Is it safe to install Linux on my iPod Nano?

What gen is your nano?

i had it on mine before, and it was pretty cool. apple os (regular ipod operating system) works better for playing music though, and doesnt drain as much battery. but linux is still fun for games and apps n stuff. oh, and just so u know, it only works on first generation ipod nano’s (the ones that were black or white on the front, and had silver back, and came in 1,2,4 gb sizes). check out ipodlinux.org and ipodlinux.org/forums for help with doing it. there are many installers that will install linux for you, its a really simple task to do, and adding apps is a little confusing at first, but its not very hard once u figure out where to put files.

it wont work on 2nd gen (the one with metal all around it, and differnt colors than just black and white, and came in 2,4,8gb, and 3rd gen (the one with video)

oh, and if u do mess anything up, you can just restore in itunes, and it will go back to normal and work fine. also, depending on what firmware, you may need to make a sysinfo file in your ipod ( ipodlinux.org/sysinfo)

feel free to msg me if u want more help, i used to be pretty into ipodlinux :D

yeah I have a first gen.

Not without a Wall Charger. !!!!!!!

If you need to reset it’s brains, a usb charger will not work.

what are u talking about? i did this when i had my nano and never needed a wall charger. i only bought a charger when i got my touch, and never owned or used one before that, and had linux on my nano perfectly fine. for the ipod mini and older ipods, you did need a wall charger to restore it, but not with newer ipods.

oh, nice. I have a generation 4 ipod. When I failed at installing linux, I had to use iTunes to restore the device to factory default, which required a wall charger. If Theotherkid has a gen 1 – I am strongly suggesting owning one or borrowing a friends wall charger before tinkering.

I’d love to do that, unfortunately my Nano is just of the wrong generation…
Still, I installed Rockbox (also a Linux distribution) on my sister’s mp3-player, and it, well… Rocks! The installation process was extremely easy and very safe (it could easily restore itself if it would have gone wrong… Which it didn’t), so if you don’t trust iPodLinux, go for Rockbox :)
Rockbox (and I guess iPL too) has way more features than the default software (that also crashes on me all the time), it’s just a tad (OK a lot) more difficult to learn. But well, lots of features need lots of menu options, so no wonder it’s confusing. That’s how Apple keeps its interfaces simple: cut on the features.

Anyway, I recall an Apple customer support person saying that it doesn’t break your warranty, so the best thing to do would be to give them a call yourself to doublecheck.

yea, you could always just install loader2 and run both rockbox and linux.

@Vincentt
How do u install rockbox? (I’m using a mac, but I can use a pc also.)

@Theotherkid – I’ll answer in that question I just saw you asked :)