[warrior05]

i updated my iMod'ed iPod to the 1/16/07 build and it was a nightmare. had a very difficult time booting up and when it did i couldn't even play a song. it also wouldn't boot down properly. it took many tries to get it so i could get the usb connection to work and revert back to a previous build.

i believe they are working on CPU scaling and i noticed a note that they changed values due to reported crashes. still, i would be pretty wary of even today's build. might want to wait a few days.

i imagine rockbox bashers may chime in here but i'm still a big fan of rockbox. what happened is very much the exception. generally i find the 4th gen photo builds pretty stable. unless apple decides to pay attention to us 4th gen'ers and support gapless, i ain't leaving rockbox. even then all my stuff is in FLAC and don't won't to think about going through the process of converting everything to ALAC. ugh... i just dislike apple so.

 

[Gonz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrior05 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i imagine rockbox bashers may chime in here but i'm still a big fan of rockbox. what happened is very much the exception.

No reason to bash Rockbox, they are doing great things for our devices! However, the software is still being developed, these glitches are going to happen. Someday, I hope, Rockbox will be the ultimate. I very much look forward to using it in the future.

 

[nelamvr6]

I'm still hoping that they will eventually get the thing running on the 5.5G 80GB iPods.

Any news on this front?

I don't have any problems with Apple's firmware, I would just like to give RockBox a try .

 

[kingsqueak]

Isn't that right around the time they changed the bootloader?

You sure you did *exactly* what you needed to?

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nelamvr6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm still hoping that they will eventually get the thing running on the 5.5G 80GB iPods. Any news on this front?

As a matter of fact, yes. There was quite apparently quite a bit of progress made yesterday in reading the 80GB drive. As always, it's impossible to predict exactly when someone will get Rockbox running on the 80GB, but my gut feeling is that it will happen soon.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingsqueak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Isn't that right around the time they changed the bootloader? You sure you did *exactly* what you needed to?

i've had rockbox on my iMod for over 6 months now and have done tons of updates. this is the first time i've had this level of issues. once i reverted back to a previous build all was well again.

i realize they aren't even officially in beta with the ipod port but up until yesterday's build i usually had very few problems. like i said, i consider yesterday very much the exception rather than the rule.

 

[blessingx]

I'm no Rockbox basher, and continue to check in on their progress (please oh please focus on battery life), but I have trouble understanding how the relatively miniscule complications of converting FLAC to ALAC are considered larger than the pretty major compromises of using Rockbox in its current state. There are of course plenty of advantages of Rockbox, but if inconveniences are a focus, I don't see how Rockbox comes out ahead.

 

[Gonz]

blessingx,
I completely agree, and thats why I'll avoid Rockbox, for now.

Battery life is just one of the issues, but that alone is a big enough reason to keep me away. I have a strong feeling that at some point, (hopefully soon) I'll have a player dedicated to Rockbox. I mean, I would buy something just for that purpose, to play with Rockbox... but it needs to come a bit further along. As it currently stands, I think I could find myself too frustrated with it. I don't want to ruin it, or sour myself on it so to speak. I can wait.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm no Rockbox basher, and continue to check in on their progress (please oh please focus on battery life), but I have trouble understanding how the relatively miniscule complications of converting FLAC to ALAC are considered larger than the pretty major compromises of using Rockbox in its current state. There are of course plenty of advantages of Rockbox, but if inconveniences are a focus, I don't see how Rockbox comes out ahead.

for me it comes down to two words - gapless playback. i have many CDs where songs run into each other and it irks me to no end hearing a pause.

 

[LDMES]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm no Rockbox basher, and continue to check in on their progress (please oh please focus on battery life), but I have trouble understanding how the relatively miniscule complications of converting FLAC to ALAC are considered larger than the pretty major compromises of using Rockbox in its current state. There are of course plenty of advantages of Rockbox, but if inconveniences are a focus, I don't see how Rockbox comes out ahead.

For me it comes down to liking to be able to drag and drop my files, as my iMod iPod acts as an external hardrive when attached to my laptop. I also like the ability of the customization and the fact that the firmware allows the interface to take advantage of the colour capabilities of the my iPod. Thow in the advanced equalizer functions for extra enjoyment. Also I use a verison of Rockbox compiled by Mikeage and it already has the nofrequenctyscaling issue addressed. It hasn't crashed on me once since I went to it.

