Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Ubuntu and The iPod Nano

My iPod (Mini, 3rd-Generation, 4G Green) died last week -- used it every day for the four years i've owned it, so it's had a fairly good run.

So, I upgraded to a new, shiny iPod Nano.

Or so went the plan.

Long & Short -- I bought, under some sufferance (ie. in AUD -- it worked out cheaper to buy a full iPod than getting replacement parts for the old one) a 8G Nano.

After looking at Will's Backdot Page & GTKPod's subversion repository -- I set about putting packages together for anyone that's using Ubuntu's latest beta (Gutsy Gibbon) -- that should be nice drop-in replacements for your old ones.

Currently, these are hosted: here (and are based around revision 1710, for those keeping score at home) and they'll be updated for any new revisions that appear in the near future.

edit: There's also updated Rhythmbox packages from GNOME SVN now -- which fix a number of irks (cross-fading crashers, slow database read times on +1000 song libraries and they also include the patch for #411634 -- which should stop duplicated tracks appearing on your device)

edit ii: Updated to include the first pass coverart support as well as adding the ipod-read-sysinfo-extended code to automate the discovery of your iPod -- thanks teuf.

edit iii: As teuf points out in the comments, the libgpod2 package contains a small binary that allows the iPod to find and write the Extended Information file that one needs to make their iPod work -- getting this to work is a three step process:

  1. You first need to enable (if you haven't already) the 'universe' repository via 'System -> Administration -> Software Sources'.
  2. Plug in your iPod.
  3. Open a terminal window.
  4. sudo to root.
  5. Run /usr/bin/ipod-read-sysinfo-extended /dev/sd[abcde] /media/IPOD (where sd[abcde] is the device name of your iPod -- use the df command if you're unsure)
Packages for other distributions might be considered too -- comment if you're interested.
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30 comments:

  1. ChristopheOctober 2, 2007 at 9:49 PM

    Talked a bit about your package with the ubuntu libgpod packager, and it would be much better if you used their PPA system to make your package available instead of hosting it somewhere on the web. See https://help.launchpad.net/PPAQuickStart

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 3, 2007 at 1:17 AM

    This is great, thanks for making my life easier by making these packages. One request for the future though, could you also build the python bindings? thinliquidfilm uses them to put transcoded movies directly on the ipod. Thanks again.
    P.S there's preliminary artwork support in the newest svn version of libgpod, which would also be great to play with.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PaulOctober 3, 2007 at 1:51 PM

    teuf,

    I was actually planning on doing that when they've had a little extra testing anyway -- thanks for the link though -- and all the hard work getting the code working ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. PaulOctober 3, 2007 at 1:53 PM

    chris,

    I hadn't realised the python bindings didn't actually get moved to the FTP directory -- i'll ammend that.

    I'm building new SVN now, so the coverart support shouldn't be too far away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChristopheOctober 3, 2007 at 6:03 PM

    You should mention somewhere that the iPod needs to have a valid SysInfoExtended file to work and that it can be obtained by running ipod-read-sysinfo-extended when the iPod is plugged.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 8bit_pirateOctober 5, 2007 at 10:52 PM

    I'd love an AMD64 version, If I can build myself and ppl are interested, I'll post it, I just haven't had a time to checkout the svn repos yet.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 8, 2007 at 8:52 AM

    Warning - noob request.

    Could you publish a feisty package as well?

    ReplyDelete
  8. PaulOctober 8, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    Rodney,

    I don't have an AMD64 buildhost -- but the PPA system does, so there'll probably be packages available when this code moves over there.

    In the meantime, feel free to grab the sources and build them yourself -- all of them build in pbuilder correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. PaulOctober 8, 2007 at 12:52 PM

    Ben,

    Probably ;) Might take a week or so though, most of my ubuntu boxes are Gutsy (or Dapper), but a feisty build shouldn't be too hard to put together.

    I'll put it on my TODO list for the next build.

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownOctober 8, 2007 at 4:58 PM

    Some Fedora packages would be greatly appreciated! Good work!

