Topic: Has Anyone use the Rockbox for 1st Gen. (4gb) Nano?

[dallman]

I just installed iPod Nano 1st gen rockbox on my 4GB 1st gen. Nano. I never use the nano, and figured what could be bad giving it recording capabilities. The manual was misleading though as there was no sp/dif input as suggested. However, I still cannot get any recordings to work. I experimented with a T-mic from my MT24/96, and a SP battery box using mic in and line in, but no sound. I also tried attaching the Belkin Tunetalk I have with no luck alos the T-mic batt box into the Belkin Tunetalk all with no success. Has anyone Rockboxed an iPod and had success??

[sunjan]

I just installed iPod Nano 1st gen rockbox on my 4GB 1st gen. Nano. I never use the nano, and figured what could be bad giving it recording capabilities. The manual was misleading though as there was no sp/dif input as suggested. However, I still cannot get any recordings to work. I experimented with a T-mic from my MT24/96, and a SP battery box using mic in and line in, but no sound. I also tried attaching the Belkin Tunetalk I have with no luck alos the T-mic batt box into the Belkin Tunetalk all with no success. Has anyone Rockboxed an iPod and had success??

AFAIK, this is a known issue. You cannot use mic-in/headphone for recording:
http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/9193

Whether rockbox works with third party equipment like Tunetalk is largely undocumented, but I'd like to find out more about it. I don't think it's prioritized by the devs.

Here's one guy who succeeded, but he had to solder his own breakout jacks from the dock connector!
http://blog-desorden.blogspot.com/2008/11/1st-gen-ipod-nano-line-in-recording.html

[dallman]

Thanks for the info. Too bad, it would have been nice. What I really would have liked was to be able to use it as a bit bucket with spdif as stated in the manual. Maybe some one will figure it out. The dock seems to be a bit unwieldy to be of any practical use...

[sunjan]

Hey dallman!

They guys over at the rockbox forum pointed me to this:
http://www.chargeconverter.com/shop/connector.htm?connadpt.htm

LI. iPod line in adapter. If you have iPodLinux installed and want to do recording from a line in signal, you will need this adapter. This plugs directly into the dock connector of the iPod and gives the iPod a 3.5mm mini jack line in. Note that only some versions of iPods supports recording.



I can't give you any guarantees that it works under rockbox with your particular Ipod, but basically it does the same thing as the home-soldered breakout jack in the blog above.

The price is outrageous though. For $39.90, you could top up another 60-70 bucks and get an Iriver!
Maybe you can find the same kind of adapter cheaper on ebay?

[petur]

that's the price you pay for those stupid connectors Apple uses... I call it Apple tax, and many Apple fanboys don't even realize this is why Apple is making so much profit.

[dallman]

Thanks. The adapter probably will not allow spdif which really would have allowed for a nive tiny bitbucket. I guess I can keep an eye out for a deal on the connector, but it is not anything I really need. But for anyone thinking of putting Rockbox on theie nano, at least the facts are out.

[kingjman]

I've been using this, It works great!.....bought connectors from http://www.chargeconverter.com/shop/connector.htm ....then Panasonic mics, resistors, caps, 9v snap from Digikey....made a custom cable with 9v battery, and bass roll-off incorporated into cable ....it's small and works great, input gain now works on a nano too(newest rockbox)

[sunjan]

I've been using this, It works great!.....bought connectors from http://www.chargeconverter.com/shop/connector.htm ....then Panasonic mics, resistors, caps, 9v snap from Digikey....made a custom cable with 9v battery, and bass roll-off incorporated into cable ....it's small and works great, input gain now works on a nano too(newest rockbox)

Nice! And welcome to TS.com.
Photos please? 
I didn't know that gain was OK on rockboxed ipods. Since when??? And how much gain do you typically have to add with this kind of setup?

[kingjman]

Gain on nano has worked since the official release(about 8 months ago?)....I was even using it before gain was available on nano....the wm-61s pair up perfectly with a nano....Now I usually leave the gain at 0 or -3db...although the range is from -17db to +30db...that's huge!..rockbox does still chow on battery life tho, even tho the nano is flash, recording on a new stock battery is only a few hours...so a 2gb is matched up better, unless you mod the battery on a 4gb, you'll never record 7hrs on one charge...that's why I say a 2gb is perfect for most situations..and cheaper on ebay..
I'll post a pic in the rig section...

[Neilyboy]

I have this same setup.. I did the soldering on a dock connector i got from sparkfun. I only have a 2gb recorder but it works great!

Neil