| \section{\label{ref:Rockboxinflash}Rockbox in flash} |
| \fixme{These instructions are outdated!!. This section is a copy of the wikipage FlashingRockbox revision r.1.19.} |
| |
| \warn{Flashing Rockbox is optional. It is not required for using Rockbox on your |
| \playername. Please read the whole section thoroughly before flashing. |
| } |
| |
| \subsection{Introduction} |
| Flashing in the sense used here and elsewhere in regard to Rockbox means |
| reprogramming the flash memory of the \playerman\ unit. |
| |
| When you bought your \playerman, it came with the \playerman\ firmware flashed. |
| Now, you can add Rockbox to the built-in software. |
| |
| \subsection{Terminology} |
| \begin{description} |
| \item[Firmware: ] The flash ROM content as a whole. |
| \item[Image: ] Means one operating software started from there |
| \end{description} |
| |
| By reprogramming the firmware, we can boot much faster. \playerman\ has an |
| unnecessary slow boot loader, versus the boot time for Rockbox is much faster |
| than the disk spinup, in fact it has to wait for the disk. Your boot time will |
| be as quick as a disk spinup (e.g. 4 seconds from powerup until resuming |
| playback). |
| |
| \subsection{Method} |
| |
| The replaced firmware will host a bootloader and 2 images. This is possible by |
| compression. The first is the \emph{permanent} backup, not to be changed any |
| more.The second is the default one to be started, the first is only used when |
| you hold the \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} -key during start. Like supplied here, the first image |
| is the original Archos firmware, the second is empty, left for you to program |
| and update. It can contain anything you like. If you prefer, you can program |
| the Archos firmware to there, too. |
| |
| \note{For now, the binary contained in the brand new player flash package does |
| contain rockbox built from current cvs in the second image slot. This is to |
| lower the risk of flashing (at least one of the images will hopefully work) in |
| case you don't program a second image yourself in the first step. Of course the |
| second image can be replaced like with the other models.} |
| |
| There are two programming tools supplied: |
| |
| \begin{itemize} |
| \item The first one is called \fname{firmware\_flash.rock} and is used to |
| program the whole flash with a new content. You can also use it to revert |
| back to the original firmware you've hopefully backup-ed. In the ideal case, |
| you'll need this tool only once. You can view this as "formatting" the flash |
| with the desired image structure. |
| \item The second one is called \fname{rockbox\_flash.rock} and is used to |
| reprogram only the second image. It won't touch any other byte, should be |
| safe to fool around with. If the programmed firmware is inoperational, you |
| can still use the \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} start with the Archos firmware and Rockbox booted |
| from disk to try better. |
| \end{itemize} |
| |
| The non-user tools are in the \fname{flash} subdirectory of the cvs source |
| files. There's an authoring tool which composed the firmware file with the |
| bootloader and the 2 images. The bootloader project, a firmware extraction |
| tool, the plugin sources, and the tools for the UART boot feature: a monitor |
| program for the box and a PC tool to drive it. Feel free to review the sources |
| for all of it, but be careful when fooling around with powerful toys! |
| |
| \subsection{Risks} |
| Well, is it dangerous? Yes, certainly, like programming a mainboard |
| \emph{BIOS}, \emph{CD/DVD} drive firmware, mobile phone, etc. If the power |
| fails, your chip breaks while programming or most of all the programming |
| software malfunctions, you'll have a dead box. We take no responsibility of any |
| kind, you do that at your own risk. However, we tried as carefully as possible |
| to bulletproof this code. The new firmware file is completely read before it |
| starts programming, there are a lot of sanity checks. If any fails, it will not |
| program. Before releasing this, we have checked the flow with exactly these |
| files supplied here, starting from the original firmware in flash. It worked |
| reliably, there's no reason why such low level code should behave different on |
| your box. |
| |
| \opt{player}{ |
| \warn{The risk is slightly higher for player flashing, because: |
| \begin{itemize} |
| \item This is brand new |
| \item It could not be tested with all hardware versions. |
| \end{itemize} |
| Refer to this e-mail: |
| \url{http://www.rockbox.org/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2004-12/0245.shtml} |
| } |
| } |
| |
| There's one ultimate safety net to bring back boxes with even completely |
| garbled flash content: the \emph{UART} boot mod, which in turn requires the |
| serial mod. It can bring the dead back to life, with that it's possible to |
| reflash independently from the outside, even if the flash is completely erased. |
| It has been used that during development, else Rockbox in flash wouldn't have |
| been possible. Extensive development effort went into the exploitation of the |
| UART boot mod. Mechanically adept users with good soldering skills can easily |
| perform these mods. Others may feel uncomfortable using the first tool |
| (\fname{firmware\_flash.rock}) for reflashing the firmware. |
| |
| |
| To comfort you a bit again: If you are starting with a known-good image, you |
| are unlikely to experience problems. The flash tools have been stable for quite |
| a while. Several users have used them extensively, even flashing while playing! |
| Although it worked, it's not the recommended method. |
| |
| About the safety of operation: Since we have dual boot, you're not giving up |
| the Archos firmware. It's still there when you hold |
