[Cialug] OT: Apple iPhone and digital media

[Nathan Stien]

On 1/16/07, David Champion <dchampion at visionary.com> wrote:
> Nathan C. Smith wrote:
> You can get Linux installed on an iPod or an Xbox through a hack. In
> doing so, you're probably violating a EULA, and DMCA various laws.

As an aside for anyone who might want to try iPodLinux or Rockbox:

The iPod install is not, to my knowledge, really a hack.  It's not an
explicitly authorized use, but you don't have to circumvent any
security or anti-copy mechanisms to do it.  I don't think the DMCA
applies to it.  (I didn't read the EULA though.)  I would compare it
to taking a fresh Dell and wiping off XP Home and replacing it with
Linux.

The iPod shows up as a couple of USB mass storage devices.  One of
them is the hdd and the other is flash memory.  You just dd the raw
flash device into a backup file, then dd a new firmware image into it.
 The flash then just stores a bootloader with enough smarts to read
the Linux or Rockbox software off the hdd.  No cracking, no DRM
breaking, just simple use of storage devices.

I want to say Rockbox people have talked to Apple people and received
a warm reception, but I can't find a link to back that up.  In any
case, they have not received any cease and desist orders, so I think
that at this point it's safe.  But you never know.

- nps

--
"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying
to find easier ways to do something." - Robert A. Heinlein