How to install Linux on the iPhone

This is a guide on how to install Linux on the iPhone provided by the iPhone-dev team, follow carefully every step and enjoy your linux iPhone hacking….

These are utility binaries precompiled on Ubuntu 8.10. They require:

- libpthread
- libncurses
- libusb
- libreadline

INSTALLING OPENIBOOT
——————–

1. Put your iPhone in Recovery Mode
2. sudo ./loadibec openiboot-2g.img3
- Or -3g, -ipod, depending on your platform.
3. sudo ./oibc
4. nor_read 0×09000000 0×0 1048576
5. ~norbackup.dump:1048576
- This will create a file called norbackup.dump in your
current directory. GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE.
6. install
7. After ‘install’ has finished, type in: reboot.
8. You ought to see the openiboot menu.

BOOTING LINUX
————-

1. Use the Hold button to navigate the menu. Push the Home button
when openiboot client is selected.
2. sudo ./oibc
3. !zImage
4. kernel
5. !rootfs.arm.ext2.gz
6. ramdisk 3588
7. boot “console=tty console=ttyUSB root=/dev/ram0 rw”
8. sudo ./linux

You should now get a login prompt. Nothing that’s happening will show up on
the LCD automatically, but you can redirect it to the display with the
following command:

9. sh 2>&1 > /dev/tty0

Enjoy!

iPhone Linux Demonstration Video from planetbeing on Vimeo.