This may help anyone who has an iPod with a dead Firewire port (dead as in no data transfer possible). In my case it was killed by a poorly wired car charger. It can also be used if you have a Firewire iPod, but no Firewire port on your PC .....
First you need to be able to open your iPod and remove the hard disk drive. (Instructions for doing this can be found by Googling for '2G ipod battery replacement'). If this bit scares you, don't bother reading on!
You then need to purchase a 1.8" USB Hard Drive Enclosure for Toshiba 1.8" Drives". These can be found on eBay by searching for '1.8" usb adaptor'.
Connect the iPod drive to the adapter, and the adapter to a USB port on your PC. The iPod drive will be seen by Windows XP (and possibly other OSs).
The latest version (V2.00) of iPodPatcher recognizes the drive as an iPod ... and the remainder of the Rockbox installation process should be as per the manual. Once you have installed Rockbox (and added some music!), you can re-assemble the iPod, and enjoy your music.
I'll admit the technique isn't very user friendly, but it's okay for those like me who just hate to toss out partially working gadgets.