iPodLinux
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2014) |
Written in | C, assembly language |
---|---|
OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
Latest release | 2.3 (x86) / January 7, 2007 |
Repository | |
Platforms | see Compatibility |
Kernel type | Monolithic (modified µClinux) |
Userland | uClibc, BusyBox |
License | GNU GPLv2+ |
Official website | www |
iPodLinux is a
The project has been inactive since 2009, but its website is still online. Further development of free and open source software for iPods have continued with the Rockbox Project, zeroslackr, and freemyipod, which have largely supplanted iPodLinux. Some third party installers are still available.[1]
Basic structure
iPodLinux in essence consists of a Linux kernel built from µClinux sources using the
Features
This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source.(September 2017) ) |
Besides the kernel, iPodLinux features as a primary component podzilla and podzilla2, applications which provide:
- An iPod-like user interface
- Video playback with sound
- Support for AAC, MP3 and basic OGG playback (4G & 5G Music Player Daemon malfunctions, but can be fixed).
- Many games, including TuxChess, Bluecube (Tetris clone), Chopper, StepMania (a Dance Dance Revolution clone) and more.[2]
- Recording through audio jackat much higher quality than Apple's firmware
- Ability to play the games Doom II (and presumably any Doom Total Conversion; Chex Questfor instance)
- Color scheme support
- Ability to run many emulators, such as iBoy (Nintendo Game Boy Emulator), iNES (Nintendo Entertainment System Emulator), iDarcNES (port of the multiple system emulator DarcNES), iMAME (port of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), and iGPSP (Game Boy Advance emulator).
History
The bootloader for the 4th generation iPod was extracted by Nils Schneider, a German computer science student. Previous software methods to extract the necessary bootloader no longer worked. Bernard Leach had previously discovered how to operate the piezo buzzer inside the iPod. Schneider was able to use his program with some modifications to make a series of clicks for each byte of the new iPod's bootloader. The extraction process took 22 hours to complete and required Schneider to construct a soundproof box to prevent outside interference with the process.[3]
Server transition
On June 11, 2008 the organization's website was suspended and replaced with a redirect to a blank page.
Compatibility
According to the iPodLinux wiki, "developers have succeeded in getting [the following features] to work- it does not imply that the feature is ready for widespread use."[8]
Generation | Date[note 1] | LCD
|
Input | Serial[note 2] | Hard drive | Piezo
|
Audio playback | Audio recording | FireWire
|
USB
|
Power management | Video out |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1G
|
October 2001 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | — | No | — |
2G
|
July 2002 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | — | No | — |
3G
|
April 2003 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | — |
4G
|
July 2004 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | Partial[note 6] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | — |
Color
|
October 2004 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | Partial[note 6] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | No |
5G
|
October 2005 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | No | — | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | No |
5.5G
|
October 2006 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | No | — | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | No |
Classic
|
September 2007 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
iPod Touch and iPhone[note 7] | September 2007 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Mini 1G
|
January 2004 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | — | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | — |
Mini 2G
|
February 2005 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | — | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | — |
Nano 1G
|
September 2005 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[note 5] | Yes | No | — | Partial[note 3] | Partial[note 4] | — |
Nano 2G–7G
|
September 2006 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
- ^ Date that the iPod was originally released, not the date it was supported by iPodLinux.
- ^ Serial is required for the remote to work.
- ^ FireWirecommunication drivers exist yet for these models. Instead when a USB device is plugged in, the iPod prompts the user to restart the iPod into disk mode.
- ^ a b c d e f g h A basic battery meter and deep sleep functions are available.
- ^ a b c d e f g Currently podzilla accesses the piezo directly- there is no kernel driver.
- ^ a b Only recording via microphone works on these models, no line in.
- ^ Will probably not be supported. iPhone and iPod Touch (OS X) homebrew software is already available.
As of August 5, 2006, only the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation iPod are officially supported by iPodLinux,[
Arguably one of the project's more notable accomplishments is its
podzilla 2, the second generation of podzilla, and commonly known as pz2, has superseded the original version of podzilla. It included several new features, most notably modularity; users can install new applications without recompiling all of podzilla. This version is the only working set of Podzilla official that will run on 5.5G iPods.
See also
References
- ^ "IPodLinux Installers".
- ^ "iPodLinux: Module List". Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2007.
- ^ Knight, Will (March 1, 2005). "iPod 'squeaks' betray software secrets". New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014.
- ^ "suspended.page". cpanel2.sys-techs.net. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008.
- ^ "IRC Reader 2008-09-28". iPodLinux.wiki. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014.
- ^ "iPodLinux". ipodlinux.wiki. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014.
- ^ "iPod Linux - Linux for your iPod". www.ipodlinux.org. Archived from the original on September 5, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
- ^ a b "iPodLinux: Project Status". November 14, 2008. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2008.
- ^ "iPodLinux: Manual Installation". December 14, 2007. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
- ^ "iPodLinux: Generations". March 21, 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
- ^ "iPodLinux: Mv player". September 25, 2006. Retrieved September 30, 2006.[permanent dead link]
External links
- IPodLinux Project home page
- [ Project home page] (mirror at the Wayback Machine (archived August 19, 2014))
- IPodLinux on SourceForge
- Old project home page