How to turn an Apple iPod into a GameBoy Color!

[@charvelgtrs]

The best April Fools jokes are when they aren't jokes.

[@Aaron_Bleu]

I remember rockbox being a thing back when iPods were popular not new at all, the other kids were blown away when I showed them doom on my iPod video and paid me to mod theirs lol. There was also some pretty cool homebrew games you could add and custom themes for the music player

[@bland9876]

Yeah most people were just stuck with phallic gun and brick. Lol

[@ThenTomorrowBand]

April fool's, it's actually a DankPods video

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Haha!

[@reptilez13]

Beat me to it haha

[@2048Megabytes.]

Yes

[@RedMarcus14]

Nugget

[@TravisNuttall]

I was expecting an April fools prank, but this video was no joke! If only I still had my old iPod to try this out

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Haha, no April fools here! Cheers!

[@MrFantastik619]

This nothing new. Me and my friend use to play around with the OG ipod videos 13-14 years ago *feelsoldman*. I am fairly sure (if i remember correctly) emulation worked with no audible/visual issues back then, but maybe remembering incorrectly. Although an old 10-year old hack, it was fun to do this when the handheld hacking scene was relatively small, and even still today.

[@Zack-qo2ne]

This channel is so underrated considering the phenomenal cinematography.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you Zack! Really appreciate bud!

[@ventrueinconnu3527]

Reminds me a bit of Hardwarecanucks or FortNine.

[@YD_.]

Finally, a nice Apple design to a great handheld console. I never knew how much I’ve wanted a concept like this

[@FM4ever]

When I clicked this video, I did not expect to find good old Rockbox. I modded my old iRiver back in the days to run it.

[@thresh-]

Last time i was this early, there were still 151 Pokemon. Also, i hope KZbinr DankPods can get to see this video. He would be delighted to know an iPod can be modded in such a way.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Lol! There will ever only be 151 Pokémon to me. It would be so cool to see what dankpods thinks about this mod!

[@cesar122111]

he installed Windows already on the ipod, he could run a emulator on top of that will be nice though hahah

[@yeepsleep]

DankPods, truly one of the GOATs of KZbin to me. Oh and Macho Nacho, he's cool too. ;P

[@BigBoss11121]

The sound in gaming is the most important thing in the world for me. very beautiful idea reminds me of MGS4 iPod xD

[@SuperSmashMarco]

how does this vid only have 15k views - you're videos have amazing production quality to them!

[@ColdSphinX]

I've used rockbox back in 2007 on my Cowon iAudio X5L. This video throws me back in a great era of mp3 players.

[@justin-yg9iv]

i did this like 10 years ago. when i was a kid this was the coolest shit ever

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Oh man if I had this when I was a kid I would be so distracted. It’s so cool!

[@kevinm4x]

was expecting an april fools lol, I was doubtful about doing this to my old ipods, now im going to 100%

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Do it dude! It’s actually pretty neat!

[@kevinm4x]

@@MachoNachoProductions I will also get an iflash adapter so I can replace the hdd with an sd card, and a larger battery too

[@HitnRunTony]

This would’ve been such a game changer in the height of the iPod era

[@bfums]

Rockbox and iPod Linux were my foray into softmodding. Way back in middle school. Thanks for sharing!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Nice! Cheers Joel!

[@PUDINHED]

It's probably been almost a decade since I looked into the rockbox project. Great topic and video!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thanks Johnny! It is really cool, I never knew this existed!

[@RWL2012]

​@@MachoNachoProductions it makes the device more useful for even music player functionality, because it adds things like support of many more file formats than Apple did (just 2 of which are ogg and FLAC), an actually adjustable equaliser (level control of 10 frequency bands, rather than Apple's "presets"), and more precise volume control (more steps).

[@Evercade_Effect]

I think it's awesome that this exists. I geek out and enjoy videos like this.

[@keshudioo]

Will definitely try this out as i haven't used my ipod since music streaming came into picture. Great content Tito, keep it up, i appreciate your work!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you 🙏! So glad you’re enjoying the videos! Cheers!

