Debian Linux on Apple tablet

[Nathan Morrison]

Hi, I've read through a few threads that are older on this topic, and since it's almost 2019 and since those threads are long closed, would like to revisit this topic to see if anyone has had any luck installing a Debian os (preferably Ubuntu 16lts or similar) on an apple tablet.

ive read responses that state this is impossible for 2 reasons, but sorry, I'm not getting it, these reasons don't make sense from a hardware perspective.

Reason 1 - it's an ARM based processor so it won't take Linux... - sorry, I own several flavors of Raspberry Pi and they are all ARM and all run Raspbian and Pixel (both of which I believe are Debian based)

Reason 2 - it's a 64 bit processor on newer iPads and won't take Linux... -sorry, but that makes zero sense too. I'm running Ubuntu 16 lts on 3 64 bit laptops...

Also of note, IOS is Linux, just proprietary Apple developed Linux. Simply don't get why this wouldn't work.

i totally get that the touch functions might not work well, and that drivers may be missing, but that shouldn't prevent one from installing the OS and going full sandbox on an old device (like an iPad mini2).

is this just a matter of Apple locking their firmware too well for anyone to crack? So confused...

thanks in in advance and sorry if this topic is annoying.

[wildmanne39]

Thread moved to Apple Hardware Users for a more appropriate fit.

[Nathan Morrison]

Thank you Wildmanne39 - good call.

[ctdahle]

I was given an iPad 5 or 6 years ago. I don't like it, or use it much. It's good for brainless media consumption, but useless for any real work in my opinion. Lately it's browser crashes because the machine is unable to handle so many of the useless widgets and garbage embedded in apps and websites of late. If I had paid for the stupid thing, I'd be pretty annoyed. But as it is, I'll either figure out how to drag a few more years of use out of it by installing some form of Linux (no idea how!) or I'll put it in a picture frame and just have it run photographs.

Still, after researching this question for the past hour or so, I don't think there is much hope of installing linux on the little beastie. But this question did catch my eye.

I'd guess that the real reason there's not much out there about installing Linux on an iPad is that Linux people recognize the iPad as a fairly silly, expensive toy. People that buy new ones are Apple loyalists who want the iOS interface. People who might be drawn to the challenge of getting Linux to work on an older one can find cheaper, newer, more capable hardware that is more Linux friendly.

To the extent that I even want to keep a tablet computer at all, I am probably inclined to look for something that was designed to acommodate an open OS.

[Nathan Morrison]

Can't argue with any of that ctdahle!

Im going to keep trying to make this mini2 non silly and useable, but I totally get your point, as is its slow and silly. And with Apple declaring it unworthy of new os updates, that won't change until I can crack this wall and install a new os.

Did read this article today about Linux on the surface go - might be up your alley...

https://www.slashgear.com/surface-go...epad-25558990/

[multi-flexi]

Linux will never run on iPad and similar devices because those are not open. You need exact specs of device to create devicetree files and you have to port some bootloader or somehow use the native one. I am also not sure how it is with C compiler for that CPU.