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iPod Modding Tutorials
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Moderator
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24. April 2006 @ 05:34 |
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What firmware are you runnning (which version?). You have to find a theme that is made especially for that version..
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jsz61884
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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25. April 2006 @ 06:35 |
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I got it now, thanks for the help though, i was being a retard
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jsz61884
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25. April 2006 @ 06:50 |
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Lethal, I changed my font, but the first time i did it, i changed the font on index 0 like a dummy, is that gonna mess anything up ?
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Moderator
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25. April 2006 @ 07:37 |
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Quote:
I got it now, thanks for the help though, i was being a retard
Don't be silly.. we all have to learn at some stage.. :)
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Lethal, I changed my font, but the first time i did it, i changed the font on index 0 like a dummy, is that gonna mess anything up ?
I cannot give no guarantees on whether it will affect the outcome or not, however, it will not damage your iPod. Just carry on, making sure you use the correct index this time (4), and you should be ok.
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jsz61884
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25. April 2006 @ 11:35 |
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Ok, I finally got everything how I wanted it ( font, theme, etc.) but now all my songs are gone.... :( I used iHack and when the updater came up, i selected restore, and not update... is there a difference ? thanks a lot lethal....you have been helping me a lot on this
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. April 2006 @ 11:37
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Moderator
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25. April 2006 @ 13:48 |
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No worries. The idea of using iHack (or the 'downgrade firmware' button), is that they make the updater think your iPod is a previous firmware version, hence allowing you to click 'update' to update your iPod's firmware instead of restoring. I'm afraid you will have to reload the data that existed in your iPod :(
Grats on completing parts one & two of the tutorial, though. Part three is up already if you wish to try it..
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/5/323431#1933588
(Take a look at the bottom of my sig for info on all of the completed & pending tutorials).
Enjoy!!
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Senior Member
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25. April 2006 @ 16:47 |
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Definetly anticipating the guides Lethal. If it wasn't for them I would be tinkering on my own and probably just be frustrated. Just thought I'd throw a little appreciation your way :)
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jsz61884
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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26. April 2006 @ 07:24 |
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Ok, now the only thing I need on my iPod is the iTunes Visualizer to play as my screensaver..... possible ?
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Senior Member
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26. April 2006 @ 13:56 |
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Well you could turn your screensaver off, and just manually open the visualizer and let it function as such.
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Moderator
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26. April 2006 @ 16:36 |
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Quote:
Definetly anticipating the guides Lethal. If it wasn't for them I would be tinkering on my own and probably just be frustrated. Just thought I'd throw a little appreciation your way
Thanks DJ. Two more tutorials coming for you to get your teeth into on May day. :)
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jsz61884
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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26. April 2006 @ 20:50 |
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So how would I go about turning off my screensave and opening the visualizer manually ?
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Senior Member
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27. April 2006 @ 10:39 |
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The screensaver options are in your control panel [assuming you are running Windows XP, if your running Mac OSX I can find out, but I don't know offhand] go to display and click the screensaver tab. You can then set screensaver to none. So now your screensaver is off. Now you can go to iTunes and either use the hotkey ctrl+t or go to the Visualizer drop down menu and click Visualizer On. Hope that answers your question.
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Moderator
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1. May 2006 @ 16:34 |
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Apologies for the delay on the rockbox tutorial gents.. it shall be up tomorrow :-)
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Senior Member
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1. May 2006 @ 18:02 |
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That's good, if you gave it to me now I'd be up all night playing around with it. :) Still looking foward to it of course.
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Moderator
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2. May 2006 @ 17:17 |
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CHAPTER FOUR - "Rockbox"
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 gapless playback, .ogg 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 :-)
DISCLAIMER 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 ;-)
THINGS YOU WILL NEED
<1> A Fifth Generation iPod (iPod Video)
AND SO WE BEGIN..
<1> First & foremost, you need to create a folder named rockbox in your main Hard Drive (HDD C:)
<2> Download the following files, and place them in the Rockbox 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...
<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 Command Prompt. If you do not know how to do this, go "Start" ==> "Run", and then type in cmd & press enter. You will now be at the command prompt interface.
<4> Now type in C: & hit enter
<5> Next, type in cd \rockbox & 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 ipodpatcher 0 and press enter. If it does not work, then your screen will look like this..
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 ipodpatcher 1, ipodpatcher 2 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 ipodpatcher 6. Yours is likely to be a different number. Whatever the number is, make sure you take note of it, as you will need this later on.
<8> In the command prompt once again, type in
ipodpatcher -r * bootpartition.bin (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;
ipod_fw -o apple_os.bin -e 0 bootpartition.bin & press enter, and then type
ipod_fw -o apple_sw_5g_rcsc.bin -e 1 bootpartition.bin & press enter, and then type
ipod_fw -g video -o rockboot.bin -i apple_os.bin bootloader-video.bin & 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>
ipodpatcher -w * rockboot.bin & 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 Rockbox bootloader. 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 bleeding edge build (updated on every source change) or the daily build (generated every night - European time) from the Daily Builds page (http://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ipodvideo).
<13> The rockbox.zip you have just dloaded contains the Rockbox firmware itself (a file called rockbox.ipod) 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. :-)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. May 2006 @ 17:23
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Senior Member
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2. May 2006 @ 18:11 |
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Very well done :)
But I have a question which I was waiting for this guide to be answered. What's the difference between the bleeding edge build and the daily build, besides when they are updated? Is the bleeding edge build more stable?
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KhmerKing
Junior Member
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3. May 2006 @ 13:55 |
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Nice tutorial Lethal
Can rockbox play GBA games, or is that iPod Linux???
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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4. May 2006 @ 21:07 |
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@Lethal_B would this part of the tutorial work with a iPod Photo? Or no? And I know iPod Linux supports the iPod Photo so whats the difference between RockBox and iPod Linux?
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Moderator
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6. May 2006 @ 11:23 |
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PeaInAPod
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@Lethal_B would this part of the tutorial work with a iPod Photo? Or no? And I know iPod Linux supports the iPod Photo so whats the difference between RockBox and iPod Linux?
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_Rockb...
DarkJello
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Very well done :)
Thanks, DarkJello :-)
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But I have a question which I was waiting for this guide to be answered. What's the difference between the bleeding edge build and the daily build, besides when they are updated? Is the bleeding edge build more stable?
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.
KhmerKing
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Nice tutorial Lethal
Can rockbox play GBA games, or is that iPod Linux???
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 :-)
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Senior Member
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6. May 2006 @ 11:32 |
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Thanks for responding so promptly, hope I didn't clutter your shoutbox. I just wanted to check which build would be better to use before I undertake this mod.
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Moderator
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6. May 2006 @ 11:34 |
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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!
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Senior Member
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6. May 2006 @ 12:45 |
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I've added rockbox to my iPod succesfully. Seems to be working pretty well so far, but the navigating of it will take some getting used to. Another easy to follow guide Lethal.
How does changing/adding themes work?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. May 2006 @ 12:56
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Member
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6. May 2006 @ 16:29 |
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hey lethal can u please make a tutorial for rockbox for a nano black 4gb. Thanx
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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6. May 2006 @ 18:05 |
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Thanks for the reply Lethal_B. One more quick question. I was wondering if your next tutorial (iPodLinux) will include the iPod Photo/Color? If so I'll just wait until you complete that section of the guide to try a different firmware like rockbox/ iPodLinux. thanks again.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. May 2006 @ 18:50
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Moderator
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6. May 2006 @ 18:07 |
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Yeah sure. I have an iPod photo, so what the hell, I'll include it in :-)
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