OK, so I like messing with gadgets. I put Linux on my iPod photo a while ago so I could try watching videos on it (this was before the new iPod with video was available). Supposedly recently the iPod nano got Linux installed on it successfully.

I tried. I tried again. It booted with the message "command: podzilla". I tried again. I restored the iPod from iTunes to reset the firmware. I tried a different set of instructions. It booted to that message again. It wouldn't do anything but show that message.

At this point, I freaked out. When any iPod has been booted into Linux, it isn't directly mountable by your computer. I now had a nano that could display "command: podzilla" in a lovely blue font and NOTHING ELSE.

I reset the iPod and booted into firmware mode. The nano doesn't have a mount option here like the normal ipod does.... why? I reset the iPod and got back to that awesome message again.

One last try. Unplugged it from my iBook, reset. It booted into the normal iPod OS. I remounted it with my iBook, restored from iTunes and will likely never try that again.

Holy crap.

Moral of the story: dd if=ipod_os_partition_backup of=/dev/disk1s2

Gadget Funk by The Herbaliser