• From: Los Angeles, CA
  • Registered: 2007-10-05
  • Posts: 2

Topic: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Hi! I just got my Chumby in the mail yesterday and had a fantastic time with it at work. I didn't think it would be coming yet, so i didn't have my iPod with me at the time. I tried mounting my iPhone to it, hoping it would work like an iPod, but no dice. The idea of hooking up two touchscreen devices seems kind of silly, but I thought I'd give it a go anyhow.

So I borrowed a coworker's 20gb iPod, and it mounted in about 2 minutes. It only seemed to load stuff from the playlists, but that's okay.

I was up late last night making playlists on my 80gb iPod, but I couldn't test it out because my Chumby doesn't work with my Airport router (another story for another day... but I'm not too bummed because I got it to use at my desk at work.)

Anyhow, it's crashed twice and now it's just cycling and turning and not doing much of anything. Is it a lost cause? Is the iPod just too big? I'm pretty bummed because one of the main reasons I wanted a Chumby was to use it with my iPod. What to do?!?

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Not sure - we'll look into it.  The upcoming firmware update should triple the speed at which it loads up the iPod info, but I'm not sure what tests have been done related to capacity. I'll see if someone around here has of these super-large ones to see what's up.

The iPhone doesn't work like any of the other iPods - it does not mount as a mass-storage device, and thus the music is not accessible to the chumby.

Duane's Website

  • From: Seattle(ish), WA
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Duane wrote:

The iPhone doesn't work like any of the other iPods - it does not mount as a mass-storage device, and thus the music is not accessible to the chumby.

issssssssss that to say that the Music app could be tweaked for other players that mount as mass storage devices? My H10 would love to have MIDIChumb as a friend. smile

:: Mark

midiwall's Website

4 Reply by catwithfins (edited by catwithfins 2007-10-05 12:43:59)

  • From: Los Angeles, CA
  • Registered: 2007-10-05
  • Posts: 2

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Thank you so much for the quick reply. I am continually impressed with the speed in which you guys handle things. Even though there's a few hiccups, I am really happy with my purchase and can't wait to see all the new changes and upgrades you guys will roll out. On that note:

Duane wrote:

The upcoming firmware update should triple the speed at which it loads up the iPod info...

Any hint as to when the new update will take place? Also, any idea if it will fix the problems Chumby is having with the newest Airport Extreme? Thanks again... you guys are awesome!

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

midiwall wrote:

issssssssss that to say that the Music app could be tweaked for other players that mount as mass storage devices? My H10 would love to have MIDIChumb as a friend. smile

Well, I didn't say that, but it's possible that sort of thing might show up at some point.

Obviously we went after the iPod first because it dominates the market and a user is more likely to have one than any other player.  However, we're not ignoring the rest of the players, but there's so *many* of them, they all work differently, and well, we don't actually *have* many of them to develop and test against.

Duane's Website

  • Duane
  • Duane
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

catwithfins wrote:

Any hint as to when the new update will take place? Also, any idea if it will fix the problems Chumby is having with the newest Airport Extreme? Thanks again... you guys are awesome!

The firmware update is in QA and is will be released when they say it's ready.  I know there were some things fixed related to some of the Apple base stations, but I don't know the precise details.

Duane's Website

  • From: Seattle(ish), WA
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Duane wrote:
midiwall wrote:

issssssssss that to say that the Music app could be tweaked for other players that mount as mass storage devices? My H10 would love to have MIDIChumb as a friend. smile

Well, I didn't say that, but it's possible that sort of thing might show up at some point.

Obviously we went after the iPod first because it dominates the market and a user is more likely to have one than any other player.  However, we're not ignoring the rest of the players, but there's so *many* of them, they all work differently, and well, we don't actually *have* many of them to develop and test against.

Oh I know.. I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth. I shoulda' dropped a couple of more smileys in there.

Basically, if the music player was tweaked to just be able to browse the file system and launch MP3s, you'd be pretty set. (basically just add a launcher to the current file manager). Maybe also support parsing PLS and M3U files. fwiw, I can browse my H10 from the file manager now, it just won't launch. smile

The bummer is that many players these days are still all tied up in DRM land and they won't mount as drives. sad that drives me NUTS.

:: Mark

midiwall's Website

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

There is a test verison of the Control Panel that will scan /mnt/usb looking for mp3 files and will play them.  I'm still working on it, but you can assume that this sort of functionality will be available.

So this device also uses PLS and M3U files?  If so, could you please email me one of them (duane@chumby.com) and give me some information about how the file system is laid out?  I'm trying to collect information about the file structures on non-iPod devices.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2007-10-05
  • Posts: 3

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Martyn from the iPod Touch dev team here.    We have modified a program for the iPhone (iphuc - iphone command line client) so that we can access the Media partition of the iPhone and iPod touch.   Being XML based, it's not a lightweight protocol, but it is possible to transfer files back and forth.  What's not possible, at the moment, is streaming the data .. so each song would have to be cached in the Chumby .. this is a problem given the limited amount of free space.   

More information can be found on our dev wiki -- http://www.touchdev.net

  • From: Seattle(ish), WA
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Duane wrote:

There is a test verison of the Control Panel that will scan /mnt/usb looking for mp3 files and will play them.  I'm still working on it, but you can assume that this sort of functionality will be available.

_excellent_!


So this device also uses PLS and M3U files?  If so, could you please email me one of them (duane@chumby.com) and give me some information about how the file system is laid out?  I'm trying to collect information about the file structures on non-iPod devices.

I'll drop you  a line offline Duane. I was one of the authors of the firmware for the H10 (and, fwiw the original iPod and a number of other media players with their core around the same timeframe) and can feed you some info.


martinbogo wrote:

Martyn from the iPod Touch dev team here.    We have modified a program for the iPhone (iphuc - iphone command line client) so that we can access the Media partition of the iPhone and iPod touch.   Being XML based, it's not a lightweight protocol, but it is possible to transfer files back and forth.

heh. Dood, you guys are getting me closer to buying one of those things! Well done!

:: Mark

midiwall's Website

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Hmmmm, I'm not aware of any issues.  I'll see if I can track one down and see what's up.

Are you using it with the latest iTunes?

Duane's Website

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

OK, glad it's working for you - please let me know if the problem happens again.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2007-10-14
  • Posts: 1

Re: 80 gb iPod taking 30 mins and counting to mount

Duane wrote:

OK, glad it's working for you - please let me know if the problem happens again.

I have a 4gig mini attached.  It charges fine and the Chumby finds it, but none of the playlists show up at all inf the screen, so I can't play music.  I have tried several times with the same results.  Any ideas?

- Jeff