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authorRobert Hak <adiamas@rockbox.org>2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000
committerRobert Hak <adiamas@rockbox.org>2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000
commit019203b7faf9fece3b9a12e0698fe1543df7f5d1 (patch)
treedad0cbf2c64853474b1b190f3777d156a25acce7
parent52e0e21fde2bfdd8d3ca4a7a6d77ba79577d682c (diff)
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1Q1: Are my batteries charged all the time when connected to my Player/Recorder?
2A1: Player: the charging is all done by hardware and the exact
3 functionality is hard to determine. It is however not recommended to keep
4 the charger connected for more than 10-15 hours if you're not using the
5 unit.
6
7 Recorder: no. The charging algorithm is carefully crafted in to not wear
8 out the batteries any more than necessary. If you're using your unit
9 connected to the charger most of the time, use the 'deep discharge' option
10 to save your batteries somewhat.
11
12Q2: Will keeping my charger connected a long time damage my batteries? Can I
13 leave it over night?
14A2: The charger logic lets the batteries charge until they are full. After
15 that, the charger is disabled, but the device will stay powered on and
16 continue to consume some power from the batteries (the hardware does
17 not allow running from the charger without charging batteries, or
18 powering off with the charger connected). After some time, it will
19 start charging the batteries again to keep them full. This will
20 wear the batteries a little, but overnight charging is what most
21 people do.
22
23 As the Battery FAQ at http://www.greenbatteries.com/ puts it:
24 "A NiMH battery can be charged and discharged hundreds of times,
25 but whether that means 200 times or 800 times has a lot to do
26 with how (you use it)".
27
28Q3: Does Rockbox charge the batteries more/less/worse/better than the Archos
29 firmware?
30A3: Player: Rockbox doesn't affect the charging on Players, it is all done
31 by hardware logic out of software control.
32
33 Recorder: The current release of 1.2 is much worse than the Archos
34 charger, it tends to stop charging much too early and leave the batteries
35 half empty.
36
37 The current development code (CVS daily builds as of 20.8.2002) is much
38 better than the 1.2 release, but still not perfect. Linus recently
39 measured 6 hours continuous playtime after a rockbox charge, and much
40 over 7 hours after an Archos charge. We are working on fine-tuning
41 the charger logic to get the most out of the batteries, but the
42 emphasis is on not overcharging them, since that would damage the
43 batteries. Better be safe than sorry.
44
45Q4: What kind of batteries are there in my factory default Player/Recorder?
46A4: Both ship with 1500 mAh NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries.
47
48Q5: Is it hard to change the batteries? Does it void my warranty?
49A5: The archos manual and web site describe how to replace the batteries,
50 so you're supposed to do it. They recommend using only Archos-supplied
51 batteries, but my Recorder 20 unit only shipped with one set. Some
52 units have been shipped with two sets of batteries. Someone actually had
53 Archos send him new batteries free of charge after they had weared out,
54 under the warranty. (have asked from support-technique@archos.com,
55 waiting for an answer to arrive!)
56
57Q6: How much do replacement batteries cost? Where can I buy them?
58A6: http://www.greenbatteries.com sells 1800 mAh NiMH cells at $3.25USD each,
59 and I bought 4 of the same GP batteries for 20 euros in an home
60 electronics & household appliance store in Finland. NiMH batteries are
61 sold in almost all shops that sell consumer electronics, and in many
62 online shops. Browse around.
63
64Q7: What kind of run-time can I expect on a set of fully-charged batteries
65 when running Rockbox?
66A7: For the stock 1500 mAh cells, from 6 hours to 8 hours, depending on
67 which charger was used (see Q3). It depends a lot on the condition of
68 the batteries. We are looking into implementing more battery-saving
69 techniques in rockbox to make it rock longer.
70
71Q8: Can I use different batteries in my Archos?
72A8: Only use NiMH-type rechargeable batteries. It is considered to be safe
73 to use NiMH batteries of different capacities though, a lot of people
74 have purchaced 1700 or 1800 mAh batteries to replace the stock 1500 mAh
75 cells and have the device run a bit longer.
76
77Q9: Can I use non-chargeable batteries in my Archos?
78A9: This is not recommended. The unit has been designed to operate with
79 four 1.2V batteries producing about 4.8V at most, and using 1.5V
80 alkaline/zinc carbon batteries will produce around 6.0V, which will
81 heat up the unit a lot more and might even damage it. The Archos
82 manual explicitly tells you not to do so.
83
84Q10: Can I use a different charger?
85A10: People have successfully used different chargers with similar
86 specifications as the stock charger. The charger must have the
87 same kind of connector with same polarity (center positive/+).
88 The charger should supply at least 7-8 volts, and if it provides
89 more than 9V, it probably should be current limited (do not
90 directly plug it in your 12V car battery or it's charger!).
