Right, the is my first time looking this far into apple products, and everything i have looked into says this is either very doable or completely impossible. I wanted to see if anyone here knows much about getting an alternate, more customizable or lighter OS to run on the mini 1. Ideally, i was thinking an x32 arch distro or something similar.
Relevant specs:
A5 ipad mini 1
IOS 9.3.5
Untethered jailbreak with cydia store
OpenSSH is working
#Load alternate OS from the ipad mini 1 bootloader
dry panther
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lavish root
unfortunately there's not much work that's been done towards third party operating systems on 32 bit devices, especially since those devices have coolbooter just lets you dualboot any ios version you want
hoolock linux for example lets you boot linux but is restricted to 64 bit devices vulnerable to checkm8 (A7-A11)
dry panther
Right. I was worried about that. Do you know of any work thats been done to break the bootloader security?
I couldnt find much, and when i SSH into the system i dont think i have perms that run deep enough to even look at it. Hell, if theres a way to get a dump of the bootloader i could at least try emulating it and trying to crack it myself when i have nothing better to do
Really, my topic should have been “can i emulate the ipad mini 1 bootloader so i can try to break its brain”
dry panther
unfortunately there's not much work that's been done towards third party operati...
The main issue is that the bootloader actually knows if its a real IOS version, right? So we cant just throw it a fake signature and load up whatever we want?
lavish root
The main issue is that the bootloader actually knows if its a real IOS version, ...
checkm8 does work on A5 if you have an arduino, the issue is the lack of drivers that exist for custom firmware outside of ios
dry panther
I had checkm8 running and it specifically refused to act on my mini, threw an error saying it wasnt supported
lavish root
you can bypass the signature check if you have deep enough exploits like a bootrom exploit, it just becomes tethered and needs something to start it, but since coolbooter has kdfu you can bypass that check and load another ios version with an app
lavish root
I had checkm8 running and it specifically refused to act on my mini, threw an er...
checkm8 works, checkra1n does not
dry panther
Ohhh alright.
So i would essentially need to write new firmware for the thing to make it useful? Considering theres so little ios made stuff?
lavish root
yeah you would need to code drivers for the touchscreen, display, etc
dry panther
I guess just any x32 firmware wouldnt load due to the specifics of IOS being IOS.
I couldnt just grab that from the IOS install and throw it in the system as-is?
dry panther
yeah you would need to code drivers for the touchscreen, display, etc
Right. So i can use its processor and load a different OS, but the issue is drivers not existing for any of it outside of IOS, and using those drivers would force me into using IOS?
lavish root
ios drivers are coded for ios specifically
dry panther
Right.. and i have never once tried to make a driver for anything ever. So im guessing its probably not particularly easy!
Alright… so how far CAN i go before i need drivers? I am guessing i will be able to use the CPU, but wont have access to any of the peripherals beyond that? Or would i also need to make a driver for that as well
My knowledge is spotty on low levels like this— and im nowhere near skilled to begin with.
lavish root
you'd need drivers for the cpu too
basically every single firmware component
you'd need one for the nand/storage too in order to install it in the first place
dry panther
Right. I was afraid youd say that. So this has gone from a “fun side project” to “oh no.”
And theres no way i could cannibalize the IOS firmware to make it work the way i want it to, i guess? At least, it wouldnt be any easier than what im already looking at?
Sorry if ive gone into the realm of stupid questions, but i am really curious if me, as a beginner, could make something like this work
lavish root
if you were looking solely to improve performance i think it'd just be easier to dualboot as low as you can go with coolbooter and see if there's any performance enhancing tweaks
dry panther
I guess thats fair. I just wanted to get full control over the system and a command shell that i know well enough to use. Thanks for all the info
jolly rampart
(youre better off buying a cheap android)
dry panther
(youre better off buying a cheap android)
Oh yeah im fully aware. I have a host of old electronics im playing with back home right now. Im just looking at things i can do with all of them. Good use cases, you know?
So do i mark this as solved? I doubt anyone is able to actually point me to firmware that does not exist yet. Or do i leave it open as a “if and when the tech becomes available, someone will mention it”
Not really sure of the etiquette here