To install iPodLinux, which comes bundled with some games and applications, on
your iPod, you'll need the following items.
- A first-generation, second-generation, or third-generation iPod. Again,
fourth-generation iPods, iPod Minis, and iPod Shuffles are not supported by a
stable version of iPodLinux.
- Download the iPod Linux installer from SourceForge.net
- A zip utility, such as WinZip.
To
watch movies on your iPod, you'll need a few extra pieces of free
software.
To format your own movies to play on your iPod, you'll need
Cygwin, Mplayer for Windows, and the 2bppconv file we'll mention below. Be sure
to follow the instructions carefully regarding where to install each
file.
Download and install Cygwin
Cygwin is a Unix/Linux
terminal emulator for Windows. Using it in conjunction with Mplayer (see below)
lets you configure videos to play on your iPod.
First, download and
install Cygwin
on your Windows PC. Install it directly to your C: drive so that the directory
is C:\cygwin.
Download Mplayer and put it in the Cygwin
folder
Download and install the Mplayer for Windows ZIP file. Mplayer is an open-source video
player that we'll use to convert videos to play on your iPod. Extract the
Mplayer files from the ZIP package and save them to the following directory:
C:\cygwin.
Place 2bppconv in your Mplayer folder
If your iPod
has a grayscale screen (and since we're working with older iPods, it almost
certainly does), you'll also need to download and install a color-to-grayscale
conversion program called 2bppconv. Follow these directions for
installation.
- Right-click the following link: 2bppconv.
- Select Save Target As, then remove the .txt extension from the 2bppconv.txt
filename.
- Save the file to the following directory:
C:\cygwin\mplayer
Now that all the prep work is done (we'll put
it to good use later), it's time to back up your iPod in case anything goes
wrong. We'll do that in the next step.
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