[@DebuggedRobot]

imagine if you change the input in emulator to buttons presses then grab an old 30pin alarm clock (with radio and button that works across the 30pins). Solder the button on a GB board, could even use the speaker.

[@gluedtogames]

What's funny is that this was an actual April Fools prank on a website I used to frequent called Game Revolution. They ran an ad for an iBoy.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Whoa really!? I need to check that out!

[@gluedtogames]

@@MachoNachoProductions I'm trying my hardest to track it down and will report back with my findings.

[@KyleBrinkerhoff]

oh man, you could build a nes controller adapter to work with the 30pin, i believe the signaling for all the buttons was exposed via that huge connector EDIT: its a serial bus, you could do it with a Arduino!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Uh, let’s do it!

[@rasmus80g]

Clicked on this thinking it was an april joke. Just wanted to see how much effort you put into it... Then realized it was true... You got me fooled in a strange way :-)

[@Runningb3ar]

This is good stuff, watching your channel has inspired me to mod an Unhinged SP, cheers!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

That’s awesome man! It’s one of my favorite mods! You’ll love it!

[@davidt3563]

Learned something new today, thanks! I had never heard of this. Also once again your presentation skills are amazing.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you David! So glad I could share something new with you!

[@daftward9292]

Oh, that audio is pristine, Gameboy taped to an industrial fan quality. Far beyond the comprehension of our mortal ears.

[@jhilumdas5228]

I remember putting rock box on my old sansa clip + back in high school. I had Pokémon running on there as well, it was pretty awesome

[@trulsdirio]

I actually played Wolfenstein on my calculator in school, so this is right up my alley!

[@LitwinOnTour]

Yes I absolutely would be interseted in a tutorial

[@Crown987]

Same here

[@JayBoyModz]

So Sick! I also thought this was an April Fools vid haha! Definitely need to try this, I have 5 Ipod classics I bought last year to mod and haven't got around to it. Maybe this is this final push I needed 😂🙌🙌

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Nice dude! Yeah, there are so many really neat mods for iPods now. I really want to do the ssd and Bluetooth mods I see folks doing. So cool!

[@No1BRC]

Alwayy enjoying your videos :) Been using Rockbox on my Sansa Clip for ages. Upon buying it(10+years ago) I immediately realized that this little device was so much cut down :( but luckily there was Rockbox. And hey, even Doom runs, lmao- on a two color OLED. Still using it.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

That’s so awesome dude! Thank you for sharing!

[@austingood22]

I had a KZbin channel in 2009 giving a tutorial on how to dual boot your iPod with rock box. There was also a 3rd operating system you could put on it, but it’s been so long I don’t remember what it’s called. I also remember using a wizard software to apply skins to the default Apple os.

[@crappyatlife]

Ipod linux

[@michaelkamka6568]

Hey Tito, I absolutely love your videos. The clear explanations and up close shots of solder points make these mods SO much more approachable for newcomers to the hobby. I was wondering, what turntable do you use for those rlly cool spinning shots of your finished products?

[@dylanmcintyre0502]

I love the fact the slash screen showcased The Who and Pink Floyd :))))

[@raulsanchez9795]

The album cover scroll is amazing!!!

[@MattMathisSoftwareGuy]

Seriously though, shout-out to Isaac for lending you the dankest of pods. Very retro hacky, and cool to see the iPod had that much processor in it. Wonder what else rockbox will do in the future.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Totally agree! Really nice person!

[@paulfavila5482]

Upon seeing the thumbnail i knew its powered by Rockbox and the best thing about this cfw is the ability to use plug and play (yay no i Tunes), make a ipod to run a fm radio and doom.

[@lalo2509]

It's official, Doom can be emulated on every platform ever made.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Totally! That is the benchmark that all electronics are judged on.

[@RestoreTechnique]

Great video

[@vil-jr]

The intro is so nice

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you!

[@MrMxTech]

Great Job my man

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Dude thank you so much! I hope you’re doing well buddy!

[@Stoneysalami]

I remember finding out about rockbox in high-school modded my 1st gen nano into playing videos, turned it into a gamboy as well. Ah the mid 2000s.....

