Rockbox build for the iPod Classic 6G/7G with inline earphone remote support: the play/pause and volume buttons on Apple (and compatible) 3-button earbuds now work.
Write-up of the whole reverse-engineering story: https://terminalbytes.com/reverse-engineering-ipod-classic-mikey-chip/
What you get
- Center button: play/pause on every screen (resumes your playlist if playback was stopped)
- Volume up/down: works everywhere, including menus and the file browser; hold to ramp
- Remote keeps working with the hold switch on (matches the original firmware)
- No long-press/multi-click actions (the chip can't report press duration reliably; details in the write-up)
Install
Prerequisite: an iPod Classic 6G/7G that already runs Rockbox (bootloader installed via the official Rockbox Utility). This download does not install or touch the bootloader.
Recommended: rockbox.zip - connect the iPod in disk mode, unzip onto the drive root (it replaces the .rockbox firmware files), eject, reboot. Your settings, database, themes and music are not touched; the zip only contains firmware files.
Advanced: rockbox.ipod - single-file swap into /.rockbox/. Only do this if you already run a recent dev build; codecs and plugins are version-locked to the main binary, and mixing versions breaks playback until you install a matching full build.
Safety
Nothing here can brick the device. The bootloader is untouched; worst case you delete .rockbox from disk mode and unzip an official build back. Apple's iTunes restore also always remains available.
Source and status
Built from branch ipod6g-mikey at this tag: Rockbox master 078a506dfd plus the remote driver. The change is under review upstream as Gerrit change 7677; once it merges, prefer official Rockbox daily builds over this release.