First Experience With Rockbox and iPodLinux

I finally got around to trying Rockbox and iPodLinux, two open source projects that allow the iPod to be used in new and exciting ways.

Rockbox

Rockbox, the open source jukebox firmware for music devices, sounds like it would be a great fit if only it had an installer for OS X.

One of the primary features that drew me to Rockbox was the inclusion of a better audio equalizer than Apple’s paltry presets. I also like the support for open source visualizer and audio plugins. I can’t fault its inability to play music purchased at the iTunes Music Store, as Apple doesn’t yet allow it, but it sure would be nice to be able to play the unprotected AAC files and higher-bitrate MP3s I tend to listen to. According to the FAQ, Rockbox currently supports only low-bitrate MP3 files. I usually rip new CDs to either Apple Lossless, 320kbps AAC or 320 kbps MP3 and RockBox for iPod can’t yet play any of these.

Installation was no picnic. I dealt with the number of command-line instructions on the RockBox.org page How to install Rockbox on your iPod from Mac OS X and ended up with a dead iPod flashing ‘contact Apple Support’. Understandable, given the number of issues a Mac owner has trying to set this up.

To be used with Rockbox, the iPod needs to be formatted as a Windows iPod and set up with Apple’s FAT32 iPod firmware for Windows users. For those without a PC in the house, the instructions for ‘Converting an iPod from HFS to FAT32′ are pretty dangerous for regular users to be attempting. One slip-up with the disk device number [mine is 3 in this mount output: /dev/disk3s3 on /Volumes/Treble Clef (local, nodev, nosuid)] and you could rewrite the partition table on your own system drive. There also isn't any guarantee that people are going to download the correct partition map for their model of iPod.

Beyond all that, there are still a number of steps required to get the Rockbox bootloader on the iPod and get it working manually. I went through the rest of the instructions, and, as I mentioned, ended up with a dim-witted iPod.

Installation of Rockbox, at least on a 4th-gen iPod, is barely workable at the moment. However, the Rockbox promise of a bright new day (with proper EQ) will hopefully be fulfilled soon enough. My advice is to wait until there is a bit more work done on the iPod version and an installer is made available.

Once the iPod was restored to factory settings with iPod Updater 2006-01-10 everything seemed to be back to normal.

iPodLinux

Shortly afterwards, through the iPodLinux Wiki, I found Jeffrey Nelson’s iPodLinux Installer for Mac OS X. iPodLinux is a customized port of the uClinux kernel which includes a number of applications and calls its interface ‘podzilla’.

The installer worked quickly and painlessly, installing iPodLinux and setting it as the default OS in a matter of minutes. It also permits booting into the Apple iPod OS if you happen to own a lot of purchased music or Apple Lossless files.

Once I got the backlight turned on and scroll wheel sensitivity adjusted (something I really wish Apple would add) I tried out the supplied applications, including a few games Apple doesn’t provide and a few visualizers. The file browser includes a working music player, which played the test MP3 file (192kbps) without issue.

Things seemed great until I booted back into the regular Apple OS, which appeared to have forgotten its chosen language as well as the backlight and clicker settings. I set everything back up and assumed the settings would stick after a reboot.

Sure enough, all settings seem to be consistently forgotten when changing from iPodLinux to the iPod OS and back. In other words, no matter which OS I boot into, I immediately have no backlight. This sure gets annoying quickly in the muddy darkness where I thrive. Another tour ’round the interface and I was finished with it. Restored with iPod Updater, and things were back to normal.

iPodLinux does not officially support the fourth generation click-wheel iPods as of yet, so that may have contributed to the problems I was seeing. The experience has not soured me as it might a lesser man, however, and I am looking very forward to trying a future release of this project.

I hope to see both of these projects continue gaining momentum, developers, and beta testers over the next while.