[@KIP-n2q]

I wonder if the control mappings are open source. I think they could be optimized with the click wheel. Basically for an FPS game like Quake, you could remap U/D/L/R to the click wheel.

[@conrad5342]

I am wondering if the contractor is can be adjusted. The wheel would probably be awesome for some games like arcanoid

[@that1badyoutuber117]

7:12 anyone who thinks it's a waste do not worry james has a sticker machine he can make that stick as good as new again

[@RogueLink64]

Dude I did this in high school in like 2010. Played a ton of pokemon and doom on it.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

That’s awesome! I can’t believe I am just now finding out about this.

[@mikeysshortboxshop]

Tutorial? Of course I want a tutorial!!

[@mathieuberthalay21]

Thank you for the video

[@cirkulx]

now that I actually own an iPod, this will be much cooler.

[@buddybleeyes]

This is legit cool as hell. Unfortunately my ipod classics drive is dead 😅 this is sooo cool, I might have to look at repairing it or buying one. Got a sub from me, I'd be interested to seem more things like this :)

[@wilsonakawislonly4868]

Please don’t buy another iPod just cuz a dead drive there so easy to repair

[@usr01]

Iflash adapter, Adapts the zif drive to compact flash or sd/micro as.

[@retrac1999]

Might have to buy an old iPod now. This is pretty cool

[@MachoNachoProductions]

You should totally do it!

[@clydeosterhout1221]

How much memory is needed to run the emulator and games? I am modding an IPod with flash memory.

[@gumbyx84]

This is not something I thought I'd see on this channel. Great video for April Fools' day. Can we get a link to reddit post?

[@HUYI1]

used to mod my ipod classic with jailbreak back in the day with audio mods, i may have heard of this custom os back then but never used it, i moved on the ipod touch by then and jailbroke those instead but this is still cool tho

[@luiscaballero496]

what's the name of that awesome screen saver you have in the background? thanks

[@HulksterHogan]

I remember the first experience I ever had with the original Doom was playing it on an Ipod.

[@Budgetdrifter]

Such a good channel

[@sergiopalma7180]

I don't know if it's possible but it would be hilarious to see an iPod with a Zune operating system

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Haha, that would be so crazy!

[@willzybaws]

thank you im doing this as we speak

[@onasazi]

I wonder if it would be more better for gaming if rockbox was used on an ipod touch??

[@onasazi]

Cool! I went to find my old ipod nano... and i have the 3rd gen. Rockbox doesn’t work on 3rd gen! 😞

[@fabulousfilou7235]

Wow, this is a throwback. The rockbox OS is as old as the device itself. I got my Ipod waaay back in the late 2000, an i hated the original OS an the fact, that you were bound on Itunes. Installing Rockbox wa the first things i did. I also added Doom. And maybe i give it a try again after this Vid, thanks.

[@JesusRodriguezCisneros]

Hilarious but super cool to see this at play! Cheers Tito

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Glad you enjoyed it Jesus! Cheers buddy!

[@daviddinata5256]

I support this channel all the way. Its only a comment but thats the most i can do . Cheers!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Dude, thank you so much David!🙏 your comments and everyone’s means the world to me! Thanks again! Cheers!

[@morganb900]

didnt even know you could do this with rockbox

[@CtrAltPod]

reviving a old ipod to be an even older device lol

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Haha, true!

[@Shady88Italy]

I'm wondering if just rockbox could be installed, and not the ipod's os

[@MrPufins]

way back when i had a 1st gen ipod nano. that i used to play though pokemon yellow and crystal

[@Alitlittlehedgehog]

The ultimate 1 handed poke device.

[@lllccc8813]

i forgot about rockbox last time i used it was on my samsung mp3 also this can be done Apple: iPod 1g through 6g (Classic), iPod Mini, iPod Nano 1g, iPod Nano 2g

[@reptilez13]

Wheres Frank...? 🐍

[@SaenGaems]

was that a wolfenstain bears reference

[@mosh_matze]

can you make a video where you mod an apple ipod by yourself as tutorial for us?

[@Shikaku11373]

What was that metal joycon in the opening?

[@columbiannecktie9675]

So, you can use a windows computer to put files on the iPod through the rock box os? Or do I need a Mac?

