Note: Rockbox presently runs only on the 5th and 5.5th generation Ipod videos. Rockbox does not run on the newer, 6th/Classic generation Ipod. For information on identifying which Ipod you own, see this page on Apple’s website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61688.
There are two ways of installing Rockbox: automated and manual. While the manual way is older, more tested and proven to work correctly, the automated installation is based on a nice graphical application that does almost everything for you. It is still important that you have an overview of the installation process to be able to select the correct installation options.
There are three separate components, two of which need to be installed in order to run Rockbox.
This bootloader is stored in special flash memory in your Ipod. It is already installed on your player, so it is never necessary to modify this in order to install Rockbox.
Apart from the required parts there are some addons you might be interested in installing.
Before installing Rockbox you should make sure you meet the prerequisites. You may need some additional tools for installation. In most cases these will already be available on your computer, but if not, installing some additional software might be necessary.
Your player should enter disk mode automatically when connected to a computer via USB. If your computer does not recognise your player, you may need to enter the disk mode manually. Disconnect your player from the computer. Hard reset the player by pressing and holding the Menu and Select buttons simultaneously. As soon as the player resets, press and hold the Select and Play buttons simultaneously. Your player should enter disk mode and you can try reconnecting to the computer.
For manual installation and customization additional software is required.
Note: In addition to the requirements described above, Rockbox only works on Ipods formatted with the FAT32 filesystem (i.e. Ipods initialized by Itunes for Windows). It does not work with the HFS+ filesystem (i.e. Ipods initialized by Itunes for the Mac). More information and instructions for converting an Ipod to FAT32 can be found on the IpodConversionToFAT32 wiki page on the Rockbox website. Note that after conversion, you can still use a FAT32 Ipod on a Mac.
Warning: There are separate versions of Rockbox for the 30GB and 60GB/80GB models. You must ensure you download the correct version for your player.
To automatically install Rockbox, download the official installer and housekeeping tool Rockbox Utility. It allows you to:
Prebuilt binaries for Windows, Linux and MacOS X are available at the RockboxUtility wiki
page.
Warning: When first starting Rockbox Utility run “Autodetect”, found in the configuration dialog (File → Configure). Autodetection can detect most player types. If autodetection fails or is unable to detect the mountpoint, make sure to enter the correct values. The mountpoint indicates the location of the player in your filesystem. On Windows, this is the drive letter the player gets assigned, on other systems this is a path in the filesystem.
Warning: Autodetection is unable to distinguish between the Ipod 30 GB and 60 GB / 80 GB models and defaults to the 30 GB model. This will usually work but you might want to check the detected value, especially if you experience problems with Rockbox.
Note: Rockbox Utility currently lacks some guiding messages. Please have a look at the manual installation instructions if you are stuck during installation.
There are three different types of firmware binaries available from the Rockbox website: Release version, current build and daily build. You need to decide which one you want to install and get the appropriate version for your player.
Warning: Because current builds and daily builds are development versions which change frequently, they may behave differently than described in this manual, or they may introduce new (and maybe annoying) bugs. If you do not want to get undefined behaviour from your player, you should stick to the current stable release if there is one for your player. If you want to help with project development, you can try development builds and help by reporting bugs. Just be aware that these are development builds that are highly functional but not perfect!
Note: The entire contents of the .zip file should be extracted directly to the root of your player’s drive. Do not try to create a separate directory on your player for the Rockbox files! The .zip file already contains the internal structure that Rockbox needs.
Note: If the contents of the .zip file are extracted correctly, you will have a directory called .rockbox, which contains all the files needed by Rockbox, in the main directory of your player’s drive. If you receive a “-1” error when you start Rockbox, you have not extracted the contents of the .zip file to the proper location.
Rockbox has a fonts package that is available at http://www.rockbox.org/daily.shtml or from the extras link in the menu on the Rockbox website. While the current builds and daily builds change frequently, the fonts package rarely changes and is therefore not included in these builds. When installing Rockbox for the first time, you should install the fonts package. The release version, on the other hand, does not change, so fonts are included with it.
In order to make your player load and execute the Rockbox firmware you have just installed, you will need to install the Rockbox bootloader. Unless bugs are found in the bootloader code, or significant new feature are added, you will only have to perform this step once.
Warning: Do not click on the “eject” icon.
Warning: If you received a “Resource busy” error from ipodpatcher, then this means you did not complete step 2. Go back to Disk Utility, unmount your player and then run ipodpatcher again.
Note: You should unplug your ipod immediately after ejecting it to prevent Rockbox immediately rebooting your player into disk mode when it detects that your player is attached to a computer.
Warning: You may need to be the root user in order for ipodpatcher to have sufficient permission to perform raw disk access to your player.
If you wish to use speech support you will also need a voice file, English ones are available from http://www.rockbox.org/daily.shtml. Download the “voice” package for your player and unzip it directly to the root of your player. You should now find an english.voice in the /.rockbox/langs directory on your player. Voice menus are enabled by default and will come into effect after a reboot. See section 7.9 for details on voice settings.
Remove your player from the computer’s USB port. Hard resetting the Ipod by holding Menu+Select for a couple of seconds until the player resets. Now Rockbox should load. When you see the Rockbox splash screen, Rockbox is loaded and ready for use.
Note: If you have loaded music onto your player using Itunes, you will not be able to see your music properly in the File Browser. This is because Itunes changes your files’ names and hides them in directories in the Ipod_Control directory. Files placed on your player using Itunes can be viewed by initializing and using Rockbox’s database. See section 4.2 for more information.
Updating Rockbox is easy even if you do not use the Rockbox Utility. Download a Rockbox build. (The latest release of the Rockbox software will always be available from http://www.rockbox.org/download/). Unzip the build to the root directory of your player like you did in the installation stage. If your unzip program asks you whether to overwrite files, choose the “Yes to all” option. The new build will be installed over your current build.
Note: If you use Rockbox Utility be aware that it cannot detect manually installed components.
Note: The Rockbox bootloader allows you to choose between Rockbox and the original firmware. (See section 3.1.3 for more information.)
You can uninstall Rockbox automatically by using Rockbox Utility. If you installed Rockbox manually you can still use Rockbox Utility for uninstallation but will not be able to do this selectively.
To uninstall Rockbox and go back to using just the original Ipod software, connect the player to your computer and follow the instructions to install the bootloader but, when prompted by ipodpatcher, enter u for uninstall instead of i for install.
If you wish to clean up your disk, you may also wish to delete the .rockbox directory and its contents. Turn the Ipod off. Turn the player back on and the original Ipod software will load.