Nano, of course

Nano, of course

This article would be incomplete without mention of ipodlinux . They have Linux (yes, actual Linux -- albeit uCLinux, which uses no hardware memory mapping) running on the older iPods, and may get it going on Nanos someday -- sooner if you help.

The Nano does need their help. It's really very, very nice hardware. As well as people say they like it, though, it just doesn't have precisely the feature set each of us would prefer. That's fixable, despite Apple. Why can't you transfer a song to somebody else's iPod? Evidently just because Apple is afraid to let you. iPodLinux lets you. Similarly for all the other features listed for Rockbox. (Blind people should be able to use something besides the Shuffle!) And, of course, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to run your own programs in there, once Steve and his opinions have been shouldered aside.

Of course, since iPodLinux runs only on older iPods, so far, you're obliged to pay a lot less, on eBay, than if you were buying one new, and Apple doesn't get any of it.