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ipodrpi

Classic iPod mod with Raspberry Pi Zero and color screen. Suitable for OSMC and plain Raspbian install.

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iPod 4th gen (2004) with spi screen and Raspberry Pi Zero W for local music playback.

Inspired by Guy Dupont (https://hackaday.io/project/177034-spot-spotify-in-a-4th-gen-ipod-2004). But i wanted to play music (and possibly another media) from SD card.
I didn't succeeded making iPod interface but able to control command line music player CMUS.
Also sound card Creative Play! sounds better than common smartphone.
SD card and micro-USB charging port is available through iPod's 30-pin connector hole.
Most parts are mounted to the faceplate so its easier to debug and place big battery (from old MacBook Air).
I tried to install everything on Kodi (OSMC) but there are something failing (display or clickwheel).

There are my Github (https://github.com/syproduction/ipodrpi) where everybody can get script to install headless.

To access both micro-usb charging port and SD card through original 30-pin iPod port hole I desoldered micro-usb connector from charging module and glued it on the corder of Raspberry Pi Zero. 

  • 1 × Raspberry Pi Zero W
  • 1 × Waveshare Pico LCD 2 https://www.waveshare.com/pico-lcd-2.htm
  • 1 × MacBook Air LiPo cell 1700 mAh
  • 1 × Creative Sound Blaster Play!
  • 1 × TP4056 Micro USB 5V 1A Lithium Battery Charging Protection Board

  • Retropie

    production11/11/2021 at 10:52 0 comments

    Installed Retropie/Emulationstation. Works with the same cli.sh script

  • Next step - RPI4CM

    production11/08/2021 at 09:15 0 comments

    Gonna start next project on Raspberry Pi 4 CM with good DAC and other features. Can be gaming console with the same internals. 

    Need experts in crowdfunding (to buy modules and develop PCB)

  • ncmpcpp

    production10/24/2021 at 10:59 0 comments

    Rockbox is too slow for now. But ncmpcpp seems more promising for now. Script on github is updated for it.

    And wow, it plays FLAC

  • Rockbox slow

    production10/22/2021 at 08:06 0 comments

    Rockbox installed and playing music through bluetooth headphones. But interface is lagging. Tried ramdisking it. Now i'll try to make minimum gui install of Raspbian

  • Rockbox

    production10/21/2021 at 11:19 0 comments

    Just compiled Rockbox firmware for Raspberry Pi. Gonna tune it for LXDE which comes with Raspbian

View all 5 project logs

  • 1
    Hardware

    - Gather components

    - Glue some black tape on edges of screen to reduce parasite lighting

    - Use pictures from my Github to properly solder wires

    - Desolder connectors from Creative Play! sound card. Solder USB D+ and D- to Rpi USB (check Micro-usb pinout). VCC and GND can be soldered to GPIo Header.

    - Solder wires from Creative Play! to iPod's minijack

    - Make a loop from GND on charge module through iPod's switch to Rpi's GND. VCC from charge module should connect to Rpi +5v

    - Burn SD card with Raspberry Pi Imager (Raspberry Pi OS Lite)

    - Follow instructions on Github to install script

View all instructions

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Discussions

Mrs Feathers wrote 04/06/2023 at 18:46 point

has anyone tried with the new mangopi boards? they're better than even the pi zero 2 W and so so so much cheaper. which means this project could be completed for well under 100$ if its possible to use this board in leu of the pi zero w

  Are you sure? yes | no

Craig Hissett wrote 10/28/2021 at 19:17 point

This is awesome dude!

Have you seen the new Zero 2 that has been released today? That'd be great inside this.

  Are you sure? yes | no

production wrote 10/29/2021 at 11:21 point

Actually all i can think of is pushing Compute Module in there. It could be even more wise because Zero is too long

  Are you sure? yes | no

Craig Hissett wrote 10/29/2021 at 11:57 point

A CM4 would be the ultimate win with this! Designing your own carrier board to mount the internals to would be perfect.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mike Szczys wrote 10/25/2021 at 20:48 point

Looks great! I love seeing the wiring inside and am impressed you got everything to fit. I was also smitten with Guy Dupont's take on this and you've inspired me yet again to pull out my old husk of an ipod and see if I can pull this off too!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Ricardo Sappia wrote 10/25/2021 at 05:44 point

Hi there! awesome project!!! Thanks for sharing, It looks promising :) 

The wiring diagram for the click wheel in GitHub sounds familiar to me, I am glad you find it useful ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

production wrote 10/29/2021 at 11:20 point

Yeah, this stuff is a child from many fathers

  Are you sure? yes | no

Ricardo Sappia wrote 10/29/2021 at 12:26 point

Well in this case, the schematic is comming from my webpage ( http://rsflightronics.com/spotifypod ) since I draw it :)  I would appreciate if you could at least mention that in your credits or as source.

  Are you sure? yes | no

production wrote 10/30/2021 at 18:08 point

Sure mate! My bad.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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