daniel:// stenberg://Dec 7, 2023

How the first gen ipod was reverse engineered to run #Rockbox:

1. Someone figured out that when loading a particular HTML page (for viewing on the device), the device would reboot. It crashed. A buffer overflow in the HTML viewer!

2. The device remembered what it did before the crash, so it would reload the HTML page again after boot. Unless you connected to it over USB and removed the HTML file it would stick in this cycle.

(continues...)

Show threadJA WestenbergDec 7, 2023
@bagder I find stories like this to be so interesting. And inspiring. Just the level of ingenuity from people who find the ways to hack this stuff together.
Show threadAndreas KDec 7, 2023

@Daojoan @bagder Ah, and how much simpler it would be if the manufacturer would not insist on welding the bonnet shut.

Reminds me, that some unis nowadays don't consider iPads computers, as they are so locked down, that you cannot do even their intro to programming courses on them in a sensible way.

Show threadSteven HuangDec 9, 2023

@yacc143 @Daojoan @bagder First of all, I think all devices should be fully unlocked/decrypted/documented by their EOL dates, by law.

However, lots of customers blissfully install 3rd-party software but go to the manufacturer for support. Then when rightfully denied, they’ll generate bad PR anyway. For devices that sells in the millions, even a small % is an expensive nuisance.

Plus, devices like iPods have a contractual duty to content owners to enforce DRM.

Full disclosure: ex-Apple.

Show threadAndreas KDec 9, 2023

@mariani1
You know what contructal obligations are worth of the law says something else?

And let's be honest, why the f℅ck it's always the consumers that lose and not the corporations that in these skirmishes?
@Daojoan @bagder

Show threadSteven Huang

@yacc143 @Daojoan @bagder You’re preaching to the choir, and I think more legal reforms should address DRM and copyright in general. I was just trying to explain the rationale from the manufacturer’s side.

Consumers at large *are* getting what they want, though. Someday they might become irritated by DRM’ed media or EOL’ed devices, but they’re really not that bothered.

It’s also why the gratis part of free software has always been more appealing to the general public than the libre part.

Dec 9, 2023 at 6:48pmIceCubesApp