Dumping firmware
The first step to examining iPod's firmware is getting an image of it. You can retrieve either retrieve an image from the iPod or from the internet.
From the iPod
Getting a firmware dump is very easy in Linux. Just:
- Make sure the iPod is plugged in.
- Type "dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=dump.img" in the terminal, but make sure you edit the drive to match your configuration.
- A dump.img file should be created after a while. If you have a lot of data on your iPod, it can take a very long time.
From the internet
You can download pretty much every firmware version from http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/. These files are called .ipsw files, but they are really .zip files in disguise. Open the .ipsw file as a .zip file, and you can view it's contents:
1G-3G Nano firmware structure
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| Firmware-XX.X.X.X | The actual firmware file |
| manifest.plist | An XML file that gives basic info about the Firmware. Probably for iTunes. |
4G Nano firmware structure
The 4G Nanos seem to have a different structure with an interesting new file:
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| Firmware.MSE | The actual firmware file |
| manifest.plist | An XML file that gives basic info about the Firmware. Probably for iTunes. |
| N58s.bootloader.release.rb3 | This is a very interesting new file that should be checked out! At the end there are clusters of strings that mention things like "Apple iPod Certification Authority", "S5L8720", and "Secure Boot". This means that the 4G uses the S5L8720 processor, the exact same as the iPod Touch 2G. It is also likely that the 4G Nano uses the same Secure Boot technology as iPhone's and iPod Touch's. |
You can copy over the firmware file and that is the same as extracting a dump.img file from the iPod.
Helpful pages
http://home.gna.org/linux4nano/download/crypto_synth-1.0.pdf
