A rather interesting report has been filtering out of various websites: a 2.6 version of the Linux kernel has been ported to the iPhone. This Linux operating system can be used on the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, and first-generation iPod touch platforms.



This site: http://linuxoniphone.blogspot.com/2008/11/linux-on-iphone.html announced that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to Apple’s iPhone and is fully (more or less) functional, with support for the first and second generation iPhones as well as the first generation iPod touch. They do warn that this is a rough first draft of the port, and many drivers are still missing, but it’s enough that a real alternative operating system is running on the iPhone.

This could be an important stepping stone for the true acceptance of the iPhone for a new breed of higher-end tech user.

What’s included so far: the Framebuffer driver, a Serial driver (and over USB as well), and interrupts, MMU and clock. Read-only support for the NAND is nearly complete as well. Touchscreen, sound and wireless networking as still being added, but he anticipates those will be in soon.

Labels: iPhone

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