| 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 to) 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. Our guide on first time (http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/firsttime.html) |
| Rockbox development should answer most of your questions. |
| |
| Q5: What is 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. I want to join the development team, but don't have a SourceForge account, |
| what should I do? |
| A8. You don't need a SourceForge account to help developing Rockbox. Just |
| submit patches (http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/WorkingWithPatches) |
| |
| If your patches are consistently well-written and thus accepted, you may |
| ultimately be offered CVS commit access. If that should happen, you will |
| need to get a Sourceforge account: |
| http://sourceforge.net/account/register.php |
| |
| Q9. Do you have a mailing list? |
| A9. Sure do! As a matter of fact, we have several of them for specific things. |
| Please check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/, and please see FAQ entry |
| 75. |
| |
| Q10. Great you have a mailing list! Is there anyway for me to catch up on |
| past posts? |
| A10. Check out the archives at: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/ |
| |
| Q11. How can I meet the developers working on the project? |
| A11. 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, several of us log the channel and will get you answers |
| when we unidle. |
| |
| Q12: Wow, you guys talk on IRC a lot? I wish I had been around for those |
| conversations to see what happened. |
| A12: 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. |
| |
| Q13. What is this "SourceForge" you keep mentioning? |
| A13. http://www.sourceforge.net |
| |
| Q14. Can the changes or the software that Rockbox suggests or offers |
| possibly damage my Archos Player? |
| A14. 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 hard disk, but there are ways around that. (See below.) |
| |
| Q15. 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? |
| A15. We have a collection of photos of both the player and recorder. Look at |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/internals/ |
| |
| Q16. What exactly are you trying to achieve with this line of development? |
| (A.K.A. what's your purpose for being here?) |
| A16. Firstly, we wouldn't start something like this if we didn't simply enjoy |
| it profusely. This is great fun! |
| Secondly, we feel the original firmware is lacking some features and |
| contains a number of annoying bugs that we don't want to live with. |
| |
| Q17. You mention supporting Ogg Vorbis and other file types on your list of |
| ideas. What is the status on that? |
| A17. Pessimist's Answer: At the current time we believe 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 sufficient 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 Micronas is very secretive about it. If anyone can |
| help, please get in touch! |
| |
| The recent release of Tremor (integer Ogg decoder) indicates it uses |
| around 100 KB for lookup tables. That's not unreasonable for a decoder, |
| but we only have 4 KB for both code *and* data. So the grim reality is |
| that Ogg will never be supported by the Archos Players and Recorders. |
| |
| Q18. What about supporting playing of WMA files? |
| A18. Dear Mr. Gates, you have two options. Re-read previous question, or go |
| buy your own project. |
| |
| Q19: But you don't understand, I'm not talking about decoding here, |
| since the data we want may already be in the decoded format (PCM). |
| A19: Okay, last time. No. We have no problems whatsoever reading different |
| file formats, call it PCM, WAV, GRI, PQR or whatever. The problem is |
| that the CODEC only accepts MP3 data and nothing else. We could write a |
| new CODEC if we knew how to do it, but there is no documentation on the |
| DSP. Please note that we have no access to the DAC, so we can't send the |
| data directly to the DAC. |
| |
| Q20. What is the most recent version of Rockbox? |
| A20. We recently released version 2.2, so head on over to |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/ and pull it down. |
| Make sure to read the release notes. |
| (http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/rockbox-2.2-notes.txt). |
| |
| Q21. What do you plan to add to coming versions? |
| A21. We don't plan versions in detail. We just write code, and when it feels |
| right we release a new version. |
| |
| Q22. I tried one of your firmware files and now I can't access my hard disk! |
| When I turn on my jukebox, it says: |
| Part. Error |
| Pls Chck HD |
| A22. Your hard disk 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 |
| |
| Note: This is a very rare problem. Most people who think they have a |
