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Thread: re-purposing mobile devices with linux

  1. #1
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    Jun 2014
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    re-purposing mobile devices with linux

    I have both an Iphone 4s and an old 1st generation Motorola Android I'd like to re-purpose as mini linux tablets with wifi. Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this? If i can get the Iphone running linux, I've also got an old Ipod touch I would like to do the same thing with.... ideas?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    Western Australia
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    11,480
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    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: re-purposing mobile devices with linux

    Sorry, as far as I'm aware the only Linux you can really put onto phones is Ubuntu Touch. And that's only been ported to certain Android devices, not iPhones and definitely not really old Android phones.
    I try to treat the cause, not the symptom. I avoid the terminal in instructions, unless it's easier or necessary. My instructions will work within the Ubuntu system, instead of breaking or subverting it. Those are the three guarantees to the helpee.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    London, England
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    Hidden!
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    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: re-purposing mobile devices with linux

    You first need to identify the CPU and the GPU. Then you need to see if anyone has ported Linux to that CPU architecture and written drivers for those video adapters. In my opinion the best OS for those and similar devices is the OS that was built for those devices. The OS that is already on the devices. After all that OS was written with the cooperation of the hardware manufacturers. That is something that Linux developers would love but rarely get.

    The Apple Corporation has become massively rich due to the planned obsolescence of the products it sells. Google had to rebuild Linux as Android in order to get competitive devices on the market. Canonical is re-using bits of Android to get Ubuntu phones and tablets on the market. In both cases the cooperation of the Original Equipment Manufacturers was required. Likewise, with the Firefox OS phones and the Tizen phones. And it is all being done of newer hardware.
    It is a machine. It is more stupid than we are. It will not stop us from doing stupid things.
    Ubuntu user #33,200. Linux user #530,530


  4. #4
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    Aug 2014
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    Re: re-purposing mobile devices with linux

    Quote Originally Posted by grahammechanical View Post
    You first need to identify the CPU and the GPU. Then you need to see if anyone has ported Linux to that CPU architecture and written drivers for those video adapters. In my opinion the best OS for those and similar devices is the OS that was built for those devices. The OS that is already on the devices. After all that OS was written with the cooperation of the hardware manufacturers. That is something that Linux developers would love but rarely get.

    The Apple Corporation has become massively rich due to the planned obsolescence of the products it sells. Google had to rebuild Linux as Android in order to get competitive devices on the market. Canonical is re-using bits of Android to get Ubuntu phones and tablets on the market. In both cases the cooperation of the Original Equipment Manufacturers was required. Likewise, with the Firefox OS phones and the Tizen phones. And it is all being done of newer hardware.
    Would you have said that the best OS for desktops was the OS designed for the machine (i.e. Windows) pre Linux?
    I don't see the difference.

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