Another adventure in homebrew - iPod Touch 2G now jailbroken

redsn0w 0.1beta review

Jailbreaking is not  for the faint of heart.You have to be prepared for the possibility of bricking your shiny toy. Performing the operation takes about half an hour, and involves lots of cold sweat and nervous waiting.

Step 0 - Practice

Before attempting to use redsn0w, it's best to learn how to shutdow, reboot, restart, go in recovery and DFU and how to recover from DFU.

 Step 1 - Obtaining redsn0w

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/  or  http://redsn0w.com/

Available for your favorite OS.  Extract into a temp directory.

Step 2 - Prepping

Make sure you have a clean, stable network connection and  that the iPod can access WiFi. Shutdown non-essential apps on the host computer.  Connect iPod directly to the best USB port available (no hubs or extension cords). Take one last backup with iTunes, then shut it down.

Step 3 - Jailbreak

Open the README for last minute hints.  Call up a command line / terminal screen and run redsn0w.  Follow all instructions.  When redsn0w finishes, it's not the end yet. The iPod will process for another few minutes, showing a picture of a hard disk. When the pineapple dude shows up, that's the last stretch.

 Step 4 - Cydia

Once the agonizing wait is over, the iPod has rebooted. It now has it's first homebrew app pre-installed: Cydia (the other App Store). At first launch it will detect and ask for upgrade and what kind of user to pre-set (User, Hacker, Developer).

Your iPod Is Now Jailbroken.

 Review

Version: redsn0w 0.1 beta windows edition

Pros:

• Idiot-proof jailbreaking. There's nothing more to press than the 'any' key.
• No hex values or mucking around in debuggers.
• No need to talk to a horse, does not require a copy of Zelda Twilight Princess

Cons:

• Requires an active network connection to download and install jailbreak firmware, no pre-caching for offline use.
• Lack of GUI means it's not clear for beginners how to engage DFU mode -- vulcan nerve pinch skills required.
• No undo, uninstall or recovery of a failed jailbreak is apparent
• Final step is not described, while the iPod upgrades itself and apparently freezes for a few minutes, redsn0w has exited and you are back to the command prompt with no idea how long the process is going to take.

Final Grade

Update: A new beta 0.3 has been released.