| \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} during startup. So even if Rockbox from flash is not 100\% stable for |
| everyone, you can still use the box, reflash the second image with an updated |
| Rockbox copy, etc. |
| |
| The flash chip being used by Archos is specified for 100,000 cycles, so you don't need to worry about that wearing out. |
| |
| \subsection{Requirements} |
| You need two things: |
| \begin{itemize} |
| \item The first is a \playername. Be sure you're using the correct package, |
| they are different! |
| \item Second, you need an in-circuit programmable flash. \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm,player}{The older chips are not flashable.}\opt{ondio}{This should always |
| be flashable on Ondios, because Archos does itself provide flash updates for |
| these.} You can find out via Rockbox (\setting{Info $\rightarrow$ Debug $\rightarrow$ Hardware Info}). If the flash info gives you question marks (Flash M=?? D=??), |
| you're out of luck. The only chance then is to solder in the right chip |
| (SST39VF020), at best with the firmware already in. If the chip is blank, |
| you'll need the UART boot mod as well. |
| \end{itemize} |
| |
| \subsection{Flashing procedure} |
| Short explanation: copy the \fname{firmware\_*.bin} files for your model from the |
| distribution to the root directory of your \dap, then run the |
| \fname{firmware\_flash.rock} plugin. |
| Long version, step by step procedure: |
| \begin{enumerate} |
| \item Completely install the Rockbox version you want to have in flash, from a |
| full \fname{.zip} distribution, including all the plugins, etc. |
| \item Back up the current firmware, using the first option of the debug menu |
| (\setting{Info $\rightarrow$ Debug $\rightarrow$ Dump ROM Contents}). |
| This creates 2 files in the root directory, which you may not immediately see |
| in the Rockbox browser. The 256kB-sized \fname{internal\_rom\_2000000-203FFFF.bin} one is your present firmware. Back both up to your PC. You will need them if |
| you want to restore the flash contents. |
| \item Download the correct package for you model. Copy one or two files of it to |
| your box: \fname{firmware\_*.bin} (name depends on your model) into the root |
| directory (the initial firmware for your model, with the bootloader and the |
| Archos image). There now is also a \_norom variant, copy both, the plugin will |
| decide which one is required for your box. |
| \item Enter the debug menu and select the hardware info screen. Check your flash |
| IDs (bottom line), and please make a note about your \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm,ondio}{hardware mask value}\opt{player}{ROM version}. The latter is just for our |
| curiosity, not needed for the flow. If the flash info shows question marks, |
| you can stop here, sorry. |
| \item Use the \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFTwo\ settings or }the menu (\setting{General settings $\rightarrow$ File view $\rightarrow$ Show files}) to |
| configure seeing all files within the browser. |
| \item Connect the charger and make sure your batteries are also in good shape. |
| That's just for security reasons, it's not that flashing needs more power. |
| \item Run the \fname{firmware\_flash.rock} plugin. It again tells you about your |
| flash and the file it's gonna program. After \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} it checks the file. Your |
| hardware mask value will be kept, it won't overwrite it. Hitting \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFTwo}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonUp}\opt{player}{\ButtonOn} gives you |
| a big warning. If we still didn't manage to scare you off, you can hit\opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFThree}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonRight}\opt{player}{\ButtonRight} to actually program and verify. The programming takes just a few seconds. If |
| the sanity check fails, you have the wrong kind of boot ROM and are out of luck |
| by now, sorry. |
| \item In the unlikely event that the programming should give you any error, don't |
| switch off the box! Otherwise you'll have seen it working for the last time. |
| While Rockbox is still in DRAM and operational, we could upgrade the plugin via |
| USB and try again. If you switch it off, it's gone. |
| \end{enumerate} |
| |
| \nopt{player}{ |
| Now the initial procedure is done. Since the second half of the flash is still |
| empty, there is ``just'' the Archos image starting when you reboot now. Not much |
| has changed yet. The Archos software starts a bit quicker than usual, then loads |
| Rockbox from disk. The fun really starts when you add Rockbox to the flash, as |
| described in the next section. |
| } |
| |
| \note{You may delete the \fname{.bin} files now.} |
| |
| \subsection{Bringing in a Rockbox build} |
| Short version: very easy, just play an \fname{.ucl} file like |
| \fname{rockbox.ucl} from a release or build: |
| |
| \begin{itemize} |
| \item Make sure you are running the same version that you are trying to flash: |
| play the \fname{ajbrec.ajz} file. |
| \item Enter the \fname{.rockbox} directory in the file browser (you might need |
| to set the \setting{File View} option to \setting{All Files}). |
| \item Play the \fname{rockbox.ucl} file (or \fname{rombox.ucl} if you want to |
| flash ROMBox) |
| \end{itemize} |
| |
| Long version: |
| |
| The second image is the working copy, the \fname{rockbox\_flash.rock} plugin from |
| this package reprograms it. The plugins needs to be consistant with the Rockbox |
| plugin API version, otherwise it will detect mismatch and won't run. |
| |
| It requires an exotic input, a UCL-compressed image, because that's the internal |
| format. UCL is a nice open-source compression library. The decompression is very |