91
92 Using lower charging voltage will slow down the charging, and using
93 higher voltage will cause a higher charging current, more heat,
94 and too much heat and current can damage the batteries or the unit.
95 Using a different charger will void your warranty and can be
96 dangerous to your unit, so we can not recommend it.
97
98 Many people are happy using an external quick charger which
99 is specified to work with NiMH batteries.
100
101Q11: Can I buy a replacement charger exactly as the one Archos shipped?
102A11: The FAQ on the Archos web site and the top of the charger both read:
103
104 Output: 9VDC 600mA
105 Center positive (+) polarity
106
107 Chargers with similar (or user-adjustable) properties are available
108 at shops selling consumer electronics.
109
110
111Q12: I often need to stop my player for about 15 minutes or so, and when I do
112 it runs off it's batteries. I was wondering, which is best: shutting the
113 player down completely and rebooting it when I want to listen again, or
114 leaving the unit on? Which way does it draw more power?
115A12: In our testing we found the following results:
116 HDD off, LED off, idle 94 mA
117 HDD off, LED off, play 97 mA
118 HDD off, LED on, idle 129 mA
119 HDD off, LED on, play 131 mA
120 HDD on, LED on, play 230 mA
121 HD on, reading, LED off ~ 600 mA
122 HD spin up before read max 800 mA
123
124 So leaving the unit on and paused consumes ~100mA, and thus much less then
125 needing to reboot the unit. Your mileage may vary.
126
diff --git a/docs/FAQ b/docs/FAQ
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1Q1. What is a FAQ?
2A1. A rare small animal of the species 'Textius Electronicus'. It is known for
3 its helpful attitude and vicious misspellings.
4
5Q2. Okay, fine, what is _this_ FAQ?
6A2. This FAQ is for questions (that we have answers too) that have been asked
7 repeatedly either in emails or on IRC.
8
9Q3. What is Rockbox? What is it's purpose?
10A3. The purpose of this project is to write an Open Source replacement
11 firmware for the Archos Jukebox 6000, Studio 20 and Recorder MP3 players.
12
13Q4. I want to write code for my Archos, how do I proceed?
14A4. First make sure to read the file CONTRIBUTING in the firmware directory
15 on Sourceforge. See http://rockbox.haxx.se/firmware/CONTRIBUTING
16 if you do not want to have to wade through the CVS directories.
17
18Q5: Whats CVS?
19A5: Concurrent Versions System (http://www.cvshome.org). We have a small
20 help page about how to use this to get, update and commit files on the web
21 at http://rockbox.haxx.se/cvs.html
22
23Q6. What exactly is the CONTRIBUTING file?
24A6. Just like the name implies, it lists conventions that the project follows,
25 and in turn asks you to follow, for the formating of source code in
26 general.
27
28Q7. Okay, so I read CONTRIBUTING and although I don't agree with all your
29 conventions, I am going to be sensible and follow them anyway. Now what?
30A7. Start by reading up on the information about the jukeboxes on our web page.
31 Then go into CVS and look at the code we've written. Then take what you
32 need and start writing.
33
34Q8. Okay, so how do I submit a patch?
35A8. Run: "diff -u oldfile newfile > patchfile" against the file(s) you have
36 changed. Then mail the output to any member of the development team and
37 we will take it under consideration. (Please remember that all
38 submissions are not automatically accepted, this is nothing personal.)
39
40 Of if you would like to run the diff against the current cvs code:
41 cvs diff -ub [file(s)]
42
43Q9. I want to join the development team, but don't have a SourceForge account,
44 what should I do?
45A9. Head on over to http://sourceforge.net/account/register.php and create an
46 account for yourself.
47
48Q10. Do you have a mailing list?
49A10. Sure do! As a matter of fact, we have several of them for specific
50 things. Please check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/
51
52Q11. Great you have a mailing list! Is there anyway for me to catch up on
53 past posts?
54A11. Check out the archives at: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail.cgi
55
56Q12. How can I meet the developers working on the project?
57A12. One way is by visiting us on IRC. Head on over to the server
58 irc.openprojects.net, and then join "#rockbox". There is usually at
59 least one person there. If you don't see any activity, feel free to post
60 questions anyway, serveral of us log the channel and will get you answers
61 when we unidle.
62
63Q13: Wow, you guys talk on IRC alot? I wish I had been around for those
64 conversations to see what happened.
65A13: We are glad you mentioned that! http://rockbox.haxx.se/irc happens
66 to have a list of various logs we have recorded of events in the channel.
67 Feel free to read up, and ask questions on what you find.
68
69Q14. What is this "SourceForge" you keep mentioning?
70A14. http://www.sourceforge.net
71
72Q15. Can the changes or the software that Rockbox suggests or offers
73 possibly damage my Archos Player?
74A15. All firmware mods that are presented are still highly experimental.
