iPad Jailbreaking Woes...
Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 12:30PM 
As you probably know, I managed to snag a 64GB WiFi iPad from my recent trip to the US.
I've been delighted with the iPad and itching to do more shows or mini iPad segments over on ScreenCastsOnline, but I've always been conscious of the fact that it wasn't available everywhere. Even where it was available, it's still seen by many as a luxury item, and some people can't quite understand exactly where it fits into the Mac ecosystem.
I'm sure this will change and the iPad will become more widely adopted as it starts to be seen and used by more people. Bottom line is that I will be doing more (but not too much) iPad related stuff on the show. The core of the show will always be Mac but the iPhone and iPad have a definite role to play in the future direction of the show.
So I need a way to do high quality screencasts of the iPad, but how?
When the iPad was announced, Apple also announced that the iPad would have video out in the form of an VGA adapter.
Excellent!
But, this video out is only limited to applications that have been coded to support video out, relatively few and far between. Even when the apps have been coded, the video out is usually restricted to just one aspect of the app e.g. in Keynote you can only push out the presentation screen in VGA out. No good for me.
I have used a video camera for capturing the screen, but although it works, it's not really the optimum solution.
I have also used the iPad simulator. This allows you to run iPad apps on the Mac and then use my standard Mac screencapture software (ScreenFlow) to grab the screen. This works well but it's dependant on acquiring special builds of the app from the developer. Not always possible.
No, the only option for me was to go down the iPad jailbreaking route to use an application called DisplayOut. This is a third party app only available on jailbroken iPads
So with some trepidation, I set about jailbreaking my 64GB WiFi iPad.
It was a cinch!
Downloaded and installed DisplayOut. connected a VGA monitor to the iPad and.....
It works!
Fantastic....
Once that was solved, I disconnected the monitor and went about my usual business. Later that night I picked up the iPad to couch surf and catch up on my emails and RSS feeds.
Oh dear?
Within a few minutes of using the iPad, one of the apps crashed out on me. This was very unusual as in the six weeks or so I'd had the iPad, I'd been impressed at just how stable it had been and had only had one or two instances of apps crashing in the full six weeks. In the first night of using the jailbroken iPad, I think it crashed three or four times - not good.
I used it for a couple of days but the crashing completely ruined the whole experience. It seemed to be a memory problem and a hard restart would usually sort things out for an hour or two, but really, there's no way I could use it as my main machine in it's current state.
Just to prove it was the jailbreak, I restored the iPad back using the iTunes restore feature, and I'm glad to say, it's back to normal - phew!
So what to do....to be continued!
Reader Comments (14)
Is the solution two iPads, one iPad for personal use, one jailbroken one for screencasting?
Funny you should say that Richard.
Will blog later about the solution I've opted for ;-)
I wonder if it is specifically the DisplayOut that is causing crashes? I've not seen lots of crashing jailbreak iPad reports, and no doubt DisplayOut has to go "deep" to be able to work with any other App.
Could be Ian.
That was the only app I had loaded. You can disable it in the settings and I did that but it was still crashy. I suppose I should jailbreak again and try without DisplayOut. Not today though!
why - and I am a mac fan - can iPhone and iPad not be designed to do what USERS want instead of what APPLE wants? the whole jailbreaking necessity is such a ridiculous put-off, it's really Microsoft-worthy. if Microsoft did that to their devices we'd all say "oh, yeah, see?!" With Apple it's what?
I love my Mac, I love my iPhone, jailbroken of course, but lately I'm getting a strange feeling in my gutt whether Apple is heading in the right direction...
your jailbreaking woes are just one of those symptoms...
I think Don's experience is exactly why Apple has a closed system for the iPad / iPhone. They want stable devices that don't crash due to bad apps / drivers. Microsoft gets the blame for every blue screen of death even though it may be due to 3rd party drivers, etc. The other issue is likely security. Most iPhone security issues I've heard about targeted jail broken phones.
The obvious solution is buy another iPad which can be jailbroken and used for screencast capturing and keep a 'proper' iPad for personal use. Maybe you could write it off as a business expense :).
Don,
Jailbroken with Display out, works fine on the monitor, but how were going to record from the monitor, was it somehow connected to the IPAD and you main system???
Jim
Not on the iPad, but I have to record videos of the iPhone. I have used Veency, it is a VNC app for the iPhone that is available only on jailbroken devices. You can see the result on my tutorial on Media5-fone iPhone SIP client. Now that you already have a jailbroken iPad, try Veency and see if that is a better solution. I have never had any major problems with it.
I never jail broke any of my idevices before, but did so on my 64g WiFi iPad. I did have some initial problems, but updates seem to have fixed that. In the last 3weeks it has not been crashy and I run backgrounder, winter board, and full force. Winterboard has known bugs, but doesn't crash the iPad. You might want to give it another go.
Don,
Let me ask you this, because I am playing with Display Out. Once you get it showing on a VGA monitor, how were you going to record the screen since there is no Screenflow for the Ipad? I can get the Ipad to show up on a monitor but can't figure out how to access that monitor with Screenflow?
Steve, you need an eternal capture device. I'll blog post the full solution once I've received a gadget I've just ordered and had chance to test it.
It’s all up to your personal choice which you much like better, then that is your pick. Whatever it maybe, as long as it can help you and make your work effortless or much simpler. 64gb iPad|32 gb iPad
so any new solotions on screencasting for the ipad / ipad 2 ?