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authorRobert Hak <adiamas@rockbox.org>2002-08-21 10:51:03 +0000
committerRobert Hak <adiamas@rockbox.org>2002-08-21 10:51:03 +0000
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-Q1. What is a FAQ?
-A1. A rare small animal of the species 'Textius Electronicus'. It is known for
- its helpful attitude and vicious misspellings.
-
-Q2. Okay, fine, what is _this_ FAQ?
-A2. This FAQ is for questions (that we have answers too) that have been asked
- repeatedly either in emails or on IRC.
-
-Q3. What is Rockbox? What is it's purpose?
-A3. The purpose of this project is to write an Open Source replacement
- firmware for the Archos Jukebox 6000, Studio 20 and Recorder MP3 players.
-
-Q4. I want to write code for my Archos, how do I proceed?
-A4. First make sure to read the file CONTRIBUTING in the firmware directory
- on Sourceforge. See http://rockbox.haxx.se/firmware/CONTRIBUTING
- if you do not want to have to wade through the CVS directories.
-
-Q5: Whats CVS?
-A5: Concurrent Versions System (http://www.cvshome.org). We have a small
- help page about how to use this to get, update and commit files on the web
- at http://rockbox.haxx.se/cvs.html
-
-Q6. What exactly is the CONTRIBUTING file?
-A6. Just like the name implies, it lists conventions that the project follows,
- and in turn asks you to follow, for the formating of source code in
- general.
-
-Q7. Okay, so I read CONTRIBUTING and although I don't agree with all your
- conventions, I am going to be sensible and follow them anyway. Now what?
-A7. Start by reading up on the information about the jukeboxes on our web page.
- Then go into CVS and look at the code we've written. Then take what you
- need and start writing.
-
-Q8. Okay, so how do I submit a patch?
-A8. Run: "diff -u oldfile newfile > patchfile" against the file(s) you have
- changed. Then mail the output to any member of the development team and
- we will take it under consideration. (Please remember that all
- submissions are not automatically accepted, this is nothing personal.)
-
- Of if you would like to run the diff against the current cvs code:
- cvs diff -ub [file(s)]
-
-Q9. I want to join the development team, but don't have a SourceForge account,
- what should I do?
-A9. Head on over to http://sourceforge.net/account/register.php and create an
- account for yourself.
-
-Q10. Do you have a mailing list?
-A10. Sure do! As a matter of fact, we have several of them for specific
- things. Please check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/
-
-Q11. Great you have a mailing list! Is there anyway for me to catch up on
- past posts?
-A11. Check out the archives at: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail.cgi
-
-Q12. How can I meet the developers working on the project?
-A12. One way is by visiting us on IRC. Head on over to the server
- irc.openprojects.net, and then join "#rockbox". There is usually at
- least one person there. If you don't see any activity, feel free to post
- questions anyway, serveral of us log the channel and will get you answers
- when we unidle.
-
-Q13: Wow, you guys talk on IRC alot? I wish I had been around for those
- conversations to see what happened.
-A13: We are glad you mentioned that! http://rockbox.haxx.se/irc happens
- to have a list of various logs we have recorded of events in the channel.
- Feel free to read up, and ask questions on what you find.
-
-Q14. What is this "SourceForge" you keep mentioning?
-A14. http://www.sourceforge.net
-
-Q15. Can the changes or the software that Rockbox suggests or offers
- possibly damage my Archos Player?
-A15. All firmware mods that are presented are still highly experimental.
- Try them at your own risk. We offer no guarantee that this software, or
- the hardware modifications we show, will not damage your player or void
- your warranty. That said, we have not been able to damage any of our
- units by modifying only the firmware. You can accidentally password
- protect your harddisk, but there are ways around that. (See below.)
-
-Q16. I want to see what the inside of my player looks like, but I would really
- like to avoid voiding my warranty. Is there anything you can suggest?
-A16. We have a collection of photos of both the player and recorder. Look at
- http://rockbox.haxx.se/internals/
-
-Q17. What exactly are you trying to achieve with this line of development?
- (A.K.A. whats your purpose for being here?)
-A17. Firstly, we wouldn't start something like this if we didn't simply enjoy
- it profusely. This is great fun!