75 Try them at your own risk. We offer no guarantee that this software, or
76 the hardware modifications we show, will not damage your player or void
77 your warranty. That said, we have not been able to damage any of our
78 units by modifying only the firmware. You can accidentally password
79 protect your harddisk, but there are ways around that. (See below.)
80
81Q16. I want to see what the inside of my player looks like, but I would really
82 like to avoid voiding my warranty. Is there anything you can suggest?
83A16. We have a collection of photos of both the player and recorder. Look at
84 http://rockbox.haxx.se/internals/
85
86Q17. What exactly are you trying to achieve with this line of development?
87 (A.K.A. whats your purpose for being here?)
88A17. Firstly, we wouldn't start something like this if we didn't simply enjoy
89 it profusely. This is great fun!
90 Secondly, we feel the firmware is lacking some features and contain a
91 number of annoying bugs that we want to fix.
92 Some ideas would include (in no particular order):
93 - No pause between songs
94 - Mid-song resume
95 - Mid-playlist resume
96 - No-scan playlists
97 - Unlimited playlist size
98 - Autobuild playlists (ie: "all songs in this directory tree")
99 - Auto-continue play in the next directory
100 - Current folder and all sub-folder random play
101 - Full disk random play
102 - REAL random
103 - Multi song queue
104 - Faster scroll speed
105 - More cool features with the wire remote control (including
106 controlling your Archos from your car radio (req hw mod))
107 - Support playing of other files types (ie: Ogg Vorbis support)
108 - Support for megabass switch (req hw mod)
109 - Player control via USB
110 - Memory expansion?
111 Note: Just because something is on this list, does not mean that it is
112 technically feasible. (But hey we can dream) And something not
113 being on the list does not mean it isn't a neat idea. Bring it to
114 the list.
115
116Q18. I don't see you mentioning other file types on your list of ideas. What
117 about supporting those?
118A18. Pessimist's Answer: At the current time we belive this is not very likely
119 The Micronas chip (MAS3507) decoder in the archos does not natively
120 support decoding and there is very little program space in the player to
121 implement it ourselves. The alternative would be to write a software
122 decoder as part of the RockBox firmware. However, as much as we love
123 our players, the computing power of the Archos (SH1 microcontroller) is
124 not fully sufficent for this need.
125
126 Optimist's Answer: We can play any format if only we can write code for
127 the DSP to decode it. The MAS 3507 (and 3587) are generic DSPs that
128 simply have MP3 codecs in ROM. We can download new codecs in them and
129 we will be the first to celebrate if we can get OGG or FLAC or anything
130 into these DSPs. Unfortunately, we have no docs or tools for writing new
131 MAS DSP code and Intermetall is very secretive about it. If anyone can
132 help, please get in touch!
133
134
135Q19. What about supporting playing of WMA files?
136A19. Dear Mr. Gates, you have two options. Re-read question #17, or go buy
137 your own project.
138
139Q20. When do you think there will be a version available for my Archos?
140A20. We recently released version 1.2, so head on over to
141 http://rockbox.haxx.se/download.html and pull it down.
142 Make sure to read the release notes.
143 (http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/rockbox-1.2-notes.txt).
144
145Q21. What do you plan to add to coming versions?
146A21. We have a rough idea of which features we plan/expect/hope to be included
147 in which versions. Once again, remember that none of this is written in
148 stone (noticing a pattern yet?)
149
150 Version 1.3
151 Persistent settings for Player, UI improvements
152
153 Version 1.4
154 Recording?
155
156Q22. I tried one of your firmware files and now I can't access my harddisk!
157 When I turn on my jukebox, it says:
158 Part. Error
159 Pls Chck HD
160A22. Your harddisk has been password protected. We're not 100% sure why it
161 happens, but you can unlock it yourself. Look at:
162 http://rockbox.haxx.se/lock.html
163
164Q23: This FAQ doesn't answer the question I have. What should I do?
165A23: You have a couple options here. You could forget the question, find an
166 easier question, or accept '42' as the answer no matter what. We don't
167 really recommend any of these (though I do opt for '42' often myself).
168 What we do recommend is stopping by IRC, reading
169 http://rockbox.haxx.se to see if the question was answered else
170 where and just not included here, or ultimatly dropping an email to the
171 mailing list (rockbox@cool.haxx.se) or the FAQ maintainer listed on the
172 project homepage.
173
174Q24: Are there other ways to contact the developers?
175A24: Yes.
176
177Q25: Are you going to tell us what they are?
178A25: No. Post to the mailing list and we will get back to you.
179
180Q26: But I _really_ want to talk with you in person.
181A26: I'm sorry. My girlfriend/boyfriend/pet says I'm not allowed to, and the
182 doctors here won't let me have pens or pencils. They say its some rule
183 about us not having sharp objects. I'm sorry. Now please stop calling me
184 here.