| locked disk actually just experience hardware and/or driver problems. |
| |
| 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, visiting the web site |
| (http://rockbox.haxx.se) to see if the question was answered else where |
| (like our nodo http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/NoDo FAQ) |
| and just not included here, or ultimately dropping an email to the |
| mailing list (rockbox@cool.haxx.se) or the FAQ maintainer listed on the |
| project home page. |
| |
| 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 #24. |
| |
| 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 web site [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: This FAQ is great, but do you have anything with a bit more detail? |
| A31: Check out our website and it's documentation. Rockbox also has a user |
| manual you can read. http://rockbox.haxx.se/manual/manual.pdf |
| |
| Q32: I've heard talk of a 'Rolo'. What is that? (Or 'All you ever wanted |
| to know about Rockbox boot loaders') |
| A32: Rolo is our bootloader. Rolo became available with our 1.4 release. |
| To make use of Rolo, you must have a file with the same extension as |
| your Rockbox firmware (.ajz on Recorder, .mod on Player) but a different |
| name. You can then browse to it, and you 'run' the other firmware |
| you wish to switch to by pressing play. Remember to set the Show Files |
| option to "Supported" or "All" to be able to see the firmware files in |
| the browser. |
| |
| *Poof* You will reboot to that firmware. (Note that in order to return |
| to Rockbox you may need to reboot manually if the new firmware you loaded |
| does not have a bootloader itself.) |
| |
| Q33: Can I use the Archos as an USB hard disk to store data from my PDA/ |
| digital camera/phone etc. |
| A33: No. See http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/NoDo#4_Interfacing_with_other_USB_dev |
| |
| 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: I have a question about the batteries... |
| A35: STOP! We have put together a completely different FAQ for battery |
| related questions. |
| Check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/battery-faq.html |
| |
| Q36. I have a question about patches... |
| A36. Check out http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/WorkingWithPatches |
| as it should answer any patch related questions you may have. |
| |
| Q37: What is the WPS? |
| A37: That is the 'While Playing Screen'. Basically this is what is shown on |
| your player's display while we are playing your song. |
| |
| Q38: What good is the WPS? How usable/flexible is it? |
| A38: It is very good if you want information about the current item playing ;) |
| By using a WPS configuration file you can manage exactly how/what you |
| want displayed on your Archos Player. (Even better yet, if you want |
| a feature that's not there, we are _always_ open to suggestions!) |
| Please see http://rockbox.haxx.se/manual/wps.html for information. |
| |
| Q40: So how do I load/make a .wps file? |
| A40: You check out http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/CustomWPS |
| to learn the format/features of a .wps file, and read the manual to |
| learn how to load it ;) |
| |
| Q41: Does Rockbox support other languages? How do I load/use different |
| languages? |
| A41: See: http://rockbox.haxx.se/lang |
| |
| Q42: Does Rockbox support other fonts/character sets? |
| A42: Recorders do, Players don't. |
| |
| Q43: How do I use the loadable fonts? |
| A43: If you own a Recorder see: http://rockbox.haxx.se/fonts/ Players |
| cannot make use of loadable fonts. |
| |
| Q44: Why can't I use loadable fonts on the Player? |
| A44: This is because the Player font is character cell based (as opposed to |
| the Recorder's bitmap based display). This |
| means that we are able to choose what characters to display, but not how |
| to display them. We do have the ability to change/create up to 4 chars |
| on one model and 8 on another, however we are currently using several of |
| these 'letters' to store icons for the player. |
| |
| Q45: Why don't you have as many games available for the Players? |
| A45: The display on the Players is character cell and not bitmap based. |
| This means there is much more limitations in the amount of graphics that |
| can be displayed, and thus what kind of games can be written. |
| |
| Q46: I keep shutting off my player in my pocket. Can the OFF (Recorder) or |
| STOP (Player) key be locked? |
| A46: No. Unfortunately, the ON/OFF mechanisms are handled entirely in |
| hardware. The firmware can read the keys, but can't prevent them from |
| shutting off the player. |
| |
| Q47: Can I record with Rockbox? |
| A47: You sure can. Take a look at our manual. |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/manual/manual.pdf |
