Computer Hope

Software => Apple => Topic started by: Coco423 on April 21, 2018, 11:55:47 PM

Title: Run Windows or Linux on an old iPhone 4 or 4S?
Post by: Coco423 on April 21, 2018, 11:55:47 PM
Hello. I wanted to run some old version of windows on one of my old iPhone 4 that is laying around or my 4S I mosly use for music. Legally. I was thinking something like 95 or 98, maybe older. Or at least some version of Linux. Again, legally. If possible, without a computer, as mine needs to go through Startup Repair, and without jailbreak, if possible. If I can do it legally, I will do jailbreak if I have to, if I can without PC if it is not fixed yet. I will do jailbrwak IF I have to, I I can do all this legally, that is. Just wanted to do this out of curiosity. Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

 And linux is an option, if all this is legal, that is.
Title: Re: Run Windows or Linux on an old iPhone 4 or 4S?
Post by: Geek-9pm on April 22, 2018, 12:06:25 AM
Short answer: No. The iPhone does not use a Intel based CPU. And the hardware is not even close to a PC design.

Long  answer:  Go buy a Windows phone and find out that it will not work on many windows programs. Windows phone is a waste of time. You can get a cheap Windows 8 phone on eBay for about $25, but it is hard to get any old  windows to run. I got one and found it would not run the program I wanted. But the program has another version that runs  my iPhone 4.  :o

Better answer:  If you get the iPhone to work,  it can be good news. There are a lot of good free programs for the iPhone 4. Look in the Apple store for some free stuff that has been around for awhile. It will cost you nothing to try.  8)
Title: Re: Run Windows or Linux on an old iPhone 4 or 4S?
Post by: DaveLembke on April 22, 2018, 07:33:46 AM
Quote
iPhone 4
System on chip:    Apple A4
CPU   1 GHz (Underclocked to 800 MHz) single core 32-bit ARM Cortex-A8 "Hummingbird"
GPU   PowerVR SGX535
Memory   512 MB DRAM

For Windows you would need a x86 or x64 type of CPU not an ARM.

For Linux there is the ArchLinux ARM Project but I havent messed with it any. https://archlinuxarm.org/

Android install on that might be easiest one jail broken BUT then you need drivers that android may not have drivers for.

As geek stated its best to just buy a Windows based tablet. I bought one for $70 on amazon the other day that has an Intel Atom CPU 2GB RAM and 32GB storage with 6GB free as seen at link below. Only issue is that there is an update for Windows 10 and it states i need 8GB free and only have 6 GB free so i am going to have to span the internal 32GB drive to SDCARD to make it look like the internal storage is larger in order to have 8GB free for update or delete some data like unneeded bundled programs from it to get the 8GB free to perform updates. They also sell a 16GB version and no way can that be getting updates successfully with Windows 10 if the 32GB isnt big enough. I will some how get it to update through a crafty method, but for average user not being able to get an update due to too small of internal storage capacity is pretty bad. It might be why it was cheap, but I like a challenge/puzzle to work out and so I'm going to keep it and get around the space issue. https://www.amazon.com/NuVision-8-inch-Touchscreen-Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B01H3B17R8

Btw I found an ability to use symbolic links in Windows to span a 90GB SSD to a 64GB USB Flash drive before to have a C: drive that has around 150GB of storage capacity allowing me to install games spanned across SSD to USB storage and thats the direction I would go is add a microSD card to it in which i have a 16GB card free, that should simulate a volume with available space as 22GB free in which Windows should then update successfully. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-take-advantage-of-symbolic-links-in-window-10/

Note: Not everything can grow to the Flash Media though. You select a folder location that is mapped as a folder on the C: drive but its really the flash drive and this simulates combined storage space. If you were to download 10GB and the SSD only has 6GB free, unless the download is to the symbolic linked area it will fail when it runs out of SSD space. So thats the only catch. So basically I create a symbolic link to the area that Microsoft downloads the patch info to and then it updates the internal storage from the symbolic linked external storage in which to Windows it wouldnt care that its done this way.
Title: Re: Run Windows or Linux on an old iPhone 4 or 4S?
Post by: Coco423 on April 22, 2018, 09:25:36 AM
Okay. Windows... some people have figured out how to do it, that's why I asked. Maybe an ARM version of Linux at least? I know there are ARM versions of Linux. If I can legally, that is. I would use one of my two Androids, but they are my main phones. I just wanted to do this out of curiosity, though.
Title: Re: Run Windows or Linux on an old iPhone 4 or 4S?
Post by: Coco423 on April 22, 2018, 09:41:03 AM
I just found out about this app called BOCHS that can boot or emulate Windows or Linux on an iPhone - I might be able to use that, it appears legal, might use that.