files moved from www/docs/
git-svn-id: svn://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox/trunk@1854 a1c6a512-1295-4272-9138-f99709370657
diff --git a/docs/FAQ b/docs/FAQ
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f522c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/FAQ
@@ -0,0 +1,280 @@
+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
+