Turning an Ipad into A Linux Machine

RJ45-Dude · December 17, 2021

Hi, kinda lengthy question here. My dad currently is using an old first or second gen iPad. However, since it is not compatible with iOS 11 and further, it cannot run apps like the ESPN app, the Weather Channel app, or Youtube. Now, in research, I found that linux can run android apps via Anbox. I also found a version of linux on an ipad, iSH, which runs Alpine Linux on the tablet. So, thinking about it, I formed a plan to convert his tablet to linux.

(keep in mind, I'm kind of new to linux, so some things may be incorrect)

1. Install iSH on tablet

2. Find some way to make Alpine main OS instead of iOS

3. Install a mobile/tablet-based GUI

4. Install AnBox

5. Install necessary Android apps

However, as I have stated above, I am a newbie to Linux, so I have a few questions...

When you download iSH, does it really download Alpine onto the tablet? Or is it connecting to some server?
- If it really is downloading Alpine, would I able to somehow be able to make the iPad boot straight to Alpine? Or would I have to run everything in the app?
  - If everything is running in the app, and I were to a GUI and multiple applications on Linux, would that cause the tablet to run choppy (even if I had all other iOS apps uninstalled)?
  - If I'm able to somehow boot straight to Alpine, would I still have someway to use an on-screen/external keyboard, or would I essentially brick it?
Are there any good mobile/tablet-centered GUI's compatible for Linux (or one that would work well with a mobile device)?

Thanks to anyone and everyone that helps!

Nayr438 · December 18, 2021

iSH is a x86 Linux shell Emulator. So it runs a Linux Shell Environment inside of IOS.

Doing a quick dig, iSH also doesn't support any sort of Graphical Output with the only workaround being a headless VNC instance.

I don't think you are going to get the user experience your looking for. Your going to take a performance hit for it being a emulator, your going to take a performance hit for it being a non native instruction set, your going to take a performance hit from having to use VNC, your going to take a hit from having to run it head less without hardware acceleration.

I am not entirely sure if Anbox will even run inside of that, but if it does you will take yet another hit for the translation layer, and deal with app reliability and compatibility issues. Not to mention that you will be limited to x86 apps unless you enable ARM support, which fires up yet another emulation layer further adding to the list of hits. Not to mention this will all also be happening on device running a possibly outdated insecure version of IOS.

My recommendation would be to not even bother, id look for a used Android Tablet that has a LineageOS build available for it, Android tablets tend to be short lived in terms of official updates. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ or buy a new ipad.

In terms of Linux on mobile, the only distro and Desktop Environment i would consider usable are Ubuntu Touch and Lomori (Which comes on Ubuntu Touch). Of which I would still consider to be a Work In Progress and not Daily Driver Ready.