manual/getting_started/main.tex

% $Id$ %
\chapter{Getting started}
\section{Welcome}
This is the manual for Rockbox. Rockbox is an open source firmware replacement
for a growing number of MP3 players. Rockbox aims to be considerably more
functional and efficient than your device's stock firmware while remaining easy
to use and customisable. Rockbox is written by users, for users. Not only is it
free to use, it's also released under the GNU public license, which means that
it will always remain free both to use and to change.

Rockbox has been in development since 2001, and receives new features, tweaks
and fixes each day to provide you with the best possible experience on your MP3
player. A major goal of Rockbox is to be simple and easy to use, yet remain very
customisable and configurable. We believe that you should never need to go
through a series of menus for an action you perform frequently. We also believe
that you should be able to configure almost anything about Rockbox you could
want, pertaining to functionality. Another top priority of Rockbox is audio
playback quality -- Rockbox, for most models, includes a wider range of sound
settings than that device's original firmware. A lot of work has been put into
making Rockbox sound the best it can, and improvements are constantly being made.
All models have access to a large number of plugins, including many games,
applications, and graphical ``demos''. You can load different configurations
quickly for different purposes (e.g. a large font for in your car, different
sound settings for at home). Rockbox features a very wide range of languages, and
all supported models also have the ability to talk to you -- menus can be voiced
and filenames spelled out or spoken.

\section{Getting more help}
This manual is intended to be a comprehensive introduction to the Rockbox
firmware. There is, however, more help available.  The Rockbox website at
\url{http://www.rockbox.org/} contains very extensive documentation and guides
written by members of the Rockbox community and this should be your first port
of call when looking for further help.

If you can't find the information you're searching for on the Rockbox
website there are a number of support channels you should have a look at.
You can try the Rockbox forums located at \url{http://forums.rockbox.org/}.
Another option are the mailing lists which can be found at
\url{http://www.rockbox.org/mail/}. From that page you can subscribe to the
lists and browse the archives. For searching the list archives simply use
the search field that is located on the left side of the web site.
Also you can ask on IRC. The main channel for Rockbox is \texttt{\#rockbox}
on \url{irc://irc.freenode.net}. A bunch of helpful developers and users
are usually around. Just join and ask -- if someone knows the answer you'll
usually get an answer pretty quickly. More information including IRC logs
can be found at \url{http://www.rockbox.org/irc/}. We also have a web client
for joining the rockbox IRC channel so there is no need for you
to install additional software to your computer.

If you think you found a bug please make sure it actually is a bug and is
still present in the most recent version of rockbox. You should try to
confirm that by using the above mentioned support channels first. After that
you can submit that issue to our tracker. Refer to \reference{sec:feedback}
for details on how to use the tracker.


\section{Naming conventions and marks}
We have some conventions especially on naming that are intended to be
consistent throughout this manual.

Manufacturer and product names are formatted in accordance with the standard
rules of English grammar, e.g. ``\playerman{} playback is currently
unsupported''. Manufacturer and model names are proper nouns, and
thus are written beginning with a capital letter.

% write a bit more about names etc. here.
\ifpdfoutput{
This manual has some parts that are marked with icons on the margin to help
you finding important parts or parts you could skip. The following icons
are used:
\note{This indicates a note. A note starts always with the text ``Note''.
  For easier finding of notes we have put this an icon in the margin like
  here. Notes are used to mark information that could help you
  or indicate a possible ``weirdness'' in rockbox that would be explained.
}
\warn{This is a warning. In contrast to notes mentioned above, a warning
  should be taken more seriously. While ignoring notes won't cause any serious
  damage ignoring warnings \emph{could} cause serious damage. If you're new to
  rockbox you should really read the warnings before doing anything that is
  warned about.
}
\blind{This icon marks a section that are intended especially for the blind
  and visually impaired. As they can't
  read the manual in the same way sighted people can do we've added some
  additional descriptions. If you aren't blind or visually impaired you most
  likely can completely skip these blocks. To make this easier, there is an
  icon shown in the margin on the right.
}
}{}% end ifpdfoutput


\input{getting_started/installation.tex}