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Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +00001Q1. What is a FAQ?
2A1. A rare small animal of the species 'Textius Electronicus'. It is known for
3 its helpful attitude and vicious misspellings.
4
5Q2. Okay, fine, what is _this_ FAQ?
6A2. This FAQ is for questions (that we have answers too) that have been asked
7 repeatedly either in emails or on IRC.
8
9Q3. What is Rockbox? What is it's purpose?
10A3. The purpose of this project is to write an Open Source replacement
11 firmware for the Archos Jukebox 6000, Studio 20 and Recorder MP3 players.
12
13Q4. I want to write code for my Archos, how do I proceed?
Robert Hakdb96b1f2002-08-21 11:06:32 +000014A4. First make sure to read the file CONTRIBUTING in the docs directory
Robert Hak54099ba2002-08-22 07:02:03 +000015 on Sourceforge. See http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/contributing.html
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000016 if you do not want to have to wade through the CVS directories.
17
Robert Hak09499b52002-08-22 07:03:17 +000018Q5: What is CVS?
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000019A5: Concurrent Versions System (http://www.cvshome.org). We have a small
20 help page about how to use this to get, update and commit files on the web
21 at http://rockbox.haxx.se/cvs.html
22
23Q6. What exactly is the CONTRIBUTING file?
24A6. Just like the name implies, it lists conventions that the project follows,
25 and in turn asks you to follow, for the formating of source code in
26 general.
27
28Q7. Okay, so I read CONTRIBUTING and although I don't agree with all your
29 conventions, I am going to be sensible and follow them anyway. Now what?
30A7. Start by reading up on the information about the jukeboxes on our web page.
31 Then go into CVS and look at the code we've written. Then take what you
32 need and start writing.
33
34Q8. Okay, so how do I submit a patch?
Björn Stenberg10fc53c2002-08-23 20:49:12 +000035A8. Run: "diff -ub oldfile newfile > patchfile" against the file(s) you have
36 changed. Then mail the output to the rockbox mailing list and
37 we will take it under consideration. Please remember that all
38 submissions are not automatically accepted. This is nothing personal.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000039
Björn Stenberg10fc53c2002-08-23 20:49:12 +000040 Preferrably, run the diff against the current cvs code:
41 cvs diff -ub > patchfile
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000042
43Q9. I want to join the development team, but don't have a SourceForge account,
44 what should I do?
Björn Stenberg10fc53c2002-08-23 20:49:12 +000045A9. You don't need a SourceForge account to help developing Rockbox. Just
46 submit patches to the mailing list as per the instructions above.
47
48 If your patches are consistently well-written and thus accepted, you may
49 ultimately be offered CVS commit access. If that should happen, you will
50 need to get a Sourceforge account:
51 http://sourceforge.net/account/register.php
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000052
53Q10. Do you have a mailing list?
54A10. Sure do! As a matter of fact, we have several of them for specific
Robert Hakf5a9a722002-08-21 17:33:56 +000055 things. Please check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000056
57Q11. Great you have a mailing list! Is there anyway for me to catch up on
58 past posts?
Robert Hak16aae472002-08-21 11:22:59 +000059A11. Check out the archives at: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +000060
61Q12. How can I meet the developers working on the project?
62A12. One way is by visiting us on IRC. Head on over to the server
63 irc.openprojects.net, and then join "#rockbox". There is usually at
64 least one person there. If you don't see any activity, feel free to post
65 questions anyway, serveral of us log the channel and will get you answers
66 when we unidle.
67
68Q13: Wow, you guys talk on IRC alot? I wish I had been around for those
69 conversations to see what happened.
70A13: We are glad you mentioned that! http://rockbox.haxx.se/irc happens
71 to have a list of various logs we have recorded of events in the channel.
72 Feel free to read up, and ask questions on what you find.
73
74Q14. What is this "SourceForge" you keep mentioning?
75A14. http://www.sourceforge.net
76
77Q15. Can the changes or the software that Rockbox suggests or offers
78 possibly damage my Archos Player?
79A15. All firmware mods that are presented are still highly experimental.
80 Try them at your own risk. We offer no guarantee that this software, or
81 the hardware modifications we show, will not damage your player or void
82 your warranty. That said, we have not been able to damage any of our
83 units by modifying only the firmware. You can accidentally password
84 protect your harddisk, but there are ways around that. (See below.)
85
86Q16. I want to see what the inside of my player looks like, but I would really
87 like to avoid voiding my warranty. Is there anything you can suggest?
