geteilt von: https://lemmy.giftedmc.com/post/850522

Hi folks, I’m a tinkerer and like to hack old devices. Currently running postmarketOS on an old oneplus6. Now I want to try to repurpose my old ipad 3 with LTE.

For that purpose I have tried:

  • https://jailbreaks.app/legacy.html -> phoenix (Error: app could not be installed at this time)
  • windows VM (I’m on linux) with usb connect, I can see the ipad in device manager and open the harddrive but neither itunes nor sideloadly will connect to it. impactor also wont recognize the device
  • exchanging the cable for a different (newer) one, also no change
  • resetting the ipad to factory settings to free up space, no change
  • reinstalling itunes, icloud, sideloadly
  • restarting between each step

I’m kind of running out of ideas at this point. I generally have a debug device which I could try and use on the ipad but I struggle to find resources on lower level hardware hacking for the ipad. Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Have a good one!

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOP
    2·
    1 month ago

    thank you for chiming in. i’m a little further along now and my ipad is now reachable on ssh. it has been a problem because it uses sha1 cyphers which seems to be pretty bad.

    the system partition is only 3GB in size and only has 100MB in empty space.

    i will therefore attempt to move larger files to the /var folder. sadly, the staging app doesnt work on 9.3.6.

    i think the tethered jailbreak is going to be an issue since i dont know how many files I can move.

    • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 month ago

      i think the tethered jailbreak

      If I recall correctly Phoenix is only semi-tethered. And has to be renewed every power down and once every 30 or 45 days if not powered down. Once you have it jailbroken the first time it’s pretty easy, just tap the Phoenix icon, still a bit of a faff though.

      I believe the first full tether break is on 10

      • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOP
        2·
        1 month ago

        the jailbreak I’m using is kokeshi iirc but i’m not knowledgeable enough to really talk about this yet. and yes, it is only semi tethered. i do need to find out how to open the bootloader though.

          • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOP
            2·
            1 month ago

            i have no idea how they differ. I’ll have a look at checkmate next and see if I can exploit the bootrom. that would enable me to run linux on it.

            • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
              1·
              1 month ago

              Ouuuuuu! Do let me know if you get that running, I’ve been looking for a way to get Linux on that iPad. It would just be more functional hopefully for certain projects.

              • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOP
                2·
                1 month ago

                Thanks for the encouragement. I will update. Can you give me a quick dump what you did with the device so far? in case I learn anything.

                • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
                  2·
                  1 month ago

                  I honestly didn’t get very far into my research for running Linux on it. Basically when I was looking into it, phoenix was the go-to for jailbreak, it ran well and worked every time with no issues of having the iPad not recognised. Everything I had found had said that unless a major development was made, running anything but iOS on it would never be a possibility. So I never went further than the research via forums stage. I would have tried taking a crack at it myself, but a gnuLinux greybeard I am not.

                  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOPEnglish
                    2·
                    1 month ago

                    to be clear. the jailbreak itself wasnt really the problem for me. it was the usb connection to the windows vm that was wonky.

                    it cant be done is technically correct btw if we’re speaking on high level. because one needs to read up on how this stuff works line by line since nobody did make the effort to make releases for this stuff afaik.

                    so, maybe I’m a greybeard after 3 years of linux. who knows.