Matejunkie

Being a Linux/Unix addicted nerd, frequently using an iPod can sometimes be a bit of an iPain (also known as iTunes). Windows user can be more pleased regarding Apple’s gadget no.1. If they don’t want to use iTunes they can stick to Winamp’s built-in iPod support or even better ml_ipod.
Linux users arent’s so spoiled in the first place. There are numerous projects like gnupod, gtkpod or Amarok’s iPod integration, but most of them are outdated, don’t work with newer iPods or lack of features. If you simply want to put files on it, you’re good to go with these tools, but if you want to make use of the iPod’s picture, podcast or video features you’ll be stranded.

To make a long story short: If you’re a Linux addicted guy having an iPod (no iPhone, no iPod Touch, but all others) who wants to manage his collection in a Linux environment, you probably want to use Floola. It’s a most widely platform independent program with no need to install. It comes within a single binary which makes use of a few dependent libraries, but overall you’re free to store it directly on your iPod to use it from almost anywhere.

So how to use it in Ubuntu/Debian?

First of all, download the tar.gz from its website and extract the archive’s content in a directory you prefer.

user@server:~/Desktop$ tar xzf Floola-linux.tar.gz
user@server:~/Desktop$ cd Floola-linux/
user@server:~/Desktop/Floola-linux$ ls
Floola  Readme.txt

You might try to run Floola via ./Floola now, but most users, especially 64-Bit OS freaks, need to install additional 32-Bit libraries to get it working:
In case you haven’t done this yet, download the deb of getlibs and install it on your system. It’s a commandline tool to ease the installation of libaries. When this step is done, you’re ready to install the missing libraries as seen below.

user@server:~$ getlibs -32 libgstbase-0.10.so.0 libxine.so.1
user@server:~$ getlibs -p gstreamer0.10-alsa
user@server:~$ getlibs -p libgstreamer0.10-0
user@server:~$ getlibs -p libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
user@server:~$ getlibs -p gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
user@server:~$ getlibs -l libmad.so.0 libmpeg2.so.0 libdvdread.so.3 liboil-0.3.so.0 libsidplay.so.1
user@server:~$ getlibs liba52-0.7.4.so libcdio.so.7 libid3tag.so.0

After these steps you should be ready to run Floola without problems. In case of a problem you probably want to take a look into Floola’s documentation and FAQs. They’re also running a forum over there where you can turn in bug reports or make suggestions for new features.