[Chics LI]

I hate to seem like a dummy, but is a Rockbox an amp? If so is it portable or does it plug into house current? All I see is that it works with Ipods. What does it do?
Tom S.

 

[renton]

google + rockbox = www.rockbox.org

its a firmware replacement . theres pluses and minuses to it. less battery life, no video support, but supports better codecs.

 

[Chics LI]

Thanks Renton, I found it on google. I am only interesred in music, not video. I will read about it to try and figure this stuff out, is it portable?

Tom S.

 

[fjf]

It is an open source firmware for some digital audio players (ipods, achos and some more).

 

[monkeymadness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chics LI Thanks Renton, I found it on google. I am only interesred in music, not video. I will read about it to try and figure this stuff out, is it portable? Tom S.

Since you put it on your portable MP3 player then ...yes. Its portable. Its software. Not hardware. You have to go to the link previsouly given above and read how to install it. I installed it on my ipod nano. It took me about 5 hours but thats cause it was my first time and I no nothing about DOS or programming. But I still did it with common sense and fortitude. No regrets. So many more options than what corprate apple issues for the masses. It brings choice and control back to the hands of the consumer. Its not as pretty as the apple firmware but its a lot cooler. Plus you can do so much more with it. If what you care about is music and not video, I highly recommend it. Plus if you dont like it after its on, you can always take it off after with no harm done.

 

[Whitebread]

I didn't know there was no video support, any plans to impliment it in the future?

 

[Febs]

Development of video support is underway: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/vie...uginMpegplayer

 

[renton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs Development of video support is underway: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/vie...uginMpegplayer

yeah guys sorry about that. i forgot to mention that rockbox is open source. so its continuely being improved and features added to it. so the drawbacks i mentioned can be non exsistent in the future. thanks febs

 

[Febs]

No problem.

As I re-read your post, the statement "less battery life" is also not correct. Rockbox battery life is less than the original firmware on iPod, iriver H10, and (I think) iAudio. Rockbox battery life is better than the original firmware on iriver H100, iriver H300, and Archos.

 

[renton]

yes, but he was asking about ipods so i kinda geared my answer towards rockbox on a ipod. i need to be more specific with my posts. same thing my professors say on all my papers.

 

[manhattanproj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by renton less battery life, no video support, but supports better codecs.

correct me if i'm wrong. no video support - does that mean you can't watch videos with rockbox, at least currently until rockbox develop it?

so if you rockboxed your ipod now with the current build, you can only listen to music. can you view photos still?

 

[sonicm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manhattanproj correct me if i'm wrong. no video support - does that mean you can't watch videos with rockbox, at least currently until rockbox develop it? so if you rockboxed your ipod now with the current build, you can only listen to music. can you view photos still?

Kinda related...can't you switch between the original firmware are rockbox just by soft-resetting and holding down a button? Also, why does rockbox take more battery? I thought with the ipods default colorful interface it would be easier to process rockbox(and therefor use less battery)

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Yes you can still boot to iPod firmware to watch movies.

Movie playback will be implemented.

RB uses more battery as it has not yet been optimised for the iPod.

RB use to use more battery than stock firmware on the iRiver H3xx players. One of the developers opened the palyer up when it was playing music under Rockbox and looked at it with a thermal camera. It turns out that the chip used for USBOTG was going flat out, even during music playback. Once turned off the RB firmware gives better battery life than the stock firmare.

I think the colours used in the display have not much to do with it. Backlight does however.


h

 

[j-dawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnhnhyouh Yes you can still boot to iPod firmware to watch movies.

Whoah, hey! This is the first I've heard of this. Can you do this on the fly, without having to re-flash your iPod firmware every time? Sort of like a dual-boot iPod? If so... then that's pretty dang cool.

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by j-dawg Whoah, hey! This is the first I've heard of this. Can you do this on the fly, without having to re-flash your iPod firmware every time? Sort of like a dual-boot iPod? If so... then that's pretty dang cool.

Yep it is dual boot.

h