HOWTO : ipod touch 3G sync over USB without jailbraking

[manuw2009]

Hi everyone,

After hours of googling, I eventually succeded in setting up an USB connection with my new ipod touch 3G, WITHOUT jailbreaking nor compiling stuff !

the following PPA saved my life :

https://launchpad.net/~pmcenery/+archive/ppa?field.series_filter=karmic
This basically enabled my follow marcan's guide without the compilation steps :
http://marcansoft.com/blog/2009/10/i...-linux-part-2/
especially StoneCut 's tutorial (BIG thanks)
and will provide with gvfs 1.5 which basically enables rhythmbox to mount the ipod/iphone

All credits should go to
Paul McEnery, stonecut & marcan


Here we go :
1.Add
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pmcenery/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
to your sources list

2. Install the following necessary packages
$ sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod4 libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone libplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-udev libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd

3. Create the ipod mount point with user rw access rights
$ sudo mkdir /mnt/my_ipod_or_iphone_mount_point
$ sudo chmod 777 /mnt/my_ipod_or_iphone_mount_point/
(here, mount point is "ipod" i.e. $ sudo mkdir /mnt/ipod && sudo chmod 777 /mnt/ipod/)

4. Edit the FUSE config file.
$ sudo gedit /etc/fuse.conf
-> Remove the “#” in front of “user_allow_other”, save and exit.
Next, open “System” -> “Administration” -> “Users and Groups” in Ubuntu Menu. Click on the little key at the bottom to unlock it for making changes. Then, select your username and click on “Manage Groups”.
Find the “fuse” group and double-click on it. Make a checkmark next to your name in the window that opens. Click on OK and close all dialogs. You’re now in the “fuse” group.
Next, completely log out and in again – do a reboot to be safe. This is important !
Open up a terminal again. Let’s verify we’re really in the “fuse” group:

We can now mount the phone as regular user after connecting it (run “ps ax | grep usbmuxd” to verify that usbmuxd is listening if you want):
$ ifuse /mnt/ipod/

We can also unmount as regular user (a sudo shouldn’t be necessary):
$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

5. Prepare ipod itunes directory :
Ok, now mount the device with “ifuse /mnt/ipod/” (if not still mounted) and create the “iTunes_Control/Device” directory:
$ mkdir /mnt/ipod/iTunes_Control/Device/
Then, get your UUID:
$ lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial
It’s the first number and should be 40 characters long. Then, run:
$ ipod-read-sysinfo-extended
(mountpoint here is /mnt/ipod/)
This should generate a file named iTunes_Control/Device/SysInfoExtended.
Make sure it’s not empty and whatnot; it should be a large-ish plist (XML file) with a bunch of info.
$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

6. Reboot your computer

7. Plug the ipod : you should see it appear on the desktop
and it should now be
a/ directly mounted in rhythmbox and you can add music files (transfer rate still slow but acceptable)
b/ mounted in gtkpod but you'll have to launch the "ifuse /mnt/ipod".
c/ NOT visible in amarok 2.2.1 and still haven't figured out why...
rhyhmbox is unable to remove music files, so please use the previous gtkpod part either to remove files or add videos to the ipod.
Hopefully amarok will handle it soon so everything can be performed from the same app (and gtkpod is a real pain !).

8. That's all folks

Hope this helps,
manuw

[amirhomayoun]

Great! Thanks!

Works on iphone 3g. After restarting Rhythmbox recognized the iphone. It can play songs directly from it. I also could add songs to the phone. It's a little bit slow but even that it's great!

[Kelito7777]

When I input the string; "$ ifuse /mnt/ipod/" I get an error message that the file is not found. I followed all the steps to this point. Is there something I missed...help...please.

[manuw2009]

Hi Kelito7777,

You have to create the mount point manually in order to use the ifuse command, e.g :

$ sudo mkdir /mnt/my_ipod_or_iphone_mount_point

(here, mount point is "ipod")

I'm not sure you need it if you're not using gtkpod though (as rhythmbox is recognizing the iphone/touch through gvfs without manually running ifuse).

Anyway,

Would anyone have a clue on how to make it work with amarok 2.2.x as well ?
I believe amarok is running through kde's solid and not gvfs (gnome thingy) which is not seeing the ipod/phone...
Does anyone have an idea on how to make that work (even through a script) ?
Thank you in advance

[mattack]

Hi Kelito7777,


Would anyone have a clue on how to make it work with amarok 2.2.x as well ?
I believe amarok is running through kde's solid and not gvfs (gnome thingy) which is not seeing the ipod/phone...
Does anyone have an idea on how to make that work (even through a script) ?
Thank you in advance

Or Amarok 1.4... I'm currently syncing my iPod Touch via a Windows VM.

[eriqjaffe]

I've added the PPA, but when I try to run the apt-get command, I get a "Couldn't find package libgpod" message...

[manuw2009]

Hi
well I think it's namely "libgpod4". I actually did the thing through synaptic...
I guess you'd better do the same
let me know if this works for you then

[Nburnes]

This is great news!

[fischflosse]

Hi all,

Thanks for the solution, manuw2009! It would be so great if I could synch my iPod from Ubuntu, but I'm having some problems following the steps.

I'm getting stuck at mounting it. The command "ifuse /mnt/ipod/" returns an error message: "fusermount: user has no write access to mountpoint /mnt/ipod". But I followed all the previous steps, including making this user part of the fuse group. Rhythmbox sees my iPod, but I cannot add stuff, and deleting stuff seems to only corrupt the data on the iPod somehow (the songs are still visible, they just won't play).

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

[musicman10489]

I was very excited to see this thread and tried it out immediately. But I have run into a decently sized issue: I can sync music to my itouch just fine. But after the syncing has completed and I have removed the device most albums on the itouch seem corrupted. When I try to listen to a song it will play the first 3-7 seconds of the song and then switch to the next song and repeat this process all the way through the album. The whole time it does this the screen shows that it is playing the first song I chose like normal.

Kinda strange...