[@SuperSonic-vx7nb]

I have not installed it yet, but the hold button on my iPod is broken.When I switch it,it turns the lock on for a split second but it does not disable the click wheel.Any other way to swap between OS?I have a IPod Nano Gen 2 BTW.

[@humacao01]

Well that's just outstanding...

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Its definitely a pretty cool use of the iPod!

[@xSGTBONGRiiPPxxADVENTURESx]

brb gotta tell dankpods to get on this lol i was hoping he would have a pinned comment on here.lmao

[@MISSxSlNlSTER]

Will installing Rockbox remove existing data on the device?

[@pachinko32]

Nice vid as always! But... If your name is 'Tito' why pronounce it 'Tido'?

[@atariforever2002]

Count me in for a tutorial as well!!

[@doafan455]

Holly shit I still have my first iPod inside an old backpack 😱

[@xero110]

Quake and Doom are running native ports with no emulation, while GBC is running on a ported emulator. The system requirements are much higher for emulation vs native code.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Makes sense. I’m hoping there will be a native port for the gbc emulator

[@xero110]

​@@MachoNachoProductions Oops, I guess I wasn't very clear, my bad. Both are native ports, but emulating GBC games is harder than running a native port of Quake on such low-end hardware.

[@RWL2012]

Yeah Quake and Doom are running *"directly"* (via the OS) on the iPod's ARM-based CPU (in the low hundreds MHz if that), whereas with the GBC emulator the iPod's ARM-based CPU is having to *emulate* the GBC's 8.3MHz Z80/8080-based CPU in software. The inefficiency of software-based emulation of one instruction set architecture on another is also the reason smartphones struggle to run Windows 95 (x86 on ARM in that case).

[@JuicyJakeRepairs]

the old ipods are so awesome

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Totally agree!

[@Phoenix_1991]

Wolfensteen... :D

[@vinnytheplayer5500]

I wish the monochrome gen 4 could have this

[@Finallypeople]

Post a tutorial please on how to install

[@welix94]

The iClassic version number is jumping back and forth between 1.0 and 1.1... What happened there? :D Cool video btw!

[@MachoNachoProductions]

I noticed that too. It would jump back and fourth when ever I jumped back into the Rockbox OS. It would eventually settle into the 1.1. Guess it’s not a totally stable version yet.

[@Moving-productions]

Hey, I am messaging from my IPhone 6, and I also have a 60gb iPod video,would this work with it? Many thanks!, Geo.

[@LitwinOnTour]

Unfortunately, it does not work for the 3rd generation Nano :(

[@Adamladd]

used to use my ipod nano to play pokemon yellow in church.

[@dekillerxd777timo5]

i have one myself i like it

[@bigemugamer]

yup, action games on devices with this kind of setup are gonna be difficult, but turn based RPGs will work well. was playing Shining Force on my old google nexus 2 a while ago, got far playin' it at night next to my sleeping girl but fell away from it. Some devices are great for RPGs but not action games. awesome mod, anytime video game scan be played on a device not originally designed for them is cool. =D

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Totally agree dude! Cheers!

[@dario_jrz]

Can you imagine that apple iPod nano 6th and 7th G can do this?

[@fennsk]

Impressive that this can work at all! Speaking of retrofitting old Apple tech, has anyone come across good ways to play retro games on an old iPad? I have a 2nd gen one that's collecting dust. I haven't come across any relevant apps that are supported on that OS yet. Any other interesting uses for an iPad 2 would be appreciated as well.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

I’m sure there’s some great apps if jailbroken! I may look into that!

[@fennsk]

@@MachoNachoProductions Please do! There are a ton of theoretically-functional iPad 2s still out there, but it's really hard to actually put them to use.

[@valley_robot]

Ok I’m sure you have tried this but in case you have not , find someone who has a newer device that works today , and ask to use their apple login on your old iPad , get them to download all the software you want on there new device , then login with their details on the old iPad , try to download the software , it will say that it is going to download an older version of the software that is compatible with this device , you can get most apps to run on an old iPad using this method ,using an old iPad as a synthesiser is a great idea , 30 pin to usb connector , connect a cheap usb midi keyboard and your away

[@fennsk]

@@valley_robot I had not thought of that, thank you for the advice!

