Does anyone have any tips on how to configure Rhythmbox to run an iPod? I'm running Slackware 11.0 with Dropline Gnome 2.16.3 on a Toshiba laptop. For a school project, I need to be able to use Rhythmbox to run an iPod - the problem is that I have no iPod of my own to test it with. I need to be able to just plug in a friend's iPod and have it work right off the bat, because of the constraints of my project.

Any tips on what settings to use would help - the plugin "Portable Players - iPod" gives me an "Unable to activate plugin" error when I try to activate it in the Configure Plugins menu.

Without an iPod to test it with myself, I'm really not sure what else to try. I'm using version 0.9.8 of Rhythmbox, the version that was installed automatically with Dropline.

The project is a paper for one of my college classes on Linux vs Windows - I'm demoing the laptop to a couple of doubters and I'd really like to give them a good exposure to Linux.

Thanks in advance.

Try this link, it details some handy points on getting setup.
I like where your project is going, but just dont try to change the whole world overnight, trust me, you lead and slowly they will follow!

There are many articles on it:

http://www.codejacked.com/using-your-ipod-on-linux/
http://polishlinux.org/apps/ipod-in-linux/

Most places recommend gtkpod, so try that:
http://www.gtkpod.org/about.html

It should "just work" with DLG and RB if you have a 2.6 kernel and working HAL ystem. In fact, I seem to recall patching the gnome-volume-manager to autorun rhythmbox as the ipod handler when I built the package on DLG.

Test with a USB flash drive on DLG (with a 2.16 kernel) and see if it automounts. If so, your HAL stuff is probably working fine and it should work with your friend's ipod. It's always worked fine with my wife's ipod when I've tested it.

The only hangup I could think of is if you install that libgpod update in Slackware's "patches" directory (which i not advised, since it's not a security update and it's not compatible with Slackware 11.0, and was only posted by PV so that Amorok could be updated for KDE users). If you are using the stock libgpod that came with Slackware 11.0, then you should be good to go.