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Simple Route To Linux On The iPod

Posted by Zonk on from the penguin-in-your-pocket dept.

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..."

7 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Additional uses by damiam · · Score: 5, Informative
    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.

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  2. Re:yes, but does it play OGG? by natbudin · · Score: 5, Informative

    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).

  3. Don't Overlook Rockbox! by meehawl · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    --

    Da Blog
  4. Re:Open and Shut, Perhaps... by leoxx · · Score: 4, Informative
    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.
  5. Not quite true by josh42 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  6. Re:Mac Download by casings · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipodlinuxinst

    This is the link to the windows installer

  7. Re:Open and Shut, Perhaps... by golgotha007 · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.