Rockbox & V2's

@mnong wrote:

OK Tapeworm, saratoga, thanks for the clarifications. I’m not a dev guy, BTW, but the tech details help to reinforce what you guys have said–its not advisable to go for a Reverse Bootloader at the moment.

 

My Fuze FM radio is not working in OF. I was hoping to see a Radio menu item in Rockbox just to verify whether it works and if it does, then it could only be some problem in the OF.

 

This might sound a little dumb, but how do I get to the FM radio in RB? I have the latest build of RB installed.

The status chart next to the install directions says “FM-Radio:  No” for the Fuze V2, so I think you have to wait for someone to add support for it.

@saratoga wrote:

The status chart next to the install directions says “FM-Radio:  No” for the Fuze V2, so I think you have to wait for someone to add support for it.

Sorry, I have Fuze V1. No radio for this too? Can you give me the URL for the status chart for V1 (Again sorry for another dumb question)

FM radio works on my Fuze. It’s on the Rockbox main menu, just under Recording.

@gwk1967 wrote:
FM radio works on my Fuze. It’s on the Rockbox main menu, just under Recording.

My fears were not unfounded, after all, I see no FM Radio under Recordings. Does it have to do with FM Radio going bust in my original Sansa firmware? Is there any connection with that?

Its possible the chip is just broken.  You could also try older versions of Rockbox (3.5 is the oldest build for the Fuzev1 you’re going to find without compiling your own) and see if any of them ever detected the radio.

@saratoga wrote:
Its possible the chip is just broken.  You could also try older versions of Rockbox (3.5 is the oldest build for the Fuzev1 you’re going to find without compiling your own) and see if any of them ever detected the radio.

If its the chip, can it be repaired? Go back to old RB version? Nah! I’m not ready for that. Is there any other way out?

If you’re not interested in debugging the problem, a new Fuze doesn’t cost that much.

Your radio is busted. If it does not work in the OF it will not magically work in RB either.

@peregrine wrote:

Your radio is busted. If it does not work in the OF it will not magically work in RB either.

 

Well, I’m willing to forget about the radio. But some more woes I’m not willing to forgo :

  1. Using RB, I cannot see my videos anymore :angry:

  2. I cannot see some of my pictures, although others show up

  3. Looks like slotRadio doesn’t work in RB. Don’t know about slotMusic, though, as I don’t have a slotMusic card at present.

Then go back to the Sansa Firmware. :wink:

  1. Is there a pattern? Like what type of videos don’t show? Ones that were converted using the Sansa media converter or others that you just dragged and dropped. I don’t use video at all on this tiny ass player so I can’t really help there.

  2. Again is there a pattern here? The pics that don’t show up are they JPG? TIF? GIF?

  3. This I can answer for sure. Slotradio\Slotmusic is a proprietary Sansa product. The RB developers will not and probably can not implement that, nor IMO, should they. This is why being able to revert to the Sansa firmware is such a great option.

Message Edited by Peregrine on 04-09-2010 03:23 PM

@peregrine wrote:

Then go back to the Sansa Firmware. :wink:

 

  1. Is there a pattern? Like what type of videos don’t show? Ones that were converted using the Sansa media converter or others that you just dragged and dropped. I don’t use video at all on this tiny ass player so I can’t really help there.

Videos were converted with vidzForFuze & showed up in OF. In RB, video folder properties indicate 29 files in the folder, but none show up. I changed settings to show all files. Now I can see all .avi files, but trying to open them does nothing.

Again is there a pattern here? The pics that don’t show up are they JPG? TIF? GIF?

They were .bmp files

This I can answer for sure. Slotradio\Slotmusic is a proprietary Sansa product. The RB developers will not and probably can not implement that, nor IMO, should they. This is why being able to revert to the Sansa firmware is such a great option.

Yes. Its something to do with the DRM stuff they wrote about in the manual.

Sorry for the crappy formatting, my mobile was the cause, but I guess you got it.

I’m trying to install rockbox in my v2 fuze it I don0t seem to be able to get it…

I’ve followed the instructions in the sansaams page. I’ve compiled the bootloader and patched the original firmware, i’ve copied the .rockbox folder in the fuze, and i’ve flashed the patched firmware to the fuze, but then, only the OF shows up.

What am I missing? 

 EDIT: i’ve tryied with firmware *17 and *26 to no avail. After firmware upgrade is complete, it boot directly into “Refreshing database”, and on next reboot it will ask me language and region.

