iPod touch 3G sync over USB without jailbraking in Ubuntu karmic

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This tutorial will explain how to sync ipod touch 3g over USB without jailbraking

Credit goes here
First you need add the following repository from terminal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa

Update the source list

sudo apt-get update

Install the following packages

sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod-dev libgpod-common libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone libplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd

This will install all the required packages

Configuration

You need to edit fuse.conf file

gksudo gedit /etc/fuse.conf

Change

#user_allow_other

to

user_allow_other

Save and exit the file

Next, open “System” -> “Administration” -> “Users and Groups” in Ubuntu Menu. Click on the little key at the bottom to unlock it for making changes. Then, select your username and click on “Manage Groups”.

Find the “fuse” group and double-click on it. Make a checkmark next to your name in the window that opens. Click on OK and close all dialogs. You’re now in the “fuse” group.

Next, completely log out and in again – or do a reboot to be safe. This is very important step

We can now mount the phone as regular user after connecting it using the following command

$ ifuse /mnt/ipod/

We can also unmount as regular user using the following command

$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

You can  Prepare ipod itunes directory create the “iTunes_Control/Device” directory

$ mkdir /mnt/ipod/iTunes_Control/Device/

Then, get your UUID

$ lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial

It’s the first number and should be 40 characters long. Then, run:

$ ipod-read-sysinfo-extended

(mountpoint here is /mnt/ipod/)

This should generate a file named iTunes_Control/Device/SysInfoExtended.

Make sure it’s not empty and whatnot; it should be a large-ish plist (XML file) with a bunch of info.

$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

Reboot your computer

Plug the ipod : you should see it appear on the desktop

and it should now be

a/ directly mounted in rhythmbox and you can add music files (transfer rate still slow but acceptable)

b/ mounted in gtkpod but you'll have to launch the "ifuse /mnt/ipod".

Rhyhmbox is unable to remove music files, so please use the previous gtkpod part either to remove files or add videos to the ipod.

Update from our reader :- It works for Iphone 3g. But at the end of preparation procedure you need to restart both your computer and the iPhone device.

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70 Responses

  1. Richard says:

    Hmmm – does this work with an iPhone too?

  2. Isaiah Roberts says:

    Hey, I’m very interested in this, but does it work with previous gen iPod touches? Like, the 1st gen?

  3. sudhir says:

    Have you tried this on iPhone 3G?

  4. Enzo says:

    Hey, I’m alse VERY interested in this, same question as Richard: Does it work with previous gen iPod touches? Like, the 1st gen?

  5. hector says:

    sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod-dev libgpod-common libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone libplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd

    This is the correct line to install the packages
    Some of the them were misspelled

  6. admin says:

    Thanks for your update i have corrected the main article

  7. DarkKoala says:

    Does it also work for iPod nano 5th Generation?

  8. SpiderMC says:

    It works for Iphone 3g. But at the end of preparation procedure you need to restart both your computer and the iPhone device. Thanks for this.

  9. sinan says:

    Why should I use a device not intended for use with Linux by its manufacturer?

    There are plenty of Linux friendly alternatives. And most of them outperform Apples stuff.

  10. Weirdly says:

    this is awesome! i’ve been trying to get my device (ipod touch) sync’d in ubuntu for ages without success. it works!

  11. Brad says:

    Dang. I get this:

    $ ifuse /mnt/ipod/
    usbmuxd_get_device_list: error opening socket!
    No device found, is it connected?
    If it is make sure that your user has permissions to access the raw usb device.
    If you’re still having issues try unplugging the device and reconnecting it.

  12. rico says:

    well.. i just stopped at puting myself in the fuse group, restarted… and it’s already working without following the rest of the tutorial…
    the iphone mounts twice, once as a camera and once as a phone… bu hey.. i’m transferring my music right now from rhythmbox! (rhythmbox is showing me also the video podcasts i have in my phone, ill see if banshee is able to read them)

  13. sudhir says:

    I am getting this error when i run ifuse /mnt/ipod/

    ifuse: symbol lookup error: ifuse: undefined symbol: iphone_get_device

    Do i have to change something if i want to try this tutorial on my iPhone.

  14. rico says:

    banshee can’t see the iphone.. but now i’m really freakin’ out cause…. Rhythmbox can play the video podcasts directly from the iphone!!!! I didn’t know rhythmbox could play video! this is awwwesome, just the post i’ve been waiting for months! thanx a lot!

