Like a good soldier I took one for our side by upgrading my third-party application enabled iPod touch from software version 1.1.1 to 1.1.2, thus killing those third-party applications in the process. After a brief gander at the new battery-charging icon that appears in iTunes’ Source list when the touch is plugged in and noting that the iPod’s Calendar application does indeed support event creation and editing I exhaled a non-committal “ho-hum” and resolved to put things back the way they once were. Here’s how I went about it.
I selected my iPod touch in iTunes’ Source list, held the Mac keyboard’s Option key, and clicked the Restore button in the General tab. When you do this, a Choose a File navigation window appears. I navigated to my user folder/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Updates, selected the iPod1,1_1.1.1_3A110a_Restore.ipsw file, and clicked Choose. iTunes did the right thing by downgrading my now-version-1.1.2 iPod touch to software version 1.1.1. This is the version that lacks the iTunes battery indicator and the ability to create and edit calendar events on the iPod touch.
Once the iPod was up and running with the old version of the software I launched Safari and travelled to the AppSnapp installer page (enter jailbreakme in Safari). This site takes advantage of the iPod touch and iPhone’s 1.1.1 software’s TIFF exploit to place the Installer application on the device (once it’s installed it also closes that exploit). This application is the gateway to installing third-party applications on the iPod and iPhone running software version 1.1.1.
Key to making the iPod touch and iPhone more capable devices is installing Community Sources and BSD Subsystem. The first opens a floodgate of third-party applications that you can download directly to the iPod or iPhone and the latter installs Unix tools some of those applications require to function. Community Sources was nowhere to be found in the All Packages listing in Installer’s Install area, which led me to believe that it was installed by default. Regrettably, BSD Subsystem was also missing. To put things right I restarted the iPod, launched Installer, tapped Uninstall, and removed Community Sources. After another iPod restart, both Community Sources and BSD Subsystem appeared in the All Packages list and I installed them.
Back went Frotz, Mines, NES, Oblique, Apollo, OpenSSH, Summerboard (and many of its themes), Customize, and ScreenShot. A pleasant surprise was to find the Touch Calendar Fix tweak that provides the same calendar creation and editing functionality as the 1.1.2 update. (I’d done this before but had to modify a .plist file. It’s nice that there’s now a simpler way.)
Finally, using Panic’s Transmit, I copied the Stocks, Weather, and Notes applications from my hacked iPhone and placed them on the iPod touch (using SFTP), where they work flawlessly (Maps and Mail do not, however).
In about 15 minutes my iPod touch was back to its former glory. Like many of you I’m anxiously awaiting Apple-approved third-party applications early next year. But in the meantime, AppSnapp and iPod touch software 1.1.1 will do me just fine.