Rockbox - some simple questions!

I recently sourced a refurbished Clip Zip with Rockbox, after reading all the reviews on here and have been busy trying it out and reading the forums and official manual. I have installed lebellium’s fine Samsung like theme and like it so far.

However, there are a few things I haven’t manage to work out yet and thought some of the gurus might be able to help.  Starting with the easy ones first:

  1. Is there a hold button…or a hold functionality using two buttons?

2.  How do you shuffle your whole music catalogue?  The manual isn’t too clear on this.  Just want to be able to navigate to songs or files, press shuffle  and play.

3.  Is it possible to set the player up so that when you switch on, it opens with last song or album you were playing, or the radio for example.

4.  Finally, as the Zip came preloaded with Rockbox, someone on here pointed out that the firmware would be hopelessly out of date.  When I boot up, it displays v. 3.13 which I believe is the latest version.  It also states Boot 4.0.  Are there more up to date patches and would I be able to install these manually if so?  Just need someone to advise me on this.

That’s it, while I enjoy my Sport, I am really getting into the Zip.  Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can provide.

The downloadable and online versions of the Rockbox Manual for your player are a good thing, along with the ctrl + f search command.

https://www.rockbox.org/manual.shtml

https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipzip.pdf

1.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 31 (Key lock):  Home + Select.

2.  Rockbox Zip Manual pp. 36 and 57:  Play the directory you want to listen to, and set the player to shuffle.  Alternatively, create a playlist of all your player’s music (a simple process), play that playlist and set the player to shuffle.

3.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 71:  A multitude of startup options, including everything you asked for.

4.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 18 and prior pages:  Updating Rockbox.  Note that, as you correctly note, you currently have the latest “release version” of Rockbox, that is, the latest version of Rockbox that generally was deemed to be stable enough  be considered the current “official” version of the operating system. 

But as you might have seen at the Rockbox.org website, developers add changes and sometimes even features to Rockbox on a minute-by-minute basis–the “development builds.”  You can read about the changes at the opening page of the Rockbox.org website in the “Code changes” section and the linked page–this shows you what changes have been made.  And then you can determine if you would like to get the latest build of the operating system incorporating the changes.

The latest development build can be obtained through the Development Builds page and then installed manually (really, a simple enough process, covered in the manual):  https://build.rockbox.org/.  The Rockbox Utility also can be used to install the development build.  https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/GraphicalInstall

Note that development builds can contain bugs.  Having said that, in my experience, bugs are reported and corrected quickly–all is reported in a near-live basis in the Code changes section.  And in my experience, bugs have tended to be just that–typically, minor issues, which then get corrected, promptly.

Finally, if you’re up to some some challenge, you actually can patch–that is, amend–the Rockbox code yourself, to make changes of your own desire.  Needless-to-say, this requires more effort, but it is do-able, even for us mere mortals.  The Rockbox Development Guide can give you an idea as to and instructions for the process.

Good luck, and enjoy!    :slight_smile:

The downloadable and online versions of the Rockbox Manual for your player are a good thing, along with the ctrl + f search command.

https://www.rockbox.org/manual.shtml

https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipzip.pdf

1.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 31 (Key lock):  Home + Select.

2.  Rockbox Zip Manual pp. 36 and 57:  Play the directory you want to listen to, and set the player to shuffle.  Alternatively, create a playlist of all your player’s music (a simple process), play that playlist and set the player to shuffle.

3.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 71:  A multitude of startup options, including everything you asked for.

4.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 18 and prior pages:  Updating Rockbox.  Note that, as you correctly note, you currently have the latest “release version” of Rockbox, that is, the latest version of Rockbox that generally was deemed to be stable enough to be considered the current “official” version of the operating system. 

But as you might have seen at the Rockbox.org website, developers add changes and sometimes even features to Rockbox on a minute-by-minute basis–the “development builds.”  You can read about the changes at the opening page of the Rockbox.org website in the “Code changes” section and the linked page–this shows you what changes have been made.  And then you can determine if you would like to get the latest build of the operating system incorporating the changes.

The latest development build can be obtained through the Development Builds page and then installed manually (really, a simple enough process, covered in the manual):  https://build.rockbox.org/.  The Rockbox Utility also can be used to install the development build.  https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/GraphicalInstall

Note that development builds can contain bugs.  Having said that, in my experience, bugs are reported and corrected quickly–all is reported in a near-live basis in the Code changes section.  And in my experience, bugs have tended to be just that–typically, minor issues, which then get corrected, promptly.