  15. rico says:

    @sudhir
    maybe ifuse /mnt/iphone/ will do..

  16. Dario says:

    It’s weird but I can’t see my ipod touch 2g on Rhythmbox. On gtkpod it works PERFECTLY!
    It’s a bit slow, but I suppose it will be solved since it’s an alpha version.

    Any advice to get it running on Rhythmbox ?

    Thanks!

  17. h3su says:

    hi well i read the past entry about mounting an itouch with ifuse and it worked great for me, the only boring thing about it was that i had to execute $ifuse /mountpoint/
    everytime i wanted to get my ipod conected and anyway i could just listen to my music not copying it or deletin it not even with gtkpod… then i found this very useful entry but there are still some questions…
    why to launch ifuse/mountpoint? as U said i conects automatically to rhythmbox and so i dont need to launch it and also appears in desktop
    and why to create /itunes_control/device/ if that folder already exist and the most inportant how the hell to conect it on gtkpod everytime y click on its load ipods button it prompt about creating something…well this is it i got an itouch don’t know the model but mostly the last lol well i hope U to helpme even more

  18. sudhir says:

    @Rico

    ifuse /mnt/iphone/ is giving same error.

    ifuse: symbol lookup error: ifuse: undefined symbol: iphone_get_device

  19. ChrisTomalty says:

    This worked great on my brother’s iPod Touch 3G, but when he started going on songs that had been put there by iTunes they would play the first few seconds and then stop or play different songs. We are very certain that this effect is a result of this tutorial. The stuff put on by Linux was fine. Any suggestions on how to make that not happen?

  20. bob says:

    i keep getting this error
    ifuse /mnt/ipod/
    ERROR: the mount point specified does not exist
    :S

  21. Trevor says:

    Thank you so much! This worked prefectly for me. Basically the only thing I did was add myself to the fuse group I then restarted my computer and conected my iPod touch 3G. The amazing thing was I didn’t have to do anything else. My iPod was automatically mounted and appeared in rhythmbox without further configurating. I’ve tested by adding songs and works perfectly. Thanks a ton! This was a huge problem for me. I didn’t want to give up my iPod. Now I don’t have to!

  22. Trevor says:

    I also was able to remove songs in Rhythmbox without any trouble. Not sure why in this tutorial it said that Rhythmbox wasn’t able to remove any songs

  23. rico says:

    it looks like rhythmbox is removing the songs, but when you look into the iphone/ipod the songs are still there… at least for me..

  24. Trevor says:

    From what I can see (at least for me), is that rhythmbox removes the songs and gets rid of the songs on my iPod. I’ve tested this with both songs put on by iTunes and songs I’ve put on with Rhythmbox. I have noticed that it leaves empty folders when there is no longer any files in them.

  25. Isaiah Roberts says:

    Hey, thanks! I just got this working on my 1st gen ipod, don’t need to do anything past the reboot! And yes, rhythmbox is deleting the files off of the ipod, it works great!

    dreadpirate15

  26. MARTeck says:

    Could anyone tell me if this work for Ubuntu Jaunty?

  27. Al Bundy says:

    Strike!!!!!!

    I want a child from you, my hero 😉

    It works great with the 3gs and ubuntu karmic . Thanks a lot

    Best regards,
    Al

  28. malagasy says:

    @sudhir : make an update & upgrade of your system, it should work noz 😉

    @Isaiah : i confirm that it’s working with my itouch 1rst gen 8Go

  29. sudhir says:

    @malagasy Sorry it is still not working. i am still not able to mount my iPhone 3G with 3.1.2.

    ifuse: symbol lookup error: ifuse: undefined symbol: iphone_get_device

    ifuse /mnt/ipod
    ifuse /mnt/iPhone
    ifuse /media/iPhone

    give same error.

    I don’t actually see anything in /mnt or /media my i phones camera is mounted at ifuse gphoto://[usb:001,005]/

    Thanks.
    Sudhir

  30. malagasy says:

    could you give me the result of these commands :

    $ ls /mnt/

    if there’s nothing inside, you should create a directory as following :

    $ sudo mkdir /mnt/ipod
    $ sudo chmod 777 /mnt/ipod/

    then you need to verify is the usbmuxd is active after connecting your iphone :

    $ ps ax | grep usbmuxd

    if everything is fine, you should be able to mount your iphone with the command :

    $ ifuse /mnt/ipod/

    Cheers,

    MaLaGasy

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