| |
| Q48: Now that I can record, can I use custom codecs (like LAME)? |
| A48: The MP3 encoder is in the MAS3587F chip, and nothing we can change. |
| |
| Q49: What are the max/min bitrates for recording on the Recorder's encoder? |
| A49: The builtin encoder is variable bit rate only with a max of 192kbit/s, |
| and a min of 32kbit/s. |
| |
| Q50: Would it be possible to record from line in on the player? |
| A50: No. |
| |
| Q51: I have a question about the id3v1 and id3v2 tags... |
| A51: Rockbox supports both id3v1 and id3v2. If you have problems, |
| report it to the developers and please provide an example. |
| |
| Q52: Where exactly did the name 'Rockbox' come from? |
| A52: Well you can follow the full line of emails at |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2002-01/0062.shtml |
| However, the brief rundown is that it was recommended first by |
| Tome Cvitan, and put to a vote (which it lost). |
| |
| Funny thing about democracies. This isn't one ;) Our beloved project |
| leader vetoed the winning name and chose Rockbox instead. |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2002-01/0134.shtml |
| |
| There you have it. Recommended by users, decision by dictator. |
| |
| Q53: Why is there a limit of 400 files in a directory? |
| A53: This is a configurable value, 400 files is just the default. |
| |
| Q54: Why is there a 10,000 song limit on playlists? |
| A54: This is a configurable value, 10,000 songs is just the default. |
| |
| Q55: How can I make playlists on my PC? |
| A55: There are many programs that can create .m3u playlists. WinAmp is one. |
| Another simple method, that requires no extra software, is to use dir: |
| |
| dir /b /s X:\ > X:\allfiles.m3u |
| dir /b /s X:\Pop > X:\pop.m3u |
| |
| ...where X: is your Archos drive. |
| |
| Linux users can use the 'find' command: |
| |
| cd /mnt/archos |
| find . -name "*.mp3" > all.m3u |
| |
| Remember that playlists are simple text files. You can edit them with any |
| normal text editor. |
| |
| Q56: How does the shuffle work? |
| A56: It sees the playlist as a deck of cards, shuffling the entries using a |
| pseudo-random generator called the Mersenne Twister. After shuffling, |
| the list is never changed again until you re-shuffle the list, by |
| stopping the playback and restarting. If the repeat mode is enabled, |
| the list will simply start over from the first file again, without |
| re-shuffling. |
| The random seed is stored in the persistent setting area, so that the |
| resume feature can shuffle the playlist in exactly the same way when |
| resuming. |
| |
| Q57: How can I find out about all the neat features that Rockbox has? |
| A57: This information is in our manual (It sometimes gets a bit out of |
| date, so please bear with us.) The information you are most likely |
| looking for is a bit down the tree, so the here is the url: |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/manual/rec-general.html |
| |
| Also, check out the features-list at: |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/features.html |
| |
| Q58: How can I see what bugs are currently open/being worked on? |
| A58: Check out http://rockbox.haxx.se/bugs.shtml for a listing of bugs |
| that have been reported. |
| |
| Q59: How can I report about bugs in Rockbox? |
| A59: If we were better programmers we would take that as an insult. But we |
| aren't, so we won't. The first step in reporting a bug is to review |
| the rules we ask you to follow in your submission (listed at: |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/bugs.shtml#rules). |
| |
| Please note that we ask reports of bugs in CVS/daily builds to be sent |
| to the mailing list, and bugs in released versions of Rockbox to be |
| submitted through SourceForge's bug tracker. (A link to the bug tracker |
| can be found under our bug submission rules.) |
| |
| Q60: What's with all the different versions of Rockbox? |
| |
| A60: We currently support four different hardware platforms: Players, Recorder |
| v1, Recorder v2 and FM Recorder. |
| For each platform, Rockbox is released in three versions: Release, Daily |
| Build and Bleeding Edge. These only differ in release frequency. |
| |
| The Release version (currently 2.2) is a frozen known-good state. This |
| means that we are confident that few, if any, significant bugs reside |
| within the code for that version. This is the version for the common |
| user. |
| |
| The Daily Builds (http://rockbox.haxx.se/daily.shtml) are automated |
| daily builds of the CVS (development) code. As such they contain all the |
| new features (and bugs) that have been introduced after the last official |
| release, up to this morning. |
| |
| The Bleeding Edge builds (http://rockbox.haxx.se/daily.shtml#bleeding_edge) |
