Rockbox Technical Forums
Rockbox Development => New Ports => Topic started by: portable on May 02, 2006, 08:26:01 PM
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Hi everyone,
I wonder if there will be any interest in the RockBox community to help port RockBox into a Mp3/mp4 player that uses telechips. Especially if I can get manufacturer to help to work on it. Therefore, there you won't need to do any reverse engineering or whatsoever. I might also be able to get the source code for the current firmware as well.
Reason to do this is because the current firmware the manufacturer uses is rather primitive (although it works alright). Prelimary test on the mp3 sound quality revealed that it is nearly as good as output from the computer's sound card.
Cheers
Eric
Waiting to hear some good news ...... ;)
Specification of the mp4 Hi-X8 player (for the first port of mp4 player from CEC)
(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ericwong/hi-x8.jpg)
Features/Highlights
* Plays mp3, wma audio files
* Plays mp4 video files
* Plays Macromedia flash
* 2.4" TFT LCD
* Removable Mass Storage device
* 2 build-in game (Russia square and push box)
* Firmware upgradable (for future file support and bug fixes)
* OTG support, i.e. Transfer and view files (eg photos) from devices such as digital camera
* unlimited recording via microphone in mp3 format
* integrated FM transmitter allows play back on car radio, etc
* up to ~12 hours mp3 playback
* up to ~6 hours mp4 video playback
* recharge via USB port or USB charger (provided)
* 210g; 109 x 73 x 22 mm
* the 2.5" HDD can be easily replaced/upgraded
* 1 year warranty for the player
For more details please visit http://www.portable.geek.nz
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For a port to start in general, there has to be at least one (but often more) developer who owns the player and is willing to do a lot of the initial work for hardware drivers and such. Even with Manufacturer Cooperation, this would probably still be a moderately time consuming task (depending on the level of cooperation. At some point the manufacturer is adapting our software for their player instead, but then it's open source and they're free to do that as long as they honor the GPL).
That being said, I'm somewhat uncertain you'd have much luck getting any sort of agreement out of the manufacturer anyway.
For a little more information about the general new port process, you can read this: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/NewPort
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Hi everyone,
I wonder if there will be any interest in the RockBox community to help port RockBox into a Mp3/mp4 player what uses telechips. Especially if I can get manufacturer to help to work on it. Therefore, there you won't need to do any reverse engineering or whatsoever. I might also be able to get the source code for the current firmware as well.
Reason to do this is because the current firmware the manufacturer uses is rather primitive (although it works alright). Prelimary test on the mp3 sound quality revealed that it is nearly as good as output from the computer's sound card.
Cheers
Eric
Waiting to hear some good news ...... ;)
People here will be glad to offer help while you port it. Ask any questions you've got. Just don't ask them to do it for you :)
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I wonder if there will be any interest in the RockBox community to help port RockBox into a Mp3/mp4 player what uses telechips. Especially if I can get manufacturer to help to work on it.
We will always help new ports and porters, with manufacturer help or not. But don't expect anyone without target players to be able to do anything really technical or low-level.
IMHO, manufacturer help would be best if it included docs and a handful of players to hand out to interested existing developers.
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Wow, that sounds good.
Assuming the manufacturer can devote one person who knows the player very well to work on porting RockBox into their player, how long do you expect that person to take? one week, two weeks?
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Assuming the manufacturer can devote one person who knows the player very well to work on porting RockBox into their player, how long do you expect that person to take? one week, two weeks?
It depends on a lot of factors so I hesitate to speculate on actual time required. Also, "telechips" is not specific enough for me to tell how hard the arch/CPU adjustment parts will be.
But given a skilled engineer with documentation and a HW with no particular problems, I figure they could have at least a basic port working in two weeks.
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Do they have to rewrite teh stuff from scratch? Or is the company ok releasing some of their existing code in GPL form? Because if they could reuse their existing bootloader, and write wrappers around the existing driver code, a port would probably not take very long. Though I don't think many companies would be willing to give away their source code (or even able if the code was licensed from a vendor).
