Convert an original IPad into a Kodi media device. Poorly written ramble.

A friend brought one of them original Apple IPads over. His issue is a common one.

"What the fuck do I do with this thing?"

This IPad looked brand new, barely used. Locked at IOS version 5.1.1. Here's is what I learned:

• Very few useful IOS apps left to download for this device. 
• The App Store experience is terrible. 

Apple no longer provides updates. Owners are left to form their own support communities and tools.

Out of morbid curiosity. I did some reading.

Pwnership.

Apple goes to great lengths to protect Apple products from it's owners. One reason this guy would never invest in Apple products (again) , recommend Apple products to anyone, allow anyone to recommend Apple products to this guy.

- this guy 😉

First thing that needs to be done is take ownership. This thing is old, pretty sure the warranty is null and fuck Apple restrictions anyway!

Found success with the following applications.

RedSn0w
ITunes 64bit version 12.0.1

ITunes version is important as later releases will cripple RedSn0w's abilities.

If the latest iTunes version is already installed. It may need to be uninstalled along with it's related components. There are instructions to help with this process.

Assuming the appropriate iTunes version is installed along with IPad detection and setup. RedSn0w can then be executed..

The RedSn0w alternate option "jailbreak -> backup and restore" was selected. The primary DFU option was not tested. Also didn't feel like holding down buttons.

If successful a "jailbroken" IPad should reload sporting a brand new application icon called Cydia on a new screen.

If not. Confirm correct RedSn0w to ITunes compatbility

Additional Tools

Run the Cydia application, follow the instructions. An update will be in order. Recommend doing the complete update.

Cydia offers a lot of options that can improve the Ipad experience. Here we will focus on:

• OpenSSh. Tool will allow the user a Debian like access to the IPad file system over the network.
• Mobile Terminal (optional). This tool will allow the user direct access to the files system via a native terminal window.

The built in Cydia search tool helps a lot.

Kodi mediacenter.

The Kodi in Cydia repository that is available to the IPad is old and stuck at IOS 5.1.1 version compatibility. Useful but lacks modern features.

Kodi in the appstore is new but locked at a later IOS version. No download for you.

One solution is to directly download the latest Kodi DEB package for IOS devices and install via command line.

Now, downloading with Safari failed miserably.😡

1. Safari cannot download without added extensions (These extension can be found in Cydia).
2. Safari cannot properly render the webpage for viewing.

Solution is to download that file to a PC, then copy that file to the iPad file-system via SSH or SCP.

After which the following command can then be used to install Kodi.

dpkg -i kodi-packagename.deb

...replacing kodi-packagename.deb with the correct filename.

After a moment.  A Kodi icon should be available on the IPad screen.

Hurrah.😂

Kodi setup

One important detail is the lack of Hardware Acceleration for the IPad . Kodi defaults to requiring Hardware Acceleration, as a result video playback will fail. To resolve this problem, Hardware Acceleration will need to be disabled in Kodi settings.

Fun/Profit

Installing Kodi converted this IPad device into a much better media device. Additional Kodi Programs, Music and Video Apps can be installed to further expand Kodi's capabilities. 

Cydia also offers access to an assortment of games, emulators, themes and utilities that further extends IPads abilities. 

All worth exploring.

My friend is happy with his new toy. An abandoned device finds new purpose. I learned something. Call this a win.😎

Smart Phone Head Tracking

Windows to Linux blurb

Cue a Windows 10 upgrade. Add some random hard drive failure. A bit of frustration mixed with a mild resentment towards some of the new Windows features. Like restarts without permisson. All ended with an interest in replacing Windows with Linux.

Popped in a refurbished drive with less capacity than the previous. Installed Ubuntu 16.04 minimal via USB. Then loaded up Gnome as the desktop.

First impressions. Very nice presentation. Quickly ran through some “first step” guidelines and started up a number of applications to get a feel for the environment. For this average user: Document editing (Libreoffice), email management (Evolution), graphic design (Gimp, Krita, Inkscape) and video editing tools (Lightworks , Openshot) work very well. The Gnome Nautilus file explorer felt a bit weird and would take some getting used to. Also noticed that the machine ran noticeably quiet during testing. A refreshing change.

Immediate problems. No black background color or wallpaper. Gnome does not appear to offer the option to customize background colors with system tools. One can select from an assortment of predefined pallets. One can also run a number of shell commands to resolve this. Regardless, black was not readily available. There are no icons on the desktop though there is this Irritating “pop out” tray located at the lower left. The immediate reaction was to switch to another desktop. A simple task at best. Instead the INTERNET was queried which resulted in an Ubuntu Tweak Tool implemented to some degree of success.

linux desktop pr0n

The repository version of the Eclipse programming IDE was uncooperative at best and the available solutions did not help. Lost a bit of time on this one. After a bit of research, a Neon package was downloaded and implemented instead.

Regarding audio editing, mixing and recording. The recommended solution is to install the Studio version of Ubuntu desktop.  Instead the INTERNET was queried. Long story short. Open source audio tools are not as “user friendly” as expected. This will require more time to resolve.

There are quite a number of native Linux games available. Services like Steam offer quality games that run on Linux. It may be possible get a number of modern triple A games to run. Older game titles are likely to find good support under Wine. That said, gaming on Linux is not good. Sony Six-axis controller support is frustrating. Having a crippled gaming rig really hurts. 

Linux as desktop environment so far is good. The average PC user should find it a productive operating system to work with. Media savvy and hardcore gamers will find it a challenge but there is always hope.

As for this fool. Struggling to love Linux. Challenge accepted for now.


EDIT

Better way to set gnome desktop background color via terminal

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background primary-color "#000000"