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Martin Arver8e8207f2006-02-11 00:57:17 +00002\chapter{Getting started}
Martin Arver8e8207f2006-02-11 00:57:17 +00003\section{Welcome}
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +00004This is the manual for Rockbox. Rockbox is an open source firmware replacement
5for a growing number of MP3 players. Rockbox aims to be considerably more
6functional and efficient than your device's stock firmware while remaining easy
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +00007to use and customisable. Rockbox is written by users, for users. Not only is it
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +00008free to use, it's also released under the GNU public license, which means that
Michael DiFebbo2bf4f522006-07-31 16:39:35 +00009it will always remain free both to use and to change.
Martin Arver8e8207f2006-02-11 00:57:17 +000010
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +000011Rockbox has been in development since 2001, and receives new features, tweaks
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000012and fixes each day to provide you with the best possible experience on your MP3
13player. A major goal of Rockbox is to be simple and easy to use, yet remain very
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +000014customisable and configurable. We believe that you should never need to go
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000015through a series of menus for an action you perform frequently. We also believe
16that you should be able to configure almost anything about Rockbox you could
17want, pertaining to functionality. Another top priority of Rockbox is audio
Dominik Riebeling4bc7bdf2006-04-02 22:18:22 +000018playback quality -- Rockbox, for most models, includes a wider range of sound
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000019settings than that device's original firmware. A lot of work has been put into
20making Rockbox sound the best it can, and improvements are constantly being made.
21All models have access to a large number of plugins, including many games,
Dominik Riebeling4bc7bdf2006-04-02 22:18:22 +000022applications, and graphical ``demos''. You can load different configurations
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000023quickly for different purposes (e.g. a large font for in your car, different
Dominik Riebeling4bc7bdf2006-04-02 22:18:22 +000024sound settings for at home). Rockbox features a very wide range of languages, and
25all supported models also have the ability to talk to you -- menus can be voiced
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000026and filenames spelled out or spoken.
Martin Arver8e8207f2006-02-11 00:57:17 +000027
28\section{Getting more help}
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000029This manual is intended to be a comprehensive introduction to the Rockbox
Dominik Riebeling536c6b42006-08-14 07:13:01 +000030firmware. There is, however, more help available. The Rockbox website at
Martin Arverd4a7bb62006-03-31 12:49:45 +000031\url{http://www.rockbox.org/} contains very extensive documentation and guides
32written by members of the Rockbox community and this should be your first port
33of call when looking for further help.
Martin Arver8e8207f2006-02-11 00:57:17 +000034
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +000035If you can't find the information you're searching for on the Rockbox
Dominik Riebeling536c6b42006-08-14 07:13:01 +000036website there are a number of support channels you should have a look at.
37You can try the Rockbox forums located at \url{http://forums.rockbox.org/}.
38Another option are the mailing lists which can be found at
39\url{http://www.rockbox.org/mail/}. From that page you can subscribe to the
40lists and browse the archives. For searching the list archives simply use
41the search field that is located on the left side of the web site.
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +000042Also you can ask on IRC. The main channel for Rockbox is \texttt{\#rockbox}
Dominik Riebeling536c6b42006-08-14 07:13:01 +000043on \url{irc://irc.freenode.net}. A bunch of helpful developers and users
44are usually around. Just join and ask -- if someone knows the answer you'll
45usually get an answer pretty quickly. More information including IRC logs
46can be found at \url{http://www.rockbox.org/irc/}. We also have a web client
47for joining the rockbox IRC channel so there is no need for you
48to install additional software to your computer.
49
50If you think you found a bug please make sure it actually is a bug and is
51still present in the most recent version of rockbox. You should try to
52confirm that by using the above mentioned support channels first. After that
53you can submit that issue to our tracker. Refer to \reference{sec:feedback}
54for details on how to use the tracker.
55
56
Dominik Riebeling73c6c9d2006-07-19 16:25:15 +000057\section{Naming conventions and marks}
58We have some conventions especially on naming that are intended to be
59consistent throughout this manual.
60
61Manufacturer and product names are formatted in accordance with the standard
62rules of English grammar, e.g. ``\playerman{} playback is currently
63unsupported''. Manufacturer and model names are proper nouns, and
64thus are written beginning with a capital letter.
65
66% write a bit more about names etc. here.
67\ifpdfoutput{
68This manual has some parts that are marked with icons on the margin to help
69you finding important parts or parts you could skip. The following icons
70are used:
71\note{This indicates a note. A note starts always with the text ``Note''.
72 For easier finding of notes we have put this an icon in the margin like
Martin Arverf8e2f3e2006-10-17 12:18:51 +000073 here. Notes are used to mark information that could help you
Dominik Riebeling73c6c9d2006-07-19 16:25:15 +000074 or indicate a possible ``weirdness'' in rockbox that would be explained.
75}
Martin Arver85709112006-08-15 10:53:14 +000076\warn{This is a warning. In contrast to notes mentioned above, a warning
Dominik Riebeling73c6c9d2006-07-19 16:25:15 +000077 should be taken more seriously. While ignoring notes won't cause any serious
78 damage ignoring warnings \emph{could} cause serious damage. If you're new to
79 rockbox you should really read the warnings before doing anything that is
80 warned about.
81}
82\blind{This icon marks a section that are intended especially for the blind
83 and visually impaired. As they can't
Dominik Riebeling536c6b42006-08-14 07:13:01 +000084 read the manual in the same way sighted people can do we've added some
Dominik Riebeling73c6c9d2006-07-19 16:25:15 +000085 additional descriptions. If you aren't blind or visually impaired you most
86 likely can completely skip these blocks. To make this easier, there is an
Martin Arver85709112006-08-15 10:53:14 +000087 icon shown in the margin on the right.
Dominik Riebeling73c6c9d2006-07-19 16:25:15 +000088}
89}{}% end ifpdfoutput
90
Dominik Riebeling4bc7bdf2006-04-02 22:18:22 +000091
Dominik Riebeling536c6b42006-08-14 07:13:01 +000092\input{getting_started/installation.tex}