I would try to keep hfsplus on the device if I could. It's a more reliable, faster, more space-efficient filesystem, and it doesn't have the file-size limitations of VFAT. It shouldn't make a huge difference short-term, but it may start to matter when you've got a few gigabytes of stuff on the drive. If you're planning to use the iPod for more than just music, then definitely keep the hfsplus filesystem, it'll deal with frequent updates far better than VFAT, and if your daughter wanted to record a long class lecture, VFAT file limits would cause problems.
I didn't think about it earlier, but do you have the HFS+ filesystem support installed? HFS support is available in different forms depending on distribution and kernel version. Which version of GNU/Linux are you running? If you're running a Debian variant then "sudo apt-get install hfsplus" should install what you need if you don't have it installed already. The most complete support is available from the "unstable" repositories (Debian Sid).
The best way to get this thing working once you have hfsplus would to "borrow" a mac/ibook/powerbook system to get the initial setup (start iTunes and add a few files of different types) done, then see if gtkpod will handle it after that. There are some who claim that you might be able to persuade a kind Apple store employee to permit you to upgrade the firmware on their in-store mac, and that this would update/clean/initialize the F/S if you select the wipe-clean checkbox.
I've also seen some comments that suggest using "auto" for the fstype in fstab won't always work, and you should use "hfsplus" specifically to get it working properly.
If you decide to use VFAT, you'll want to specify "vfat" in fstab, since it sometimes detects as "msdos" otherwise, and this can cause significant issues.
==Joseph++
Mark Phillips wrote:
> Joseph,
>
> Do you know if there is there any inherent value is use hfsplus over
> vfat on the iPod?
>
> I could try hooking the ipod to my windows machine to initialize it and
> add a few songs and then try gtkpod again. However, this would remove
> the hfsplus from the iPod.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
>
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