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Pardon the lack of configuration, I'll get around to it. Email huanix@gmail.com for edit access, or to offer suggestions.

Possible methods for syncing iPhones and 5th gen iPods in Linux


Contents

iTunes 8 through modified Wine

Description: A patched version of Wine may ignore other important features of wine in order to get iTunes to run.

Is this currently possible? No. The current patches allow iTunes to see a device, but no further.

Reference site:

Lead Developer(s): http://www.huanix.com and EADurbin (working through the wine AppDB)

Pros:

  • The ability to run iTunes natively in Linux
  • The ability to abandon Windows with a moderate degree of security.

Cons:

  • A patched version of wine would require it's own maintenance and debugging.
  • An iTunes update could render the branch useless.

XP VirtualBox inside Linux

Description: You can install Windows XP (with iTunes) in a Virtual Machine running under Linux. This allows sync and upgrading.

Is this currently possible? Yes. This is the current standard. You must have VirtualBox 2.0.6+ installed.

Reference site: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/491 (this is the resolved ticket that describes the connection)

Lead Developer(s): http://www.virtualbox.org

Pros: You can use Linux as your primary Operating System and still get your Pod/Phone to sync in the Windows virtual machine.

Cons:

  • You have to keep (or buy) an installation of windows xp
  • you have to sync through a virtualized environment.


Songbird

Description: Songbird is an open source music player with an interface very similar to iTunes.

Is this currently possible? Possible for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd generation Pods. Not working on 4th Gen, iPod Touch, or iPhone.

Reference site: http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/12 http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Docs/Device_Support/IPod_Device_Support

Lead Developer(s): http://www.getsongbird.com

Pros:

  • Similar functionality as iTunes, but open source.
  • Plugins make it very extensible.

Cons:

iTunes 8 through stable Wine

Description: Wine is not a windows emulator, but it has enough of the windows platform ported to Linux to make many programs work natively in Linux.

Is this currently possible? No. It will work for iTunes 7.6 or lower, but not for iTunes 8, which is required to sync newer devices.

Reference site: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=13739

Lead Developer(s): http://winehq.org

Pros:

  • This would be the second best alternative to a native Linux port by Apple.
  • Support for iTunes in Wine would allow many people to leave windows with relative security of being able to sync in the future.

Cons:

  • Wine does not currently have built in USB support required for iPod/iPhone sync.
  • iTunes will not install in an unmodified version of wine (as of 1.1.9)



Android Platform on iPhone

Description: There is a possibility that the Google Andriod platform could be ported to the iPhone and run as a native operating system on the phone. This would completely replace (or dualboot) with the iPhone firmware and allow Android to manage the music.

Is this currently possible? No.

Reference site: http://www.iphone-linux.org/index.php/Main_Page

Lead Developer(s): planetbeing

Pros:

  • Complete and total freedom from iTunes & DRM

Cons:

  • Many people like the iTunes firmware and the applications available for the phone.
  • Android is probably coming, but not likely before 12/2009.
  • It is not likely that Android will be able to control the iPhone hardware as elegantly as iPhone firmware does.


Apple Releases Native iTunes for Linux

Description: This would be the case if Apple would release a version of iTunes specifically for Linux.

Is this currently possible? No.

Reference site: A petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/itmslin/petition.html

Lead Developer(s): http://www.apple.com

Pros:

  • All of the functions of iTunes would work in a native Linux environment without Wine.
  • Apple could secure their DRM content.
  • Hard core iPod/iPhone fans could safely abandon XP or Mac thanks to the stability of a native sync in Linux.

Cons: Apple has not shown willingness to do this.


Sync with gtkPod

Description: (from the site) gtkpod is a platform independent Graphical User Interface for Apple's iPod using GTK2. It supports the first to fifth Generation including the iPod mini, iPod Photo, iPod Shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod Video..

Is this currently possible?  ?? I used GtkPod for a couple weeks but haven't revisited it in over a year.

Reference site: http://www.gtkpod.org

Lead Developer(s):

Pros:  ??

Cons:  ??

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