| are built from the CVS code every 20 minutes. The purpose of these builds |
| is to verify the code builds properly on all platforms (and simulators) |
| and also to allow testers to try out new features and bug fixes without |
| having to build the code themselves. |
| |
| Please Note: Bleeding Edge builds are expected to be buggy at times. We |
| ask that you _do not_ submit bug reports for Bleeding Edge builds, but |
| would love to hear any reports you may have about Release or Daily build |
| versions. (see "How can I report about bugs in Rockbox?") |
| |
| Q61: I am in Windows and can't create a .rockbox directory to store my |
| files. When are you going to fix this? |
| A61: We won't. The limitations of your operating system is not reason |
| enough for us to change how we handle things. And you _can_ create |
| this directory. Open a command line and type: |
| mkdir j:\.rockbox |
| You will need to correct the location for the drive letter that Windows |
| assigns to your drive. |
| |
| Q62: I own a Mac. I can't seem to create the .rockbox file. Can you |
| fix this? |
| A62: Truth is, we don't need to fix anything. If you are using OSX then you |
| can just open a console, change directories to the device and just: |
| mkdir .rockbox |
| |
| If you are in another version then you should be able to do command-N in |
| the Finder, then name the folder. |
| |
| Q63: Will Rockbox work on any of Archos' other units? |
| A63: Other than the 4 currently supported models: no, probably not. If Archos |
| releases another rockbox-able player (such as the V2) then rockbox will |
| find its way onto it, but their new devices as the Gmini, MM, and AV |
| units are completely different hardware and probably won't be supported |
| by rockbox unless someone enthusiastically reverse engineers them and |
| submits patches to make it happen. |
| |
| See also: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/nodo.html#7 |
| |
| Q64: I copied the rockbox MOD/AJZ file to the root, removed the jukebox |
| safely and rebooted. But Rockbox still didn't load. What is wrong? |
| I am running Windows. |
| A64: The old MOD/AJZ was not entirely deleted from the disk. It is still |
| there, and the boot loader finds that one instead of the new file. Here's |
| what you can do: |
| |
| - Download and install Directory Snoop (version 4.03 in November 2002) |
| from http://www.briggsoft.com/dsnoop.htm. |
| It's shareware, the trial version can be used 25 times. |
| |
| Directory Snoop can display true drive contents by bypassing the |
| operating system and reading the raw drive sectors directly. |
| |
| - Plug the Jukebox in the PC as usual and power on |
| |
| - Launch Directory snoop |
| |
| - Click on the Jukebox drive letter in the [select drive] field in the |
| toolbar. The content of the jukebox hard drive appears in the main |
| window. Files which appear in red color don't seem to be present on the |
| hard drive, but they still here. |
| |
| - Simply select the appropriate files (red color) and purge them |
| (Purge button). Of course, don't erase the new archos.mod file and the |
| .rockbox directory :) |
| |
| - Safely remove (Windows unmount device function) the Jukebox. |
| Power it up and ...voila... Rockbox is there! |
| |
| (Thanks to Olivier Rafidison for this info) |
| |
| Another alternative: |
| |
| - Copy the firmware file to the jukebox again. Windows will rename it to "Copy of XXXXX" |
| |
| - Delete the original firmware file and remove the "Copy of" part from the new file name |
| |
| - Reboot |
| |
| If it doesn't load the correct firmware, do the whle procedure again until the new file is recognized. |
| |
| Q65: What kind of mic can I connect to my AJBR? |
| A65: There are several types of microphones. |
| |
| Dynamic: The one that's available from Archos is a dynamic one. |
| Their output level is high enough so that they don't need an |
| amplifier (that's the reason why the Archos mic is of this type - |
| it's cheap). |
| - cheap |
| - no good sound quality of cheap dynamic mics (good enough for |
| speech) |
| - no amplifier needed |
| |
| Backplate Condenser: These are the professional mics. They need phantom |
| power (48V) for charging the condenser. |
| They also need an amplifier, because their output level is low. |
| - good sound quality |
| - need phantom power (48V) |
| - need amplifier |
| - expensive |
| |
| Electret Condenser: These capsules are cheap and result in a good |
| recording quality. They don't need phantom power voltage. They need power |
| for the FET (field effect transistor) that's inside. If you have such a |
| mic with a battery in it, it is mostly because of the FET power, not |
| because of an amplification circuit inside the mic. These mics are in |
