I think the iPod is a strongly underestimated device. Unfortunately the iPod Nano 3rd gen lacks first class support for audio books.
I'm more into 6th and 7th gen iPods. These unforunately are missing the iconic click wheel in favor of a tiny touch screen. The 7th gen even has Bluetooth 4.0.
Trying to build one myself[1] with Linux, Rust/Slint and 3d printing made me realise what an engineering effort it took to build a device running more than 12 hours of music playback with a 220mah battery supporting ui animations - all that more than 12 years ago. My nanowave approach draws ~330ma, which would require a 2000mah battery to run 6h from full to dead.
I'm in the process of analyzing the TinyEmbedded Dual[2] to have better efficiency as my current solution (LicheeRV Nano) but progress is painfully slow because i have pretty much no free time and have to learn 3d printing, PCB design and Rust at the same time.
However, I think today it would be possible to build an iPod at home if you have the knowledge and time. Probably you're better off just using a HiBy R1 (which uses Linux under the hood, I already managed to compile my Rust/Slint player for it)[3]
int32_64 · · focus · HN ↗
Do some nice nostalgia marketing for the zoomers and people that had one back in the day and it would sell like hotcakes.
sandreas · · focus · HN ↗
I'm more into 6th and 7th gen iPods. These unforunately are missing the iconic click wheel in favor of a tiny touch screen. The 7th gen even has Bluetooth 4.0.
Trying to build one myself[1] with Linux, Rust/Slint and 3d printing made me realise what an engineering effort it took to build a device running more than 12 hours of music playback with a 220mah battery supporting ui animations - all that more than 12 years ago. My nanowave approach draws ~330ma, which would require a 2000mah battery to run 6h from full to dead.
I'm in the process of analyzing the TinyEmbedded Dual[2] to have better efficiency as my current solution (LicheeRV Nano) but progress is painfully slow because i have pretty much no free time and have to learn 3d printing, PCB design and Rust at the same time.
However, I think today it would be possible to build an iPod at home if you have the knowledge and time. Probably you're better off just using a HiBy R1 (which uses Linux under the hood, I already managed to compile my Rust/Slint player for it)[3]
1: <a href="https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/nanowave-player/nanowave-ui
2: <a href="https://github.com/yuansco/TinyEmbedded-Dual" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/yuansco/TinyEmbedded-Dual
3: <a href="https://github.com/yetisoldier/Hiby-R1-Audiobook-Mod/issues/5#issuecomment-5072136640" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/yetisoldier/Hiby-R1-Audiobook-Mod/issues/...
Quartzium · · focus · HN ↗
What would be great is to change to a custom PCB with USB-C and an OLED display. Not sure how Nano 3G case can be made to work with USB-C though.
For software I was quite happy with Rockbox on my bigger Classic.
sandreas · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYlUcelBuc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYlUcelBuc
Should also work on the Nano 3g