I worked on this project a bit back in the day as a teen. Bricked my first iPod trying to get a DIY uClinux kernel to boot on it within hours of getting it for Christmas. Took bricking 8 more warranty replacements before I finally got Linux to boot.
Weeks later thanks to a lot of community help, finally found the memory address for audio out and got music playback that was not beholden to any DRM.
This work was all referenced by the RockBox team that made a tiny embedded kernel and OS far more suited to the tasks.
Now all devices that can run rockbox are EOL and other community members are working on an open hardware player to run Rockbox.
Couple decades in, but we are finally close to having the first fully featured fully open hardware music player, which all started back with reverse engineering iPods to run Linux kernels.
As someone that does not carry a cell phone, I am absolutely excited about this as it would be a daily driver for me.
Great work, and great to hear about Echoplayer. Sorely needed. I currently use a Cowon Plenue D2 and have an iPod Video running Rockbox. The iPod looks nice, but is flaky and outdated, and can't utilize 24-bit flacs. The Cowon is pretty good, but the UI has a load of irritating elements and proprietary nonsense.
All Apple devices are, but the 'AIGO EROS Q / K' [0] is not end of life and is supported by Rockbox.
I'm interested in the Echo player and I think it's important long term. However, the lack of a scroll wheel is what keeps me invested in iPod Classics over all other players.
If only apple could work on a modern ipod replacement. I used to have an ipod shuffle (this tiny thing with a clip), and I was using it every day for sports.
How do people listen to music when doing sports? Iphones suck in this regard (you cannot run with it in your pocket or hands; and this band on your arm is just uncomfortable).
Apple could do well with just an iPod classic with a moderns screen, a half terabyte of storage, headphone jack and support for Airpods and Apple Music. They could shift a decent amount of units.
Sony walkman kind of dominate the market as far as i understand. Not exactly the same, but close enough that Apple might not sell as much as you think.
A lot of watches now have Bluetooth music playback, both smart watches and sport watches.
I can also still manage to fit an iPhone 12 Mini comfortably in many running shorts in the small rear key pockets or back zipper pockets. Some running waistbands also work well. But it's hit and miss vs old mp3 players that weighed next to nothing.
Nostalgia! I forgot all about this. I had an iPod that I flashed with podzilla back in the day. It worked really well. I remember that you could enter the shell. Ended up selling it on eBay.
The iPod Classic has a much better CPU. Unless you specifically want the 5th gen because of its DAC I would always recommend a Classic over a Video. If the look is what matters to you then you can retrofit a Classic into the plastic housing of a Video.
I worked on this project a bit back in the day as a teen. Bricked my first iPod trying to get a DIY uClinux kernel to boot on it within hours of getting it for Christmas. Took bricking 8 more warranty replacements before I finally got Linux to boot.
Weeks later thanks to a lot of community help, finally found the memory address for audio out and got music playback that was not beholden to any DRM.
This work was all referenced by the RockBox team that made a tiny embedded kernel and OS far more suited to the tasks.
Now all devices that can run rockbox are EOL and other community members are working on an open hardware player to run Rockbox.
https://github.com/amachronic/echoplayer
Couple decades in, but we are finally close to having the first fully featured fully open hardware music player, which all started back with reverse engineering iPods to run Linux kernels.
As someone that does not carry a cell phone, I am absolutely excited about this as it would be a daily driver for me.
Great work, and great to hear about Echoplayer. Sorely needed. I currently use a Cowon Plenue D2 and have an iPod Video running Rockbox. The iPod looks nice, but is flaky and outdated, and can't utilize 24-bit flacs. The Cowon is pretty good, but the UI has a load of irritating elements and proprietary nonsense.
Congratulations on not carrying a cell phone!
> Now all devices that can run rockbox are EOL
All Apple devices are, but the 'AIGO EROS Q / K' [0] is not end of life and is supported by Rockbox.
I'm interested in the Echo player and I think it's important long term. However, the lack of a scroll wheel is what keeps me invested in iPod Classics over all other players.
[0] https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/AIGOErosQK.html
Thank you for being awesome! I still use RockBox on my old tiny 8GB "mp3" (flac really) player
If only apple could work on a modern ipod replacement. I used to have an ipod shuffle (this tiny thing with a clip), and I was using it every day for sports.
How do people listen to music when doing sports? Iphones suck in this regard (you cannot run with it in your pocket or hands; and this band on your arm is just uncomfortable).
Apple could do well with just an iPod classic with a moderns screen, a half terabyte of storage, headphone jack and support for Airpods and Apple Music. They could shift a decent amount of units.
It wouldn't have to be cheap just done well.
Sony walkman kind of dominate the market as far as i understand. Not exactly the same, but close enough that Apple might not sell as much as you think.
Apple Watch + AirPods
A lot of watches now have Bluetooth music playback, both smart watches and sport watches.
I can also still manage to fit an iPhone 12 Mini comfortably in many running shorts in the small rear key pockets or back zipper pockets. Some running waistbands also work well. But it's hit and miss vs old mp3 players that weighed next to nothing.
Apple Watch is a drop-in replacement for that usecase.
I guess Apple Watch can scratch that itch? It has about the same size as iPod Shuffle?
iPod classic would be a big hit, just needs modern electronics with the classic user interface.
I’d love one, but I guess having a device that isn’t a cellular tracking and surveillance is not desirable.
Ugh, sourceforge... I cannot even figure out where is the code.
I think it's here?
https://sourceforge.net/p/ipodlinux/code/HEAD/tree/
Nostalgia! I forgot all about this. I had an iPod that I flashed with podzilla back in the day. It worked really well. I remember that you could enter the shell. Ended up selling it on eBay.
I've an urge to get back into the ipod video 5th gen, with an SSD mod and a bluetooth mod (via moonlit.market).
The iPod Classic has a much better CPU. Unless you specifically want the 5th gen because of its DAC I would always recommend a Classic over a Video. If the look is what matters to you then you can retrofit a Classic into the plastic housing of a Video.
Woah took me back all the way to setting up RockBox on iPod Video, making iPodWizard custom firmwares & even running WingLinux on HTC phones
This seems a bit more active https://freemyipod.org/
I installed this on a four-button iPod years ago but now I can't FIND the thing!!!
Wiki is partly broken, last release 2004, last commit 2009 - nothing new to see here :)
I guess it's a piece of history now!
>The frame buffer does not support mmap() so X11 would not run.
Wayland is more flexible, as it's just a protocol, so it could work.
I'll put up a $2 bounty for anyone who can get Wayland running on a fourth-gen ipod.