rockbox on ipod classic 5G without games?

[irockbox]

hye,

before trying to ebay an ipod classic 4G or 5G, which support rockbox, i just wanted to know whether the rockbox OS is capable of entirely replacing the apple OS and if so, whether it can be customized so as to have NO GAMES included?

thanks

[saratoga]

You can delete the games from the .Rockbox folder.

[irockbox]

ok, so that's good news.
Can u confirm that the rockbox OS can erase and replace the apple OS or is it a multiboot system?

[saratoga]

Usually multiboot.  Other configurations are possible but more complex and usually not recommended.

[[Saint]]

See: Advanced Rockbox install methods with ipodpatcher: 4) OSOS contains only Rockbox.


On the iPod Video, with the standard disk, this can improve boot time.

This method is the fastest way of running Rockbox, but does not allow dual booting.

Advantages

 - Rockbox boots faster than all the other methods (about 3 seconds faster than standard on an ipod video 80GB).

Disadvantages

 - Installation is manual and making a mistake can result in having to restore the ipod.
 - Updating Rockbox requires that you re-run ipodpatcher - forgetting to do this will result in the old version of Rockbox running, which may cause compatibility problems with the files in .rockbox from the newer version.
 - Dual booting is not possible: you will be unable to run the Apple firmware (though emergency disk mode still works).

It is also important to note than when seeking support in future you may be asked to revert to a default installation.
It is also important to note that apart from a boot time increase, there is no real practical benefit here whatsoever. If you don't want to use the Apple firmware, just don't boot into it. Rockbox will always boot by default, you'll never see the Apple firmware unless you chose to.

Regarding removing the games, that is pretty much pointless.

If you don't want to play the games, don't. Removing them will serve no practical benefit, save for recovering a few Kb of storage space. They use basically no resources whatsoever, and if you chose to remove them you will need to do so every time you update Rockbox. When taking into account time and effort vs. outcome/benefit, it simply isn't worth your time.


[Saint]

[irockbox]

hye,

thanks for the help.

I don't mind leaving the apple hardware on the ipod, but I do mind about the games. The ipod's use isn't for me, but for little ones whom I wouldn't like to see spend all their time on the games...

In the case I install rockbox as multiboot, having it launch by default, is there a way to prevent "accidental" booting on the apple OS by a password?

[saratoga]

No, just what's on that wiki link.

[[Saint]]

I don't mind leaving the apple hardware on the ipod, but I do mind about the games. The ipod's use isn't for me, but for little ones whom I wouldn't like to see spend all their time on the games...

In this case, I would like to suggest an alternative, customising the main menu (no recompilation necessary) to remove the "Plugins" main menu item entirely. If you wanted to prevent the child(ren) from navigating the device filesystem and potentially deleting media or core system files, you could also remove the "File Browser" menu entry, and force the use of the Database solely.

I would also suggest the use of a "fixed.cfg" config file, which takes the same format as Rockbox's config.cfg file, to set some sane defaults to ensure that the device will always be in a known state at each boot. For instance, to set volume to a known, safe level. Reset the playback settings to their defaults (shuffle, repeat, etc.), and so on.

This approach will have the advantage of persisting across Rockbox upgrades.

PS: If you end up keeping the original firmware, remember that Rockbox's can make use of tracks synced to the device via iTunes with its Database feature, meaning the device can function under both firmwares seamlessly (however, tracks copied to the device via Rockbox's "drag & drop" method will not be visible to the Apple firmware).


[Saint]

[bluebrother]

before trying to ebay an ipod classic 4G or 5G, which support rockbox,

Just for the record, there is no "Ipod Classic 4G". The Ipod 4G is the Ipod 4G. The Ipod Classic is the Ipod 6G and 7G. Unfortunately Apple is inconsistent with their naming for those.