Updating Ipod Touch to v3.0 under linux

While I would love to tell you that this is possible without using a virtual machine, as far as I know at the time of writing, it isn’t.

However, I use VirtualBox to run XP Home, and I have successfully updated my ipod touch running iTunes from within the virtual machine.

There were 2 problems I encountered, when updating a 2nd generation Touch, and an iPhone:

• USB problems with Touch – it seems to hang and never come back. My problem is that when the Touch is in recovery mode, the USB identity of the Touch changes, so you will need to enable the Touch in recovery mode. So dont run the VirtualBox in full screen mode, then you can use the USB icon on the status bar at the bottom to enable the Touch.
• iPhone gives error 23 – despite the Touch having no network problems at all, the iPhone had problems that were more difficult to solve. It wouldn’t download the firmware. It was eventualy tracked down to something on my own network. When the update used a tethered mobile for internet access, the download happened OK, so I am guessing VirtualBox is capable of updating iPhones too.