iPod Modding Tutorials

Apologies for the delay on the rockbox tutorial gents.. it shall be up tomorrow

 

[bold]CHAPTER FOUR - "Rockbox"[/bold]

I know quite a gathering of you have been patiently waiting on this tutorial, so firstly, apologies on the one-day delay .

Rockbox is an open source replacement firmware for mp3 players, which can be booted instead of the regular iPod firmware upon startup. From there on, you can enjoy various plug-ins and add-ons such as [bold]gapless playback[/bold], [bold].ogg[/bold] support amongst others.

This tutorial is Rockbox 'stripped down', if you like, to show you simply how to install & boot the firmware onto your Video iPod - Look at it as the bare basics


[bold]DISCLAIMER[/bold] I don't have to, but I will anyway !

The methods I give in this tutorial are tried & tested by me, and are safe to use providing they are followed correctly. The methods and techniques are not sanctioned by Apple, and could void your warranty. Follow these steps at your own risk! We are now going to step up a level as far as iPod modding goes, so don't be ignorant or try and cut corners, or your iPod could quite easily become a very expensive doorstop. Follow carefully, and don't try and run before you can walk ;-)


[bold]THINGS YOU WILL NEED[/bold]

<1> A Fifth Generation iPod (iPod Video)


[bold]AND SO WE BEGIN..[/bold]

<1> First & foremost, you need to create a folder named [bold]rockbox[/bold] in your main Hard Drive (HDD C


<2> Download the following files, and place them in the [bold]Rockbox[/bold] folder which you just created.

<a> http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/IpodInstallation/ipodpatcher.exe
<b> http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/IpodInstallation/bootloader-video.bin
<c> http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/pub/Main/IpodInstallation/ipod_fw.exe
(If you are running a broadband connection, then these downloads will be instantaneous)

<3> Start a [bold]Command Prompt[/bold]. If you do not know how to do this, go "Start" ==> "Run", and then type in [bold]cmd[/bold] & press enter. You will now be at the command prompt interface.


<4> Now type in [bold]C:[/bold] & hit enter

<5> Next, type in [bold]cd \rockbox[/bold] & hit enter. Your display should now look like this..


<6> Plug in your Video iPod.

<7> Now go back to your command prompt and type in [bold]ipodpatcher 0[/bold] and press enter. [bold]If it does not work, then your screen will look like this..[/bold]


If you do not get this screen, then remember the number zero. If you do get this screen, however, (extreme possibility), then continue to type [bold]ipodpatcher 1[/bold], [bold]ipodpatcher 2[/bold] and so on, until you get the following screen..


-As you can see, it finally located my iPod's drive once I got up to [bold]ipodpatcher 6[/bold]. Yours is likely to be a different number. Whatever the number is, [bold]make sure you take note of it[/bold], as you will need this later on.

<8> In the command prompt once again, type in

[bold]ipodpatcher -r * bootpartition.bin[/bold] (but replace the * with the number from step <7>) - then press enter

This will create a file in the rockbox folder called bootpartition.bin..

This contains a copy of the "firmware partition" from your iPod.
It is advisable to keep a safe backup of this bootpartition.bin file for use if you ever wish to either upgrade the Rockbox bootloader or uninstall Rockbox from your iPod.

<9> Back to the command prompt again, and you need to type the following command in to extract Apple's firmware from the bootpartition.bin image file;

[bold]ipod_fw -o apple_os.bin -e 0 bootpartition.bin[/bold] & press enter, and then type

[bold]ipod_fw -o apple_sw_5g_rcsc.bin -e 1 bootpartition.bin[/bold] & press enter, and then type

[bold]ipod_fw -g video -o rockboot.bin -i apple_os.bin bootloader-video.bin[/bold] & press enter.

Your bottom line command should say "Generating Firmware Image Compatible With iPod Video".


<10> Type the following to write your new Rockbox-enabled firmware to your iPod, once again replacing the * by the number assigned to your iPod in step <7>

[bold]ipodpatcher -w * rockboot.bin[/bold] & press enter.

Your screen should now look like this if all has been sucessful..


<11> You can now disconnect your iPod from your PC. This should cause your iPod to reboot. You should now see a light blue screen with some small writing -- this is the [bold]Rockbox bootloader[/bold]. Because you haven't yet installed Rockbox itself, the bootloader will fail to start Rockbox and should then default to start the original Apple firmware. If this happens, then all has gone well ;-)

<12> Ye can now download either the [bold]bleeding edge[/bold] build (updated on every source change) or the [bold]daily build[/bold] (generated every night - European time) from the [bold]Daily Builds [/bold]page (http://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ipodvideo).

<13> The [bold]rockbox.zip[/bold] you have just dloaded contains the Rockbox firmware itself (a file called [bold]rockbox.ipod[/bold]) plus a support directory containing configuration files, plugins, audio codecs, fonts and themes. This directory is called ".rockbox" (note the dot at the start of the name).
To install Rockbox you need to attach your iPod to your PC via USB, ensure that iTunes is set up to allow you to access your ipod as a disk (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61131 if you don't know how), and then extract rockbox.zip to the top-level (root) folder on your iPod, as shown in the below illustration



<14> Upon your next reboot, you should be greeted by the Rockbox file browser.

 

[bold]PeaInAPod[/bold]

Unfortunately, this tutorial is for the Fifth-Generation iPod Video only, as it is the most commonly used around here. But you can put rockbox on other iPods.. have a look here for more info

As for Rockbox vs. Linux, have a look here..
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodFAQ#How_does_Rockbox_compare_to_iPod

[bold]DarkJello[/bold]

Thanks, DarkJello

Not sure on exact differences, but I just stick with the daily build. There isn't a major difference between them though (have tried them both), but, as you'd expect, the daily build is less buggy/more stable.

[bold]KhmerKing[/bold]

Gameboy Game Emulators are part of the iPodLinux project (next tutorial). My aim is to show you guys how to get rockbox / iPodLinux on your iPods so you can learn how they work. After that, we will go into plugins & proggys

 

Very wise. You are more than welcome to ask as many questions as you like, and it's wise that you actually investigate these things before jumping in and modding your iPod!

Top Marks!

 

Yeah sure. I have an iPod photo, so what the hell, I'll include it in

 

Thanks, PeaInAPod. The whole reason I write these tutorial is because I have spent many a day searching for answers to some of the unnecessarily complicated guides you'll find on the internet.

 

By the way, check out the games loaded on rockbox.. anyone played the FULL COLOUR Tetris yet? That is my favourite game

 

theoipod..

you do not need to open the .bin file, just download it onto your hard drive..