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iPad Charge is a Linux alternative to the ASUS Ai Charger Windows utility, which allows charging your iPad from USB ports that otherwise don't offer enough power to properly charge the tablet. The tool can also speed up iPhone and iPod charging via standard USB ports.

This is useful for charging your iPad on USB 2.0 ports that don't provide enough power, resulting in a "Not Charging" message being displayed next to the battery icon:

iPad not charging

When this message is displayed, the device is actually charging but very slowly. Using iPad Charge however, the device should charge a lot faster and as a result, the "Not charging" message shouldn't be displayed any more.

Further more, this tool should also charge iPhones and iPods faster using standard USB ports. Here's the complete list of supported devices at the time I'm writing this article: iPad, iPad2, iPad3, iPad4, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.


Install iPad Charge in Ubuntu


iPad Charge can be installed in Ubuntu and derivatives (Linux Mint, elementary OS, etc.) using the main WebUpd8 PPA. Add the PPA and install iPad Charge using the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ipad-charge
Note that the main WebUpd8 PPA provides quite a few other packages. If you don't want to add the PPA, you can manually download the deb from HERE.

The iPad Charge packaging is based on +Heath Paddock debianization, with some changes. I've built new packages because his PPA uses an old version of iPad Charge.

Arch Linux users can install iPad Charge via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, see the iPad Charge GitHub page.


Using iPad Charge to charge your iPhone or iPad via USB in Linux


iPad Charge is used automatically when you connect an iPhone or iPod via USB so you don't have to do anything else.

If iPad Charge doesn't work right away, a system restart (you can also reload the udev rules) may be required after installing it. To avoid the restart, you can simply run the following command to allow your iPhone / iPad to charge via USB:
ipad_charge

You can turn off charging the iPhone or iPad via USB by using the following command:
ipad_charge --off

For more info, run:
ipad_charge --help

If you encounter bugs, report them @ GitHub.

tool seen @ heath-bar.com