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Author Topic: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac  (Read 30536 times)

Offline ashy7

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Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« on: September 25, 2013, 06:59:08 AM »
Hi,
 
I installed Rockbox on my iPod Classic 7g using emcore.
 
I have a mac so used a windows computer to install and it all went fine. I reverted back to my Mac and the iPod mounted the first time, but I just can't get it to mount on the Mac again. If I try on the windows PC it mounts every time.
 
Does anyone have any ideas why it's being funny on the Mac?
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Offline gevaerts

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2013, 07:20:56 AM »
Did you update to the latest rockbox build, or are you using the one that's packaged with the emcore installer?
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Offline ashy7

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2013, 08:27:52 AM »
Hi,

I installed the build from the 21st from this link:

 http://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ipod6g

Would it have been better to install a different version?
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Offline gevaerts

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2013, 10:27:01 AM »
Quote from: ashy7 on September 25, 2013, 08:27:52 AM
Would it have been better to install a different version?

No, that's fine. I asked because many people don't install a recent build, and the build packaged with emcore is known to be very old and buggy.
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Offline bluebrother

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2013, 01:00:49 PM »
Quote from: ashy7 on September 25, 2013, 06:59:08 AM
I just can't get it to mount on the Mac again. If I try on the windows PC it mounts every time.

Disable the USB HID feature. It's known to be problematic on OS X.
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Offline ashy7

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2013, 07:23:48 PM »
I'm probably being daft, but I can't see the USB HID in settings. I follow the instructions:

Settings>general settings>system> but USB HID is not there and the last option is keyclick.
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Offline [Saint]

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2013, 07:47:35 PM »
The short, terribly simplified version of the story (as I'm aware) is that Macs see the V/PID of the device and expect to be able to talk to it like an iPod. It essentially isn't an iPod anymore.

The Classic also doesn't support USB HID (currently).


[Saint]
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Offline ashy7

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2013, 04:48:20 AM »
So basically, I'm screwed?
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Offline [Saint]

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2013, 12:07:38 AM »
Quote from: ashy7 on September 26, 2013, 04:48:20 AM
So basically, I'm screwed?

No, not at all.

But, it depends on  how much effort you're wanting to put into this. There are a few options:

1 - Get dual-boot working on the iPod Classic
2 - Smash it with a hammer
3 - Give up
4 - Patch out the devices VID/PID and re-compile a build with a new VID/PID combination so things stop thinking it is an iPod.

Options 1 through 3 are either insanely difficult, rather destructive, or defeatist...so lets roll with option 4. :)

Basically, what is happening is that Rockbox is using the original V/PID combination:
(/rockbox/firmware/export/config/ipod6g.h line(s) 241-242)

Code: [Select]
#define USB_VENDOR_ID 0x05AC

This is the vendor ID for Apple Inc.

Code: [Select]
#define USB_PRODUCT_ID 0x1261

This product ID tells us it is an iPod Classic 6G - which we already knew.

Some software (rightfully) sees this combination of vendor and product IDs and makes certain assumptions about it, expecting to be able to talk to the device in a very specific way. A Rockboxed iPod Classic pretty much breaks all these assumptions. The firmware partition is resized, the original firmware is not present at all, Rockbox has no IAP (iPod Accessory Protocol) support on this device (yet), there's no serial connection (yet)...like I said earlier, it pretty much isn't an iPod anymore.

There several ways to deal with this:

1 - Rockbox gets its own vendor and batch of process IDs from the Openmoko project and uses this exclusively.
2 - Rockbox gets its own vendor and batch of process IDs from the Openmoko project and allows the user to select between this and the original V/PID.
3 - Rockbox allows the user to provide their own arbitrary V/PID combination.
4 - Rockbox does nothing and users are required to make the required changes themselves when/if they encounter such issues.
5 - The Sun explodes making none of this relevant as man battles to survive as it is forced underground into a Matrix-style subterranean land.


In my mind, option 2 is the "right" way to handle this (...but, option 5 would be pretty cool too, except for the killer robots and all), but these things take time, and someone with a willingness to make it happen.

What we are looking at here however, is what will help you right now...and that is option number 4.

To do this, you will need to set up a Rockbox development environment to build Rockbox yourself.
The easiest way to do this is with a Live CD/DVD/USB or a virtual machine.

Rockbox provides a pre-built VirtualBox Ubuntu virtual machine image you may use for this. This image comes with git and the ARM toolchain pre-installed.