OT: I've always wondered if any companies look at rockbox. Seems like it would be cheaper to port rockbox to a new MP3 player then to develop from scratch, plus you'd get all the extra format support.
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Do you think it is possible to port RockBox over to this mp3/mp4 player if someone is given the source code of the exisiting firmware without having the hardware itself?
We would be delighted if someone can help us port the Rockbox over or tell us exactly how to do it. The manufacturer is on our side, hence I can get you any info you need to port it over.
For more details on the product, please visit my site -- www.portable.geek.nz
For the A8 model - it uses Telechips TCC761
For the X6 model - it uses Telechips TCC721
Does it help at all if you were given the software used to load the firmware to the machine?
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Do you think it is possible to port RockBox over to this mp3/mp4 player if someone is given the source code of the exisiting firmware without having the hardware itself?
Well, if you know what target CPU too (I mean so that you can have a cross-compiler all setup to build with) I guess you can make a pretty good effort at least. That said, I don't think anyone would do this just for fun.
The manufacturer is highly interested to port Rockbox over, the point is how do we do this? As this player is not commonly available at the moment.
Then I would say they should be prepared to pay for development work.
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Well, do we have an estimated price how much it cost for this developmental work? Or instructions for so that the manufacturer can work on themselves? the page -- http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/NewPort is not that clear to me. (although I am not a programmer..)
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Well, do we have an estimated price how much it cost for this developmental work?
Oh. I can't speak for anyone else but myself of course, but I would guesstimate a fair hourly fee is around 100USD and given that HW and docs is available (there don't seem to be any public data sheets for those telechips MCUs) a two week period full-time should probably be good to get a first version there.
The problem would probably be more to find someone who's skilled enough and able to get two weeks off from what they're doing now to work on something like this.
the page -- ... NewPort is not that clear to me.
That page is meant to describe how to reverse engineer foreign hardware, in a generic way. All targets of course need their own specific approach and there's no way a simple wiki page can include all those details.
If you have the docs and code to read as reference, there is no need to follow or even read that NewPort wiki page.
instructions for so that the manufacturer can work on themselves?
rockbox.org is loaded with info, the source code is there and we have a very living developer community on this forum, on the mailing lists and on IRC. It would simply be a matter of diving in!
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I agree with Daniel's earlier suggestion that the manufacturer should offer to donate some players to Rockbox developers - this would be a lot cheaper than paying for development time.
I for one could be tempted to work on it by the offer of a free device, but can only do it in my spare time, and wouldn't be able to commit to any definite timescales.
Donated devices, along with the source code to the existing firmware, schematics of the hardware and datasheets for the used components would make a Rockbox port as easy as it ever can be.
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Donated devices, along with the source code to the existing firmware, schematics of the hardware and datasheets for the used components would make a Rockbox port as easy as it ever can be.
These should not be much of a problem. Manufacturer is interested to know what can rockbox do to these players. Interface aside, current firmware allow it to play mp3, wma, mp4 (after software conversion to 280x220 24frames), macromedia flash, 2 build in game (Russia square and push box), OTG transfer, FM transmitter/FM radio (depending on model), mp3 recording..
Would rockbox allow the player to do these functions as well as some new functions?
Oh. I can't speak for anyone else but myself of course, but I would guesstimate a fair hourly fee is around 100USD and given that HW and docs is available (there don't seem to be any public data sheets for those telechips MCUs) a two week period full-time should probably be good to get a first version there.
100USD/hr is way too much for us to pay for. However, we can probably offer some other incentives which might allow you to earn even more $$ (but you put some work on it to earn the incentives...)
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Do they have to rewrite teh stuff from scratch? Or is the company ok releasing some of their existing code in GPL form? Because if they could reuse their existing bootloader, and write wrappers around the existing driver code, a port would probably not take very long. Though I don't think many companies would be willing to give away their source code (or even able if the code was licensed from a vendor).
Well, I am confident that I can get you the current source code, however, I am not sure if the current source code can be released publically.
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Would rockbox allow the player to do these functions as well as some new functions?
Some of those functions listed are not yet offered by Rockbox (video, USB OTG, fm transmit), but on the other hand Rockbox offers a lot of more functions than so.
