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Apple Cuts Off Linux iPod Users
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Comments (9)
Quoting: * Many improvements to the crypto dlls (should make iTunes work).I've never needed wine to make my ipod work, I've always used amarok to populate it with songs - which works better than itunes for that purpose. The only convenient thing about itunes is the music store itself, for the rest of it amarok is better IMHO.
But if this is the direction apple wants to go, I'll make sure my next little multimedia device comes from a less linux-hostile company.
Someone needs to make a really Linux-friendly music player. Something that runs Linux (debian?), something people can add to and something that simply registers as an "USB mass storage device" when hooked to your PC. It only needs to be simple, but have a powerfull enough processor that people can do interesting stuff with it.
They are trying it with networking gear, DVR's, media centers and phones. I'm surprised nobody has tried it with a music player yet.
They are trying it with networking gear, DVR's, media centers and phones. I'm surprised nobody has tried it with a music player yet.
Oddly, I think the OpenMoko phone (Neo 1973 - ?) might end up being a pretty good media device.
jacog: I've been wondering that too. Will be interesting to see what happens in the media area. I'm planning to get one as soon as a Mass Market release with working WiFi is out. :)
As for real DAPs, I love my Cowon iAudio X5 http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/x5/ Unfortunately no longer in production, but they have a bunch of other products too. It's a pure Mass Storage device, so just plug it into comp and go. It also has a USB Host (OTG) port for plugging stuff into it. The firmware is proprietary (though actually pretty nice - ogg and such playback out of the box - one of the main reasons I bought it), but it's easily replaceable (or dual bootable) with Rockbox. They even mention it working with Linux on the product page. I haven't used the stock firmware since setting up the Rockbox dual boot. Even my dad loves it! (he's addicted to the xobox game that comes with Rockbox - we have tournaments whenever we are stuck in Pittsburgh waiting for Dr. appointments.)
As for real DAPs, I love my Cowon iAudio X5 http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/x5/ Unfortunately no longer in production, but they have a bunch of other products too. It's a pure Mass Storage device, so just plug it into comp and go. It also has a USB Host (OTG) port for plugging stuff into it. The firmware is proprietary (though actually pretty nice - ogg and such playback out of the box - one of the main reasons I bought it), but it's easily replaceable (or dual bootable) with Rockbox. They even mention it working with Linux on the product page. I haven't used the stock firmware since setting up the Rockbox dual boot. Even my dad loves it! (he's addicted to the xobox game that comes with Rockbox - we have tournaments whenever we are stuck in Pittsburgh waiting for Dr. appointments.)
Well, let me take a moment to pitch the Nokia 770 and 800. They're rather expensive for just a media player, but what you get is a full palm sized Linux computer with wireless connectivity. The 770 can be gotten on ebay for about $150 or so. AFAIK, it should work fine as an audio player.
I was actually looking at those a couple months ago when I was starting to look into getting a Lnux wifi device.
They looked pretty nice.
But I decided to hold out for the Neo1973 OpenMoko device since it's supposedly going Mass Market by the end of the year...
End of the year already? Cool. I think I'll hold out for that too then. I need a new phone anyway. My old one accidentally ended up in the washing machine and now I have a really old loaner with bad sound and a poor connection. I presume the OpenMoko will work correctly in Europe and have a standard SIM card slot and all that?
The latest estimate is a new working developer's model in October and a Mass Market release in December.
It's a Quad Band GSM phone, so it should work anywhere with a GSM provider.
You can always poke around the wiki, lots of interesting stuff.
http://wiki.openmoko.org
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It looks like a strong effort is underway to make sure Apple can't prevent iPod owners from using their own iPods however they want.
I guess GPLv3 compatibility isn't high on Apple's list of priorities.
A couple asides:
-This is a neat demonstration of a real-life race condition: two LXer threads trying to update information at the same time, and leaving our knowledge in an inconsistent state. Not all races are on the microsecond level, I suppose.
-I suppose it's possible to create a stack of UltraSPARC - Solaris - Bochs - Linux - WINE - iTunes to get your iPod to talk to non-x86 hardware. So I doubt Apple can succeed at tying iPods to a specific CPU line.