Any more insights?

Hence i decided to wait until the official SDK was available (seem this shouldn’t take too long, we’ll definitely should know on March 6th) and then re-evaluate if it makes sense for me to upgrade. Since it looks like jailbreaking an early 16G iPod may cause some problems i guess i made the right decision.

So my greatest fear right now is that some iTunes update somehow changes the setting from manuall updating to automatic updates. (Nearly every iTunes update does reset my manual CD import settings back to Apple’s preferred way of doing it: AAC).

This information would definitely not justify doing a blog post. But there is actually exciting news to report.

Jay Freeman (aka saurik) decided to tackle a really herculean task, namely:

Bringing Debian APT to the iPhone

In order to provide some relief for these issues, I have decided to start a project called Telesphoreo with the goal of creating a distribution of GNU and BSD’s userspace for the iPhone as a collaborative, open-source project. The name is an ancient Greek word meaning “to bring fruit to perfection or maturity”, which I feel is what needs to be done to Apple’s product: it’s passable as a phone, but as a portable workstation it is almost unmatched… with the right software.

For distribution, I have chosen Debian’s APT, which I have ported to this new platform along with a few custom tweaks to integrate better with Apple’s network settings.

For somebody like me who is usingDebian and Ubuntu on a number of machines (be it physical or virtual) this is extraordinary news: APT and the whole ecosystem around it are simply the best package management i’ve seen so far.

Adding a graphical frontend to APT

In addition to the command line version saurik even undertook the hassles of implementing a graphical frontend lcalled cydia shown below:

I have also spent the time to write a UIKit front-end to APT called Cydia, in order to make the transition easier for a larger number of users. (Cydia pomonella is the scientific name for the codling moth, which is what we often think of the as the stereotypical apple worm. I felt the name was fitting.)

Porting and enhancing existing packages

But it doesn’ t even end there. saurik also ported quite a number of packages. This included value added versions of Ruby and Python :-)

To bootstrap this effort, I have already ported well over a hundred projects: everything in scope from bash to xeyes, along with a number of supporting libraries and scripting languages (including more functional copies of Ruby and Python than are currently available via Installer [emphasis added]). All of the source modifications I have had to make, as well as the build scripts for compiling it all, are available via its subversion repository.

Python Apps with a GUI

This packages include a port of PyObjC (the Python – ObjectiveC bridge that is a prerequisite in order to being able to build Python based Apps for the iTouch) as well as UICaboodle.py (iPhone specific PyObjC extensions) and iPhone/Python (example applications (with source) in Python.

This is exceptional news. I ever hoped that somebody will tackle this. Now i have no longer any excuse whatsoever. to not have a closer look at PyObjC and how to build native Python Apps for MacOsX and the iTouch.

Even the volume size hassles are resolved

saurik even takes care of the much too small 300MB root volume problm i’ve written about:

In order to simplify the process of upgrading the iPhone’s firmware without the loss of personal data, Apple has organized the disk space on these devices into two partitions, mounted at / and /private/var (which is symbolically linked from /var). The former partition only 300MB large, and is mostly taken up by Apple’s software. Unfortunately, it is also the primary location where third party applications are installed.

To help with this problem, if Cydia’s installation detects enough disk space on your other partition (where the rest of your 4-32GB of space is allocated) and verifies that these files haven’t already been moved by a utility like BossTool it will go ahead and transfer all of your Applications, Wallpapers, Fonts, Ringtones, and Shared data over to the larger partition, freeing almost 150MB of space.

More on sauriks efforts, the SDK event and firmware 1.1.3 / 1.1.4

Debian-style installation arrives on iPhone

…Saurik” Freeman has finally finished his long-awaited Cydia release. As Freeman puts it, the iPhone is a 667MHz computer with 128MB RAM and at least 4GB of flash. So why not use it as a Unix workstation? Motivated by the relative limitations of the existing BSD subsystem, Freeman decided to port Debian’s APT to the iPhone — tweaking items to wo…

Apt package manager for the iPhone

…demand for APT on the iPhone, and somebody went ahead and ported it. UNIX enthusiasts, when they’re not cleaning their pocket protector or watching Monty Python, can now replace the BSD UNIX subsystem in the iPhone with up to date software from FreeBSD, all delivered by good old apt-get. Why anyone would want to do this, we have no idea, but som…

Apple COO drops iPhone SDK hints at symposium
…event March 6, where the company is expected to discuss it’s official SDK for the platform. Saying that the iPhone is “a platform not a product,” Cook said that he thinks the SDK will “broaden the platform more, to the point where the only limit will be people’s imagination.” He also said: “We started by getting developers to focus on Web…

Apple: Event on March 6 About iPhone SDK, Enterprise
…the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.” My guess on the “enterprise features” is Exchange support of some sort, perhaps just for email. ★

Get your SDK engines running
…Ranch on March 6. According to Ars, Apple will hold an iPhone Software Roadmap event (notice how it’s not called the “iPhone SDK introduction”?) to discuss the SDK and its new enterprise features (which means we were kind of right, only Apple was a week late). The party starts at 10 am Pacific, so make sure to put on your Yellow Sticky tees and …

Apple planning iPhone “software road map” event March 6; sources say SDK complete
…place on March 6th. Apple’s official software development kit (SDK) and associated components for the iPhone are complete and ready to ship, sources familiar with the matter have told iPhone Atlas. However, a series of legal hurdles — potentially including patent approval delays — have thus far stalled a release to developers. At the time of…

Apple to hold “iPhone Software Roadmap” media event next week
…March 6th, to formally announce plans for its much anticipated iPhone and iPod touch software developers kit (SDK). “Please join us to learn about the iPhone sof…

Jailbreak für 8GB iPod touch 1.1.4 weiterhin einfach

…Version 1.1.4 geblieben. Getestet wurde die Prozedur erneut mit einem 8GB iPod touch, hinzugekauftem Software-Upgrade-Januar (Mail, Google Maps, Wetter, etc.), iTunes 7.6.1 und 10.5.2 (sollte unter Windows ebenso funktionieren). Probleme treten allerdings weiterhin bei iPod touch-Modellen auf, die über 16 oder 32GB Speicherplatz verfügen. Diese …

iPod/iPhone firmware update 1.1.4 released

…after testing 1.1.3? The things I do for TUAW!Help requested If any of you are in ADC, please see whether the SDK is available? Thanks!!Continue reading iPod/iPhone firmware update 1.1.4 releasedPermalink 

After reading about the release of THE djangobook i immediately went to my favourite bookstore to buy it. Unfortunately they didn’t have it in stock but it should arrive soon.

Instead i bought another book that was on my shopping list as well as a second, more exotic one

Programming collective intelligence

Having read rave reviews (e.g. here and here) it was a must buy for me. Especially since all the code samples are written in Python. Expect me to test the algorithms with the news data sets i hav at hand.

The algorithmic beauty of seashells

This book definitely falls into the category: Bought mainly becaus of aesthetics and haptics.