Hi,
Apparently according to macrumors.com and thinksecret.com, new ipods come out tomorrow (Sep 5, 10 AM). We should try and capitalize on all the Apple marketing who-ha by porting them to rockbox asap. To do so though, we would probably need the following:
1 - Confirming specifications and features of the device and seeing if a new port is feasible/possible
Probably requires a dev or someone close to a dev to purchase a new ipod or two as soon as it comes out. Then analyse it very quickly. Or we can wait for the other gadget blogs and forums to do all the feature research for us (prob within a week or two)
2 - If feasible, purchase new ipods for devs - a pledge drive could be started
This would require devs to be prepared to work on the new ports and the number of new ipods necessary to be agreed upon - We could pimp the pledge drive through all the linux news channels and slashdot
3 - Follow the steps for porting - but attract new devs to accelerate the port
Through all the aforementioned news coverage, the pledge drive would definitely reach interested devs
4 - Follow up
If the pledge and port is succesful - repeat same model for new rockbox targets
Also, in the case of no rockbox devs being prepared to work on it, we can donate the new ipods raised from the pledge to ipodlinux.
Pros:
1 - Rockbox piggybacks on the new ipod marketing - reaches much more people quicker
2 - Rockbox works on a new target
3 - Rockbox community knows they can raise funds for future ports using the same model
4 - Rockbox gets more devs and more users
Cons:
1 - The new ipods may be too much of a resource commitment when we could be working on bugfixing current targets
2 - The new ipods may have features which exceed rockbox's current features in certain aspects
3 - The new ipods are a bloody expensive entry point for anyone that wants to get Rockbox
4 - The new ipods may not even come out
(perhaps we should consider this model for the new Creative Zen or the zune (due to the recent price reduction - now only $199 US according to engadget.com)
This is just a suggestion to try and get the ball rolling. Criticism is welcome
It'd be nice to know what the devs & community think about it.