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousOctober 9, 2007 at 12:45 AM

    I made packages for Debian of libgpod and gtkpod based on current svn r.1723. They are available at

    deb http://www.logic.at/people/preining/debian/ ipod/

    deb-src http://www.logic.at/people/preining/debian/ ipod/

    dsc and release files are signed with my key from the Debian repository. If you have any questions contact me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. UnknownOctober 10, 2007 at 2:30 AM

    Don't worry about the Feisty package. Looks like I'll be upgrading to Gutsy in a few weeks when the production release is out.

    ReplyDelete
  13. - lord andrew j. andrews IIOctober 11, 2007 at 1:13 PM

    n00b alert:

    dependency problems. i'm using the gutsy beta, but I don't have some of these files.

    Depends: libc6 (>= 2.6-1) but 2.4-1ubuntu12.3 is installed
    Depends: libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.14.0) but 2.12.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
    Depends: libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0) but 2.10.6-0ubuntu3.1 is installed
    Depends: libsgutils1 (>= 1.24) but 1.21-1ubuntu1 is installed

    using the language of the new user, how might I acquire these magical packages, so that I might "rock out?"

    ReplyDelete
  14. PaulOctober 11, 2007 at 10:49 PM

    That doesn't look like Gutsy -- if you look at the current packages for libc6 for example:

    http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/base/libc6

    You'll note that the package revision is definately 2.6, not 2.4.

    Are you sure you've got a complete upgrade?

    I'd check -- using the 'Software Sources' tool in the 'System -> Administration' menu:

    1) Check the four boxes for the core repositories.

    2) Uncheck / Remove any old 'dapper/edgy/feisty' repositories from the 'Third-Party Software' box

    3) Reload your source list.

    4) Open a terminal, run 'sudo -s' & enter your password.

    5) Run 'apt-get -f update && apt-get -f dist-upgrade'

    Then try it again.

    ReplyDelete
  15. UnknownOctober 12, 2007 at 3:33 AM

    It seems that the ftp server is down.
    Are the packages available somewhere else?
    Can you post a quick recipe to build the package?
    Thanks.
    Renato

    ReplyDelete
  16. laja2October 17, 2007 at 10:00 PM

    ok; I've definitely upgraded to gutsy now. I've installed these packages and worked the SysInfoExtended thing. NOnetheless after a tiresome night of syncing everything in GTKPOD, I awoke, disconnected the iPOd and found that no songs were on it, although according to dolphin they were writ all over it. A man wonders, what else needs to be done to get this database writ?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Barosl LEEOctober 21, 2007 at 3:57 PM

    I wrote an article about this to http://barosl.com/blog/entry/using-new-ipods-on-ubuntu

    Thanks for a great information.

    ReplyDelete
  18. GijsOctober 22, 2007 at 2:59 AM

    Hi

    installed the libgpod packages, ran ipod-read-sysinfo-extended both as user and as root.

    I later even added FirewireGuid: 0xffffffffffffffff to the iPod_Control/Device/SysInfo

    But, in all, I have a new ipod nano that freezes everytime I add songs to it using gtkpod on Ubuntu Gutsy. Luckily I can delete the songs, which will unfreeze the ipod nano.

    Are more people having these issues? Am I doing something wrong? Thx

    Gijs

    ReplyDelete
  19. omar_mandeelOctober 27, 2007 at 12:38 PM

    **noob alert

    Im having a similar problem. Whenever I try to save changes in gtkpod it starts writing the database but then says that ¨it couldn´t find the firewire ID¨. I tried putting it in myself using the directions from www.backdot.com but Im not sure if its in the right place, what format it should be in (0x3472839 or 0x32 0x34 0x45) or if there is some specific procedure to do it. beginner terms please

    Thanx in advance

    P.S. I dont know if this holds any significance but when I start gtkpod it says that ¨it could not read the iTunesDB.ext for reading extended info. Extended info will not be used¨

    iPod classic (silver) 80gb
    Ubuntu (gutsy)

    ReplyDelete
  20. PaulOctober 28, 2007 at 11:19 PM

    omar,

    With these packages, there's no need to manually edit the firewire ID anymore.

