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Media (Apple) Businesses Media Software Apple Linux

Install iPod Update in Linux 162

Posted by pudge from the dd-4-eva dept.
Espectr0 writes "Following the recent iTunes update, someone has been able to install the iPod update from Linux! The article explains how to hack the iPod's firmware in order to get it installed which is required to take advantage of new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store."
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Install iPod Update in Linux More

Install iPod Update in Linux

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  • Now we just need phpTunes/itms-4-all working again (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cbrocious ( 764766 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:21PM (#9003676) Homepage
    I'm working on reverse-engineering the new stuff...
    damn... they break it 4 days after I get purchasing working in phpTunes [linuxpowered.com]...

  • Hacking (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Is illegal hacking really the best way to show our gratitude, after all of the great things Apple and its iPod have done for us?

    • Re:Hacking (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:24PM (#9003702)
      I paid hundreds of my hard earned dollars for this iPod. I will do whatever I damn well please with the software and hardware I rightfully have a right to use as I please@
      • Sure you can... but.. why?
      • When you bought the iPod, you knew you obviously would not be able to connect it o a Linux computer, but did buy it anyway so you are in a very questionable position.

        The hack is technically nice but it still require legal acceptance to be spreadable.

    • Re:Hacking (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gid13 ( 620803 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:24PM (#9003705)
      Let's see... Users supporting a platform Mac hasn't bothered to... Could lead to more iPod sales... I'm going to go with yes.

      • Try...no. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by JohnTheFisherman ( 225485 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:02PM (#9003919)
        They screw you over, you say thank you sir, may I have some more, and I'll write the program to do it with?

        Er....no thanks. I think the proper way to show gratitude is to buy a Rio Karma or other portable player that includes Linux software.

    • Re:Hacking (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Quobobo ( 709437 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:44PM (#9003825)
      Hmm. So now updating your iPod from a non-mainstream OS is illegal?

    • Re:Hacking (Score:3, Interesting)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )
      The only way the hacking could be illegal would be if it were due to the DMCA somehow. The DMCA is a terrible, terrible act which never should have been signed into law. So yes, this is the best way to show our gratitude. Besides, it's not like we're hacking the firmware to run on something else (yet.)

    • Re:Hacking (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The fact that this got a modded as Insightful has caused my to remove Apple from my Slashdot profile.

      The story earlier today showed how easily Apple can change it DRM scheme which could potentially effect your entire music collection and thousands of dollars tied up in the hardware and music files and you are happy about it and actually justifing the action. Meanwhile completely oblivious to the fact that you have absolutely no control over what they decide to do and you have no choice but to accept it.

      • Re:Hacking (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Powercntrl ( 458442 )
        The story earlier today showed how easily Apple can change it DRM scheme which could potentially effect your entire music collection and thousands of dollars tied up in the hardware and music files and you are happy about it and actually justifing the action. Meanwhile completely oblivious to the fact that you have absolutely no control over what they decide to do and you have no choice but to accept it. If MS, the RIAA, TurboTax, or any one else for that matter did something like this, it would be the coll

        • I don't understand (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward
          You people do realize that your tracks can be burned to CD-R and ripped back into .MP3 form, all without even leaving iTunes, right?

          If that level of DRM bothers you, you are heading for a long, boring life devoid of any form of popular entertainment.
          • You people do realize that your tracks can be burned to CD-R and ripped back into .MP3 form, all without even leaving iTunes, right?

            If that level of DRM bothers you, you are heading for a long, boring life devoid of any form of popular entertainment.

            So what you're saying is, instead of buying large chunks of music (Read: $$$ for Apple!) and converting them to a DRM-free format en masse while preserving the metadata, I should buy SMALLER amounts of music so it will be easier and less time consuming to con
          • Can you read? It says in the post you replied to:

            Burning and re-ripping is slow and a pain in the ass

            Yes, he does realize that tracks can be burned to CD-R and ripped back into MP3 form all without leaving iTunes. He doesn't find that an acceptable solution - probably because it's not a solution, it's a kludge.
            • I would have to suggest writing a script to do it automatically, but instead of burning to CDR, writing it to a virtual image, and ripping that.