I guess this page could shed some light on what current Rockbox can offer:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WhyRockbox
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Some of those functions listed are not yet offered by Rockbox (video, USB OTG, fm transmit), but on the other hand Rockbox offers a lot of more functions than so.
I guess this page could shed some light on what current Rockbox can offer:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WhyRockbox
I read from some of the rockbox pages that read Rockbox do not support OTG is because players don't. Do you mean that someone need to work on the rockbox source code before OTG, video and maybe FM transmission can be supported?
However, this page
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/FeatureComparison
indicates that Video playback with sound is supported....why you said it isn't???
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Do you mean that someone need to work on the rockbox source code before OTG, video and maybe FM transmission can be supported?
Yes, that's why I said Rockbox doesn't support those. We're only a limited set of people with a limited amount of spare time.
Video playback with sound is supported....why you said it isn't?
RVF video is possible (on Archos) but I doubt you'd seriously call that video support with a straight face when talking actual video.
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Of course The Manufacturer can always donate code for the missing functionality.
It's a two-way gain:
- The Manufacturer gets to use RockBox with all its capabilities
- RockBox gets new functionality that our other targets can also use
Of course the parts we are allowed to take over must be GPL...
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Of course The Manufacturer can always donate code for the missing functionality.
It's a two-way gain:
- The Manufacturer gets to use RockBox with all its capabilities
- RockBox gets new functionality that our other targets can also use
Of course the parts we are allowed to take over must be GPL...
Of course, that sounds very good if it works out eventually.
Does anyone have links to COLOUR screenshots, reviews, etc to the rockbox interface? All I see on rockbox is the black and white interface....
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Rockbox is not yet released for any player with color LCD and we have not worked a lot on the looks. But you can customize it fairly well still. What about a little sneak preview on RedBreva's site with existing WPSes:
http://rockbox-themes.redbreva.com/Theme_320x240x16.html
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Rockbox is not yet released for any player with color LCD and we have not worked a lot on the looks. But you can customize it fairly well still. What about a little sneak preview on RedBreva's site with existing WPSes:
http://rockbox-themes.redbreva.com/Theme_320x240x16.html
Well, I would say that the coloured ones are pretty good already. Good work Rockbox.... :D
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Reading the description of these players on your website, I was excited to see that they use 2.5" hard drives, as opposed to the smaller capacity 1.8" drives in all the other "software codec" devices that Rockbox runs on. (The Archos devices supported by Rockbox use 2.5" drives, but they are limited to only playing MP3 and, in the near future, WAV - the CPU isn't fast enough to support other codecs).
The ability to have 120GB of FLAC files in a Rockboxed player is very tempting (and would be unique to this player) - so count me in as an interested developer if this port ever goes anywhere.
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..... - so count me in as an interested developer if this port ever goes anywhere.
No problem. You might want to sent me a e-mail (look under my profile) so I can sent you files you need to work on the player.
At the moment, I don't have the source code of orginial firmware yet. But I have the software to load orginial firmware into the A8 player on my hand and player firmware is on my site.
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..... - so count me in as an interested developer if this port ever goes anywhere.
No problem. You might want to sent me a e-mail (look under my profile) so I can sent you files you need to work on the player.
At the moment, I don't have the source code of orginial firmware yet. But I have the software to load orginial firmware into the A8 player on my hand and player firmware is on my site.
First of all, I would need an actual player...
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First of all, I would need an actual player...
Which country are you located? And is it possible to see some actual work before getting u a free player...unless u are willing to pay for one
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linuxstb is one of the main guys behind the Rockbox ipod port and lots of codec work and more. Lots of us can vouch for his ability to port Rockbox.
And as I said before, there is little motivation for any of us to work for free without having an actual player that would run the code.
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linuxstb is one of the main guys behind the Rockbox ipod port and lots of codec work and more. Lots of us can vouch for his ability to port Rockbox.
And as I said before, there is little motivation for any of us to work for free without having an actual player that would run the code.