- Secondly, we feel the firmware is lacking some features and contain a
- number of annoying bugs that we want to fix.
- Some ideas would include (in no particular order):
- - No pause between songs
- - Mid-song resume
- - Mid-playlist resume
- - No-scan playlists
- - Unlimited playlist size
- - Autobuild playlists (ie: "all songs in this directory tree")
- - Auto-continue play in the next directory
- - Current folder and all sub-folder random play
- - Full disk random play
- - REAL random
- - Multi song queue
- - Faster scroll speed
- - More cool features with the wire remote control (including
- controlling your Archos from your car radio (req hw mod))
- - Support playing of other files types (ie: Ogg Vorbis support)
- - Support for megabass switch (req hw mod)
- - Player control via USB
- - Memory expansion?
- Note: Just because something is on this list, does not mean that it is
- technically feasible. (But hey we can dream) And something not
- being on the list does not mean it isn't a neat idea. Bring it to
- the list.
-
-Q18. I don't see you mentioning other file types on your list of ideas. What
- about supporting those?
-A18. Pessimist's Answer: At the current time we belive this is not very likely
- The Micronas chip (MAS3507) decoder in the archos does not natively
- support decoding and there is very little program space in the player to
- implement it ourselves. The alternative would be to write a software
- decoder as part of the RockBox firmware. However, as much as we love
- our players, the computing power of the Archos (SH1 microcontroller) is
- not fully sufficent for this need.
-
- Optimist's Answer: We can play any format if only we can write code for
- the DSP to decode it. The MAS 3507 (and 3587) are generic DSPs that
- simply have MP3 codecs in ROM. We can download new codecs in them and
- we will be the first to celebrate if we can get OGG or FLAC or anything
- into these DSPs. Unfortunately, we have no docs or tools for writing new
- MAS DSP code and Intermetall is very secretive about it. If anyone can
- help, please get in touch!
-
-
-Q19. What about supporting playing of WMA files?
-A19. Dear Mr. Gates, you have two options. Re-read question #17, or go buy
- your own project.
-
-Q20. When do you think there will be a version available for my Archos?
-A20. We recently released version 1.2, so head on over to
- http://rockbox.haxx.se/download.html and pull it down.
- Make sure to read the release notes.
- (http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/rockbox-1.2-notes.txt).
-
-Q21. What do you plan to add to coming versions?
-A21. We have a rough idea of which features we plan/expect/hope to be included
- in which versions. Once again, remember that none of this is written in
- stone (noticing a pattern yet?)
-
- Version 1.3
- Persistent settings for Player, UI improvements
-
- Version 1.4
- Recording?
-
-Q22. I tried one of your firmware files and now I can't access my harddisk!
- When I turn on my jukebox, it says:
- Part. Error
- Pls Chck HD
-A22. Your harddisk has been password protected. We're not 100% sure why it
- happens, but you can unlock it yourself. Look at:
- http://rockbox.haxx.se/lock.html
-
-Q23: This FAQ doesn't answer the question I have. What should I do?
-A23: You have a couple options here. You could forget the question, find an
- easier question, or accept '42' as the answer no matter what. We don't
- really recommend any of these (though I do opt for '42' often myself).
- What we do recommend is stopping by IRC, reading
- http://rockbox.haxx.se to see if the question was answered else
- where and just not included here, or ultimatly dropping an email to the
- mailing list (rockbox@cool.haxx.se) or the FAQ maintainer listed on the
- project homepage.
-
-Q24: Are there other ways to contact the developers?
-A24: Yes.
-
-Q25: Are you going to tell us what they are?
-A25: No. Post to the mailing list and we will get back to you.
-
-Q26: But I _really_ want to talk with you in person.
-A26: I'm sorry. My girlfriend/boyfriend/pet says I'm not allowed to, and the
- doctors here won't let me have pens or pencils. They say its some rule
- about us not having sharp objects. I'm sorry. Now please stop calling me
- here.
-
-Q27: Will you ever port Quake II to the Archos?
-A27: If you ask that again, I'm sending your address and phone number to the
- guy that mailed us with question #23.
-
-Q28: Umm, was that sarcasm?
-A28: That's it, I'm mailing him now.
-
-Q29: Is this legal? I mean, I'd just hate to see something like that
- challenged under the DMCA in all its ridiculousness. Any thoughts or
- ideas?
