The companies of developers who devote a lot of free time to trying to create “improbable portings” are now a “great classic” in the tech world. Well, after seeingDoom running on Playdatethe time has come to dwell on iPhone OS on PC via QEMU.
Yes, you read right: as also reported by Gizchina and 9to5Macthe developer Martin de Vos, known on the Web as devos50, took the issue particularly to heart, so much so that he spent over a year on the project. In the end, as indicated directly on the devos50’s GitHub blogon December 23, 2022, details were published regarding how everything can actually take place via QEMU.
For now, the procedure has been tested by the developer only on macOS, but it is more interesting to note what the developer has actually managed to do, given that reference is made to the first version of iPhone OS. Yes, that’s software that dates back to 2007 and originally launched with the first generation iPod touch. Put simply, the beginnings of the Apple world on mobile devices are in the middle. Well, devos50 managed to make a working port, net of some bugs.
You can therefore well understand that “the enterprise” was not easy, requiring a lot of reverse engineering, as well as a lot of attention regarding hardware emulation. The developer has in fact explained that he has focused on the version of the OS for the iPod (rather than the one for the iPhone) due to the presence of fewer components in between. Furthermore, for the correct functioning of everything there was also a need for OpeniBoot, an open source implementation of the Apple bootloader. In short, clearly it is a project that winks more at enthusiasts of the sector than anything else, but surely seeing the first iPhone OS run in the PC environment is not an everyday thing.
