Im new and i NEED YOUR HELP!

[kylejjw]

Hey guys.
I Just found ROCKbox and it looks Awsome!
I have a iPod video (Black) (Im not sure if its 5th gen or 5.5 gen, i got it Bran new October 2006)
And im sick of the regular look of it.
I want something fresh with tons of colours and something that looks cool.
I looked through these--- http://www.rockbox-themes.org/index.php?res=320x240x16
and alot of them look realy cool, and i would LOVE to get them onto my iPod.
BUT FIRST. i want to know.
Is this safe?
Will this somehow screw up my iPod?
Will i still be able to play my Regular iPod games (Such as the ones i go from iTunes)
Will i be able to clear everything, and have my iPod JUST like the way i got it (Regular iPod with NO Mods) just in case i need to take it to a MAC Store for repairs.
Will i still be able to use iTunes to buy/store my music in?
Will i lose all my songs/videos and have to put em all back into my iPod some how?

Those are my questions. I Spent 300 bucks on this iPod, so i dont want to see that all go to waste befor i do anything.
Please, and thanks ALOT!

ps. srry for my BAD spelling. lol

[bascule]

This would be a good place to start:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodFAQ

[Lible]

And im sick of the regular look of it.
I want something fresh with tons of colours and something that looks cool.
I looked through these--- http://www.rockbox-themes.../index.php?res=320x240x16
and alot of them look realy cool, and i would LOVE to get them onto my iPod.

Rockbox is not just the looks, it has much much more features than the default iPod firmware.

Is this safe?

Yes, it's safe

Will this somehow screw up my iPod?

Well, when it's installed your iPod is not exactly the same thing .

Will i still be able to play my Regular iPod games (Such as the ones i go from iTunes)

Yes, you can easily (well, you have to hold two buttons without scrolling the scroll wheel, which will be a little tricky at first )boot your iPod to the default firmware and it will act like before until you do a reboot (hold MENU and the MIDDLE button for a few seconds)

Will i be able to clear everything, and have my iPod JUST like the way i got it (Regular iPod with NO Mods) just in case i need to take it to a MAC Store for repairs.

Yes

Will i still be able to use iTunes to buy/store my music in?

I'm not exactly sure how iTunes works, but if it allows you to download the files (AAC/MP3 etc) then you can use it.

Will i lose all my songs/videos and have to put em all back into my iPod some how?

This needs a little complicated answering - iPod stores your music in some strange format - it gives all the songs some long code like AA222FE2156 . And then writes in a text file information. But Rockbox uses a file browser like in your PC (you can open text and see all the files in your iPod). And you can listen to your music opening the files AA222FE2156. But understanding what is what will be difficult. So, it's very highly recommended to put these files on your iPod again.

[AlexP]

A couple of corrections.

You can still use itunes to manage your music and transfer to/from the iPod, but as it gives the files silly names and puts them in silly places, you will need to use the rockbox database to access the music.  The database reads the tags on your files and puts them in a very easy to use and highly configurable database.  This is easy and in the manual.  You will not need to retransfer everything unless you want to.

You will not be able to play any files that have DRM, which likely includes those you have bought from iTunes.

In order to play your iPod games, you will have to boot the original firmware, not rockbox.  Rockbox is a complete replacement firmware, not a skin.  However, rockbox supports dual booting.  Again this is easy and in the manual.

[kylejjw]

Wait, so your saying that i can have ROCKbox along with my Regular iPod format.
I can switch back and forth?

All i realy want ROCKbox for is the games, and i will just use my regular iPod thingy for music, videos and my iTunes games...

I also used iPodWizard to mod up my iPod (In looks), Will this effect ROCKbox in any way?

[AlexP]

Yes, rockbox supports dual booting.  You can swich between regular iPod firmware and Rockbox.  The manual tells you how, I suggest you have a look.

I don't believe using iPodWizard matters, but personally am not sure.

[GodEater]

As I understand it, iPodWizard modifies the apple firmware in the first partition on your iPod - which ipodpatcher also has to modify in order to install the Rockbox bootloader. Therefore I believe there's a good chance one will not work happily with the other.

Probably linuxstb would be able to say one way or the other with authority though.

[AlexP]

As I understand it, iPodWizard modifies the apple firmware in the first partition on your iPod - which ipodpatcher also has to modify in order to install the Rockbox bootloader. Therefore I believe there's a good chance one will not work happily with the other.

I also think that is how it works, but if it is just modyfying pictures, it might not matter.  After all, I imagine that all the actual firmware (i.e. not pictures) must be in the same place for the OF to work.  However, as I said I don't know.

Probably linuxstb would be able to say one way or the other with authority though.

Agreed, linuxstb is your man.

[linuxstb]

I don't think ipodwizard and ipodpatcher will interfere with each other.  But I would suggest using ipodwizard first, and ipodpatcher second - I can't think of anything that ipodwizard could do that would upset ipodpatcher, but I don't know if the same can be said for ipodwizard.

Bottom line - try it and see.

[Chronon]

I just tried using both on an iPod nano.  I used iPodWizard first to modify the Apple firmware's resources.  Then iPodpatcher did its job fine.  Rockbox boots totally fine.  

Apple firmware looks good and is operating normally.  Although, normally in this case means it's a bit glitchy due to the changes made by iPodWizard.  (I'm seeing some behavior that other non-Rockboxed nanos with the same modifications are seeing.)  So, my basic report is that iPodpatcher seems to work fine and does not seem to affect the behavior of modified Apple firmware.

[kylejjw]

Ya. im sure it dose cuz on the iPW Forums. I can see in Tons of ppls sigs showing what they hav in the iPod, and most of them have iPod Linux,ROCKbos and along with iPWs eddited Firmware.


Cool, thanks guys!

[Llorean]

I would like to remind you of our forum posting guidelines. You will be expected to follow them in future posts, as you agreed to while registering, so you should probably read, or re-read, them.