After setting up either a virtual machine or a LiveCD (If you do not use the supplied VirtualBox image or use a LiveCD, you will first need to configure the environment using the "getting started" section of our Linux Simple Guide to Compiling) you will then need to checkout the Rockbox source code.

However way you went about it, you should now have either a LiveCD or VirtualBox virtual machine with the required dependencies, the ARM toolchain, and the Rockbox source code and are now ready to make the changes to the source and recompile. From your git checkout of the Rockbox source repository, navigate to the small snippet of code I pointed to earlier in /rockbox/firmware/export/config/ipod6g.h (lines 241 and 242).

Now, we know we want to change the V/PID, but...what do we change it to?

Well. That's actually a tough question. Do we invent an arbitrary value? Do we use a known value from an existing device? ...both may potentially have undesirable consequences. What I had done myself in the past (to avoid similar detection problems with an iPod and a car audio head unit) is use the V/PID of a generic USB mass storage device.

The process of finding USB V/PIDs is describes briefly here. On linux (for instance, in your new virtual machine or LiveCD), it would look something like this:

Code: [Select]
saint@saint-desktop:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 123a:456b Imaginary Devices Inc.

In this example, the USB_VENDOR_ID is 123a, and the USB_Product_ID is 456b. These are the values you would use to replace the original values in ipod6g.h.
Now that the V/PID is changed in the device config in the source, we can compile our build!

Assuming all went well, in a minute or so (depending greatly on the speed of your machine) you should end up with a newly compiled Rockbox binary which is a dirty, dirty liar and tells the host it is nothing more than <whatever_device_you_burgled_the_V/PID_combination_from>. Mount the device and extract this build to the root of the device (you can use your virtual machine for this - since your Mac not playing nice is the reason we're here in the first place), safely eject, and restart the device.

All going to plan, your Mac, car head units, Amarok, and a whole host of other things that rely on detecting an iPod in such a fashion should now see the device as generic removable storage and all should be well with the world.


If you get stuck at any point, don't hesitate to ask questions. Its how we learn things.

If you prefer, you may be able to get hold of myself (or others willing to help you) over at our IRC channel (#rockbox) on Freenode, there is an IRC web-client available here. I go by the nick [Saint] there also, good luck, take care.


[Saint]
« Last Edit: September 27, 2013, 12:36:18 AM by [Saint] »
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Offline ashy7

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2013, 04:39:23 AM »
Thanks very much for this - I'll give it a go tonight after work and let you know how it goes! I appreciate it.
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Offline Jiloo

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #10 on: April 10, 2014, 03:17:05 AM »
Just registered to the forum to say thank you [Saint].
Although I'm noob in programming thanks to your guidance and all the info from the site I've managed to install emCore and Rockbox on my 6th gen classic iPod using fiends windows laptop. Now it's working fine with my mac's.

Have you ever considered changing a name to [God]? It would be more adequate.

THANK YOU.
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Offline [Saint]

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2014, 09:16:04 PM »
I am very glad that I was able to assist you.

It means a lot to know that this helped even a single person.
Welcome to our community.


[Saint]
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Offline copper

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2014, 07:32:42 AM »
I'm now hosting a daily build of (vanilla) Rockbox for the iPod Classic with the USB Vendor and Product IDs changed to 0x123A and 0x456B respectively, which aren't currently assigned.

http://caudec.net/rockbox/latest/rockbox-ipod6g-usbid_0x123A_0x456B.zip

Here's the corresponding patch:
http://caudec.net/rockbox/latest/rockbox-ipod6g-usbid_0x123A_0x456B.diff
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Offline MrDice

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2014, 02:16:48 AM »
Hello [Saint],

thank you for your detailed explanation. It makes you want to join an open-source-community if the members are so helpful.

Unfortunately I run into the same issue - my Apple iPod 6G is not longer mounted since I installed the latest build (5237b36). I'm wondering why this is the case. With the last build I installed earlier this year I had never problems with mounting it. It might have been a build for the iPod Video because I didn't know about the build for the iPod 6G (not listed on the overview page).

At least I don't run into buzz-crashes anymore with the latest built. I guess I have to follow your instructions to compile Rockbox with a different V/PID.

Thank you again,
MrDice
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Offline copper

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Re: Problems with Rockboxed iPod classic (6g slim 160gb) with Mac
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2014, 04:18:48 PM »
FYI, I'm hosting daily builds again. Both URLs should work again.
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