To each his own, for me it's Rockbox all the way.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDMES /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me it comes down to liking to be able to drag and drop my files, as my iMod iPod acts as an external hardrive when attached to my laptop. I also like the ability of the customization and the fact that the firmware allows the interface to take advantage of the colour capabilities of the my iPod. Thow in the advanced equalizer functions for extra enjoyment. Also I use a verison of Rockbox compiled by Mikeage and it already has the nofrequenctyscaling issue addressed. It hasn't crashed on me once since I went to it. To each his own, for me it's Rockbox all the way.

good points across the board. i've been meaning to try the mikeage build. any difference in battery performance?

 

[lolos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDMES /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me it comes down to liking to be able to drag and drop my files, as my iMod iPod acts as an external hardrive when attached to my laptop. I also like the ability of the customization and the fact that the firmware allows the interface to take advantage of the colour capabilities of the my iPod. Thow in the advanced equalizer functions for extra enjoyment. Also I use a verison of Rockbox compiled by Mikeage and it already has the nofrequenctyscaling issue addressed. It hasn't crashed on me once since I went to it. To each his own, for me it's Rockbox all the way.

LDMES,

Are you referring to this link?

Are you using the latest build or an older one? I see that he has 3 different versions, which one do you use and why

? Do you have any features turned on/off? If you don't mind, can you post your equalizer settings with your imod please? Any simple practical themes to use?

I am expecting my imod this week and want to drag and drop like you as well. I found this (Anapod) software, alternative to itunes. Is seems really good. I might try it as well.

I used rockbox all the time on my irivers but I can't remember how I made it to work on ipod. Does anyone have a link on how to install the mikeage version on ipod + the bootloader? Any benefits from installing itunes 7 and upgrade the firmware on ipod 4th generation? I can't stand itunes that is why I don't want to download it.

Also, how can I switch between the two firmwares? I remember when I had my ipod, I couldn't turn my ipod off to go to rockbox mode and I had to wait till the battery drained.

Does someone know what is the difference between ipodlinux, ipod wizard, and rockbox?

I think we should create a FAQ for rockbox + themes for different players.

Thanks!

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolos /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone have a link on how to install the mikeage version on ipod + the bootloader?

You can find installation instructions in the Rockbox Manual, which you can find here: http://www.rockbox.org/manual.shtml

To use the mikeage build, just download his build and extract its contents to the root of the ipod instead of using a daily build as instructed in the manual. (You still need to follow the procedures in the manual to install the bootloader.)

Quote:

Also, how can I switch between the two firmwares? I remember when I had my ipod, I couldn't turn my ipod off to go to rockbox mode and I had to wait till the battery drained.

You can always reset your ipod by pressing and holding the Menu + Select buttons. To boot into the iPod firmware after you've installed the Rockbox bootloader, turn on the player and then immediately switch the "hold" switch on until you see "Loading original firmware." To return to Rockbox, reset the iPod.

Quote:

I think we should create a FAQ for rockbox + themes for different players.

Rockbox FAQs are available here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxFAQ

Rockbox themes are available here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WpsGallery

I don't think that there is any reason to duplicate what already exists. In fact, I'd rather not see a separate Rockbox FAQ here, because it would undoubtedly get out of date and it's easy enough just to link to the existing FAQ.

 

[lolos]

Thanks Febs!

I read that graphic intensive themes slow down rockbox on ipod, is this true with the latest builds incl. Mikeage non-scaling builds? What does non-scale builds intend to do?

Is there a bootloader that gives you a choice on the main screen in which mode you want? I remember there was something like that, not sure which platform though (rockbox, ipodlinux, or ipod wizard).

By a FAQ, I meant simple easy to-the-point kind of Q&A with the required links. There are tons of info on robckox website and tons of different supporting websites, it is dazzling but can get confusing at times, at least to me

.

 

[Febs]

The "non-scale" builds disable Rockbox's ability to scale the frequency of the processor to address a yet-unsolved bug that causes the 4G to crash when the CPU frequency is changed. This results in a slight hit to battery life, but eliminates the instability caused by that bug.