Project Status
From iPodLinux
This is an outline of the features and support in bleeding-edge builds of iPodLinux software. A ticked box only indicates that developers have succeeded in getting a feature to work - it does not imply that the feature is ready for widespread use.
Hardware Compatibility
Here's a table of the kernel hardware support for the various generations. This is roughly equivalent with what's in SVN, not necessarily release versions that come with installers. See the Generations page to check the level of support for specific iPods.
| Generation | LCD | Input | Serial1 | Hard Drive | Piezo | Audio Playback | Recording | Firewire | USB | Power Management | Video Out |
| 1st | | | | | | | — | | — | | — |
| 2nd | | | | | | | — | | — | | — |
| 3rd | | | | | | | | | 5 | 4 | — |
| 4th | | | | | 2 | | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | — |
| 5th | | | | | 2 | | | — | 5 | 4 | |
| 6th6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Touch7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1st Mini | | | | | 2 | | — | 5 | 5 | 4 | — |
| 2nd Mini | | | | | 2 | | — | 5 | 5 | 4 | — |
| Photo / Color | | | | | 2 | | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | |
| 1st nano | | | | | 2 | | | — | 5 | 4 | — |
| 2nd nano6 | | | | | | | | | | | — |
| 3rd nano6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4th nano6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sansa e200 V1 | | | | | — | | 9 | — | 9 | 4 | — |
- 1 - Serial is required for the remote to work.
- 2 - Currently podzilla accesses the piezo directly - there is no kernel driver.
- 3 - Only recording via microphone works on these models, no line in.
- 4 - A basic battery meter and deep sleep functions are available.
- 5 - Neither USB nor FireWire communication drivers exist yet for these models.
- 6 - Will probably never be supported due to encrypted firmware. More details.
- 7 - Will probably not be supported. iPhone and iPod Touch (OS X) homebrew software is already available through jailbreaking.
- 8 - Support for external microSD card not yet implemented, see the Rockbox project.
- 9 - Not yet implemented, see the Rockbox project.
Audio Codec Compatibility
Audio support in Podzilla (legacy) was implemented with the Intel Integrated Performance Primitives MP3 library. Podzilla 2 uses a more advanced and friendly framework, Music Player Daemon. (Your milage may vary.)
| Codec | podzilla | MPD | PP5002 | PP5020 | Comments | ||
| Realtime | Max Bitrate1 | Realtime | Max Bitrate1 | ||||
| WAV/PCM | | | | 96Khz | | 96Khz | |
| MP3 (IPP) | | | | 128 | | 320 | On the PP5002 128 plays reliably, 192 almost ok, anything above, no chance. |
| MP3 (Helix) | | | | 128 | | 320 | Similar speed to IPP but easier to work with from a development point of view. |
| AAC (Helix) | | | | 192+ | | 320 | Not tried anything other than AAC-LC, not tinkered with SBR either. M4P (DeDRM) not yet supported. |
| FLAC | | | | Level 8 | | Level 8 | Works on one core running at 66Mhz |
| MOD | | | | 16+ voices | | 28+ voices | 2See MikModule. |
| Ogg | | | | — | | 128+ | As with the MP3/AAC stuff, we need to see if we can run this in IRAM. |
| ALAC | | | | — | | — | Plenty of room for optimisation - 106% realtime on the PP5020 |
| Musepack | | | | — | | — | Needs optimization (libmpcdec 1.2 tested) |
- 1 - This is the maximum bitrate the iPod's processor can handle without skipping (very approximate, depends on many factors).
- Why is the PP5020 faster than the PP5002?