Update: if you would like to sync music or contacts see this post.
So I have had success getting the iPhone to charge when using Linux (I just had to figure out the magic command to let the iPhone know it should charge). After I figured out the command I then moved on to making a Linux kernel driver so that it would actually work. I am using it as we speak and there doesn’t seem to be any issue. Very cool.
So overall it has been a very productive (but late) night. If you are interested in trying the module out you can find at its project page.