Linux on an iPod

G

ged3000

Registered
Hi!

I know this isnt quite X11 or UNIX related, but Im interested in installing a copy of linux onto my iPod. I was thinking of doing this either by installing linux (YellowDog, probably) onto the iPod hard disk as it is at the moment (ie how it was when set up by Apple) or by formatting the hard disk and making an iPod partition and a linux partition

Does anyone know if theres any problems with either of these methods?

I dont really want to kill my iPod, so is there a way I can completely reset my iPod if I do inadvertantly stop it from working? (Something like a reformat-to-ipod option or something?)

Thanks in advance, ged3000
 
Just found another interesting point - someone asked in MacFormat 151 (Jan 2005) if you could use an iPod as a startup disk, and they gave this answer:

USING THE iPOD AS A STARTUP DISK
Q: Is there any way to use a 4G iPod 40GB as a startup disc for my iMac G4 running Mac OS X 10.3.5?
Graham McClure

A:
Yes, there is, and it is really easy. However, if you are the sort of impetuous person that is likely to rush off and try this immediately, I should warn you that after I have explained how, I'm also going to tell you why this is a very bad idea.
So, the good news first. Just attach the iPod to your Mac with the FireWire cable and, when iTunes launches, open Preferences and tick the Enable FireWire Disk Use box. Now reboot and let the iPod mount, stick a Mac OS installation disc in your CD drive and point the install routine to the iPod when it asks you for a target drive. Once done, open the Startup Disk preferences pane and set it to the iPod. Restart your Mac and it will boot from the iPod. But not for very long, because the bad news is that iPods were never designed as boot disks and doing so carries a high risk
of killing the iPod altogether. The reason is heat. The iPod disk drive is sandwiched between the battery and the logic board, insulating it from the backplate and this the largest heatsink on the iPod. Both hard drives and batteries hate getting hot - in fact, lithium batteries usuaiiy have irreversible thermal cutouts to prevent them exploding when the battery overheats. When the iPod is used for music, it makes extensive use of the RAM cache to give the hard disk a chance to spin down and cool off (it also improves battery life). A startup disk doesn't have that luxury and will be kept spinning continuously. An iPod might make an acceptable emergency boot device, but if you want a full-time workhorse, you need to get a proper FireWire drive.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'll just partition my powerbooks HD instead....

Thanks for the links though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top