rockbox

@thekool wrote:

http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2009/06/12/install-rockbox-on-your-sansa-fuze/

 

rockbox is here

Message Edited by THEKOOL on 07-04-2009 05:53 AM

That link has already been offered up for those willing to gamble with their devices.

There still is no official version and the Rockbox folks are not recommending it unless you ae working on the development project.

I too have used it on my Fuze and it works fine barring video playback which is not at all smooth.

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=22137.msg152789#msg152789


Rockbox has officially been released for the fuze.http://build.rockbox.org/

@sansafinder wrote:


Rockbox has officially been released for the fuze.http://build.rockbox.org/

Where have you been? This has been out for some time now. While some may argue whether or not it is an ‘official’ release, it is still listed as an ‘unstable’ port for both the Fuze and the v2 e200 series on the main page.

Having said that however, there haven’t been too many reports that I’ve seen citing major issues from people who have tried it.

@sansafinder wrote:


Rockbox has officially been released for the fuze.http://build.rockbox.org/

Are you sure about that? I think what you linked to might be test builds.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaFAQ#Which_Sansa_models_does_Rockbox

@marvin_martian wrote:


@sansafinder wrote:


Rockbox has officially been released for the fuze.http://build.rockbox.org/


Are you sure about that? I think what you linked to might be test builds.

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaFAQ#Which_Sansa_models_does_Rockbox

 

Hmm fixed that old FAQ entry.  In the future, its always a good idea to see when a wiki was last edited if its about something that could change.  That page hadn’t been changed in months.   

 

Anyway, I started a thread about this a while back when we released for the Fuze: 

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=sansafuse&message.id=33251&query.id=78844#M33251 

My opinion is, it should be upgraded to stable. It works better than the stable e200v1 port.

@martylk wrote:
My opinion is, it should be upgraded to stable. It works better than the stable e200v1 port.

I think there might still be a few issues they want to work out (from reading the forum over there).  FOr me it works great though.

It has ruined me a little, going back to something with a ‘normal’ amount of settings and features seems so wrong :wink:

@summerlove wrote:

It has ruined me a little, going back to something with a ‘normal’ amount of settings and features seems so wrong :wink:

Yeah, RB has done that to me also. It takes getting accustomed to because it is different from all other DAP UIs the same way an American car used to be different from imports and such. But once used to it, it makes you wish all the DAP makers would go into cahoots with the RB org for their UIs and FWs.

@martylk wrote:
My opinion is, it should be upgraded to stable. It works better than the stable e200v1 port.

 That will probably happen soon.  But there are still a few nagging issues like screen glitches and compatibility with a few sd cards.  The v1 port is more stable in that basically everything works at least as well as the OF (and most things a lot better like battery life), although the CPU is certainly slower.

saratoga,

Glad to see that there’s some progress on the AMS devices’ port!  I haven’t had the opportunity to delve into the current builds, being especially cautious on the UID and Janus DRM issues, any feedback on the issue?

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

@tapeworm wrote:


@calv wrote:

 

It would be nice, if someone from Sandisk (who works on firmware development) could invest 10 or 15 minutes a week talking to rockbox people on their IRC channel, I think that would speed up development by magnitudes. As far as I know, the Sansa line would be the only players supported by rockbox that are still available (wow!).

 


Nice maybe, but not likely to happen. Most, if not all software developers have to sign & abide a contract stating they will not discuss ‘company secrets’ or participate in any other software development for any other project that is similar to what their employer creates now and sometimes for some period of time after they leave the company.

 

There was a thread on the RB forums regarding this exact subject. Someone knew how to fix something to do with RB, but couldn’t for fear of not only losing his job, but being sued by his employer on top of it.

This is why I loathe all closed-source software, software patents, etc…  This is one reason I refuse to use M$ Windoze and why I don’t own an iPod (even though Apple is semi-friendly to FLOSS).  This is why I own a TomTom GPS (runs on the Linux kernel) as opposed to Garmin, Magellan, etc.  But that’s another story for another forum. :wink:

But to answer the OP’s question – Rockbox will load (experimental builds) on the Fuze v1 but does not work at all on the v2.  The reason is the V2 has some changed hardware that is undocumented by the manufacturer.  Without the manufacturer spec sheets, it will take reverse engineering which is a PITA and slow go.  And without these details, it is unlikely that Rockbox will ever be all that usable on the Fuze v2.