185
186Q27: Will you ever port Quake II to the Archos?
187A27: If you ask that again, I'm sending your address and phone number to the
188 guy that mailed us with question #23.
189
190Q28: Umm, was that sarcasm?
191A28: That's it, I'm mailing him now.
192
193Q29: Is this legal? I mean, I'd just hate to see something like that
194 challenged under the DMCA in all its ridiculousness. Any thoughts or
195 ideas?
196A29: We believe we are in the green on this. We are not violating anyone's
197 copyright and we are not circumventing any copy protection scheme.
198 This has been a big point for the project since its inception. Some
199 people wanted us to distribute patched versions of the original firmware,
200 but seeing as that _would_ have violated Archos' copyright, we didn't
201 follow that course of action.
202
203Q30: On the website [and various information postings] you state
204 "Every tiny bit was reverse engineered, disassembled and then
205 re-written from scratch".
206 If it was rewritten from scratch then why was it first reverse-engineered
207 and disassembled? Instead this sounds more like someone disassembled it
208 then used the understanding that they gained to create a new version,
209 which is not quite the same as "from scratch".
210A30: Don't confuse the terms. Reverse engineering means examining a product
211 to find out how it works. Disassembling the firmware is merely one tool
212 used in that examination. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers are other
213 tools we have used. We have written every single byte of the Rockbox
214 firmware. But we could not have written the software without first
215 researching how the hardware was put together, i.e. reverse engineer it.
216 All of this is completely legal. If you define "from scratch" as writing
217 software without first researching the surrounding interfaces, then no
218 software has ever been written from scratch.
219
220Q31: Wait a minute here. When you released version 1.0 you did not have a
221 single one of the ideas you have mentioned on your website actually
222 implimented! Calling this version 1.0 is really misleading. Whats the
223 story?!
224A31: In simple terms, the first release was called 1.0 because it had a basic
225 working feature set that worked and had no known bugs. That is what 1.0
226 meant. It is true that Rockbox 1.0 lacked most of the feature set that
227 every sane user wanted. However, we never said it was more
228 feature-complete or better in any way then the original firmware that early
229 in the project. The first release was done as a proof of concept that our
230 ideas are moving in the right direction. We also hoped that it would help
231 bring the project some attention, and some additional developers.
232 Adding the missing features was just a matter of time. In more recently
233 releases we have completed many of our desired goals, and several new ones
234 that were implimented to fullfill user requests.
235
236Q32: I've heard talk of a 'Rolo'. What is that? (Or 'All you ever wanted
237 to know about Rockbox boot loaders')
238A32: The developers have discussed the possibility of a boot loader. (Mainly
239 because having one sounds cool, and isn't Rolo just a great name?)
240 The idea would be that a user could use the load to choose between
241 different verions of Rockbox or the Archo firmware itself. We have a
242 working version of ROLO implimented for the players, and a version in
243 development for the recorders. However, at this time, the patch for ROLO
244 is not optimal for use and is not part of the main branch of the CVS.
245 Once this improves and has been tested sufficently, it will become part of
246 the main release. Please check the mailing list logs and irc logs for more
247 information.
248
249Q33: I was thinking about making the USB a bit more usable. What are the
250 chances of using the USB port to [play games / share files / list
251 the device as something other then a hard drive / sell my soul to you
252 for a nickel]. What do you think?
253A33: You really don't want to know what I think, it involves road flares,
254 microwave ovens and shaved cats. Enough said. But regarding the USB
255 portion of your question, this is not feasible. First, any ideas
256 regarding special communications over the USB port will not work because
257 we have no control over the USB port itself. We are capable of
258 dectecting if it is in use (so we know which mode to switch to) but that
259 is it. Second, if you would like to have your Archos as a harddrive for
260 another device, know that this will not work either. The Archos unit is
261 a slave. Most other USB devices are slaves as well. So without some
262 master involved there can be no communication. Sorry. Now about your
263 soul. Would you settle for 3 cents and a small wad of belly button lint?
264
265Q34: When I use RockBox my jukebox's red "error" light turns on a lot, but this
266 doesn't happen on the factory firmware. Why?
267A34: Rockbox uses the red LED as harddisk activity light, not as an error
268 light. Relax and enjoy the music.
269
270Q35: How do I use the loadable fonts?
271A35: Loadable fonts are a work in progress. We do not have full documentation
272 for it. The best we can do now is tell you that you need a valid .bdf
273 font, and to use the tool "bdf2ajf" from CVS to conver to the .ajf format.
274 The final .ajf font must be stored in the archos root as 'system.ajf'
275 We do expect more documentation on this process shortly.
276
277Q36: I have a question about the batteries...
278A36: STOP! We have put togeather a completely different FAQ for battery
279 related questions. Check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/battery.html
280