    Just follow the instructions at the bottom of the post (the bit that says 'edit iii:') and you should be all set.

    ReplyDelete
  21. NuclearJellyfishNovember 1, 2007 at 6:32 AM

    Hi there, I'm staying with Feisty for the time being and would like a feisty package. If you get the time or have created it already that would be swell. Thanks for your work on this matter Paul!

    ReplyDelete
  22. acastanoNovember 3, 2007 at 1:04 AM

    Thanks.

    I'm gonna translate your post into spanish for my blog. I'll say where it can from, sure!!

    Gracias.

    Alejandro Castañogr

    ReplyDelete
  23. omar_mandeelNovember 3, 2007 at 7:36 AM

    Paul,

    Thanks a whole lot. I got it all figured out. This and I finally got my wireless to work today, so I feel like a got quite a bit accomplished and now have to use Windows no longer!

    Thanks again
    Omar

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownNovember 7, 2007 at 1:13 PM

    Rhythmbox segfaults when I plug my iPod in using your Rhythmbox and libgpod packages:

    (rhythmbox:29447): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_type_instance_get_private: assertion `instance != NULL && instance->g_class != NULL' failed
    Segmentation fault

    Any thoughts? I'm trying to install SVN versions of libgpod and rhythmbox now, to see if that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  25. PaulNovember 7, 2007 at 4:33 PM

    Jared,

    Just uploaded some new rhythmbox packages which may include a fix for that -- if it continues let me know and i'll do a bit more investigation.

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownNovember 10, 2007 at 8:12 AM

    Thanks so much for making things easier for those of us with ipods! However, I'm a little new to Ubuntu and have a problem. I can read and write to my ipod classic 80gb, but as soon as I disconnect and unmount from Amarok, all music (even music added to it from itunes) becomes invisible. Once back in Amarok, I can play, read, and write again. Is this a problem writing to the ItunesDB file?

    Berryjiveuptown5@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. UnknownNovember 19, 2007 at 11:01 AM

    Hi Paul,
    I just installed the latest packages provided:
    ii libgpod2 0.5.3-0.8
    ii rhythmbox 0.11.2-0unofficialubuntu4

    But I still got the coredump:

    daniele@besa:~$ rhythmbox

    (rhythmbox:6525): GStreamer-WARNING **: Failed to load plugin '/usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstfaad.so': /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstfaad.so: undefined symbol: faacDecDecode

    (rhythmbox:6524): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_type_instance_get_private: assertion `instance != NULL && instance->g_class != NULL' failed
    Segmentation fault (core dumped)


    Any clue?
    Thanks
    --
    Daniele

    ReplyDelete
  28. FooNovember 19, 2007 at 2:41 PM

    Thank you for your work. This allows me to copy songs but I am unable to drag podcasts over. I see them copy in rhythmbox and I see that they show up in Rhythmbox's Podcast submenu on my ipod... but when I disconnect the ipod it says there is no Podcasts. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  29. UnknownNovember 19, 2007 at 6:53 PM

    Hi Paul,
    I solved the Rhytmbox coredump with those 2 operations:
    - I set correct date/time on iPod
    - I used gtkpod for the first time access and it created the directory structure

    Now sure what solved the crash, maybe someone can try this operation one at a time :-)

    Thanks!
    --
    Daniele

    ReplyDelete
  30. LingNovember 23, 2007 at 1:37 AM

    Paul, thanks for doing this. I found thinliquidfilm and am pretty pleased with it. However, I couldn't sort out the python bindings issue. For others who might be confused, for TLF, you need to install libgpod2 and the python bindings that Paul is hosting. I don't know whether I needed to, but I did the initialization step as well. Now TLF and Amarok are working fine.

    BTW, .6 is out and available for download. :)

    ReplyDelete

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