Comments on: Your iPod is Doooooomed!

Your iPod is Doooooomed!

fenriq — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:38:03 -0800

Your iPod is Doomed!
Or it can be, it can also be Zelda'ed if you prefer! ipodlinux.org has ported Linux to the iPod (for Linux, Windows and Mac) and, once its installed, you can load up all kinds of good stuff including the aforementioned Doom, as well as the entire Wiki or use your iPod as a Gameboy! And all without screwing up your existing music files (though there are no guarantees).

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:56:51 -0800

I was playing doom on my nano before I'd even put the first song on it. I think that means I'm a geek :)

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:07:57 -0800

I would totally do this, but how do you play gameboy tetris with a click-wheel?

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:12:11 -0800

I'm thinking there's someone out there working on a game controller right now. At least, I hope there is.

By: zerokey

zerokey — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:18:02 -0800

I've had encyclopodia running for awhile. It comes in wiki-d (ha!) handy.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:28:08 -0800

You could put X windows on it and do spreadsheets. Rock on.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:32:23 -0800

At least it can now play audio in real time on the newer iPods because they have more proccessing power to waste. I can't tell if this effort is more or less retarded than people trying to use skype on their wifi cell phones. It's hard to choose, both are pretty goddamn stupid.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:37:25 -0800

Don't all of these mods require wiping out the iPod's UI and sync capabilities?

By: moss

moss — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:53:23 -0800

Nope, iPod Linux installs itself alongside the regular iPod software. So, you do have to reboot into Linux when you want to use it, but you can still use the standard UI and sync stuff.

By: jbrjake

jbrjake — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:59:02 -0800

The newer iPods can also use rockbox (i think you can add a .org to that to find the project's site)...and that'll let you play doom II.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:06:13 -0800

Don't all of these mods require wiping out the iPod's UI and sync capabilities? Nope, iPod Linux installs itself alongside the regular iPod software. So, you do have to reboot into Linux when you want to use it, but you can still use the standard UI and sync stuff. Suddenly, I'm a lot more interested.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:12:13 -0800

I can't tell if this effort is more or less retarded than people trying to use skype on their wifi cell phones. It's hard to choose, both are pretty goddamn stupid. I've been in towns where I my cell coverage ranged from patchy to nonexistent, but WiFi APs were readily available. So tell me, what's so retarded about it?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:15:46 -0800

I don't understand why apple dosn't make the interface for those things more video game friendly. Let people play more then pong and breakout :P. I mean they have a little computer in millions of people's hands, and a content delivery system and (sadly) at least a little DRM. They could make a killing in the games industry. And nintendo needs to add music support to the gameboy, too.

By: chrisroberts

chrisroberts — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:17:01 -0800

I've been in towns where I my cell coverage ranged from patchy to nonexistent, but WiFi APs were readily available. So tell me, what's so retarded about it? It's retarded because I have no use for it, thus it is worthless!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:17:11 -0800

I've been in towns where I my cell coverage ranged from patchy to nonexistent, but WiFi APs were readily available. So tell me, what's so retarded about it? Not to mention that skype + wifi is free...

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:20:50 -0800

I have never owned an MP3 player of any kind, ever. Just saw the screenshot of Doom running in color on the iPod nano. I'm in.

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:21:55 -0800

You could put X windows on it and do spreadsheets. No, they address this in the FAQ - without mmap you can't support X.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:29:27 -0800

George_Spiggot: Your cell phone has very optimized stuff in it to be able to make reliable voice calls at great range for a dozen hours, with several days of battery life on standby. WiFi + VOIP is worst-suited to this. The WiFi connection and audio encoding is very processor intensive and power hungry. You need a fast, hot processor only available in big blocky PDA phones. Because you can't leave the WiFi on without the battery dying in an hour or two, it's only useful for placing calls, not recieving them. It might be free, but it's a pain in the ass. GSM is cheap and works.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:37:26 -0800

This is OT, but PDA phones come tiny now, can decode and play MPEG-4 video (QCIF or better), and it doesn't really matter how optimal GSM is if you can't get a signal. And as far as battery life there's such a thing as a wall plug. Most phones come with one. Recently at a hotel in central Washington to call my wife before going to sleep I had a choice between leaving the hotel and walking six blocks up the street to get a signal, or using VoIP from the room using the free WiFi. Which would you choose?

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:41:11 -0800

(Actually I meant QVGA or better. And no there wasn't a phone in the room, this was a historic hotel.)

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:48:16 -0800

I'd have used my laptop.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:00:48 -0800

I did. But I don't always have my laptop.

By: Freaky

Freaky — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:27:50 -0800

Rockbox also has Doom, among other things. It also plays music pretty well ;)

By: Hildegarde

Hildegarde — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:29:47 -0800

But I don't always have my laptop. Heathen.

By: Freaky

Freaky — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:30:01 -0800

(Also, like Linux, it lives alongside the standard Apple firmware just fine; chances of bricking your iPod are very minimal)

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:32:23 -0800

"No, they address this in the FAQ - without mmap you can't support X." Pffft, I didn't read the link, let alone the FAQ.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:41:53 -0800

Thanks for confirming my long-held hunch, Senor Crash. I've got Doom loaded up on my iPod but am having issues with seeing it, the contrast is all messed up and my iPod isn't a color one (I know, total loser). Maybe I'll go and get into some iBoy roms and see what works, I bet driving games will kickass with the wheel.

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 16:00:12 -0800

I would totally do this, but how do you play gameboy tetris with a click-wheel? You really only need three buttons for tetris: left, right, and rotate. Every iPod has at least five buttons (left, right, up, down, center) and two scroll directions that can easily function as buttons. I haven't played tetris on my nano (I have played Doom), but I'd imagine the scrollwheel would actually be a more intuitive interface than an actual Gameboy.

By: asok

asok — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 16:25:44 -0800

Arkanoid and Pong and other trackball games should work on the wheel. Katamari Damacy? If you made a control pad that plugged into the ipod you could expand the gaming/work potential. Is that something it is possible to do? Typing on an ipod?

By: zouhair

zouhair — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:53:39 -0800

The problem with rockbox is that the life of battery dramaticly drop

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:07:28 -0800

I can't tell if this effort is more or less retarded than people trying to use skype on their wifi cell phones. It's hard to choose, both are pretty goddamn stupid. posted by blasdelf at 3:32 PM EST on June 21 [+fave] [!] Have you seen IntyOS?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:20:10 -0800

The only possible reason that I could imagine for owning an iPod rather than my iRiver H320 is that the clickwheel thing would definitely make playing Doom easier, I'd think. But I can live without playing Doom on the move, and I've been spoiled by zDoom/jDoom on my PC, anyway.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:03:43 -0800

Looks like this only works on versions 1-3. They're working on the rest now, though.