Filed under: iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage
Preliminary tethered jailbreak now available for iPod touch 2G
About two weeks ago, the iPhone Dev Team started dropping hints about redsn0w, which is the project focused on jailbreaking the iPod touch 2G. Yesterday, the first unsupported tethered jailbreak, dubbed "Red Snow Lite" was released to the public.Before you attempt to jailbreak your shiny iPod touch 2G, be aware of the caveats and potential device hazards. As the README quite explicitly states, this exploit is unsupported and requires tethering the device to your computer to jailbreak. What this means is that unless you are perfectly comfortable with using buggy development tools, installing some extra libraries and interacting in DFU mode, you really shouldn't be attempting to jailbreak your device.
It looks like you need to replace some special files in PwnageTool 2.5, create a custom ipsw for 2.2.1, extract and rename some core files and then connect to your device via DFU mode to patch and replace those files. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but the gist is: this is more complicated than just running one program.
I looked at doing this on my own 32 GB iPod touch, but I think I'll hold off. First, it isn't clear that the DFU issues the Dev Team is reporting for the iPhone jailbreak/unlock with OS X 10.5.6 don't affect redsn0w. Secondly, I'm not convinced that anything available via jailbreak is worth risking my $400 investment. Alternate iPhone themes look really cool, but a working iPod touch is even cooler. Thirdly, I really don't want to play guinea-pig to something that isn't ready for mainstream release.
I'm passing on the iPod touch 2G jailbreak for now. So iPod touch 2G owners, what say you? Are you going to take the plunge or are you going to watch from the Lido deck with me?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matthew Horton said 9:08PM on 2-01-2009
I spent most of yesterday performing this jailbreak, and there were times that I was seriously scared for the future of my precious iPod. However, I eventually got it to work and customized it to my liking. It sucks that I can't turn it off without having to open up a terminal and go into dfu mode to reboot. This is definitely only for hard core techies like myself.
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Kai Cherry said 9:13PM on 2-01-2009
I bet *Erica* would have done it...
;)
-K
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Dave said 9:55PM on 2-01-2009
Yup.
Christina Warren said 10:10PM on 2-01-2009
This is true. However, my Apple TV works. I'm just saying...
If I had an 8 GB iPod touch I might be more willing to hack with it right now. And hearing that I would have to run DFU mode just to turn the damn thing off?
I'm OK with waiting for a non-tethered approach.
Hawkman said 10:24PM on 2-01-2009
Erica would have written about twenty posts about it, too – with such interesting subjects as "Liveblogging Thinking About Doing The iPod Touch 2G Jailbreak". I for one am glad those days are behind us...
Dave said 11:04PM on 2-01-2009
@Christina
Oh I'm not saying I would do it either with this particular tool. ;-) Mostly just pointing out that Erica was "fearless" (if that's an appropriate word choice) with these things.
Christina Warren said 11:21PM on 2-01-2009
@Dave
Oh, I hear you (and I agree, Erica was certainly more willing to take these sorts of risks - weirdly, I'd have fewer qualms doing it with a phone (regardless of brand) because I could successfully argue that it was device malfunction with the carrier -- can't really do that with an iPod touch)) -- I was just trying to be a smartass back to Kai :-)
Conor Sexton said 9:49PM on 2-01-2009
I did it. There's a good guide on how to do it here:http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137683&highlight=mac+guide
For the most part it was pretty easy. It took me around 2.5 hours to download everything, go through the jailbreak, sync up, install Winterboard and add some themes. And by the way it's awesome.
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Dave said 9:56PM on 2-01-2009
VoIP seems to be worth it. :-D
I jailbroke my 1st gen. iPhone for the VoIP (real SIP apps) and copy/paste options.
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Bobby said 10:47PM on 2-01-2009
Rather simple jailbreak, have done 5 already, successfully, first time.
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Collin said 10:58PM on 2-01-2009
This was a bit irresponsible to post, despite your long disclaimer. There is a reason why redsn0w was released with little more than a new link and a tweet. I think the solution release was little more than a proof of concept and not something that should hit the blogs.
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Matt said 12:20AM on 2-02-2009
Honestly? That was just as unnecessary as you think this article is.
David said 12:05AM on 2-02-2009
Why?! Is there ANY advantage to taking your touch off the grid? This counterculture BS makes no sense!
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??? said 12:08AM on 2-02-2009
Why the need to jailbreak the Touch, again?
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Matt said 12:15AM on 2-02-2009
Um...this is for the 2G. the 1G was jailbroken, and the new one had new hardware that prevented the jailbreak.
??? said 1:12AM on 2-02-2009
No no no, I don't mean that. I mean why jailbreak the Touch in the first place, no matter what version?
colouroflight said 1:23AM on 2-02-2009
Because you can.
Jordan said 9:23AM on 2-02-2009
After coughing up $400, some don't feel the need to drop another $100 on a set of restricted of applications when free (in all senses of the word) alternatives are available. And you can carry around bash in your pocket, which is just way-cool.
mike said 4:59AM on 2-02-2009
Bad answer.
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buck said 7:30AM on 2-02-2009
"Because you can" is the BEST answer, in my opinion, but the practical answer is that jailbroken apps have better hardware access than app store apps, and can do more/better stuff. Not having a Touch, my two primary examples that I use rely on the iphone camera hardware (snapture, cycorder video), but there is plenty of stuff (categories, backgrounder, sbsettings) that would be a big boon on the other platform.
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