| all the consumer products like mobile phones, PC headsets and so on. |
| - cheap (2 EUR for a capsule) |
| - good sound quality |
| - need amplifier |
| - need power for the FET (1,5 - 15V) |
| |
| Recommendation for do-it-yourselfers: Use electret condenser mic capsules, |
| solder an amplifier for them which both amplifies the output level |
| and feeds the power needed for the FET to the capsule. |
| The one on http://www.geocities.com/ferocious_1999/md/micpreamp2.html |
| was soldered and tested by Uwe Freese, and it works. |
| There are some others available from www.elv.de and other sellers. |
| |
| Recommendation for others: Buy some mic + preamp combination which can be |
| plugged into a line in of any amplifier. Maybe such a commercially |
| available combination needs a power supply and doesn't work with |
| batteries. Some are very expensive. You might have some luck at |
| http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/. |
| |
| What does not work: Don't use an amplifier thing that is simply connected |
| between some mic cable. Maybe it sounds as if it could work, but I |
| doesn't. If the piece of (expensive) electronic doesn't have a power |
| source and your mic doesn't either, it does not work! A PC sound card or |
| md player usually has a power output (same pin where the sound goes |
| through, dc value) for feeding the FET of an electret condenser capsule |
| (see above) (and this power could also used to feed a mic amplifier), but |
| the Archos hasn't (it's a line in and no mic in!). |
| |
| If you want to know more on microphone powering, read this: |
| http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/microphone_powering.html. |
| (As described, you also need amplification.) |
| |
| Q66: I can't start rockbox when the charger is connected. What am I doing |
| wrong? |
| A66: If your device is off and you connect the charger, the Archos charger code |
| is started immediately. You can then start Rockbox with holding down the |
| ON key for several seconds. Hold the key down a really long time, until |
| you see the Rockbox logo! |
| |
| Q67: Why can't you implement a cross-fader? That would be so cool! |
| A67: Please read our NODO faq. http://rockbox.haxx.se/twiki/bin/view/Main/NoDo#3_Crossfade_between_tracks_ |
| |
| Q68: My screen is all black/white when I run Rockbox on my Recorder! |
| A68: This bug has been fixed in the later versions of Rockbox. Upgrade! |
| |
| Q69: Where are the FM controls for the FM Recorder? |
| A69: In the menu: FM Radio |
| |
| Q70: I installed/renamed ajbrec.ajz (or archos.mod) but I am still booting |
| with another version of firmware. |
| A70: When looking on the hard disk the Archos firmware only matches the first |
| ten characters of the file name. Because of this files like |
| ajbrec.ajz.bak or ajbrec.ajz-20030404 match and are loaded. To |
| prevent this from happening, give the it a file name that differs in |
| the first 10 characters, e.g., ajbrec.bak.ajz. |
| |
| Q71: Help! My recorder crashes when I copy files to it! |
| A71: Yes, the recorder can crash when you copy several gigabytes of |
| files to it. The explanation is simple: Copying several gigabytes |
| of files through USB requires a long period of sustained disk |
| activity and drains more power than the batteries of the recorder |
| can store. A long copy will eventually drain the batteries to the |
| point where the recorder can no longer function and it halts. |
| This even happens when connected to the charger, since the power |
| drain is more than the charger can provide! If the recorder halts |
| while connecter to the charger, the batteries will recover and |
| after a short while it will reboot the Archos firmware in charger |
| mode. To make it worse, depending on the USB drivers of your |
| system it can cause your system to crash as well, or confuse it |
| to the point it needs a reboot. |
| |
| There is no solution, just some tips: |
| |
| - Connect to the charger when copying lots of files. This will |
| not prevent the problem, but it will take longer to happen. |
| |
| - Make sure you have "Deep Discharge" disabled. |
| |
| - Switch off the "Backlight On When Plugged" option. |
| |
| - Use USB 2.0. Transfers will be much faster. |
| |
| - Copy incrementally. With fully charged standard batteries it |
| should be capable of sustained copying for 2 - 2.5 hours. |
| |
| Q72: What should I know about digital I/O connector on my jukebox? |
| A72: The Recorder models have a connector for digital audio output using the |
| common S/PDIF standard (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface). This jack is |
| not present on the Studio/Player/FM Recorder models. By using the digital |
| output in combination with high class external equipment, you can get |
