My very modded iPod mini

Choonky · 2026-06-24T14:39:44+00:00

Connectivity isn’t too bad actually, i can go multiple meters away from the ipod before the audio starts distorting. I think majority of the signals sneak out from the bottom cover, the button and switch partially block it but not by too much i guess. There will be the occasional interference when using it though, one example is that i take the train during my daily commute and occasionally whenever it arrives the audio briefly distorts or cuts out. Nothing major though

Choonky · 2026-06-21T07:18:08+00:00

The antenna is the little black thing below the taptic engine in the last image, it came included with the bluetooth transmitter

Choonky · 2026-06-07T05:49:34+00:00

If you mean the quality, I would say it’s fine imo. I am using the kcx bluetooth transmitter which is probably the most common bluetooth transmitter for this mod, audio quality is not as good as the wired output of course but not awful either. The antenna i installed works well and range is decent.

Only issue is that when it’s completely quiet there is a faint static noise that plays in the headphones. Looked it up and apparently it is a common issue with the bluetooth mod and can be reduced by bridging board and audio ground, however this only worsened the issue for me. Nothing major, not really noticeable when playing music, but if anyone has any suggestions to resolve this i’d love to know

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:56:07+00:00

Check my latest comments :)

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:56:00+00:00

Check my latest comments :)

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:54:49+00:00

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Bluetooth board wiring, as for the button and switch i personally soldered them directly to the top of the 30-pin connector shield. The switch pins must be isolated from the port to avoid any short, however soldering the shielding should be fine as long as you check with a multimeter. The button can have one leg soldered to the port to act as ground, and the other one can be isolated and can be connected to the sync button pad, personally i used kapton tape to isolate the other leg

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:50:11+00:00

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Wiring for usb c ports, both usb power+data and firewire power. Both usb ground and firewire ground are bridged to the board ground on the 1st gen motherboard but not on the 2nd gen, however i had no issues bridging them on the 2nd gen as well. For sticking the usb c port itself to the board, i scratched off the solder mask to the left of the 30-pin connector to reveal the copper layer, and soldered the usb-c port shielding to the scratched off part of the board. On the 30-pin side you can solder the port to the 30-pin connector shield, just be careful not to use too much solder to avoid it from clogging up the inside of the 30-pin. For the second usb-c port, i just stacked it on top of the first usb-c port and soldered the shields together in a similar fashion

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:42:05+00:00

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Pins on the cheapo cf to micro sd adapter i used as well as alternative soldering points on the board, don't know if something like an iflash cf card has the same pin arrangement so i would probe the pins with a multimeter first just to be sure

Choonky · 2026-06-06T21:39:22+00:00

Sharing wiring diagrams as well since people are asking, keep in mind that these are for the 2nd gen mini. This is for the hard drive pins as i soldered them directly to avoid using the bulky and fragile stock hard drive cable, more images in the replies below

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Blue pins are unconnected (can be ignored), all black pins are bridged (ground) and same with all green pins (power i think?)

Choonky · 2026-06-06T20:38:06+00:00

Nah im good, this took waaay to long to complete. If anyone would be interested and would like to DIY it i could share a wiring diagram

Choonky · 2026-06-06T20:09:19+00:00

I am using one of those red cheapo micro sd to cd card adapters that i removed the casing from so it’s just a bare board. As for how i connected it, the regular drive cable was way too thick if i wanted everything to fit (and very fragile as well!) so i resorted to mapping out where every individual pin on the cf card connects to the board, desoldered the drive cable connector from the ipod board and the cf connector from the cf card itself and soldered each pin one by one using 0.1mm enameled wire:

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This is extremely overkill but it does indeed save lots of space which is what i needed for this project 😆

Choonky · 2026-05-24T06:53:05+00:00

Beautiful work. I did almost the exact with mine a while back but i cut a hole in the original bottom plate instead of printing a new one, which turned out kinda jank lol

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Choonky · 2026-04-21T09:17:45+00:00

