How to Jailbreak the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Linux

Now that the Linux version of Absinthe has been released, all major platforms have access to the jailbreak tools needed to jailbreak their iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

We’ve already covered how to jailbreak on OS X and Windows in depth, but we didn’t want to leave our Linux readers out in the cold.

Since there is no iTunes for Linux, things can be slightly more tricky, but it’s still extremely easy to apply the Absinthe untethered jailbreak on Linux.

Step 1: If you haven’t already, install the libimobiledevice package on your Linux distribution. This will allow Linux to talk to your iPad 2, iPhone 4S, and other iOS devices.

Installing this package is fairly easy. I’m on Ubuntu, and all I did was the following:

• In terminal type: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
• accept any warnings and install.
• Next type: sudo apt-get update
• Visit the Ubuntu software center and search for libimobiledevice, and install libimobiledevice-utils. It might then ask you to reboot. Do so, and upon reboot Linux should recognize your device.

Again, this could differ depending on your Linux distro, so just take this as a loose guide. For other distributions or more information, visit http://www.libimobiledevice.org/

Step 2: Download Absinthe v0.3 from our downloads page, and unpack on your desktop.

Step 3: If you’re on a x86 machine double click absinthe.x86, if you’re on a 64-bit machine (likely) double click absinthe.x86_64 to run Absinthe.

Step 4: Ensure that your device is powered on, and that Absinthe detects your device, then click Jailbreak.

Step 5: Let Absinthe finish the entire process, no user intervention is needed until then end. Once the loading bar is complete, find the Absinthe icon on your iDevice’s Home screen, and launch it to complete the jailbreak.

Step 6: Once your device reboots, you should see the Cydia icon on your desktop.

That’s it folks, easy peezy.

If you’re a Linux user, by all means sound off in the comments about Absinthe, jailbreaking, and iOS support in Linux in general, we’re interested in hearing your perspective on things