88A16. We have a collection of photos of both the player and recorder. Look at
89 http://rockbox.haxx.se/internals/
90
91Q17. What exactly are you trying to achieve with this line of development?
92 (A.K.A. whats your purpose for being here?)
93A17. Firstly, we wouldn't start something like this if we didn't simply enjoy
94 it profusely. This is great fun!
95 Secondly, we feel the firmware is lacking some features and contain a
96 number of annoying bugs that we want to fix.
97 Some ideas would include (in no particular order):
98 - No pause between songs
99 - Mid-song resume
100 - Mid-playlist resume
101 - No-scan playlists
102 - Unlimited playlist size
103 - Autobuild playlists (ie: "all songs in this directory tree")
104 - Auto-continue play in the next directory
105 - Current folder and all sub-folder random play
106 - Full disk random play
107 - REAL random
108 - Multi song queue
109 - Faster scroll speed
110 - More cool features with the wire remote control (including
111 controlling your Archos from your car radio (req hw mod))
112 - Support playing of other files types (ie: Ogg Vorbis support)
113 - Support for megabass switch (req hw mod)
114 - Player control via USB
115 - Memory expansion?
116 Note: Just because something is on this list, does not mean that it is
Robert Hakf5a9a722002-08-21 17:33:56 +0000117 technically feasible. (But hey we can dream) And something not
118 being on the list does not mean it isn't a neat idea. Bring it to
119 the list.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000120
121Q18. I don't see you mentioning other file types on your list of ideas. What
122 about supporting those?
123A18. Pessimist's Answer: At the current time we belive this is not very likely
124 The Micronas chip (MAS3507) decoder in the archos does not natively
125 support decoding and there is very little program space in the player to
126 implement it ourselves. The alternative would be to write a software
127 decoder as part of the RockBox firmware. However, as much as we love
128 our players, the computing power of the Archos (SH1 microcontroller) is
129 not fully sufficent for this need.
130
131 Optimist's Answer: We can play any format if only we can write code for
132 the DSP to decode it. The MAS 3507 (and 3587) are generic DSPs that
133 simply have MP3 codecs in ROM. We can download new codecs in them and
134 we will be the first to celebrate if we can get OGG or FLAC or anything
135 into these DSPs. Unfortunately, we have no docs or tools for writing new
136 MAS DSP code and Intermetall is very secretive about it. If anyone can
137 help, please get in touch!
138
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000139Q19. What about supporting playing of WMA files?
Robert Hak54099ba2002-08-22 07:02:03 +0000140A19. Dear Mr. Gates, you have two options. Re-read question #18, or go buy
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000141 your own project.
142
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000143Q20: But you don't understand, I'm not talking about decoding here,
144 since the data we want may already be in the decoded format (PCM).
145A20: Okay, last time. No. We have no problems whatsoever reading different
146 file formats, call it PCM, WAV, GRI, PQR or whatever. The problem is
147 that the CODEC only accepts MP3 data and nothing else. We could write a
148 new CODEC if we knew how to do it, but there is no documentation on the
149 DSP. Please note that we have no access to the DAC, so we can't send the
150 data directly to the DAC.
151
152Q21. What is the most recent version of Rockbox?
153A21. We recently released version 1.3, so head on over to
Robert Hak7bf657a2002-08-28 09:45:09 +0000154 http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/ and pull it down.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000155 Make sure to read the release notes.
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000156 (http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/rockbox-1.3-notes.txt).
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000157
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000158Q22. What do you plan to add to coming versions?
159A22. We have a rough idea of which features we plan/expect/hope to be included
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000160 in which versions. Once again, remember that none of this is written in
161 stone (noticing a pattern yet?)
162
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000163 Version 1.4
Daniel Stenberg758e8792002-08-27 12:18:28 +0000164 Autobuild playlists, Recording, Loadable fonts, Customizable WPS
Daniel Stenbergb4d281e2002-08-27 12:16:40 +0000165
166 Version 1.5
Daniel Stenberg758e8792002-08-27 12:18:28 +0000167 File/directory management
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000168
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000169Q23. I tried one of your firmware files and now I can't access my harddisk!
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000170 When I turn on my jukebox, it says:
171 Part. Error
172 Pls Chck HD
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000173A23. Your harddisk has been password protected. We're not 100% sure why it
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000174 happens, but you can unlock it yourself. Look at:
175 http://rockbox.haxx.se/lock.html
176
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000177Q24: This FAQ doesn't answer the question I have. What should I do?
