NickMiller Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 After doing some research, I think putting iOS onto another device is definitely possible. The Apple A4 chip uses the same ARM v7 instruction sets as the Snapdragon processor so we don't have to worry about that. Isn't iOS just OS X with a different GUI and cpu architecture? This means that we should be able to develop kexts just like on any other OS X install to make all of the device work. Now, I'm not saying this is easy, but I do believe it can be done. Do you think this is possible or am I wrong about all of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottapotamas Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 It's not quite that easy... Its a great idea, and many people have thought of it before, theres just a few 'little' issues... iOS is not just OSX with a different UI... you say it yourself, "for a different architechture" which would imply a full rewrite. Which would be a waste of apple's resources. What I think you mean is that iOS is loosly based on OSX, and uses the same language and such. iOS does not use .kexts... and the drivers are really specific, so that knocks your platforms down to ones with exactly the same hardware... What you may have also overlooked, is that iOS devices run apps that are armv6 and armv7. A binary with both is considered 'fat' and will support the devices with processors that aren't the A4. A4 only apps (ie armv7) are considered slim and will only run on iPhone4, iPT4 and iPad. I believe (but not certain) that only apps compiled only for armv7 would run. This would also introduce issues in the OS, because I think the OS has a bit of a mix between the versions. On a slightly different note, Android can be run on iPhone, but this is only because android is opensource, and so devs can get the actual code and tweak the os and recompile. No one but apple have the source code to any iOS build (that im aware of...) [EDIT]: And who would bother putting iOS on another handset? You can get an iPhone/iPod which is update proof, stable, and almost certainly easier that hacking it on something else... And that something else would probably run something like android, WebOS or MeeGo... none of which are really that bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzN_DJ Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 The processor is manufactured by Samsung, which would make..... The Galaxy S a perfect candidate for our little project. And who would bother putting iOS on another handset? Who would bother putting OS X on a PC? This is a challenge! This is proof of concept! This is to delay the release of the iphone 5! (lol) Maybe we should start a community project to see if it is actually possible. The IPSW is easy to download and unpack, we just have to look at the components, and see if we can get a port. It wont be easy, but once we do it for the first time, we can do it again. And again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottapotamas Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Good luck... but just unpacking wouldn't really acomplish that much in the way of porting... you would need to 'obtain' a copy of the source code to change the drivers and such. The processor is made by samsung, but its not a hummingbird or snapdragon I don't think... Its like saying a mac has a nVidia card, so other nVidias will work... But I agree with the whole 'we need to explore other options' thing... I just can't see it being possible without said source code... Thats the major factor thats needed to port, eg Android was ported to iPhone hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMiller Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 This is definately a possibility, but it would take a dev team with a decent amount of knowledge in iOS development and how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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