Triple booting the iPod
Well, it has been quite a while since my last blog post. Sorry about the delay. That is, if anybody actually reads this blog...:P
Right now I am sipping a cup of coffee, trying to think about what all I should put here because quite a bit has happened. I went ahead and did a fresh install of Slackware.....again. Sound issues got the best of me. I really should not have used slackpkg to update my kernel....X.....and everything else ;)
So anyway, it is up and running flawlessly, and I still love it :).
So you are possibly wondering why this is so short and dull....but I don't have much to say. I will in the next few posts though :D. I actually have two upcoming projects for you, one I will start now, which you will find out about by reading onward, and the other, is a custom keyboard hack for the poor man, which I will do sometime probably next week.
My iPod. Well, most of you have digital media players a lot of you may enjoy your iPod. I know I sure do. I don't know what I would do without it. Well, it has been good to me (A 5th Gen Video) But recently it has punished me :(. With all its abuse....It finally kicked the boot, so to say. It didn't die, but the firmware somehow got messed up. And I do not have iTunes to reinstall the apple firmware. So what does that leave me with? A beautiful opportunity for a linux project :). If you have not heard of running linux on the iPod, your pretty left out, because it is pretty spiffy looking. However thats not what I will be doing. So what we will be doing is installing linux onto the iPod, and using rockbox as the firmware player.
http://www.rockbox.org/
Anyway, I chose rockbox because it can handle ogg vorbis audio files (.ogg) so being an open source/linux evangelist, I feel the need to go beyond applications in my open source movement. Basically ogg vorbis is an audio extension that is under the open source license :). Which is very cool, because I do not have to worry about DRM, or other pesky problems. Unfortunately, the iPod firmware doesn't support .ogg, and since I have been getting a lot of my favorite podcasts in .ogg format (Linux reality, Lottalinuxlinks and TLLTS) I can't put those on my iPod due to the restrictions. Plus rockbox supports mpeg. My problems will include the fact that I can't play DRM encrypted music with rockbox [And I have a good deal of that ;)], And the fact that it uses a file browser. Which will be a nuisance because the iPod arranges it like this. There is a main folder called the iPod_control (which is hidden btw) and under that folder, there is a sub-directory names music. In this folder, there is more sub-directories (for me) named F00-F49. Under there, the actual music files have weird names like afnt.m4a, and tbaq.mp3 and a bunch of other weird names. Imagine trying to play that crap through a file browser? Confusing as poop, and you would never find the right song ;). The iPod uses a database, system, that filters those names through there, and plays it like that. At the moment, the iTunes database is not supported with rockbox. Which almost made me not do this, but then I found out that rockbox makes it's own database. WOOH! Thank the Lord!
So lets get started.
Assuming you have a 30GB 5th gen iPod video like myself, we carry on.
--------
You can grab the extras here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxExtras
----
I will go ahead and arrange this in my home directory, so I can then copy it to the ipod.
So I will assume your in your home directory for this ;).
mkdir rockbox
cd rockbox
wget http://home.centurytel.net/tdtooke/rockbox32.zip
unzip rockbox32.zip
{IF YOU HAVE A 5th GEN 60GB/80GB}
mkdir rockbox
cd rockbox/
wget http://home.centurytel.net/tdtooke/rockbox64.zip
unzip rockbox64.zip
Here comes some nice massive downloading. You don't necessarily NEED all this crap, but I find it nice to have these things for rockbox, make it all spiffylike. So Pray you have Cable and this is what you need:
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/Theme_X_HighBar.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/cabbie-ipod.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/45rpm.zip
unzip -o rockbox-fonts.zip
unzip -o rockdoom.zip
unzip -o StainPack.zip
unzip -o Theme_X_HighBar.zip
unzip -o cabbie-ipod.zip
unzip -o 45rpm.zip
unzip -o ubuntu.zip
unzip -o yobunny.zip
unzip -o Cool_Blue_v1.2.zip
unzip -o phkFORUM.zip
unzip -o phkOSC.zip
unzip -o phkAMP.zip
unzip -o phkGUITAR.zip
unzip -o phkTAPE.zip
Alright now move the folder called .rockbox onto your iPod.
cp -a .rockbox /mnt/ipod
Now we are going to use IpodLinux to make the firmware load.
mkdir ipodlinux
cd ipodlinux
wget http://de.dataghost.com/ipl/dg-installer/dg-linux-installer-20070311.tar.bz2
tar -jxf dg-linux-installer-20070311.tar.bz2
sudo ./installer.sh
Hopefully this all works, this whole process took me like 10 minutes :P. Most of that was downloading.
Now there should be a file named loader.cfg with these file contents:
Apple OS @ ramimg
iPodLinux @ (hd0,1)/linux.bin
Rockbox @ (hd0,1)/.rockbox/rockbox.ipod
Disk Mode @ diskmode
Sleep @ standby
If not, simply create the file, and add that stuff in there.
This worked great for me :D Enjoy doom, plenty of themes, and some awesome stuff on your new triple booted iPod!
Right now I am sipping a cup of coffee, trying to think about what all I should put here because quite a bit has happened. I went ahead and did a fresh install of Slackware.....again. Sound issues got the best of me. I really should not have used slackpkg to update my kernel....X.....and everything else ;)
So anyway, it is up and running flawlessly, and I still love it :).
