Rockbox?

I recently learned of the open source OS called Rockbox, I know they plan to release a Sansa fuze version hopefully early in 09, is any using it now with a Sansa product and do you recommend it, I have the Fuze but I also have the M230 and M240 players.

there close to finishing so within two months it should be ready just check the web site weekly

I’m using Rockbox with my trusty old iRiver H320 and really like it…it adds a lot of features. My fav feature is the crossfader. The H3XX series wouldn’t crossfade and I hate gaps, so Rockbox covers that…plus there’s themes you can download to change the look of the GUI…most are ■■■■ but there’s a few that are nice…but with the update of Rockbox to 3.0…older themes don’t display correctly now unless updated for 3.0…which really annoyed me cuz I just found a great theme but doesn’t work cuz I have RB 3.0 and the creator isn’t devoting any mreo time into RB themes.

Here’s the theme…is so sweet looking!!

http://pijulius.blogspot.com/2006/05/jblackglass-rockbox-themes-ipod-video.html 

Also rooting around…they have Rockbox simulators so you can test themes and stuff on your PC before loading to your mp3 player…there’s a Sansa Fuze simulator available! Woot…hopefully its out soon…will def mod my gf’s Fuze that I just got her for Xmas. 

http://rasher.dk/rockbox/simulator/ 

I wouldn’t break open the Champagne just yet. Despite other’s enthusiastic expectations, I seriously doubt that RB will be available in the next ‘couple of months’. While much progress has been made, realize that the nuts that are cracked first are usually the easiest.

It’s like riding a bike up a mountain. The farther up you go, the steeper the incline gets and while you’ve got 5 miles behind you and only 1 in front of you, that 1 mile is going to be the most difficult and may take you longer to traverse it than the 5 in back of you.

So realistically, you could go out and buy the bottle of bubbly, but I don’t even think I’d put it in the icebox yet. There’s still a lot of work to do yet on the project. And even then, there are usually months of testing before a stable version can be released. :wink:

If I install rockbox - is there a way to go back to original one if I don’t like the rockbox?

What player do you have?

Not sure how it works for other players…but on my H320…a botton combo will start it up using the original firmware…and I’m sure its just a matter of trashing the “.rockbox” folder or reformatting the drive if you want to go back to the original firmware…I’d do a little research on your player first…if you can find a forum on your player and it supports Rockbox…I’m sure there will be a section for it there.

Also there’s those simulators you can try out on you PC first to see if you even like it before installing on your device. 

Message Edited by vice86 on 12-29-2008 02:07 PM

Rockbox does not replace the original firmware, but only ‘sits beside it’ as an alternative. Your player then becomes a dual-boot’ system; booting in one or the other.

In the case of the Sansa, upon pressing the power button, the player loads (or boots) the Rockbox firmware. If you want to boot into the Sansa firmware upon start-up, you hold the REW ( |<< ) button down during start-up. You can also install a reverse boot-loader to do just the opposite if you wish (boot into Sansa OF, unless the REW button is held).

You still need the original Sansa f/w for certain functions, which is why it’s designed this way.

Message Edited by Tapeworm on 12-30-2008 10:19 AM

Thanks for the info - I have a fuze - so for now there is no rockbox… but just was wondering about it - when/if a rockbox version comes out is it worth looking into… if it were to replace the firmware and make it so I could not go back - I would not consider it… for now… I will wait til it comes out and decide then.

The port is in progress…

You could see the state there : http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/SansaV2

They have actually some problems with the wheel (the detection is not perfect) and the internal memory (only the first GB is supported).

And you can also read the thread (if you’re developper otherwise don’t post a message because it’s developpement thread --not a support or install thread–) :

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=14064.10000

nech…if you go to http://rasher.dk/rockbox/simulator/&nbsp; and download the fuze one…you could see how it works…the menus aren’t anything fancy so don’t expect a super overhauled GUI…for looks…it all depends on the design of the theme  you load…most of them I don’t even like…they look like ■■■■. I go back and forth between using Rockbox and my normal iRiver firmware.

silly question - I use linux - is there a way I can run the simulator? kubuntu 8.10

I’m using rockbox on my sansa e200.  Plusses:

  1. plays every format I have, gapless where applicable.

  2. Can navigate by folder.

  3. Updates the tag database in the background.  No waiting for that on startup.

  4. Skinnable.  The Christmas theme has snowflakes and a “candy cane” progress bar.

  5.  Games, if you are into that…  play chess, tetris, etc. while you listen. (feel bad if you can’t beat your mp3 player at chess!)

  6. Some oddball selection tools, like “songs I used to play a lot but haven’t in a while” 

  7. optional voice prompts if you are visually impaired or just want to use it without looking. 

I don’t really use it for video, but rockbox uses a different format.  Downside, incompatible with native firmware.  Upside, gets you away from Sansa Media Converter if you’re having problems with that.

@donp wrote:

  1. Updates the tag database in the background.  No waiting for that on startup.

Ooh I knew Rockbox would do gapless and play-by-folder, but I didn’t know about that feature - that would be nice.

@pelago wrote:


@donp wrote:

  1. Updates the tag database in the background.  No waiting for that on startup.

Ooh I knew Rockbox would do gapless and play-by-folder, but I didn’t know about that feature - that would be nice.

The only problem I’ve run into with this is that there is no visual cue to tell you when is it finished (no progress bar as in the OF). And despite what it says, I think it doesn’t finalize it until you turn it (the player) off and then back on again. Then on start-up it says ‘Committing Database’ for a few seconds.

What exactly does “navigate by folder” mean?

Tapeworm wrote: 

 

The only problem I’ve run into with this is that there is no visual cue to tell you when is it finished (no progress bar as in the OF). And despite what it says, I think it doesn’t finalize it until you turn it (the player) off and then back on again. Then on start-up it says ‘Committing Database’ for a few seconds.

If it is “updating” you can use the database while that is going on, and the new stuff you just added may not appear for a while (you can still get it immediately navigating by folder)

 If you “initialize”, then it does that “committing” thing when you reboot.  THere’s an option for caching the database which may change the exact behaviour.

To the other poster, “navigate by folder” means similar to how you get to files on a PC.  You click on folders until you get down to the file you are looking for rather than looking through tags. 

 

A bit of a ressurection but has there been any progress on Fuze’s Rockbox?

I believe a date hasn’t been set but has anyone got a vague prediction?

No.  IMO it’s a complete waste of time.  I tried it on my Cowon X5 and the ONLY thing it got me was gapless support and in the process lost me quite a bit of frunctionality (the Cowon firmware includes the vast bulk of Rockbox capability).  I can see how it would be useful to Apple users because of the bare-bones nonsense Apple masquerades as firmware but as the Sansa firmware is still under active dev and continues to mature, my reaction to Rockbox on this and the Cowon platforms is largely…

*yawn*

While I agree with much of the prior comment, having adopted Rockbox for my iRiver iHP-140 3-4 years ago and rarely seeing the original firmware since, I can see certain nice benefits of Rockbox for the Fuze:  principally, the aforementioned gapless functionality (Rockbox is worth it for that alone) and the ability to customize the user interface (not needed but, let’s face it, fun) …  Having said that, who knows if and when Rockbox would arrive; while matters seemed to be proceeding nicely 3-4 months ago, progress seems to have come on a slower slope since.

 TBH The only reason I would want Rockbox is to replace the Fuze’s theme/wallpaper/background and not because it offers some 1337 functions, integrated functions on Fuze are more than enough. OFC if Rockbox is released I will play those games, and will use some of the options but as I said I mainly want it because of the theme.