              However, it need someone who can script better than me, by that I mean, at all.

              P.S, I still don't think this is an acceptable solution, but it could be good until one comes out.

    • Re:Hacking (Score:5, Funny)

      by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Thursday April 29, 2004 @02:19AM (#9004666)
      Is illegal hacking really the best way to show our gratitude, after all of the great things Apple and its iPod have done for us?

      Please, Apple/Steve Jobs can not walk on water, part the seas, or turn water into beer.

      Only Linus Torvalds can do these things.

  • easy and useful (Score:3, Funny)

    by quelrods ( 521005 ) * <(quel) (at) (quelrod.net)> on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:23PM (#9003691) Homepage
    This is something that can help some linux users out. Though, it would appear if you have to use a windows computer to this in the first place you mine as well update your firmware that way. Perhaps use this method to backup your pre-existing firmware? I've not seen the .exe, can anyone tell me if it has an option to backup your old firmware?

  • What's The Point? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:23PM (#9003693)
    I don't mean to undermine what the author did, but what's the point of being able to do so? I mean, you have to pull the Firmware from a Mac/Wintel machine in the first place, and even when you get it updated, you still can't actually use the iTunes Music Store on Linux to take advantage of any of the new features in the Firmware. It's a cool hack, but a useless one at that.

    • Re:What's The Point? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Nuclear Elephant ( 700938 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:26PM (#9003714) Homepage
      You probably won't have to have a Windows machine come morning, just a good copy of xMule and an Internet connection. If it's this easy to update firmware from Linux, perhaps this will nudge Apple in the direction of releasing Linux images.

    • Re:What's The Point? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ItMustBeEsoteric ( 732632 ) <ryangilbert.gmail@com> on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:26PM (#9003718)
      I can see a use or two for it. You have a firewire card, iPod, and no Windows. You want the latest firmware for whatever reason. Your friend has Windows, but no firewire card. You have him let you borrow his machine, get the firmware output, and then use your machine to put it on the iPod.

      I know, a bit of an exotic situation, but I can see it.
      • Not so exotic. I had to take the FireWire card out of my box and put it in my sister's so I could install the update before this one, and though XP handled it fine, the hardware swap was a pain in the butt.

        This should make it much nicer whenever I get around to updating again.

      • Re:What's The Point? (Score:4, Informative)

        by OblongPlatypus ( 233746 ) on Thursday April 29, 2004 @05:02AM (#9005291)
        Possibly less exotic: VMWare won't recognize my firewire card, but it'll let me download and extract setup.exe just fine. Basically, there are tons of ways to get the firmware that don't involve using a computer that could do the actual update.

        I've actually already used this procedure, for the previous update: The exact same method has been described here [variant.ch] for ages.
      • OR

        You take the ipod with you to your friend's house and you update the ipod there. Simpler, isn't it?

      • I run Win4Lin for my windows "needs". Unfortunately Win4Lin doesn't allow me to access my firewire ports. So I could use this guy's method ... fire up Windows under Win4Lin, download and run the setup.exe to get the updater.exe, then shutdown Win4Lin and hexedit the ~/win/Program Files/(Whatever)

        Though more likely I will just wait until I reboot into my real Windows session (whenever that will be) and update it from there. I have reservations about this guy's method ... it may be perfectly safe, but I l

    • Re:What's The Point? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Thursday April 29, 2004 @12:14AM (#9004221) Homepage
      I don't mean to undermine what the author did, but what's the point of being able to do so? I mean, you have to pull the Firmware from a Mac/Wintel machine in the first place, and even when you get it updated, you still can't actually use the iTunes Music Store on Linux to take advantage of any of the new features in the Firmware. It's a cool hack, but a useless one at that.

      It's not useless. It's another piece of the puzzle. This guy works out how to upload the firmware. Another guy worked out how to unlock his downloaded songs. Another guy worked out how to download and play the previews from the iTunes Music Store. Another guy worked out how to upload songs to his iPod. You highlight that obtaining the firmware requires Windows or MacOS. So that means getting the firmware purely with Linux is the next piece of the puzzle.