| much better sound quality out of your jukebox. This is because you can |
| use better DA-converters and better amplifiers, plus you eliminate the |
| analog audio connections between the jukebox and your equipment that can |
| introduce noise and distortion. |
| |
| The Recorder and the FM Recorder models are able to record from digital |
| sources, too. The digital inputs don't have the 15kHz lowpass filter like |
| the analog inputs and you are sure to minimize the noise floor. |
| |
| Although S/PDIF can be an electrical or an optical signal and there are |
| many devices that support both, the socket on the jukebox is for |
| electrical signals only! Some devices have sockets that look the same, |
| and can take either an optical or an electrical cable, but sadly this is |
| not true with the Jukebox. |
| |
| If you want to connect your amp with digital input (RCA type) to the |
| output of your Recorder you need an adapter cable (3.5mm stereo jack to |
| dual RCA jack). Plug the 3.5mm stero jack into the digital I/O socket of |
| your jukebox and the red RCA jack (right channel) into the digital input |
| socket of your amp and that's it. You don't have to enable the digital |
| output, since it's always on. The sound settings on the digital output |
| are always flat, your volume, bass, treble, bass boost, loudness settings |
| won't have any effect here, that's why fade in/out won't work, |
| either. The sampling frequency of the digital output is the same as the |
| sampling frequency of the mp3. It's therefore possible that your external |
| equipment won't be able to synchronize to the output of your jukebox if |
| you have mp3's with sampling frequencies other than 32, 44.1 or 48kHz |
| (The pitch shift function also modifies the sampling frequency!). |
| |
| For recording digital signals on the Recorder, use the white RCA jack |
| (left channel) and plug it into the digital output of your CD player, MD |
| player or whatever. Don't forget to select digital input in the recording |
| settings! |
| |
| Note that some adapter cables exist with different color coding, so if it |
| doesn't work try to swap red and white. The tip of the 3.5mm jack is the |
| digital input, the ring is the ouput. For recording digital signals on |
| the FM Recorder, you need a special 4-pole 3.5mm plug (shaft = ground, |
| tip = left channel analog line in, first ring (next to tip) = right |
| channel analog line in, second ring = digital in). |
| |
| If you want to connect devices with optical inputs/outputs, you need a |
| small converter box which converts your signal from electrical to optical |
| (for digital output from the Archos) or optical to electrical (for |
| digital recording in to the Archos). |
| |
| Q73: How do I unsubscribe from the rockbox mailing list? |
| A73: The same way you subscribed, but you send an 'unsubscribe' request to the |
| mailing list server instead of the 'subscribe' one you sent before. |
| |
| This is all mentioned on the same web page: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/ |
| |
| Please please please pretty please with sugar on top, DO NOT attempt to |
| mail unsubscribe requests to the mailing list itself. That will only |
| annoy more than 400 readers and will have no effect on your subscription. |
| |
| In fact, you NEVER unsubscribe to ANY mailing lists by mailing unsubscribe |
| to the list's address. You might as well take the opportunity to learn |
| this right away. |
| |
| When you first subscribed to the mailing list, you were sent a welcome |
| mail from the server. It contained information about the mailing list and |
| instructions on how to unsubscribe. It is considered a good habit to keep |
| such welcome messages from mailing lists. |
| |
| In addition to all this, every mail that is sent out to the rockbox |
| mailing list has a set of standard headers that offer info about the |
| mailing list: how to post, how to unsubscribe, where to find the mailing |
| list archives etc. Sensible mail clients can display these headers. |
| |
| Q74: What is the Recorder V2? |
| A74: The Recorder V2 is essentially an FM Recorder without the radio. It looks |
| and works like the FM Recorder except for the radio, and has LiIon |
| batteries. It is meant to replace the older Recorder model. |
| NOTE! The first V2 Recorders were in fact real FM Recorders with the |
| radio parts still mounted. If you are lucky, the FM radio might work in |
| your V2, try it! |
| |
| Q75: Why is there a Radio option in my Rockbox for V2? |
| A75: Some of the first V2 units had an FM radio in there, so if you're one of |
| the few lucky ones, you can use the radio fine. If you aren't lucky, you |
| just won't get any sound when trying the radio screen. |
| |
| UPDATE: The daily builds now auto-detect the FM radio hardware. |
