Attempting To Get Linux Operating On A Nokia E6

The Nokia E6 is a smartphone from again within the outdated days when Symbian was a factor. [fluffleswaffled] has been doing the work to get the ancient handset running Linux instead, as a result of that’s in the end cooler than what the cellphone shipped with out of the field.

There isn’t an unlocked bootloader on the E6, so as a substitute, [fluffleswaffled] used an altogether completely different path to boot Linux. A Symbian app is used to load the kernel and gadget tree into RAM, at which level the MMU and caches are turned off and the gadget jumps into Linux. It’s a one-way journey, from which there isn’t any manner again to Symbian with no energy cycle. The setup nets a terminal on the cellphone’s personal display screen, and the {hardware} keyboard and touchscreen are useful. The show is managed by a Broadcom VideoCore III, with [fluffleswaffled] capturing messages from Nokia’s authentic show driver to create a customized kernel driver that replays them.

There’s an issue, though. The cellphone doesn’t keep in Linux land for lengthy — it all the time resets inside a pair minutes of booting into the choice OS. [fluffleswaffled] believes it’s because the cellphone’s baseband chip is supervising the applying processor, and killing issues as soon as it’s detected that the Symbian cell stack has stopped working. They’re hoping that somebody with expertise with Nokia basebands or the related {hardware} can level them in the fitting route to get this hack working for greater than 3.5 minutes at a time.

There in all probability isn’t an excessive amount of utility in getting Linux working on a 2011 smartphone, however we love the hustle nonetheless. We’ve seen this done before, though, and it’s all the time attention-grabbing to be taught what it takes to get the OS booting on a brand new platform. If you’re whipping up related hacks in your house lab, don’t hesitate to tell us on the tipsline.