Olympus M:Robe finally finds its calling: running Linux

While hackers eagerly work on getting Tux onto their Zunes, M:Robe fans can rejoice as their wait is finally over. After cracking the firmware, crafty "Shirour" has managed a great feat in not only getting his media player to run Linux kernel 2.6.15, but also in creating a touchscreen driver for it and putting together a serial interface to make those "wasted job hours" more productive. If you're interested in taking advantage of the fruits of his labor, the modified Linux files are available for download, allowing you to breathe some new life into your favorite (or not so favorite) discontinued music player. Just remember, those of you who opted for the extended warranties, any damages incurred during the course of this hack will undoubtedly void it.

[Thanks, Daniel P]

[... @ Jan 1st 2007 12:31AM]

Yay for Opie!

When you stand back and look at the overall scope of a project like this is it simply amazing... You take a completly physical device, and by making nanoscopic changes on one of the components you can make it into a interactive, and even sometimes useful device...

[a @ Jan 1st 2007 1:10AM]

the last post of 2006...so, when can we play Doom 3 on our ipod?

[naimath @ Jan 1st 2007 1:12AM]

happy new years favorite website

[Niels @ Jan 1st 2007 5:02AM]

:/ Does this madness ever end? Why in sams name does every one have to install linux on everything... its getting annoying.

[Andy120 @ Jan 1st 2007 1:03PM]

Niels: ...Who's Sam?

a: the iPod is obviously too underpowered to play Doom 3.

This hack sounds interesting, but who has an M:Robe?

[LPXXFAINTXX @ Jan 1st 2007 7:48PM]

I used to have an mrobe. I ditched it, as soon as I found out that Olympus discontinued them... it's a shame, they were great.

[guido @ Feb 24th 2007 9:20AM]

right,
i have had one for about two years
and does nothing xcept look cool
on my desk... i have transferred some
10gb of songs into it (took me an year to do so)
and simply forgot it. it is too much trouble
to mess with it. olympus should be sued
for putting out a trashy scam like this one.

[Yoooder @ Apr 27th 2007 10:14AM]

I got this setup lastnight, very cool--but limited in use right now.

Are there any petitions to Olympus to Open-Source the firmware for the m:robe? Currently the Linux implementation runs inside the firmware, which hurts performance and is annoying. If Olympus opened this up it could cause some very cool things to happen :)