| |
| Q76: What does "dir buffer is full" mean? |
| A76: It means you have more files in a single directory than you have |
| configured Rockbox to support. See Q53. |
| |
| Solution: Increase the "max files in dir browser" setting. |
| |
| The current official release (2.2) contains a bug that sets |
| the default buffer setting to 0, giving the dir buffer full error. |
| Solution: |
| |
| 1) Change the limit in the settings |
| |
| 2) Exit the menu back to the browser |
| |
| 3) Force a disk spinup. There are several ways: either select |
| another setting for the file filter, or insert the USB and extract |
| it again |
| |
| 4) Turn it off and on again |
| |
| Q77: Why are you developing X when you should be doing Y? |
| A77: You make the common mistake of confusing Rockbox development with that of |
| commercial projects. There is not much of an agenda for the development |
| of Rockbox. Anyone who wants to write new features can do that. |
| |
| If there is a current "huge emphasis" on the X functionality, it is |
| because one or more developers, decided he/they wanted to write it. It's |
| not because "Rockbox project management" decided function X is a more |
| important feature than anything else. |
| |
| That is the nature of Free Software: People write code that scratches |
| their own itches, or that simply is fun to write. Everybody working with |
| Rockbox is doing it for fun. A wide or narrow audience actually has only |
| little bearing on the choice of features to implement. |
| |
| The moment someone with a bit of time to spare and the necessary |
| programming skills (or a will to learn them) feels function Y is a |
| sufficiently useful feature, it will be written. |
| |
| (That could be you.) |
| |
| Q78: How do I control the recording frequency and quality? |
| A78: Linus Nielsen Feltzing replied to a similar question on April 17th 2004, |
| and this is a cut'n paste of his reply that can be read on the following |
| URL: |
| http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2004-04/0814.shtml |
| |
| SAMPLE RATE |
| |
| Controls the amount of samples per second, basically which frequencies |
| that can accurately be reproduced during playback. Lower frequencies |
| produce smaller files, for two reasons: 1) The amount of data to be |
| compressed is smaller and 2) the data is easier to compress, since higher |
| frequencies are not present. |
| |
| BIT RATE |
| |
| Controls how many bits per second that is required for accurate live |
| transmission of the compressed audio. When you compress the data harder |
| (meaning worse sound quality), the bitrate gets lower. |
| |
| STEREO VS MONO |
| |
| A mono file doesn't necessarily have to be smaller than a stereo file. |
| It all depends on the encoder. The MAS does produce smaller files with |
| mono. |
| |
| MAS QUALITY |
| |
| The MAS uses VBR for compression (yes always), which means that the |
| bitrate varies from frame to frame, depending on how compressable the |
| data was at that point in time. This allows for a more even quality, and |
| also smaller files if the data is easily compressed. The MAS can generate |
| frames with bit rates ranging from 32kbit/s to 192kbit/s (MPEG1) or |
| 8kbit/s to 160kbit/s (MPEG2). |
| |
| The MAS quality setting is just a way of selecting an average bit rate |
| according to the following table (quality 0 is on the far left): |
| |
| FREQUENCY BITRATE IN KBIT/S |
| ------------------------------------------------------ |
| 44100Hz stereo: 75, 80, 90, 100, 120, 140, 160, 170 |
| 22050Hz stereo: 39, 41, 45, 50, 60, 80, 110, 130 |
| 44100Hz mono: 65, 68, 73, 80, 90, 105, 125, 140 |
| 22050Hz mono: 35, 38, 40, 45, 50, 60, 75, 90 |
| |
| (This table can be found on page 38 in the MAS3587 data sheet.) |
| |
| MPEG VERSIONS |
| |
| The different MPEG versions use different sample rates: |
| 44100, 48000, 32000: MPEG version 1 |
| 22050, 24000, 16000: MPEG version 2 |
| 11025, 12000, 8000: MPEG version 2.5 (not an official standard) |
| |
| Q79: How can I make rockbox play tracks in CD order? |
| A79: You have two options. |
| |
| 1: You can rename all tracks to have the track number in front of them |
| (01 - track1.mp3, 02 - track2.mp3, ...). Just make sure to zero-prefix |
| the number properly so that 10 will play after 09. |
| |
| 2: Make a playlist for each album and play that instead of the .mp3 |
| files. |
| |
| No, you can't make Rockbox use the track number id3 info for this. |
| |
| Q80: Why does Rockbox say that I only have 18Gb free space on my 20Gb disk? |
| A80: Because the disk manufacturers have a different definition of Giga than |
| the rest of the computer world does. |
| |
| Read more about it here: |
| |
| http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v30/vic30.htm |