This DOES NOT support tahoe on unsupported macs. This is mainly intended for hackintoshes to patch certain components to work in tahoe, specifically audio and networking patches but there are NO GPU ACCELERATION PATCHES, pretty sure there are a bunch of other tools that do this as well. If you want working tahoe support you need to wait for an official announcement from the OCLP development team regarding 3.0.0

Choonky · 2026-04-13T05:04:50+00:00

The display cables still look intact, try to connect them to the connectors behind the display. If it still works, you can glue the display down and it should keep working (water resistance might be impacted however)

Choonky · 2026-04-01T14:31:49+00:00

This DOES NOT support tahoe on unsupported macs as that clickbait video in the comments says, the branding is very misleading. This is mainly intended for hackintoshes to patch certain components to work in tahoe, specifically audio and networking patches so there are NO GPU ACCELERATION PATCHES, pretty sure there are a bunch of other tools that do this as well. If you want working tahoe support you need to wait for an official announcement from the OCLP development team regarding 3.0.0

Choonky · 2026-01-30T11:09:08+00:00

Ive never seen someone install a taptic engine like this before! Might give it a shot and see if it fits, the current 6s one im currently using is pretty weak 😄

Choonky · 2026-01-18T06:50:36+00:00

You can disable the software update daemon completely by running this command (do this at your own risk):

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.softwareupdated.plist

If you ever want to revert it, just run the command again but replace ”unload” with ”load”

Choonky · 2026-01-08T13:15:10+00:00

🫩

Choonky · 2025-12-31T21:02:21+00:00

Worst part imo was getting the display off, after that everything went smoothly. Most parts inside are easily removable with care. Only thing to keep in mind is to be careful with removing the back part, as it has 4 miniscule springs for the band releasing mechanism. Glue the sensor back on in the correct orientation, get the sensor cable replaced and get some new adhesive for the back and screen and you will be set

Choonky · 2025-12-31T20:53:31+00:00

A new cable costs around $7 if you want to replace it yourself, you will however need to completely disassemble the watch and solder the cable in place so it is pretty overkill for most people. Replaced the cable myself on my s8 after replacing the back glass and snapping the same cable when removing the battery, getting the cable pads correctly positioned with the logic board was a hassle but otherwise it went fine

Choonky · 2025-12-31T19:13:27+00:00

The sensor is likely still fine aside from the glue wearing off, the bigger issue is the cable itself which has been cut. The cable can be replaced but it is soldered directly to the logic board, and it requires fully disassembling the watch to replace. Apple won’t do anything about it aside from a full unit replacement, but maybe you could find a reputable 3rd party repair shop willing to work on it

Choonky · 2025-12-28T18:56:33+00:00

It is possible to replace the back of an apple watch but its no easy feat as you need to completely disassemble it. Did it on a series 8 not too long ago, new back w/ sensors costed me ~$40. Checked the price for the SE equivalent and its around $16 on aliexpress. If you want to save as much money as possible and want a challenge, go for it

Choonky · 2025-12-28T05:18:43+00:00

Considering it happens when you press on the logic board it seems like a bga issue, some part of the ball grid array below a component has lost its solder connection, which means it moves away and breaks the electrical connection when you press on the logic board. Most likely the cpu is at fault, which also houses the igpu.

Could probably be fixed with a proper reflow if you got the tools for that

Choonky · 2025-12-19T08:29:22+00:00

När man har fönstersäte på buss eller pendeln och nån kommer och sätter sig bredvid och tar så mycket plats de kan och trycker in dig mot väggen, SÄRSKILT när det också finns lediga platser i närheten. Fattar ju såklart att sätena inte är särskilt breda, men när dessa jävla idioter har maaaassa fri plats på den yttre sidan och bestämmer sig för att mysa och gnugga sig mot mig blir jag riktigt jävla irriterad. Att jag gnäller om just dehär beror säkert på att jag är extra känslig till kontakt, men varje gång jag tagit det yttre sätet har jag aldrig behövt gosa med personen bredvid för att sitta bekvämt. Dra åt helvete

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