2nd Generation iPod Shuffle

[brianpatrickross]

I have a few iPods around my house and I've never had any problems hooking them up to my Ubuntu laptop running Edgy Eft. I just got myself one of the new Shuffles and want to transfer songs to it, but I haven't been able to get it to mount since the first time I plugged it in (and after I upgraded its firmware from Windows). I get the following messages in dmesg:

[17179689.312000] ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.1: wakeup
[17179689.696000] usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[17179689.892000] usb 3-1: not running at top speed; connect to a high speed hub
[17179689.908000] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 2 choices
[17179690.132000] usbcore: registered new driver libusual
[17179690.224000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[17179690.224000] scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[17179690.224000] usb-storage: device found at 2
[17179690.224000] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[17179690.224000] usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
[17179690.224000] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[17179695.224000] usb-storage: device scan complete
[17179695.228000] Vendor: Apple Model: iPod Rev: 2.70
[17179695.228000] Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
[17179695.324000] SCSI device sda: 495616 2048-byte hdwr sectors (1015 MB)
[17179695.328000] sda: Write Protect is off
[17179695.328000] sda: Mode Sense: 64 00 00 08
[17179695.328000] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
[17179695.348000] SCSI device sda: 495616 2048-byte hdwr sectors (1015 MB)
[17179695.352000] sda: Write Protect is off
[17179695.352000] sda: Mode Sense: 64 00 00 08
[17179695.352000] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
[17179695.352000] sda: unknown partition table
[17179695.388000] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
[17179695.408000] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[17179696.764000] hub 3-0:1.0: Cannot enable port 1. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
[17179697.956000] hub 3-0:1.0: Cannot enable port 1. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
[17179699.148000] hub 3-0:1.0: Cannot enable port 1. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
[17179700.340000] hub 3-0:1.0: Cannot enable port 1. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
[17179700.340000] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 2

It bugs me I have to log into Windows every time I want to add songs to my new little gadget. Anyone have any ideas? Ubuntu has been so perfect for me otherwise for the last year or so.

[godofwine1749]

I can help you out here as I'm having the same issue with Fedora. If you try running:

fdisk -l

you'll see that it barfs on the scsi device that it's trying to assign to the 2nd gen shuffle. Most importantly though you'll see that it reports the block size as 2048 bytes(and not the expected or normal 512). The reason is that apple did something weird with the partitioning scheme for the device. The firmware in the device itself(not to be confused with the ipod software which is typically loaded on the first partition of an ipod device) shows the device as having a 2048 byte block size. The SCSI subsystem of linux seems to only want to see SCSI devices of 512 byte block sizes. Anything else and all sorts of weirdness happens and noted when running fdisk -l. The other forums I have come across seem to think this is a bug with the SCSI subsystem since block sizes larger than 512 are definitely permissable. The upgrade you ran under windows to upgrade the ipod software did not cause this. It's got to do with the way the actual device firmware shows the "drive" to the world. I'm not sure what the workaround or patch for this problem is yet. This ipoddy is really new so I expect it'll be another month or so until we see some sort of solution. In the mean time we'll just have to resort to booting into win to use it. *sigh* I just want to use gtkpod and be happy.

[brianpatrickross]

In my condition, running fdisk -l doesn't even show at SCSI drive. For some reason when I plug in my Shuffle, the light on it blinks a few times and then it stops. Occasionally my system has recognized the Shuffle, but it quickly disappears.

bross@bross-laptop:~$ fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 1020 8193118+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 1021 3518 20065185 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 3519 3648 1044225 5 Extended
/dev/hda4 * 3649 7296 29302560 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda5 3519 3648 1044193+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

[myboysherman]

I finally got mine to work. Been trying to mount any partition on /dev/sda to no avail and getting crazy errors from fdisk and parted. . . then presto! mounting the whole device, that is /dev/sda on /mnt/ipod , worked.

My Amarok doesn't like it, but the most recent gtkpod flies fine. BTW, I think the 1GB shuffle listed under the 6G (gen) iPods is the correct pick for the matchbook shuffle.

[mmware]

same for me: got the unknown partition table" error but with
mount /dev/sda on /media/ipod , I can use my ipod shuffle with gtkpod.

this is weird: mount the device not the partition: anybody has some clue WHY it is actually working?

[marktranchant]

If you cannot mount the iPod at all on the Linux machine, or it is unreliable, you may need to use an external hub to provide the current that the iPod needs (or claims to need).

See my experience with this, that unfortunately ended up with an unnecessary Windows install.