Rockbox – Open Source Jukebox Firmware

Due to my frustrations in installing iPodLinux on a 4G greyscale iPod, I was quite thankful to bump into Rockbox this morning.

Rockbox is an open source firmware replacement for a growing number of MP3 players. Rockbox aims to be considerably more functional and efficient than your device’s stock firmware while remaining easy to use and customizable. Rockbox is written by users, for users.

Gapless playback? Check. OGG/Vorbis Decoding? Check. Crossfade & Crossfeed? check. But yes, folks, its not only for the iPod.

• Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
• iRiver: H100 and H300 series
• Apple: iPod 4G (grayscale and color), 5G (Video) and Nano

However, it hates my player:

At the moment on 4G grayscale iPods the LCD code is still in development, and perhaps does too much initialization in the bootloader. This causes display glitches in the retail firmware. There have been ideas for how to fix this, but the current solution idea has been described as “not ideal” and so hasn’t been implemented yet.

Did I read that disclaimer? No. After installing, my original Apple iPod firmware’s display’s display’s orientation was like reading text on a mirror: everything was inverted. But its definitely not something a quick restore (dummy-updating using the iPod updater) can remedy.