(I guess the subject of my previous thread wasn't exciting enough to get 
any interest)

I managed to cross-compile POV-Ray. Build system: i686-pc-cygwin. Host 
system: arm-apple-darwin. Took like all day arguing with libraries, 
compiler errors, and libtiff's broken build system. I'm now the proud 
owner of a 1.9MB file that supposedly will make my iPod touch capable of 
raytracing.

Now, only way to get it to work is jailbreaking the iPod. And running 
POV on a shell, since of course I didn't make a fancy GUI. And since I 
had firmware 1.1.3, looks like the jailbreak procedure (somewhat 
simplified) is:
- downgrade to 1.1.1
- open safari, go to jailbreakme.com, and let the TIFF exploit do 
everything for you
- run OKtoPrep (whatever that is)
- upgrade to 1.1.2
- jailbreak again
- upgrade to 1.1.3

Okay... Let's start. I download 1.1.1 firmware from the official apple 
website. Then hold shift while clicking Restore on iTunes. Shift makes 
it ask for a file instead of automatically downloading the latest 
firmware. I click on the 1.1.1 file. "Extracting firmware", "Preparing 
iPod for installing", "Unknown error". iPod shows apple logo. Minutes 
later, iPod still shows apple logo. I'm screwed?

I can't believe I got it bricked on the first step. And that was 
probably the safest step too. I didn't do any hacking yet, it was just 
downgrading to an official and unmodified firmware (1.1.1) using an 
official and unmodified program (iTunes).

I tried restoring multiple times, following instructions to hold home 
and sleep buttons to completely reset it, restoring to 1.1.3, nothing 
worked. "Unknown error (6)". That particular error number is listed on 
apple support website, but the instructions didn't help me either. I 
even tried letting iTunes restore it to the latest version (without 
pressing shift), which meant waiting for yet another 160MB download.

I finally managed to restore it (to 1.1.4, the latest) from my dad's 
Mac. Maybe my machine really did need a reboot; 7 days uptime, and I 
think I should have rebooted after installing iTunes. But now I lack 
half the applications on the iPod.

I had read before a blog post with instructions on how to copy Mail.app 
from an iPhone to an iPod touch, and I thought "wtf, doesn't that 
*already* come with the iTouch? Mine has it... Must be an older firmware 
version that doesn't have it, and it's an old blog post..." But nope. 
Turns out Mail, Weather, Stocks, Google Maps, Notes, and the ability to 
customize the home screen are all optional features on the iPod touch. 
"Available for only $19.99." Sheesh... I won't be paying 20 bucks to get 
apps I had working just fine yesterday.

Probably Sun did more than just preloading the iPod with course videos 
and laser-engraving "Sun Learning Services" on the back. They must have 
added that application pack as well. But along with the free iPod, they 
should have also given my dad some way to get those apps back in case 
the iPod had to be restored for any reason... Oh well. I guess I can't 
complain much given I got it for free?

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