178A24: You have a couple options here. You could forget the question, find an
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000179 easier question, or accept '42' as the answer no matter what. We don't
180 really recommend any of these (though I do opt for '42' often myself).
181 What we do recommend is stopping by IRC, reading
182 http://rockbox.haxx.se to see if the question was answered else
183 where and just not included here, or ultimatly dropping an email to the
184 mailing list (rockbox@cool.haxx.se) or the FAQ maintainer listed on the
185 project homepage.
186
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000187Q25: Are there other ways to contact the developers?
188A25: Yes.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000189
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000190Q26: Are you going to tell us what they are?
191A26: No. Post to the mailing list and we will get back to you.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000192
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000193Q27: But I _really_ want to talk with you in person.
194A27: I'm sorry. My girlfriend/boyfriend/pet says I'm not allowed to, and the
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000195 doctors here won't let me have pens or pencils. They say its some rule
196 about us not having sharp objects. I'm sorry. Now please stop calling me
197 here.
198
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000199Q28: Will you ever port Quake II to the Archos?
200A28: If you ask that again, I'm sending your address and phone number to the
Robert Hakd2fb0a02002-08-29 14:52:02 +0000201 guy that mailed us with question #25.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000202
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000203Q29: Umm, was that sarcasm?
204A29: That's it, I'm mailing him now.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000205
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000206Q30: Is this legal? I mean, I'd just hate to see something like that
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000207 challenged under the DMCA in all its ridiculousness. Any thoughts or
208 ideas?
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000209A30: We believe we are in the green on this. We are not violating anyone's
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000210 copyright and we are not circumventing any copy protection scheme.
211 This has been a big point for the project since its inception. Some
212 people wanted us to distribute patched versions of the original firmware,
213 but seeing as that _would_ have violated Archos' copyright, we didn't
214 follow that course of action.
215
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000216Q31: On the website [and various information postings] you state
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000217 "Every tiny bit was reverse engineered, disassembled and then
218 re-written from scratch".
219 If it was rewritten from scratch then why was it first reverse-engineered
220 and disassembled? Instead this sounds more like someone disassembled it
221 then used the understanding that they gained to create a new version,
222 which is not quite the same as "from scratch".
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000223A31: Don't confuse the terms. Reverse engineering means examining a product
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000224 to find out how it works. Disassembling the firmware is merely one tool
225 used in that examination. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers are other
226 tools we have used. We have written every single byte of the Rockbox
227 firmware. But we could not have written the software without first
228 researching how the hardware was put together, i.e. reverse engineer it.
229 All of this is completely legal. If you define "from scratch" as writing
230 software without first researching the surrounding interfaces, then no
231 software has ever been written from scratch.
232
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000233Q32: Wait a minute here. When you released version 1.0 you did not have a
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000234 single one of the ideas you have mentioned on your website actually
235 implimented! Calling this version 1.0 is really misleading. Whats the
236 story?!
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000237A32: In simple terms, the first release was called 1.0 because it had a basic
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000238 working feature set that worked and had no known bugs. That is what 1.0
239 meant. It is true that Rockbox 1.0 lacked most of the feature set that
240 every sane user wanted. However, we never said it was more
Robert Hak11f2c3c2002-08-24 03:52:01 +0000241 feature-complete or better in any way then the original firmware that
242 early in the project. The first release was done as a proof of concept
243 that our ideas are moving in the right direction. We also hoped that it
244 would help bring the project some attention, and some additional
245 developers. Adding the missing features was just a matter of time. In
246 more recent releases we have completed many of our desired goals, and
247 several new ones that were implimented to fullfill user requests.
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000248
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000249Q33: I've heard talk of a 'Rolo'. What is that? (Or 'All you ever wanted
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000250 to know about Rockbox boot loaders')
Robert Hak9756cb02002-09-03 19:41:49 +0000251A33: Rolo is our bootloader. Currently it is only available in CVS and daily
252 builds, but will be standard in release 1.4. It works by basically
253 having a file with the same extension of the firmware (.ajz on Recorder,
254 .mod on Player) 'run' from within Rockbox. Just scroll to the firmware
255 you wish to switch to and press play.
256
257 *Poof* You will reboot to that firmware. (Note that in order to return
258 to Rockbox you may need to reboot manually if the new firmware you loaded
259 does not have a bootloader itself.)