      You remind me a little bit of the people who said the same thing about Linux back in the early 90s. "It doesn't have SCSI". "It doesn't have networking". "What's the point, without the feature I need it's useless". Ok, maybe it was useless to them at that time. But Linux isn't useless now. You keep adding a piece at a time until the entire solution is there.

      • Re:What's The Point? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by MWelchUK ( 585458 )
        Or just write some alternative firmware to make it work well with existing open protocols.

        Seriously, people have hacked arround with the Xbox, why not hack the iPod to play the file types (minus DRM) that geeks want (I.E. Ogg...). I know its difficult, It probably doesn't have a standard PC architecture, or mac architecture, but I bet it's got a known processor in it.
    • Steps 1-8 in the article describe how to get the firmware. There are tons of alternatives to those steps; all it takes is for someone to put the firmware on the net somewhere, or for you to borrow a friend's PC, or just have him email you the .exe file, ... and the list goes on. Personally I used VMWare to extract the file.

      As for iTunes; as others have mentioned, there are several improvements in this update that don't rely on iTunes. And this method will work for any past and future updates as well.

  • Well... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ItMustBeEsoteric ( 732632 ) <ryangilbert.gmail@com> on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:24PM (#9003700)
    "Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store" and this matter for linux, why? While I admit it's cool to be able to apply the update from Linux for the enhanced playback and for the ability to play Apple Loseless for the audiophiles out there, that doesn't seem like it would matter for those who are, you know, using their iPod with an OS that is unsupported in iTunes.

    Or am I clueless and is iTunes wine-able?

  • iPod on linux (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stevyn ( 691306 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:24PM (#9003703)
    Wasn't the iPod and iTunes supposed to lure windows users over to apple? I'm not surprised apple hasn't been quick to do this themselves.

  • Why bother? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:25PM (#9003706)
    Steps 1 and 2 from the article are to download and install the windows version of the update first....if you have to download the windows version of the update to get this to work then why bother?

    Is the "Linux way" now to take more steps then you need to just to prove you can do something?
    • I can't speak for iPod users, but Plextor has this annoying habbit of releasing Plexwriter firmware updates wrapped in a Windows-only installer (or at least I can't find the bare Opal_10x.bin files anywhere on their site.

      My solution? Fire up Win2k in a VMware session, d/l the installer, launch the installer, then snag the binary image from the Windows temp directory. I can then use the "pxupdate" utility from Joerg Schilling (the guy who writes cdrecord).

      I can't flash the firmware under VMWare, and Wi

  • Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Caiwyn ( 120510 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:26PM (#9003715)
    Woo, awesome! Now we can use Linux to load a firmware update that lets us take advantage of new features for iTunes! All that's missing is the ability to run iTunes on Linux!

    Bunch of rocket scientists, these guys.

  • What we need (Score:1, Interesting)

    by ikkonoishi ( 674762 )
    What we need now is a torrent or a download for the clipped .bin file.

  • Is it just me (Score:2, Interesting)

    by JazzXP ( 770338 )
    Or does it seem really dodgy just to hack the firmware for the OS... shouldn't Apple be doing this? It should be easy for them to do as there stuff is already BSD based anyway (isn't it?)

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:52PM (#9003873)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I went to their competition [rioaudio.com] and have been singing the praises of the Karma ever since. I'm coercing a lot of friends that the iPod is overexpensive for the size, with less useful features and a few annoyances due to esthetics (I can feel around my karma blindly without accidentally skipping to the next track). Now I tell all my friends not to waste their money with Apple.

        And to think that all that happened simply because I was looking for something with decent linux support.
  • If iTunes works in OSX, why is it they don't release a linux version? Can it really be more difficult than creating a windows version?

    I know they have some marketing sence, so why not?

    • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jon Proesel ( 762574 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @10:56PM (#9003886) Homepage Journal
      iTunes relies heavily on OS X libraries. The user interface, QuickTime playback, CD burning, ... the list goes on and on.

      If Apple would just release QuickTime for Linux, then we could really get the ball rolling. The GNUStep program is getting better by the day, so hopefully Apple could use that for the windowing.

