Simple Route To Linux On The iPod

didde writes "MacWorld.com is showing users of the iPod a way to install and run Linux on their favorite portable music player. From the article: 'Imagine using your iPod and a regular old microphone to record studio-quality audio. Or sitting on a commuter train and playing Othello, Pong, Tetris, or Asteroids. All this and more is possible when you install Linux on your third-generation or earlier iPod. Best of all, one soft reset, and you're back in Apple's iPod operating system, listening to your tunes.' Sounds good to me. Now if I could just find my firewire connector..."

Comments

yes, but does it play OGG?

[sTalking_Goat]

well? does it?

Re:yes, but does it play OGG?

[natbudin]

AFAIK, the processor in iPod generations 1-3 isn't fast enough to decode Ogg Vorbis in realtime. However, that changed with the 4G, so once that generation is officially supported in iPodLinux, you should be able to play Ogg Vorbis on an iPod (albeit only some iPods).

Additional uses

[damiam]

Just recently, there's been development on a video player, several more games (including DopeWars), and a few breakthroughs in support for the 4G iPods (including the Photo and mini). The 4G iPods are now capable of decoding Ogg Vorbis faster than realtime (this should be theoretically possible on older iPods, but would require a lot of decoder optimizations).

Note, however, that the current interface isn't nearly as slick as Apple's, and that audio playback and recording is still a bit glitchy. So you probably don't want to use Linux if all you do with your iPod is play music.

Don't Overlook Rockbox!

[meehawl]

Rockbox is a couple of years further along than ipodlinux, and the iRiver port from the Archos is proceeding nicely. I think the two projects have a friendly rivalry.

Re:Linux drivers

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, not exactly. The Ipod uses uclinux, which is a version of the kernel for processors without an MMU (Memory Management Unit). So the question is whether your driver is in this fork of linux.

HTH,

Stephane

Re:Open and Shut, Perhaps...

[leoxx]

Mac's salvation lies with Open Source

Interesting since Apple has partnered with Microsoft to specifically undermine the open source community in Europe.

However, companies such as Microsoft and Apple Computer argue that they need broader patent protection to prevent open source companies, which give away their software and make money through service, from effectively expropriating their development costs.

Not quite true

[josh42]

4G and later iPods have been, in development, running at 110% realtime with the Tremor OGG player. So yes, recent iPods can play OGG. However, these iPods aren't officially supported yet.

Re:Why switch back to iPod OS?

[JeffTL]

Probably because many people do not use their iPods as MP3 players, but as MPEG-4 (usually with AAC or Apple Lossless) players.

Re:Mac Download

[casings]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipodlinuxinst

This is the link to the windows installer

Re:Open and Shut, Perhaps...

[hunterx11]

Considering that podcasts are being added to the iTMS in the near future (Jobs announced at WWDC), no doubt the next iPod software update will add a podcast section.

Re:Open and Shut, Perhaps...

[golgotha007]

You could easily make all your playlists "smart playlists", and therefore tell all of your regular music playlists to not include Audiobook files, and tell your audiobook playlists to not include music files.
You can do the separation by using an id3tag editor and tag all your audiobook files to Vocal or something similar.

Smart playlists is a very powerful tool. Take advantage of it.