I bought an old iPad2 for the purpose of viewing a Home Assistant dashboard via a web browser. My thinking was that the ability to browse the web was the sole requirement for a tablet for this purpose, but I was wrong: Home Assistant’s web pages apparently require a newer version of javascript than iOS 9.3.5 can handle, but the iPad 2 can only be updated to iOS 9.3.5.

So is it possible to flash a newer OS (e.g., linux) onto an old iPad 2? ChatGPT says it’s not possible because a bootloader exploit for the iPad 2 isn’t known, but ChatGPT is often wrong.

  • Mike WooskeyOPEnglish
    1•4 months ago

    I finally got around to this and jailbreaking the iPad was as easy as you suggested. Thanks, @Aatube@kbin.social!

    But I don’t see how to install a newer browser. Cydia and Zebra seem to be able to install themes and tweaks. How would I get them to install Firefox or Chrome? Also, how would I install linux on the ipad?

    • Aatube
      1•4 months ago

      You could 1. download some virtual machine thing and install Linux 2. download build tools and build from source 3. see below

      Anyways, all of this may be more suited for searching on r/LegacyJailbreak.