      Here's to the collaboration of GNU coders and Apple!
      • They could just get codeweavers to add in functions so they can just use the libaries they install, that way they don't have to offically support it but you can do it if you want
      • If iTunes relies so heavily on OS X specific libraries then how do you explain the Windows version.

        The big problem with GNUStep is that it looks like shit. I've used it, it's great, all that Objective-C magic with all that NSFandanglery and NSThingamingywhattsit, but the GUI looks terrible.

        And the tools crash. A lot.

        Mind you XCode, man is that unstable lately.

        • If iTunes relies so heavily on OS X specific libraries then how do you explain the Windows version.

          It was easy to port iTunes, because the original version uses the Carbon API, which was mostly ported to Windows a while ago (under the name "QuickTime").

          Note that Apple has a Windows-port of Cocoa, too (called "Yellow Box", it's used by WebObjects).

        • Quicktime is an integral part of OS X and iTunes, and it has already been ported. The only thing left concievably would be the GUI, and if they could port the Quicktime GUI, they can port the iTunes GUI.

          GNUStep isn't aiming for the OS X look anyway... (Hint, OS X predecessor is OPENSTEP/NeXTSTEP)
      • iTunes is a Carbon application, not a Cocoa one, so GNUstep won't help you one bit.

        Apple could of course only ever release it binary-only, as it has dependencies on third party code (just from reading iTunes about box, you see that it uses Gracenote's CDDB, ACELP, Audible, Dolby and Whitecap stuff).

        There are third party clones of QuickTime, the file format is pretty well documented. See OpenQuicktime [openquicktime.org]. The main missing bits are codecs, but you're free to write your own for standards (MP3, hook in XviD for

      • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        >> Here's to the collaboration of GNU coders and Apple!

        Apple is not interested in helping Linux, and ESPECIALLY not the Gnu project. Reps from Apple and Microsoft met a couple years ago and the topic of the meeting was "Responding to the free software movement"....

        The idea both groups agreed upon was that free software (GPLed software that we can't use in proprietary products, as opposed to BSD-licensed apps, which are freely available "unofficial R & D") had to be slowed as much as possible, fo

    • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      As a poster previously pointed out, itunes relies heavily upon OS X libraries. It seems that a lot of people have the misconception that it's not that hard. When you have a massive application such as itunes, converting graphical interfaces really sucks and is not that easy/worth it for a small user base. Some things, I imagine, wouldn't be that hard to replace with opensource libraries but then there would be DRM issues(RIAA would not be happy about easily hacked software). Plus compatibility would become

    • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by burns210 ( 572621 ) <maburns@gmail.com> on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:16PM (#9003993) Homepage Journal
      Apple spent X dollars and Y man-hours porting iTunes to Windows because they had data/figures/hopes that it would Generate A sales for iPods over a given time and B sales on the iTunes store... in a given ammount of time, Apple likely believed that A+B >= X+Y, so it would be profitable to spend the money and port to Windows... can that same calculation have the same result when porting to Linux? Honestly, I don't think so.

    • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Spolster ( 654241 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:21PM (#9004015)
      Releasing a Linux version legitimises Linux, at least in the eyes of Apple, which is not something they want to do. Apple is competing with Linux for the No. 2 operating system place behind Windows and anything that helps Linux, hurts themselves. For people who are, or become, dissatisfied with Windows, there are basically two choices: Mac or Linux. (I'll admit I'm simplifying slightly so dont complain about me ommitting the *BSDs etc.) Why should Apple give users one less reason to choose the Mac over Linux by porting iTunes over to Linux. It would be like Nintendo porting Mario Kart: Double Dash to the Xbox, it would be one more reason to choose the Xbox over the Gamecube.
      With Windows it makes financial sense to port to that platform because of the huge user base, the same can't be said for Linux since the market is relatively small and actually porting iTunes to linux is non-trivial since all of the libraries that iTunes relies on (e.g. QuickTime) would need porting as well.

