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