#11 ipod-to-ipod Transferring
hi,
summary:
add software support for hooking up two ipod's to each
other and be able to swap files,settings,notes, etc etc with
each other. Even 'backup' springs to mind :)
Detailed description:
hardware support is allready there, via crafting a
cross-switched adapter connector and using two original
dock-to-FW cable that came with it. (I measured mine,
and it's about ~1,82 meters long x 2 = 3,64m ... which
is under the maximum lenght of 4,5m between two
firewired hardware *IIRC* for ieee1394 (while it's up to
about 100m with ieee1394b)
(PS, I'm a 3G pod user, hence 'dock-to-FW cable', but
others generations FW-to-FW should also work, cause
the 'adapter' should be two female-FW hooked up to
each other, and that you just 'cross' the in's & out's with
each other ... like crafting a cross-switched TwisterPair
cable when you want to hook up to PC to each other
without a hub/switch :) )
now, adding software support can be done in two ways,
I reckon.
1. prue FW, one Host and one Client. Host recognizes
Client as an external FW HDD (Client acts like one FW
HDD) - all 'transferring' commands are issued by/from
the Host (Client displays a msg, eg "Connected to other
iPod, do not disconnect' ... or something ...).
This should be implemented for compatibility with
non-ipodlinux running ipod's (eg. the original once...),
as ipodlinux would act the 'as the computer' - Host, and
the original would act/behave as normal.
2. 'ip-over-1394' ... and I think you all know where I'm
going with this? ;-)
...and on second thought, with 'ip-over-1394', you could
hook up multiple ipod's, .. that is after we crafted a
propper 'switch' (yes, like a regular RJ45 (TP)
Switch/Hub) - and if you're asking 'Why the heck
bother with a networked solution?' ... simple answer,
because it's POSSIBLE! and it's FUN playing with
hardware =)
just my my two cent's ... :-)
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BTW, one of the reason to implement the 'ip-over-1394'
solution is for when you aren't at a computer that has
firewire (eg. out on a vacation, sitting at a cyberspace cafe, in
somalia, without a firewire card ....)
ps, yes I know, the eth1394 ipodlinux has isn't the
'ip-over-1394' Apple has implemented ... but if it'd run on
linux based comps - then brewing your own liveCd that you
could take with you, and pop into the cd drive ... then it'd
work/be finefine :)
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Option [1] basically works except for a bug in the Linux
firewire driver which causes errors under load. I have
successfully connected a 2g to a 3g and browsed the
filesystem (file transfers are not so successful). The
other problem is performance. Its hard to accurately
measure the performance with the current bugs (which cause
timeouts) but it looks like its not so fast.
[2] Should also work fine although I haven't tried it yet.
No UI support exists as yet though.
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about the ''ip-over-1394' and when you are at computer that
doesn't have a FW card.
Let me clarify, that I was also thinking of having a 'FW to
ethernet converter' inbetween *if it's possible*... much like a
'USB to ethernet converter' (which I know is possible).
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Both solutions seem to be possible, but the performance will
be far from what you'd expect. The iPod harddrives have
custom firmware supporting direct DMA transfers to the
firewire chip but AFAIK it's not easily possible to do DMA
between the CPUs and either the firewire or the IDE
controller. It may involve flashing the HDD's firmware...
And bypassing the kernel layers to do direct firewire to HDD
transfers on the 'master' would require really hard and
difficult modifications in many parts of the kernel...