It's not for the techie brave-of heart, but it could be useful. According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, iPhone user Niacin has just released iBooter, a new iPhone diagnostic tool. The program, a 2.9 kilobyte download, allows users an interactive console for iBoot, the Apple bootloader which runs on Mac, Windows and Linux independently of iTunes.

Once installed, iBooter can allow the users to set up environmental variables, write a custom image to the iPhone's display, run USB commands and diagnose booting errors.

iPhuc has offered similar functionality, but was dependent on iTunes and was only capable of sending commands to iBoot. With iBooter, you can both send commands and receive replies, allowing you to diagnose errors and the like.

iBooter requires that the user download full file libraries to install and run the program. For more information, go to www.iphonelinux.org/ibooter.

If you've played with the program or have experience working with the boot functions of an iPhone, let us know in the comments or forums.