@niko_sama wrote:

The lawyers always have to complicate things.  Sansa has nondisclosure agreements with all of their employees along with non-compete agreements.  It is necessary so proprietary information, trade secrets and potential patents remain their property under their control.

 

There have been some historical collaborations between open source groups and corporate companies, that have worked out to everyone’s benefit.  It’s possible.

 

The rockbox team has gifted programmers who are capable of disassembly of the firmware and reverse engineering, and they will deny it.  I won’t tell you what I did as a teen, I’m sure Blizzard lawyers frowned on it ><.    Inspired programmers will get the job done.  :slight_smile:

 

Cheers to Rockbox :slight_smile:

There are many brilliant “inspired” programmers who haven’t been able to do much with closed, propreitary, patented hardware. For instance, the open-source Nvidia drivers ■■■■ azz, even after years of development (they still don’t have 3D acceleration, for instance).  It’s not that these FLOSS coders ■■■■, it’s that Nvidia refuses to document the hardware used in the GPU’s.   I don’t care how brilliant you are, without hardware specs it will be hard to create a driver anywhere near the quality and features of the closed-source proprietary version.  AMD/ATI, on the other hand, has released all hardware specs and has extended a hand to the open-source community.  That’s why every *nix user should buy their products. But I digress.

Sandisk has been pretty friendly to open-standards so far (for instance their players will play Ogg/Vorbis whereas iPod and M$ Zune will not).  When I saw on the back of the Fuze box that it would work with Linux, I instantly bought one.  Good luck seeing the word “Linux” or “ogg/Vorbis” on the back of a M$ Zune or iPod box.  I suppose M$ and Apple (M$ especially) are just averse to anything open-source?

Yes, Sandisk, some of us appreciate your friendliness to Linux, ogg/vorbis, and FLOSS in general.   There are many of us who do care about open-standards and will only give our money to companies that support it.

Message Edited by rookcifer on 11-02-2009 01:19 AM

@saratoga wrote:


@martylk wrote:
My opinion is, it should be upgraded to stable. It works better than the stable e200v1 port.


 

 

 That will probably happen soon.  But there are still a few nagging issues like screen glitches and compatibility with a few sd cards.  The v1 port is more stable in that basically everything works at least as well as the OF (and most things a lot better like battery life), although the CPU is certainly slower.

 

 From what I see on the checklist table, the Fuze (and older model V2’s) still don’t record either.

 

@donp wrote:
From what I see on the checklist table, the Fuze (and older model V2’s) still don’t record either.

It also doesn’t have the USB configured yet. However, I used RB on the e200v1 for a long time before it had USB configured. I rarely use the recording ability of these DAPs. But I can use it by booting into OF.

Recording is pretty close to being included, but honestly of all the problems its pretty far down the list.  Battery life, USB, screen glitches, even manual and keymaps are probably more important given the lack of a line in on the Fuze. 

Man do I want RB to work on the Fuze V2… :robotsad:

First, thatks to all who are working on RB, and extra kudos to those working onthe fuze version!!!

I’d love to have the screen glitches fixed, mostly because converting videos to mpeg is so much easier and versitile than using SMC…  recording would be cool, but isn’t as important to me…

I do love what you people have given us so far… thanks again

@tapeworm wrote:


@sansafinder wrote:


Rockbox has officially been released for the fuze.http://build.rockbox.org/


 

Where have you been? This has been out for some time now. While some may argue whether or not it is an ‘official’ release, it is still listed as an ‘unstable’ port for both the Fuze and the v2 e200 series on the main page.

 

Having said that however, there haven’t been too many reports that I’ve seen citing major issues from people who have tried it.

What? I looked at every thread about rockbox to see if anybody mentioned it before I posted. Besides school started so I don’t have much time to browse around the forum much.

Every thread but my Rockbox is released thread :slight_smile: