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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

    production • 11/11/2021 at 10:52 • 0 comments

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

  • Next step - RPI4CM

    production • 11/08/2021 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

    production • 10/24/2021 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

    production • 10/22/2021 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

    production • 10/21/2021 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

ibarnabas wrote 11/17/2024 at 23:21 • point

Hi!
I would like to ask you about wiring. Is the raspberry micro usb connected to the output of the TP4056 board? Is the output voltage of the TP4056 5V? So the input is 5V, the battery is 3.7V and the output is 5V? I saw a powerboost like this at Adafruit, but that is much more expensive than this TP4056.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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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