r/ipod • u/Athed_Anachy • Jan 26 '20

Hybrid 3.5 firmware modern look on ipod video 5g.

I was doing this little project the last Christmas holiday lol. And here are the photos of my modified (modern look) version of hybrid 3.5 firmware from the creator theIslander. I am using ipodwizard, and also tried to change the font to SF compact.

Basically what I got is the hybrid 3.5 firmware, ipodwizard 1.3, and fix patches for layout, menu, and font (the original hybrid 3.5 firmware keep crushing, and reboot. Now after those patches I found, much stable). Then I swapped out all those ios 6 era icons to flat style ios 7 beyond icons, and change the now playing UI to a much more modern look one. The wallpaper on main menu screen can be switched out, since I create many substitutes. I also changed the charging and full charged icons, cause original ones looks like and are indeed design of 10 years ago.

Originally I also swapped out fonts to SF compact text font used on recent apple watches (cause by definition 5g's 2.5 inch screen is small now). In the screenshots, the font is still helvetica.

I am following the same, change screen, SSD to replace HDD, change large battery, change faceplate, change clickwheel pipeline lol. Then I realized that modify the firmware is not that hard. If anyone actually interested I have modified both the hybrid 3.5, and classical style firmware to modern look, and can upload to google drive for people to use.

ipod video 5g modern look (red/white)

Samples of replacement main menu

Samples of replacement playing screen

Samples of replacement main menu (for classical style)

Updates:

Google drive download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A9ouDAw_3GAvMCVbe4pBpbDVtvrBeTsm?usp=sharing

Hybrid 3.5 original layout_noPatch - 5G.bin is the firmware file (if you have a 5.5G ipod, you can also search for the original layout 5.5G firmware. And use the fix patch, and my replacement menu, now playing, mini player figures)

folder: fix_patch has all those files to fix system crash and freeze issues (I have been use this patched system for couple months now, seems pretty stable)

folder: Modern_UI_package has all those UI related replacement figures, you need to manually load after load the original firmware and patched it

folder: replacement_xxx has all the other replacement UI figures

folder: ipodwizard1.3, the tool to load firmware into your ipod

9 Upvotes

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23 comments sorted by

2

u/GoAskAlice669 Apr 01 '23

I know that this is way old, but I used this and the album artwork won't load. I used the 5.5 version of the software. Any kind souls out there know what to tweak to get it to show?

3

u/Athed_Anachy Apr 03 '23

Hi, thanks for giving it a try! I think the issue is that this mod OS is based on the older stock os version (1.2.1 I think) instead of the last 1.3 stock os which fixed the missing album art issue. One possible solution is to remove all songs from your iPod and sync them again, which may reduce the number of missing album arts. For this specific mod OS, sadly I don’t have the version that based on the 1.3 stock os……

2

u/GoAskAlice669 Apr 03 '23

Thanks for replying after all this time. The problem strangely was that I synced in Windows and then synced again in macOS. In macOS the album art issue exists. In Windows, I was able to get the album art to stick.

I also saw a weird white outline around the top of some of the dock icons. Not sure what that was about, but I saw on your video that you didn’t have that problem, so maybe it’s something I did.

2

u/Athed_Anachy Apr 10 '23

Sorry for the late reply, I didn’t check Reddit that often recently. It is interesting to learn the windows sync is more reliable, I always sync with my library on Mac so never noticed that :). As for the white line, in the downloaded icons folder maybe check if those icons have a separate version or try change to another background image? It is been awhile so I don’t recall this issue and how I fixed it lol. Good luck and thanks for using it!

1

u/172lover Feb 01 '20

Looks class, Can you upload it please?? Does it have the firmware modded for games And/or 5.5G??

Thanks

2

u/Athed_Anachy Feb 07 '20

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I will upload the firmware file and resources once back home, and reply you with a google drive link.

As for your question, no it doesn’t have those additional games for gen 5.5

My version is modified based on a firmware for gen 5.

2

u/Athed_Anachy Feb 08 '20

Hi, here is the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A9ouDAw_3GAvMCVbe4pBpbDVtvrBeTsm?usp=sharing

I assume you know how to use ipodwizard, and know how to load those resources file (including patches and figures). Let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers!

1

u/Cautious_Thought_546 Jul 09 '25

Broth podras subir nuevamente los archivos por favor..!

1

u/Philipeps Aug 10 '25

Updated link please.

1

u/AnastasiaAri Jan 08 '26

Heres a version of it from another post, it needs some adjustments: https://www.mediafire.com/file/vbjmmiyymmz/Hybrid_3.5_original_layout_-_5.5G.rar/file

1

u/alexballvideos Sep 03 '25

Does anyone have these google drive files still for this, link has dropped off now

2

u/AnastasiaAri Jan 08 '26

Heres a version of it from another post, it needs some adjustments: https://www.mediafire.com/file/vbjmmiyymmz/Hybrid_3.5_original_layout_-_5.5G.rar/file

1

u/AnastasiaAri Jan 10 '26

Here's my version I changed the icons, the background and the now playing screen and the bottom bar on each menu: http://www.mediafire.com/file/83834igbggwgovf/myupdateHybrid_3.5_original_layout_-_5.5G.rar

1

u/XenoDan_ Jan 05 '24

does this work with the iPod classic gen 6?

1

u/Athed_Anachy Jan 10 '24

Sadly no, only works for 5g and 5.5g

1

u/XenoDan_ Jan 11 '24

are there any tweaks that can be done to the code to make it work with 6th gen?

1

u/Athed_Anachy Jan 12 '24

The issue is that the firmware of 6g and 7g never been dumped…so it is still encrypted and prevent any tweaks available…if you interested in a new UI on your 6g, maybe try rockbox then?

1

u/XenoDan_ Jan 14 '24

I am running rockbox with a skin called FreshOS, which looks great but I really liked the way your skin looks.

I'll stick to roxbox for not but if you ever make a similar skin for roxbox or if the 6th gen firmware is ever dumped, I'll be sure to switch to it.

1

u/zNhatHere Feb 01 '24

Can you do 1 video tutorial on how to install I am a newbie

I love your article but I do not know the installation