      • Re:How hard can it be? (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        It's amazing how many people don't (want to?) see this very obvious fact. Somehow they think that because Apple also competes with MS or because Apples uses Open Source software, Apple and Linux are on the same side or something.
      • Good analogy with nintendo and x-box and so on, but did anyone else notice the juxtaposition of microsoft and linux in this analogy? Quite unexpected. Like Apple is to Linux as Nintendo is to Microsoft. But wait, is Sony to Microsoft as Microsoft is to Linux? Is Aiwa to JVC as JVC is to Panasonic? This is heavy.

  • Why we need iTunes for linux (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dcstimm ( 556797 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:01PM (#9003914) Homepage
    goodread [darylstimm.com]
    • The author of that page has a point, but I think it's a bit incomplete.

      Playfair (actually, this could apply to decss and other programs of that sort) doesn't necessarily exist because Apple didn't provide a way to play iTunes songs, but because someone else did find a way to do it.

      Sir Edmund Hillary didn't claim to climb Mt. Everest because no one else had done it, but because "it was there." (maybe the quote is apocryphal, I can't find a good reference at the moment, but you get the picture)

      Like program

  • In other 'Just Becasue You Can' news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:02PM (#9003923)
    Install Garage Door with Cruise Missile
    Install votive candle with Forklift
    Install new batteries in Outer Space

  • Buy two! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dj245 ( 732906 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:44PM (#9004107) Homepage
    Get two ipods, so when some Anonymous Coward comes along and says, "well, yeah, but does it run linux?" You can poke his eye out with a sharp stick and then explain to him that the one with the new firmware which you updated from linux does not actually run linux but the other one sort of kind of runs linux command line it you log into it remotely...

  • If it was me.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Rick Zeman ( 15628 ) on Wednesday April 28, 2004 @11:53PM (#9004129)
    ...I'd have just updated it from the Windows box. I guess I'm not enough of a linux geek to want to do everything the hard way just to do it the hard way. [shakes head]
  • required to take advantage of new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store.

    Did I miss something? If you're running Linux in the first place, what do you care if your iPod can take advantage of the new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store?

  • It's doubly pointless. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BillyBlaze ( 746775 ) <tomfelker@gmail.com> on Thursday April 29, 2004 @12:53AM (#9004358)
    to take advantage of new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store.

    Ooh, I can't wait to take advantage of the new features! Like, PlayFair no longer works. Yay! I'll never have to boot Windows again. Unless I want to play my music. I can't wait.

  • You got to give the title credit... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Thaidog ( 235587 ) <slashdot753@nym. ... om minus painter> on Thursday April 29, 2004 @01:07AM (#9004414)
    For a second there I thought it was a hack for itunes on linux... but no... Update you fscking firmware on linux! Gee, that's just the thing to get everybody to switch to linux! You can update your firmware... on linux! There's 2 thing's that will never happen for 99% of everybody who owns an iPod... "wft is frimware?..."

  • And others? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by divine_13 ( 680820 )
    How does it run on BSD systems? My guess would be pretty well, because of the fact that MacOS is based on BSD. Is that correct?
  • iSlashpod
    iNews for iNerds. iStuff that matters.

    Or how about i. or /pod or i/.
    Maybe that'll be the next poll. And lemme guess, there wont be a CowboyNeal option either.
  • I don't own an iPod, you iClods!

    iFor one welcome my trendy new overlords!
  • I've updated the firmware on my 2G iPod a few times now from Linux, this isn't really that new.

    The issue is getting hold of the firmware file, as other posters have said.

  • Is Slashdot destined to be be have endless pointless updates to this particular story ("Linux for iPod now supports a new font")? Why not come back when the damn thing actually does something useful?

    Pl.

  • My God, this is nothing new! (Score:3, Informative)

    by ZackSchil ( 560462 ) on Thursday April 29, 2004 @10:07AM (#9006669)
    This is essentially what you do to get Linux on the iPod, only this guy isn't extracting the firmware and merging it with a Linux image, he's just extracting the Apple image from the firmware updater and using that. I wonder why he chose the Windows updater, the Mac updater contains a file called "Firmware" right in the application package's Resources folder, no hex editing involved.

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