Finally, if you’re up to some some challenge, you actually can patch–that is, amend–the Rockbox code yourself, to make changes of your own desire.  Needless-to-say, this requires more effort, but it is do-able, even for us mere mortals.  The Rockbox Development Guide can give you an idea as to and instructions for the process.  https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/DevelopmentGuide

Good luck, and enjoy!   :slight_smile:

The downloadable and online versions of the Rockbox Manual for your player are a good thing, along with the ctrl + f search command.

https://www.rockbox.org/manual.shtml

https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipzip.pdf

1.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 31 (Key lock):  Home + Select.

2.  Rockbox Zip Manual pp. 36 and 57:  Play the directory you want to listen to, and set the player to shuffle.  Alternatively, create a playlist of all your player’s music (a simple process), play that playlist and set the player to shuffle.

3.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 71:  A multitude of startup options, including everything you asked for.

4.  Rockbox Zip Manual p. 18 and prior pages:  Updating Rockbox.  Note that, as you correctly note, you currently have the latest “release version” of Rockbox, that is, the latest version of Rockbox that generally was deemed to be stable and “clean” enough as a whole (a major undertaking, as you probably can understand) to be considered the current “official” version of the operating system. 

But as you might have seen at the Rockbox.org website, developers add changes and sometimes even features to Rockbox on a minute-by-minute basis–the “development builds.”  You can read about the changes at the opening page of the Rockbox.org website in the “Code changes” section and the linked page–this shows you what changes have been made.  And then you can determine if you would like to get the latest build of the operating system incorporating the changes.  As a general matter, I have moved to a new developer’s build when I’ve seen that a new feature or enhancement that I like has been added or made (and I might wait a few days, to allow time for any bugs to be caught).  I can’t recall ever having had an issue, and certainly nothing major.

The latest development build can be obtained through the Development Builds page and then installed manually (really, a simple enough process, covered in the manual):  https://build.rockbox.org/.  The Rockbox Utility also can be used to install the development build.  https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/GraphicalInstall

Note that development builds can contain bugs.  Having said that, in my experience, bugs are reported and corrected quickly–all is reported in a near-live basis in the Code changes section.  And in my experience, bugs have tended to be just that–typically, minor issues, which then get corrected, promptly.

Finally, if you’re up to some some challenge, you actually can patch–that is, amend–the Rockbox code yourself, to make changes of your own desire.  Needless-to-say, this requires more effort, but it is do-able, even for us mere mortals.  The Rockbox Development Guide can give you an idea as to and instructions for the process.  https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/DevelopmentGuide

Good luck, and enjoy!   Smiley Happy

2 Likes

And a further good slurce for you:  the Rockbox forum.  http://forums.rockbox.org/

And a further good source for you, for questions, development info., etc.:  the Rockbox forum.  http://forums.rockbox.org/

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Sincere kudos to you Miikerman for taking your time to give me such a detailed reply!

Thank you.

My pleasure–I hope you find the info. helpful, as well as having Rockbox! 

My greatest recommendation:  download the PDF manual for Rockbox and the Zip (see the link above) and skim through it.  Don’t read it, at least at first–there simply is too much info. there to prevent your brain from going to mush (at least it was/is, for me).  But get a feel for all the many benefits and features that Rockbox offers, and jot down areas to return to later, for a more thorough reading.  I will guarantee you:  you are going to find a bunch of handy and nifty features that you never thought might exist, that you will enjoy and benefit from, personalizing your MP3 player experience.   :slight_smile:

We’ve been too lazy to package up an official release for a few years now. However the development build is essentially the same thing, since all releases were was a randomly chosen dev build when we felt it was time for a new release.

@saratoga wrote:
We’ve been too lazy to package up an official release for a few years now. However the development build is essentially the same thing, since all releases were was a randomly chosen dev build when we felt it was time for a new release.

And so, a question:  does the Rockbox manual keep up somewhat with the recent development builds, or is it tied to the last official release?  In the past, I’ve assumed the latter, and thought that the best way to complete one’s “education” as to feature/operation changes would be to scan through the code changes listings. 

The manual actually tracks the current builds, not the releases.  I’m not sure if we keep an old copy of the 3.13 manual around somewhere.

It usually doesn’t matter too much though, since we don’t usually have a manual build ready until a port is mostly complete, at whhich point things like battery life and a few new features may be added, but install directions, button layouts, etc don’t change much if ever.

@saratoga wrote:

The manual actually tracks the current builds, not the releases.  I’m not sure if we keep an old copy of the 3.13 manual around somewhere.

 

It usually doesn’t matter too much though, since we don’t usually have a manual build ready until a port is mostly complete, at whhich point things like battery life and a few new features may be added, but install directions, button layouts, etc don’t change much if ever.

Thanks for that info.–great to hear.  I know that major changes are infrequent, but every now-and-again less-major feature changes or additions are made and good to know that documentation gets into the manual for them.