Hackers get Linux to run on iPhone

One of the hackers responsible for creating tools to unlock the iPhone from its exclusive partner carriers has gone one step further and managed to load a full fledged version of Linux on the Apple device.

A software developer going by the name of ‘planetbeing’, who is also a member of the infamous iPhone Dev Team, which created some of the original iPhone jailbreak tools, has announced that the Linux kernel 2.6 has been ported to the iPhone.

Planetbeing is using the BusyBox Linux utility platform to run the operating system on first and second generation iPhones as well as the first generation iPod touch. But he notes, “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.”

The current implementation is also a far cry from a user friendly distribution, as it still lacks support for wireless networking, the touchscreen, sound, accelerometer, and baseband.

But as many of the project’s supporters have pointed out – planetbeing’s research could pave the way for a version of the Google Android operating system to appear on the device, given that it’s based on Linux and is open source.