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Install rockbox.ipod to OSS on ipodvideo (disable dualboot)

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rockbox_dev123:
I'm reasonably familiar with the boot process having read http://www.ipodlinux.org/Firmware.html and https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodPatcher.html#Overview_of_the_ipod_firmware_partition.

I have an ipodvideo and while its great that the OFW can see all of the 512G disk, I will never use the official firmare.

I came up with a clever way to prevent the OFW from booting after reading the bootloader source:

--- Code: --- * So, once the bootloader has control:
 *
 * 1) If the hold switch is on, or the menu button is being held,
 *    try to boot the Apple firmware.
 *   1a) First, it looks for apple_os.ipod on the FAT32 partition,
 *       in .rockbox or the root directory. If found it loads that
 *       without further checking and runs it.
 *   1b) Next, it checks to see if the OSOS image already loaded
 *       into RAM is in fact the Apple firmware with the bootloader
 *       appended. It looks at DRAM_START+0x20 for the string
 *       "portalplayer", and if it's there, just jumps back to
 *       DRAM_START where the entry point was before the bootloader
 *       was appended.
 *   1c) If neither of those worked, it displays an error and dies.

--- End code ---

So I copied .rockbox/rockbox.ipod to .rockbox/apple_os.ipod and now if I boot my ipodvideo with the hold switch on it will boot rockbox instead of the OFW. Booting is much faster as a result!

I am interested in the comments further down:


--- Code: --- * Loading from OSOS is somewhat faster than loading from FAT32,
 * because the Apple ROM doesn't have to deal with filesystems or
 * fragmentation, and is already loading from OSOS anyway. Thus,
 * the fastest boot configuration that still allows dual booting
 * is to install Rockbox into OSOS with the bootloader appended
 * (and delete/rename rockbox.ipod from the FAT32 partition).
 *
 * It is of course faster to just install Rockbox to OSOS alone,
 * but then it's impossible to boot the Apple firmware.

--- End code ---


--- Quote ---It is of course faster to just install Rockbox to OSOS alone, but then it's impossible to boot the Apple firmware.
--- End quote ---
Has installing Rockbox to OSOS been documented anywhere? I realise I would probably have to rewrite the OSOS each time I update rockbox but that doesn't seem too tedious.

chris_s:
That would be method 4 ("OSOS contains only Rockbox") that is documented on the page you linked to (see the very  bottom)

https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodPatcher.html#A_4_41_OSOS_contains_only_Rockbox

It's my favorite method of using Rockbox on iPods... boots up lightning-fast :)


--- Code: ---Install your copy of Rockbox to the OSOS image with ipodpatcher -wf rockbox.ipod
--- End code ---

rockbox_dev123:

--- Quote from: chris_s on May 06, 2024, 06:22:35 AM ---That would be method 4 ("OSOS contains only Rockbox") that is documented on the page you linked to (see the very  bottom)

--- End quote ---

I'm clearly not reading very well today. Thanks for replying, worked a charm!

***
For anyone else on macOS it seems that "Sending SCSI Command failed." can be safely ignored.

Also make sure you pass a path to the boot file from a location outside of the mounted iPod. Part of the write process includes a step to unmount the disk and you will get the following:

--- Code: ---[INFO] Volume IPOD on disk5s2 unmounted
[ERR]  Couldn't open input file /Volumes/IPOD/.rockbox/rockbox.ipod
[ERR]  --write-firmware failed.

--- End code ---

Working output:

--- Code: ---$ sudo ./ipodpatcher -wf ~/rockbox.ipod
ipodpatcher efcea66280-240506
(C) Dave Chapman 2006-2009
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

[INFO] Scanning disk devices...
[ERR]  Sending SCSI Command failed.
[INFO] Ipod found - Video (aka 5th Generation) ("winpod") - /dev/disk5
[INFO] Reading partition table from /dev/disk5
[INFO] Sector size is 2048 bytes
[INFO] Part    Start Sector    End Sector   Size (MB)   Type
[INFO]    0              63         64259       125.4   Empty (0x00)
[INFO]    1           64260     249935870    488030.5   W95 FAT32 (0x0b)
[ERR]  Sending SCSI Command failed.
[INFO] Ipod model: Video (aka 5th Generation) ("winpod")
[INFO] Volume IPOD on disk5s2 unmounted
[INFO] Padding input file from 0x000b65e4 to 0x000b6800 bytes
[INFO] Reading input file...
[INFO] Checksum OK in /Users/foo/rockbox.ipod
[INFO]  Wrote 747520 bytes to firmware partition
[INFO] Firmware /Users/foo/rockbox.ipod written to device.

--- End code ---

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