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000260
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000261Q34: I was thinking about making the USB a bit more usable. What are the
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000262 chances of using the USB port to [play games / share files / list
263 the device as something other then a hard drive / sell my soul to you
264 for a nickel]. What do you think?
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000265A34: You really don't want to know what I think, it involves road flares,
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000266 microwave ovens and shaved cats. Enough said. But regarding the USB
267 portion of your question, this is not feasible. First, any ideas
268 regarding special communications over the USB port will not work because
269 we have no control over the USB port itself. We are capable of
270 dectecting if it is in use (so we know which mode to switch to) but that
271 is it. Second, if you would like to have your Archos as a harddrive for
272 another device, know that this will not work either. The Archos unit is
273 a slave. Most other USB devices are slaves as well. So without some
274 master involved there can be no communication. Sorry. Now about your
275 soul. Would you settle for 3 cents and a small wad of belly button lint?
276
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000277Q35: When I use RockBox my jukebox's red "error" light turns on a lot, but this
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000278 doesn't happen on the factory firmware. Why?
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000279A35: Rockbox uses the red LED as harddisk activity light, not as an error
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000280 light. Relax and enjoy the music.
281
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000282Q36: How do I use the loadable fonts?
283A36: Loadable fonts are a work in progress. We do not have full documentation
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000284 for it. The best we can do now is tell you that you need a valid .bdf
285 font, and to use the tool "bdf2ajf" from CVS to conver to the .ajf format.
286 The final .ajf font must be stored in the archos root as 'system.ajf'
287 We do expect more documentation on this process shortly.
288
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000289Q37: I have a question about the batteries...
290A37: STOP! We have put together a completely different FAQ for battery
Robert Hak35c04802002-08-21 11:07:28 +0000291 related questions.
292 Check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/battery-faq.html
Robert Hak019203b2002-08-21 10:36:05 +0000293
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000294Q38: What is the WPS?
295A38: That is the 'While Playing Screen'. Basically this is what is shown on
Robert Hakfac78522002-08-22 03:00:12 +0000296 your player's display while we are playing your song.
297
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000298Q39: What good is the WPS? How usable/flexible is it?
299A39: It is very good if you want information about the current item playing ;)
Robert Hakfac78522002-08-22 03:00:12 +0000300 Currently the WPS on the Player is very flexible. By using the file
301 'wps.config' you can manage exactly how/what you want data displayed on
302 your Archos Player. Currently this feature has not yet been added to the
303 Recorder version of Rockbox. Please see
304 http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/custom_wps_format.html for more information.
305
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000306Q40: Can the Player LCD font be modified?
307A40: The simple answer is no. This is because the Player font is character
Robert Hak0dbcb432002-08-26 23:58:05 +0000308 cell based (as opposed to the Recorder's bitmap based display). This
309 means that we are able to choose what characters to display, but not how
310 to display them. We do have the ability to change/create up to 4 chars
311 on one model and 8 on another, however we are currently using several of
312 these 'letters' to store icons for the player.
313
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000314Q41: Why don't you have any games available for the Players?
315A41: The display on the Players is character cell and not bitmap based.
Robert Hak0dbcb432002-08-26 23:58:05 +0000316 This means we can only control what characters get displayed, not
317 what pixels are shown. This makes the prospect of game play very
Linus Nielsen Feltzing800d27d2002-08-27 10:01:38 +0000318 slim (at least for anything involving graphics).
Robert Hak5d3a0d32002-08-27 13:50:00 +0000319
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000320Q42: When recording is finally implimented in Rockbox, will it be possible to
Robert Hak5d3a0d32002-08-27 13:50:00 +0000321 use custom codecs (like LAME) or is there a built in codec in the Archos?
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000322A42: The MP3 encoder is in the MAS3587F chip, and nothing we can change.
Robert Hak5d3a0d32002-08-27 13:50:00 +0000323
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000324Q43: What are the max/min bitrates for recording on the Recorder's encoder?
325A43: The builtin encoder is variable bit rate only with a max of 192kbit/s,
Robert Hak5d3a0d32002-08-27 13:50:00 +0000326 and a min of 32kbit/s.
327
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000328Q44: I have a question about the id3v1 and id3v2 tags...
329A44: Stop! Here is all the information about that (if you still have
Robert Hak5d3a0d32002-08-27 13:50:00 +0000330 questions when done, ask then.)
