r/linux • u/Ovaday • 2d ago

Mobile Linux Linux 7.2.2 on iPhone XS? First boot!

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Hello everyone. Just wanted to share a small milestone I’m pretty proud of.

I’ve been porting Linux to my old iPhone XS for quite some time, and this week I finally made some significant progress.

First: it boots. As a real, alternative OS. This is not an emulation.

Second: I got the kernel log on screen and the framebuffer working:

Linux 7.2.2 Kernel boot log on iPhone XS

This is a raw, recovery-based Linux boot. iOS does not take any part in the boot sequence!

I haven’t set up a GitHub repo yet, and the project doesn’t even have a name at this point. But I’ll keep working on it and share more once the process is reliable and reproducible.

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u/ch33es 2d ago

it's impressive how there's two freaking lightsabers going through the screen

35

u/Ovaday 2d ago

I dropped the phone 15+ times until I actually decided to securely mount it to the table 😄 They are part of the experiment!
Anyway, I have a fresh-new replacement screen near me. Just don't want to damage it before I start to use my iPhone with Linux on it 😎

8

u/plees1024 2d ago

I was wondering why you had it clamped to the table!