Q2

A few months ago, one of my fellow performers in The King & I asked me to give an overview of the applications I use, and explain the jailbreaking process. Weeks and weeks have past since this was requested of me, and now that the theatre season is finally over, I can grant his request. This is for you Ray.

In order to jailbreak an iPod (in this instance, an 8GB 2nd Generation Touch) you must have, among other things: a working knowledge of the bittorrent protocol (wiki), a passing familiarity with torrent applications (wiki), knowledge about what exactly it is you are doing (wiki), access to a firmware dump (click), and a spare half hour or so. I’m performing these operations on a custom Windows XP SP2 build. The process will vary to a degree with OS X and *nix machines.

//.Disclaimer: I am not responsibile for human stupidity. Perform this and other operations at your own risk.//

Now, onto the process:

1. Identify your current firmware version (Settings > General > About > version). Once armed with that, consult the Lords of Kobal (click) and download a raw dump of said firmware.
2. When that is completed, use the all-powerful Bittorrent protocol and download redsn0w (click). When the download is complete, read the readme.txt that accompanies it.
3. Read, read, keep reading! Turn off your iPod Touch, backup everything that you want to save (contacts, bookmarks, todo lists, game saves, blah blah blah…), and turn the device off completely. Not sleep mode: off. Launch redsn0w from the top level and follow the instructions — make sure you only install Cydia, not Icy.
4. The process will eventually complete, and cydia.app will be installed. You now have access to the black market.

Part two — an overview of what apps and hacks I am using — will come later.