So you are possibly wondering why this is so short and dull....but I don't have much to say. I will in the next few posts though :D. I actually have two upcoming projects for you, one I will start now, which you will find out about by reading onward, and the other, is a custom keyboard hack for the poor man, which I will do sometime probably next week.
My iPod. Well, most of you have digital media players a lot of you may enjoy your iPod. I know I sure do. I don't know what I would do without it. Well, it has been good to me (A 5th Gen Video) But recently it has punished me :(. With all its abuse....It finally kicked the boot, so to say. It didn't die, but the firmware somehow got messed up. And I do not have iTunes to reinstall the apple firmware. So what does that leave me with? A beautiful opportunity for a linux project :). If you have not heard of running linux on the iPod, your pretty left out, because it is pretty spiffy looking. However thats not what I will be doing. So what we will be doing is installing linux onto the iPod, and using rockbox as the firmware player.
http://www.rockbox.org/
Anyway, I chose rockbox because it can handle ogg vorbis audio files (.ogg) so being an open source/linux evangelist, I feel the need to go beyond applications in my open source movement. Basically ogg vorbis is an audio extension that is under the open source license :). Which is very cool, because I do not have to worry about DRM, or other pesky problems. Unfortunately, the iPod firmware doesn't support .ogg, and since I have been getting a lot of my favorite podcasts in .ogg format (Linux reality, Lottalinuxlinks and TLLTS) I can't put those on my iPod due to the restrictions. Plus rockbox supports mpeg. My problems will include the fact that I can't play DRM encrypted music with rockbox [And I have a good deal of that ;)], And the fact that it uses a file browser. Which will be a nuisance because the iPod arranges it like this. There is a main folder called the iPod_control (which is hidden btw) and under that folder, there is a sub-directory names music. In this folder, there is more sub-directories (for me) named F00-F49. Under there, the actual music files have weird names like afnt.m4a, and tbaq.mp3 and a bunch of other weird names. Imagine trying to play that crap through a file browser? Confusing as poop, and you would never find the right song ;). The iPod uses a database, system, that filters those names through there, and plays it like that. At the moment, the iTunes database is not supported with rockbox. Which almost made me not do this, but then I found out that rockbox makes it's own database. WOOH! Thank the Lord!
So lets get started.
Assuming you have a 30GB 5th gen iPod video like myself, we carry on.
--------
You can grab the extras here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxExtras
----
I will go ahead and arrange this in my home directory, so I can then copy it to the ipod.
So I will assume your in your home directory for this ;).
mkdir rockbox
cd rockbox
wget http://home.centurytel.net/tdtooke/rockbox32.zip
unzip rockbox32.zip
{IF YOU HAVE A 5th GEN 60GB/80GB}
mkdir rockbox
cd rockbox/
wget http://home.centurytel.net/tdtooke/rockbox64.zip
unzip rockbox64.zip
Here comes some nice massive downloading. You don't necessarily NEED all this crap, but I find it nice to have these things for rockbox, make it all spiffylike. So Pray you have Cable and this is what you need:
wget http://download.rockbox.org/daily/fonts/rockbox-fonts.zip
wget http://download.rockbox.org/useful/rockdoom.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/ROCKBlocks.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/Theme_X_HighBar.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/cabbie-ipod.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/45rpm.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/ubuntu.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/yobunny.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/phkFORUM.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/phkOSC.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/phkAMP.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/phkGUITAR.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/phkTAPE.zip
wget http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/WpsIpod5g/slant.zip
unzip -o rockbox-fonts.zip
unzip -o rockdoom.zip
unzip -o StainPack.zip
unzip -o Theme_X_HighBar.zip
unzip -o cabbie-ipod.zip
unzip -o 45rpm.zip
unzip -o ubuntu.zip
unzip -o yobunny.zip
unzip -o Cool_Blue_v1.2.zip
unzip -o phkFORUM.zip
unzip -o phkOSC.zip
unzip -o phkAMP.zip
unzip -o phkGUITAR.zip
unzip -o phkTAPE.zip
Alright now move the folder called .rockbox onto your iPod.
cp -a .rockbox /mnt/ipod
Now we are going to use IpodLinux to make the firmware load.
mkdir ipodlinux
cd ipodlinux
wget http://de.dataghost.com/ipl/dg-installer/dg-linux-installer-20070311.tar.bz2
tar -jxf dg-linux-installer-20070311.tar.bz2
sudo ./installer.sh
Hopefully this all works, this whole process took me like 10 minutes :P. Most of that was downloading.
Now there should be a file named loader.cfg with these file contents:
Apple OS @ ramimg
iPodLinux @ (hd0,1)/linux.bin
Rockbox @ (hd0,1)/.rockbox/rockbox.ipod
Disk Mode @ diskmode
Sleep @ standby
If not, simply create the file, and add that stuff in there.
This worked great for me :D Enjoy doom, plenty of themes, and some awesome stuff on your new triple booted iPod!
Unfortunately RockBox does not work for my 2nd Gen iPod Nano. :(
I might buy a 5th Gen iPod later. Then, this post is sure to come in handy. :)
(Maybe I should go for an iRiver? :p)