| fast and less than a page of C-code. The efficiency is even better than Zip with |
| maximum compression, reduces file size to about 58\% of the original size. For |
| details on UCL, see \url{http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/ucl/}. |
| |
| Rockbox developers using Linux will have to download it from there and compile |
| it. For Win32 and Cygwin the executables are next to the packages. The sample |
| program from that download is called \fname{uclpack}. We'll use that to compress |
| \fname{rockbox.bin} which is the result of the compilation. This is a part of the |
| build process meanwhile. If you compile Rockbox yourself, you should copy |
| \fname{uclpack} to a directory which is in the path, we recommend placing it in |
| the same dir as SH compiler. |
| |
| |
| Here are the steps: |
| |
| \begin{enumerate} |
| \item Normally, you'll simply download a \fname{.zip} distribution. Copy all the |
| content to the USB drive, replacing the old. |
| \item Force a disk boot by holding \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} during power-up, or at least rolo into |
| the new Rockbox version by \emph{Playing} the \fname{ajbrec.ajz}/fname{archos.mod} file. This may not always be necessary, but it's better to first run the |
| version you're about to flash. It is required if you are currently running |
| RomBox. |
| \item Just \emph{play} the \fname{.ucl} file in the \fname{.rockbox} directory, |
| this will kick off the \fname{rockbox\_flash.rock} plugin. It's a bit similar |
| to the other one, but it's made different to make the user aware. It will check |
| the file, available size, etc. With \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFTwo}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonUp}\opt{player}{\ButtonOn} it's being programmed. No need for |
| warning this time. If it goes wrong, you'll still have the permanent image. |
| \item When done, you can restart the box and hopefully your new Rockbox image. |
| \end{enumerate} |
| |
| You may find two \fname{.ucl} files in the \fname{.rockbox} folder. The |
| classical, compressed one is \fname{rockbox.ucl}. If your model has enough flash |
| space left, there may be an additional \fname{rombox.ucl}, which is uncompressed |
| and can run directly from flash ROM, saving some RAM. The second way is the newer |
| and now preferred one. Use this if available. |
| |
| If you like or have to, you can also flash the Archos image as the second one. |
| E.g. in case Rockbox from flash doesn't work for you. This way you keep the dual |
| bootloader and you can easily try different later. The \fname{.ucl} of the Archos |
| firmware is included in the package. |
| |
| \subsection{Restoring the original firmware} |
| If you'd like to revert to the original firmware, you can do like you did when |
| you flashed Rockbox for the first time. You simply use the backup files you saved |
| when flashing Rockbox for the first time and rename \fname{internal\_rom\_2000000-203FFFF.bin} to \fname{firmware\_*.bin} (name varies per model, use the filename that \fname{firmware\_flash.rock} asks for) and put it in the root. |
| |
| \subsection{Known issues and limitations} |
| Rockbox has a charging screen, but it is not 100\% perfect. You'll get it when |
| the unit is off and you plug in the charger. The Rockbox charging algorithm is |
| first measuring the battery voltage for about 40 seconds, after that it only |
| starts charging when the capacity is below 85\%. |
| \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{You can use the Archos charging (which always tops off) by holding \ButtonFOne\ while plugging in.}\opt{recorderv2fm}{Some FM users reported charging problems even with \ButtonFOne, they had to revert to the original flash content.} |
| |
| If the plugin API is changed, new builds may render the plugins incompatible. |
| When updating, make sure you grab those too, and ROLO or \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFOne}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonLeft}\opt{player}{\ButtonLeft} boot into the |
| new version before flashing it. |
| |
| There are two variants of how the boxes starts, therefore the normal and the |
| \_norom firmware files. The vast majority of the \daps\ all have the same boot |
| ROM content, differentiation comes later by flash content. Rockbox identifies |
| this boot ROM with a CRC value of 0x222F in the hardware info screen. \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{Some recorders have the boot ROM disabled (it might be unprogrammed) and start directly from a flash mirror at address zero. They need the new |
| \_norom firmware that has a slightly different bootloader.} |
| Without a boot ROM there is no UART boot safety net. To compensate for that as |
| much as possible the MiniMon monitor is included, it starts with \opt{recorder,recorderv2fm}{\ButtonFThree+\ButtonOn}\opt{ondio}{\ButtonRight+\ButtonOff}\opt{player}{\ButtonRight+\ButtonOn}. |
| Using that the box can be reprogrammed via serial if the first 2000 bytes of the |
| flash are OK. |
| |
| \subsection{Download the new flash content file to your box} |
| \fixme{These links are not valid. Refer to the wikipage BootBox for further |
| instructions} |
| Jens Arnold hosts flash content for download. Use the following url: |
| \opt{player}{\url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_player.zip}} |
| \opt{recorder}{\url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_rec.zip}} |
| \opt{recorderv2fm}{\url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_fm.zip}, |
| \url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_v2.zip}} |
| \opt{ondiofm}{\url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_ondiofm.zip}} |
| \opt{ondiosp}{\url{http://www.jens-arnold.net/Rockbox/flash\_ondiosp.zip}} |