Am I in the right place?

Recently found my old iPhone 4s, bought a 30 pin connector to bring it back to life and naturally, I can't remember my 4-digit passcode. I stopped after the 15 mins lockdown, which means I have 2 attempts left until it's disabled. I don't want to lose the data, it has no backups so restoring is not an option.

I'm not sure which IOS version is running, it's either 7, 8 or 9. I used this phone from late 2014 until summer of 2017.

I fell into the r/setupapp rabbit hole while searching for a way to remove the passcode attempt limit. I won't need to bruteforce it and try all 9999 combinations, I know I'll eventually remember the passcode, I just need more than 10 measly tries to figure it out because I'm not Rain man. I'll probably get it in less than 50.

I have gone through a lot of info already, namely a few guides and youtube videos on the process with Sliver and Cyberduck. I'm definitely not technologically illiterate, but there's a lot of new stuff for me in here, and I wouldn't want to invest the time in learning and figuring it all out for nothing. Especially since a lot of the resources I have found are a bit dated.

(FYI: I'm running a 2017 Macbook Pro running Catalina (with Homebrew installed), and a Windows 10 system via bootcamp is also available if necessary.)

So here are my questions:

- Is this the correct path forward for my specific situation?

- Does all the software involved still work for my use case?

- Is it essential to use an Arduino for this process?

- Is it essential to have Xcode installed for this process?

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I'm sorry, I know I'm asking for a lot of time and good will from strangers here with these rookie questions, but it would really make my day if someone could help me out.

In any case, thank you if you made it to the end.

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TL;DR/SUMMARY:

iPhone 4s, IOS unsure (either 7/8/9), locked but NOT DISABLED (2 attempts left).

Am I in the right place if I want to disable the passcode attempt limit?