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iPod Information about iPod's OS??

J

jcgnu

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 30, 2006
113
0
Hello all.

I'm doing some research on iPod's operating system, but so far I've found it really hard to find information about it.

I hope someone could explain me how it works or perhaps provide a URL where all my questions (or many ;)) could be answered.

Basically I want to know what kind of OS it has, who builds it, how it is structured inside, and so on.

Any information will be very appreciated, and I would love it if you could also relate it to the hardware in terms of how they work together.

Well, thanks in advance. Cheers!
 
iHerzeleid said:
iPods or iPods touch OS?
Click to expand...

yeah

if you mean the iPod Classic/Nano than its pretty basic apple Firmware

If you mean iPhone/iPod touch its a watered down version of OS X called "iPhone OS X" by Steve Jobs and the most recent event the SDK release.
It has also been call just OS X in the past.

The iPhone OS consist of 4 layers

From the Bottom up
Core OS-Self expiatory
Core Services-self explanatory
Media-The graphics and sounds
Cocoa Touch-the user inter face "Cocoa" is the Mac OS user interface and Cocoa Touch is just a touch version
 
Hello again.

The iPod Touch's OS is similar to that in the iPhone, and I watched the last Apple event where they introduced the SDK, so no problem with that one.

The one I was referring to was the OS that comes with the rest of the iPods (Classic, nano, shuffle, etc.)

Somebody says its "simple Apple firmware". Well, it actually isn't. It's developed by some other company (I think it's PortalPlayer). Anyway, I'm looking for some deeper info, like what kind of kernel does it have or if it is a multitasking OS, etc.

Thanks for all your replies.
 
jcgnu said:
Hello again.

The iPod Touch's OS is similar to that in the iPhone, and I watched the last Apple event where they introduced the SDK, so no problem with that one.

The one I was referring to was the OS that comes with the rest of the iPods (Classic, nano, shuffle, etc.)

Somebody says its "simple Apple firmware". Well, it actually isn't. It's developed by some other company (I think it's PortalPlayer). Anyway, I'm looking for some deeper info, like what kind of kernel does it have or if it is a multitasking OS, etc.

Thanks for all your replies.
Click to expand...

Actually, not anymore. The latest iPod OS is also developed by Apple, and is derived off OS X as well.

The OS on the older iPods are by a third party, yes. IIRC itt was PortalPlayer as you mentioned.

Except the iPod shuffle that is. That is "simple Apple firmware". :)
 
The original iPod's firmware was developed by Pixo, a company which Apple acquired shortly after shipping the first iPod. I believe the current iPods (save the Touch and the Shuffle) still use a firmware that is based on Pixo's original firmware.
 
Great! That's all good to know...

Although, the original OS was developed by PortalPlayer or by Pixo???

Thanks again!
 
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