Message Edited by ssorgatem on 04-11-2010 12:36 PM

@ssorgatem wrote:

 

 

 EDIT: i’ve tryied with firmware *17 and *26 to no avail. After firmware upgrade is complete, it boot directly into “Refreshing database”, and on next reboot it will ask me language and region.

 Are you sure you copied the right firmware file?  After you run mkamsboot you’ll have two firmware files, one patched, one original.  It sounds like you copied the original.  But I’m just guessing . . .

 RB  don’t play avi!

it play mpeg, mpg, mpeg2, and other stuff! just read the manual

For all those interested it’s worth bearing in mind that RB is good for:

All music features: codec support, gapless, great playlist manipulation, replaygain, eq etcetc everything you can think of

Using less power (longer battery)

More reconfigurability

More common sense (for example the backlight is never switched on when in hold)

Plugins (text reader) and games (doom), except most are useless

And not so good for: 

Video (only supports mpg1/mpg2, meaning videos will take up more space for the same quality)

Eye candy (some nice custom themes, but you can tell RB is not commercially backed. Menu is also cluttered and confusing for newbies)

If you’re happy with that, go ahead and install RockBox on your Fuze. If not, and you install RockBox, you may be disappointed. 

Message Edited by Xanikseo on 04-11-2010 11:33 PM

@saratoga wrote:


@ssorgatem wrote:

 

 

 EDIT: i’ve tryied with firmware *17 and *26 to no avail. After firmware upgrade is complete, it boot directly into “Refreshing database”, and on next reboot it will ask me language and region.


 

 

 Are you sure you copied the right firmware file?  After you run mkamsboot you’ll have two firmware files, one patched, one original.  It sounds like you copied the original.  But I’m just guessing . . .

 

Yes, I’m 100% sure about it. I’ve tried with different firmware versions patched with mkamsboot, and also woth a 2.3.31 patched firmware I found on RB forums, but to no avail.

What should I see when booting? Could it be a bad .rockbox installation? I’ve tried also several builds, mine and from RB page…

@xanikseo wrote:

 

And not so good for: 

Video (only supports mpg1/mpg2, meaning videos will take up more space for the same quality)

 

 

Eye candy (some nice custom themes, but you can tell RB is not commercially backed. Menu is also cluttered and confusing for newbies)

 

 

 I don’t think the video thing is true.  MPEG4 with all the MPEG4 features disabled is little or no better then MPEG2 with all the MPEG2 features enabled.  Theres no free lunch in video compression, as soon as you turn up the compression, frame rate drops proportionally.  The best compression ratio you can achieve at a given quality is basically determined by the speed of the Fuze’s CPU and nothing will change that.

I do agree with the menus though.  We have too many menus, and whenever we try to clean them up a lot of people start complaining that we’re removing important features.  Such is the way of open source though.   

ssorgatem wrote: 

Yes, I’m 100% sure about it. I’ve tried with different firmware versions patched with mkamsboot, and also woth a 2.3.31 patched firmware I found on RB forums, but to no avail.

 

What should I see when booting? Could it be a bad .rockbox installation? I’ve tried also several builds, mine and from RB page…

Are you doing this with the USB plugged in?  Try it off of battery power to be sure. 

 You should see Rockbox.  If you had a bad .rockbox folder your player would refuse to boot and you’d get a message saying that no rockbox install was found.  If you get the original firmware, then you’ve either got the USB cable plugged in, or haven’t installed a bootloader.  

Here’s the simple “shortcut” way that I installed Rockbox on all my V2 Fuzes.  There may be reasons why this isn’t the best way to install Rockbox, but it worked perfect for me.  Don’t worry about compiling or the bootloader, just do this:

1.  Download pre-patched version of the Sansa firmware (01.02.31) from here, and unzip the fuzpa.bin file to the root directory of your Fuze V2.

 

2.  Download the latest Rockbox build for the Fuze V2 from here, unzip it, and copy the .rockbox folder on to your fuze, under the root directory.

Reboot twice, and you’re done.  That will work.  If it doesn’t work, try again, making SURE you have the following two items on the root directory of your Fuze:

.rockbox (file folder - make sure it contains all the files and sub-directories it did when you unzipped it)

fuzpa.bin (file - the one from the link above, which is a modified version of the original Sansa firmware)

Note:  I didn’t modify or compile the pre-patched firmware I linked to above.  I wish I knew who to credit for it, but I don’t.  This install procedure is obviously for the Fuze V2 only.  Don’t do it with a Fuze V1 - it won’t work (use the installer instead).
Message Edited by Shiftlock on 04-11-2010 11:23 PM