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iPod on Linux... with GPLed software
Anonymous Coward writes "gnuPod 0.2 has just been released.
It's the first GPLed program that allows you to use your iPod under Linux.
It has support for playlists and stores information in a XML file, so it's very easy to edit the data or write a frontend.
Still a bit 'beta' but its ready for every-day-use and it works well together with iTunes.
A mac-ipod2win-ipod howto is also included."
There's a great review of the iPod on Jesusgeeks.net from the founder (gregday). He uses the iPod under linux and has a list of the programs he used, how he used them, and how it all worked out. To see the iPod review/howto, go here.
Personally, I can't wait to get an iPod. For a while I've been dealing with a crappy mp3-cd player, but after reading so much about the iPod, I'm ready to make the switch as soon as I have the cash. 299 doesn't sound too bad for 5 gigs of mp3 storage. And it runs under linux! woohoo.
The anti-salmon
Considering that Apple, uh, "requested" that MediaFour rename the XPod software (now XPlay), and that the developers rename the xtunes jukebox (now "sumi")... I don't think "gnuPod" will be long for this world.
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I started a petition at Apple's Discussion board for people to "sign" (reply to) if you support Ogg Vorbis decoding on the iPod. The CPU the iPod uses is based on an ARM7 core, and will work nicely with Xiph's integer based decoder, Tremor. Anyone who supports it, especially those for whom Ogg support would be the deciding factor in an iPod purchase, are invited to add a comment here.
The only reason the iPod software revision 1.20 has Calendar, Contacts, EQ Presets, and track scrubbing is because users asked for it. So let's show Apple what it would take to convert all of us Freedom loving geeks! Support Ogg!
So now I can use my iPod with my Xbox!
I have been waiting for this day...
Buying a WinPod (or getting a MacPod and using the WinniePod Updater to make it a WinPod) allows you to use it on both Mac's and Wintel machines.
It's well documented at Ipoding, IpodHacks, IpodLounge, and the EphPod Forums that a Mac can read a WinPod. Thus, it works on both, and utilities are available to get your calendars and contacts on.
The only thing you give up with this arrangement is the ability to use "smart playlists"- at this time, the EphPod folks are trying to figure out why a FAT32 Ipod doesn't seem to write back how many times you played a specific song.
You need a FAT32 iPod, Linux, Firewire support and Perl5 to run the software. License: GPL V2.
Form the SyncPOD homepage:
This script syncs a local directory with your iPod. If the directory is larger than the space on your iPod you can sync this larger directory with a master playlist.
Features:
* Syncronisation with a local directory or a master playlist
* Optional playlists
* On the fly created playlists
* Mp3 info from mp3 tags or filenames
* Creation of iTunesDB file from all files on your iPod
The Archos Jukebox 6000 is a $199 6gig MP3 player and USB harddisk that has an open source linux driver and
open source firmware.
Perhaps you're not understanding that this isn't a "hardware mp3 decoder" chip - it's a general purpose CPU with approximately the processing power of an Intel 486 66-100MHz (depending on what you're doing). Provided the codec you want isn't too MIPS (or memory) hungry, you could software upgrade to support it.
Check out this HOWTO for using a Win-iPod under linux:
http://www.cs.duke.edu/~geha/ipod/
Executive summary:
1. Build a kernel to support IEEE1394
2. Mount the iPod as a vfat filesystem
3. Use Wine to run EphPod.
This is how I update my iPod, and it works, but it has some problems:
* The linux ieee1394 drives sometimes don't recognize the iPod, and sometimes generate kernel Oopsies.
* Some functions of EphPod don't work, must notably the "Add Directory" function. This is probably a Wine limitation, but it's still irritating. EphPod doesn't check the id3v2 Composer tags, so your iPod's Browse->Composer menu is empty. EphPod has the feel of an app with a lot of maturing left to do -- but it's better than nothing.
* In general, the process is pretty klunky and needs lots of by-hand coaxing and prodding. I expect this to improve as the ieee1394 drives and Wine both improve.
That said, it's really cool to see that someone's making native linux support for the iPod. If you check around, you can find that there are several efforts to do this underway, some more half-assed than others... a guy here who's written a perl script to dump the database, a guy there who's got a python script for the same. But it's pretty obvious that there's a lot of interest in seeing real linux support for the iPod, so I expect to see those disparate efforts coalesce pretty quickly. It'll be nice to have.
By the way, I just love my 20GB iPod. 150 albums downloaded so far, and still 8.5GB left. You've just gotta get one of these things!
--Jim
In addition to asking for iPod Vorbis support, I also asked that they supported Vorbis in iTunes and bitrate reduction.
Now that iTunes has music rating, imagine a feature where you could say "Take all of the music I've selected to sync to this small device, and compress all music (starting with the lowest rated songs) until it all fits.
Since Vorbis has great bitrate reduction features I think this would be pretty easy to support and would really increase usability of small devices, in that you wouldn't have to think so hard about how to choose what would fit - just what you want.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley