The 2.0 Pwnage Experience

by Eric March on July 28, 2008 at 10:03 am

So, 2.0 has been Pwned. But what exactly does that allow you do? As it turns out, not a whole lot, because a good 99%+ of toolchain-developed software has yet to be updated to work with firmware 2.0.

You see, I decided to take the plunge. I upgraded my iPod Touch to 2.0 more or less as soon as it was released; I figured, I have a iPhone that can stay jailbroken and on 1.1.4, so this would let me check out the wonderful new world of Firmware 2.0 without losing my access to earlier versions. I don’t regret that one bit; the App Store has been awesome.

So then Pwnage comes out, and then WinPwn 2.0. I’d already done the upgrade thing, which took hours due to all the music I have to copy over (it’s a 32-gig, with 25 gigs or so filled), so how much longer now that have all of these App Store apps? It wasn’t an attractive prospect — but in the name of science and all that is bloggish, I was not going to let the people down!

Except the version of WinPwn I tried — 2.0.0.1 — failed to properly create the custom IPSW from my 2.0 firmware file. So I waited, and just yesterday I decided to try the latest version 2.0.0.3 — and it was a success! The IPSW was created, iTunes was pwned, my Touch DFUed and successfully restored to a Pwned firmware 2.0.

So what can you do with a jailbroken 2.0 device? Well, first of all it coexists quite peacefully with the App Store, so whatever you bought and downloaded from there will still work on your jailbroken device without any problems. Those of you who were concerned can breathe easy.

But what about the jailbreak scene? What’s available for that? Sod all for the most part, but what’s there is interesting.

First of all, Pwnage will install the latest 2.0-specific version of Cydia Packager, assuming you checked that off when you built your pwned IPSW. (Installer has not yet been updated for 2.0) This latest version comes with several pre-installed sources, and once you update it after restore, does something rather interesting: It will automatically move your Ringtones and Applications folders. (I’m not sure why it doesn’t move the fonts, but we’ll get to that.) No need to use BossTool or manually move your stuff; Cydia handles the business. Nice. I’ve always liked Cydia and really prefer it to Installer, so this just makes it kick even more tuchus. To all of you with Installer repos out there — seriously consider supporting a Cydia repo if you don’t already. It’s nine flavours of win.

Beyond Cydia, only a handful of apps have been updated. On the back-end we have OpenSSH, as you would expect; it’s not a true jailbreak ’til you can SFTP into your device. On the more visible front end, there are a small handful of available items:

- BossTool has been updated, though it is of lesser use since Cydia does most of the work for you. You can still move the fonts, however.

- Various wallpapers, sliders, keyboards and other graphic mods are available for installation.

- Jonathan Zdziarski has updated his seminal NES.app for 2.0, so you can get your vintage Nintendo on at least.

- A new game, MacMan, has turned up for OS 2.0. It’s Pac Man with nice graphics, a classic Apple-stripes-coloured main character, redesigned mazes, and accelerometer control, which makes it damn near impossible to play, which is a pity. It would have been a nice game otherwise.

- ZodTTD just released his much-anticipated Quake4iPhone for firmware 2.0 — and only for firmware 2.0. I’ll have more details on that later tonight when I’ve had a chance to shoot a nice action video.

That’s really about it for now. I am sure we will be seeing more and more over the coming weeks and months as authors update their apps; Installer, Summerboard, Customize, and many of the other must-haves we’ve grown accustomed to are likely to be among the earliest updates due to their popularity and status as essential apps. When is anybody’s guess right now, but they will come I am certain. But at least now we have the best of both worlds in one device: Jailbreak and App Store. It’s a wonderfully harmonious, zen-like balance. I almost feel like singing Kumbaya.

I said almost.

Posted in Application Related, Jailbreak, Win/Mac Related, iPhone 2.0