331
Robert Hakccedcdb2002-08-27 14:29:02 +0000332 - Rockbox supports both id3v1 and id3v2
Björn Stenberg3478d9b2002-08-27 22:20:14 +0000333
Robert Hakccedcdb2002-08-27 14:29:02 +0000334 - The id3v2 support is limited to the first 300 bytes of the file. Some
Björn Stenberg3478d9b2002-08-27 22:20:14 +0000335 ripper programs tend to add very big tags first and then the important
336 ones Rockbox wants to read end up beyond the first 300 bytes and then
337 they remain unknown.
338
Robert Hakccedcdb2002-08-27 14:29:02 +0000339 - If you believe that the tags you don't see *are* within 300 bytes, then
Björn Stenberg3478d9b2002-08-27 22:20:14 +0000340 please make the mp3 file available for one of the developers to try out.
341
Robert Hakccedcdb2002-08-27 14:29:02 +0000342 - The 300-byte limit is subject to be removed in a future version
Robert Hak7f7851a2002-08-27 14:14:18 +0000343
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000344Q45: Would it be possible to record from line in on the player?
345A45: No.
Robert Hakd4d71d12002-08-27 16:40:32 +0000346
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000347Q46: Where exactly did the name 'Rockbox' come from?
348A46: Well you can follow the full line of emails at
Robert Hakd4d71d12002-08-27 16:40:32 +0000349 http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2002-01/0062.shtml
350 However, the brief rundown is that it was recommended first by
351 Tome Cvitan, and put to a vote (which it lost).
352
353 Funny thing about democracys. This isn't one ;) Our beloved project
354 vetoed the winning name and chose Rockbox instead.
355 http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2002-01/0134.shtml
356
Björn Stenberg3478d9b2002-08-27 22:20:14 +0000357 There you have it. Recommeded by users, decision by dictator.
Robert Hak49c2fda2002-08-29 13:36:05 +0000358
Robert Hak9756cb02002-09-03 19:41:49 +0000359Q47: Why is there a limit of 400 files in a directory?
360A47: We have answered this question numerous times. It is mentioned in the
361 release notes, and in the mailing list archives
362 (http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/archive/rockbox-archive-2002-08/0448.shtml).
363 But, hey, we wouldn't want people to have to work to get an answer.
364 (If you are reading this, feel proud, for you are the exception).
365
366 We settled on 400 files in a directory because file listings take up
367 memory on the unit, and we felt that 400 is significantly large enough
368 for a majority of the populace. We prefer the optiono of limiting
369 file limits in order to provide a greater amount of memory for buffering
370 of files being played.
371
372Q48: Okay, I understand your 400 file limit. But why hardcode? Why not
373 have this be dynamically allocated?
374A48: Because it's useless. Dynamic memory is only ever useful if you have
375 memory consumers (tasks) that run at different points in time, and thus
376 can reuse the same memory for different purposes.
377
378 We don't have that. We must be able to show a big dir, index a big
379 playlist and play a big mp3 file, all at the same time. They cannot use
380 the same memory, and thus dynamic memory buys us nothing but extra
381 complexity. If we used dynamic memory for this, we would get all kinds
382 of odd bugs. Playlists that only got half-loaded if placed in certain
383 directories. Parts of the disk you couldn't go to if playing a certain
384 playlist etc.
385
386 We have a number of tasks that consume memory. They can all run at the
387 same time, using all of their alotted memory. Therefore it is much better
388 to allocate that memory to them beforehand and not pretend that anyone
389 else is able to use it. This is standard practice in memory-limited
390 systems.
391
392Q49: Why is there a 10,000 song limit on playlists?
393A49: This is another hardcoded limit. We feel that as bigger disks arrive
394 that this limit will increase. Because of the way that playlists are
395 stored, it tends to be a bit more maleable then the directory file limit.
396 For further detail, look at questions 47 and 48 and replace any instances
397 of '200' with '10,000'.
398
399Q50: You don't understand! I _really_ need to have more then 400 files
400 in a directory!
401A50: Thats it. I'm sending your email address to the guy that asked
402 question 25 and tell him that you are a developer. If you don't want
403 that to happen either let happy coders code, find a better solution
404 (this means impliment it, document it, and send us the patch), or
405 try taking some time and organizing your files a bit better. Just
406 because <insert your favorite file music stealing program here> puts
407 all your files in one directory does not mean you have to leave them
408 there!
409
410Q51: Can I ask one more question?
411A51: You just did. Thank you for your time. That completes your alotment of
412 stupid question for the year. Please insert another 35 cents to
413 continue.
414
415
416
417