developers are installing Linux on Apple tablets with A7 and A8 processor.
Linux on native iPad, nothing to do with Shell
So far, the closest we've come to having Linux on a Cupertino tablet has been Shell, that is, as a remote desktop that can be run on any device. Manjaro sold it as a possibility, to later give the complete information that had nothing to do with it.
But what this news is about is the work of Konrad Dybcio and quaack723, who have worked side by side to get the Linux 5.18 kernel to boot on an old iPad Air 2, the one that used the A8. The operating system that they intend to install is one based on Alpine Linux, the one known by many of us as postmarketOS. To make this possible, they have used an exploit called Checkm8, which is at the bootrom level, that is, it is a hardware failure that Apple could not cover even if it wanted to. This type of bug, the bootrom bug, is what made a jailbreak always possible on a device, no matter how much it was updated.
postmarketOS, the chosen system
The developers also say that it will be possible to install postmarket OS on any device with those processors, and the iPhone 5s and 6 and 6 Plus also use them.
All this is in its early stages, and I doubt that it is the best option right now. For example, him iPhone 5s It doesn't get OS updates anymore, but I know people who do and the apps still work perfectly. It will be when the apps start to stop working and when all this is more mature when a decision will have to be made. Or if we like Linux and we have one of these devices lying around, maybe it is a good idea. In any case, Linux never ceases to surprise us, and is capable of reaching even the most hidden nooks and crannies.
Image: Konrad Cybcio on Twitter.