[@alexisc5595]

The best you can do to revive this iPad is probably jailbreak it, you could download old version of apps and all sorts of emulator

[@jdelfresco1634]

I see this title and thumbnail and said “why the hell would they bother when they could just use RockBox” Then I wasted 3 minutes of my life for that reveal anyways. Somehow this video is 10 minutes talking about Gameboy games, all of which could be squeezed into that original 3 minutes. What a clickbait title. Yeah, sure, it’s an open source firmware designed for music devices, allowing for custom EQ setups, provides many new music enhancements, opens up the ability to play literally any kind of music or video files, alleviates the iTunes requirements, allows for drag & drop file management, among many many many other things. But who cares about any of that on a dedicated music player when you can play Pokémon? Like there’s not a million emulation machines out there already. What the video chose to gloss over is the fact that these games aren’t SERIOUSLY playable. Yeah it was mentioned, but realistically, in execution, they’re unplayable to the point that you couldn’t make a 10 minute video about it without extremely overstating it’s usability. Doom is playable. Many custom level packs and sequels are too. But you’re playing with a clickwheel ffs. I’ve made it to the third level of Doom, and finally gave up. And that WASNT because it was enjoyable. It’s because it’s so notoriously hard to play games this way, that the challenge is how far you can go before boredom or frustration stops you. As far as Gameboy games go? It’s a novelty. I have about 10 games on mine of all varieties. Street fighter, Mario Land, Zelda, Donkey Kong (Arcade), and Pokémon just to name a few. Out of all of them, Pokémon is the only one I’d consider “playable” (for lack of a better term). But only if you’re cool with accidentally opening the menu, cancelling/declining in menus and operations thinking youre hitting A to accept, navigating menus almost blindly to the point you’ll quit instead of save, amongst a ton of other accidental screw ups because the controls are all based around a circular 48-way touch pad and ONE center button. Oh but there’s a controller map option!! Too bad it says “(buggy)” and literally doesn’t work. It would be cool if they supplied you with a control list but they don’t. You know why? Because it’s NOT EMULATION SOFTWARE, despite what this video has you believing. The video makes it seem like Pokémon runs at anything NEAR a steady frame rate. I promise you: even Pokémon peaks at 15FPS. Expect single digits. At the end of the day, “Rockboy” (the official name for the emulation software) was nothing more than an experiment by some music device enthusiasts a handful of years ago. An experiement/novelty just to see if it would work. It basically didn’t. But the fact that it loaded and executed the ROM was enough to satisfy the devs, and they went no further. It became a part of future RockBox builds the same way the periodic table of elements, a calculator and an MS paint clone did: it was an interesting enough feature to use as a “look what we can do” without any real world support or utilization. Basically RockBox is all but dead at this point. Users still add themes and stuff, but there hasn’t been a new version in some time, and nobody’s written any new programming in even long. It was, much like iPod Linux (which is completely dead and has been for years) basically a way to communicate to those of us that like to hack our old tech “hey guys we cracked apples firmware and added in a bootloader.” That opened up a whole new world of possibilities to turn the iPod into something else. Think iPhone jailbreaking 15 years ago. What you get as a result is Doom and Gameboy emulators. An experiment to see, with enough software engineering, we can make an iPod do.

[@secretjanus]

I see this comment and think “Why would he bother writing more of this comment when the first paragraph was good enough” I wasted my time reading it

[@phantomlord09]

Does anyone know why my roms aren't showing up on my ipod mini 2nd gen? I have the roms installed in the folder titled "GBC Games", but they just aren't showing up on the ipod. I have rockbox installed, I am on the rockbox title screen. I just wanna play actually FINISHED pokemon games.

[@phgodts]

I think me and at least 30 other people will ask about a external controller using the 30 pin connector 🤣

[@MachoNachoProductions]

That would be so cool!

[@JohnSmith-lf8kg]

Hey tito any updates on this?

[@Gol_D.r31]

Is that on the ipod 5.5 possible?

[@sp3lllz]

Hi hope dank pods watches this