-A29: We believe we are in the green on this. We are not violating anyone's
- copyright and we are not circumventing any copy protection scheme.
- This has been a big point for the project since its inception. Some
- people wanted us to distribute patched versions of the original firmware,
- but seeing as that _would_ have violated Archos' copyright, we didn't
- follow that course of action.
-
-Q30: On the website [and various information postings] you state
- "Every tiny bit was reverse engineered, disassembled and then
- re-written from scratch".
- If it was rewritten from scratch then why was it first reverse-engineered
- and disassembled? Instead this sounds more like someone disassembled it
- then used the understanding that they gained to create a new version,
- which is not quite the same as "from scratch".
-A30: Don't confuse the terms. Reverse engineering means examining a product
- to find out how it works. Disassembling the firmware is merely one tool
- used in that examination. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers are other
- tools we have used. We have written every single byte of the Rockbox
- firmware. But we could not have written the software without first
- researching how the hardware was put together, i.e. reverse engineer it.
- All of this is completely legal. If you define "from scratch" as writing
- software without first researching the surrounding interfaces, then no
- software has ever been written from scratch.
-
-Q31: Wait a minute here. When you released version 1.0 you did not have a
- single one of the ideas you have mentioned on your website actually
- implimented! Calling this version 1.0 is really misleading. Whats the
- story?!
-A31: In simple terms, the first release was called 1.0 because it had a basic
- working feature set that worked and had no known bugs. That is what 1.0
- meant. It is true that Rockbox 1.0 lacked most of the feature set that
- every sane user wanted. However, we never said it was more
- feature-complete or better in any way then the original firmware that early
- in the project. The first release was done as a proof of concept that our
- ideas are moving in the right direction. We also hoped that it would help
- bring the project some attention, and some additional developers.
- Adding the missing features was just a matter of time. In more recently
- releases we have completed many of our desired goals, and several new ones
- that were implimented to fullfill user requests.
-
-Q32: I've heard talk of a 'Rolo'. What is that? (Or 'All you ever wanted
- to know about Rockbox boot loaders')
-A32: The developers have discussed the possibility of a boot loader. (Mainly
- because having one sounds cool, and isn't Rolo just a great name?)
- The idea would be that a user could use the load to choose between
- different verions of Rockbox or the Archo firmware itself. We have a
- working version of ROLO implimented for the players, and a version in
- development for the recorders. However, at this time, the patch for ROLO
- is not optimal for use and is not part of the main branch of the CVS.
- Once this improves and has been tested sufficently, it will become part of
- the main release. Please check the mailing list logs and irc logs for more
- information.
-
-Q33: I was thinking about making the USB a bit more usable. What are the
- chances of using the USB port to [play games / share files / list
- the device as something other then a hard drive / sell my soul to you
- for a nickel]. What do you think?
-A33: You really don't want to know what I think, it involves road flares,
- microwave ovens and shaved cats. Enough said. But regarding the USB
- portion of your question, this is not feasible. First, any ideas
- regarding special communications over the USB port will not work because
- we have no control over the USB port itself. We are capable of
- dectecting if it is in use (so we know which mode to switch to) but that
- is it. Second, if you would like to have your Archos as a harddrive for
- another device, know that this will not work either. The Archos unit is
- a slave. Most other USB devices are slaves as well. So without some
- master involved there can be no communication. Sorry. Now about your
- soul. Would you settle for 3 cents and a small wad of belly button lint?
-
-Q34: When I use RockBox my jukebox's red "error" light turns on a lot, but this
- doesn't happen on the factory firmware. Why?
-A34: Rockbox uses the red LED as harddisk activity light, not as an error
- light. Relax and enjoy the music.
-
-Q35: How do I use the loadable fonts?
-A35: Loadable fonts are a work in progress. We do not have full documentation
- for it. The best we can do now is tell you that you need a valid .bdf
- font, and to use the tool "bdf2ajf" from CVS to conver to the .ajf format.
- The final .ajf font must be stored in the archos root as 'system.ajf'
- We do expect more documentation on this process shortly.
-
-Q36: I have a question about the batteries...
-A36: STOP! We have put togeather a completely different FAQ for battery
- related questions. Check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/battery.html
-