In that case, that means there is no doubt on your ability to port it over. However, I still need to know the country you reside in, so I can find the distributor in your country to get you a free(possibly) player.. If in NZ or Australia I can do it personally, other conuntries, I would need some arrangement to be made.. ;)
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Specification for Telechips TCC721 used in Hi-X6
http://www.telechips.com/product/product_mp3_tcc72x.htm
http://www.telechips.com/product/p_021.htm
(http://www.telechips.com/product/images/p_pic24.gif)
32bit ARM940TDMI RISC CPU core
4KB instruction, 4KB data cache
Internal boot ROM of 4Kbytes for various boot procedure (NAND, UART) and security
Internal SRAM of 64K bytes for general usage
On-chip peripherals
0.25um low power CMOS process
2.5V for core, 3.3V for I/O port
Operating up to 120MHz
Specification for Telechips TCC761 used in Hi-A8 and Hi-X8
http://www.telechips.com/product/p_023.htm
(http://www.telechips.com/product/images/p_pic25.gif)
High Performance Digital Multimedia & Audio LSI
Support Real time MP3 & WMA Encoding
Support MP3, WMA, OGG, JPEG , MPEG4 SP Decoding
Low Power Consumption: 16Hr with AAA @ I/O 1.8V
Main Hardware Features
Core : ARM9TDMI , 0.18um Process, Max 140MHz @ 1.5V
Embedded Nor Flash & High Performance Audio Codec Options
USB 2.0 Device/ Host
Various I/O Interface
- UART, IrDA, GSIO, GPIO, I2C, I2S Interface for CD-DSP Interface
- IDE I/F for HDD
- General Purpose 10-bit ADC
- Core : 1.5 ~ 1.95V , I/O : 1.8 ~ 3.6V
;D What do you think it is capable using rockbox?
>> Here is a link that have technical manuals, application notes, etc for the arm core processor
http://seacro.tempdomainname.com/documentation/
(not sure if it helps though....)
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It is certainly capable of running Rockbox. ARM9 is typically slightly faster than ARM7 at the same freq and this can run twice as fast as the iPods and they manage quite fine...
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Looks like Rockbox is getting the attention it deserve....
Review of Ipod runing Rockbox by Cnet
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-6513844-1.html?tag=nl.e428
You might want to put this somewhere in your site... :)
And please let me know if there are more rockbox review hiding somewhere on the internet.
Cheers
Eric
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Oh, by the way, the OS for this player is run directly from ROM (I think), definitely not from HDD like Ipod. Hence, it can basically "run" without the HDD.
Does it make it easier or harder to port Rockbox over?? If Rockbox only install on HDD, then nothing can go wrong with the player regardless what you do I guess. Since a simple format/re-partition will get rid of Rockbox. ???
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that player looks pretty nice i wouldnt mind a 120gb player if rockbox was ported to it it would definetly look in to buying one.
i am interested though as how it would be used as rockbox is open source and free and for a company to make money off the code thats been writen by all the developes for free over the years is not very fair.
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that player looks pretty nice i wouldnt mind a 120gb player if rockbox was ported to it it would definetly look in to buying one.
i am interested though as how it would be used as rockbox is open source and free and for a company to make money off the code thats been writen by all the developes for free over the years is not very fair.
I would say that the company won't really earn money by "selling" rockbox, it is more like the company sell the hardware which is certified to use RockBox (depending how the porting turns out, maybe rockbox will be an optional feature rather than the default OS). Probably similar to Sun Microsystem offer their software as open source but sell their hardware to run the software to earn money.
Basically in terms of HDD capacity, it is dependent on the HDD manufacturer. The player itself is capable of taking any PATA HDD. However, the current player is limited to maximum of 3 FAT32 partition. And FAT32 had is limited to 32GB per partition. Hence, the usable space directly accessible by this player won't go higher than 100GB. However, other partitions, such as NTFS can be accessible on the computer as removable mass storage device, and can be used to store any files you like.
By the way, 2.5" HDD up to 200GB had been announced but the max in the market right now is only 120GB.... ;)...
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The 32GB limit is most likely just a firmware limit that Rockbox won't suffer from. FAT doesn't have such a limit and nor does ATA. It would surprise me if the actual limit (if there is any) is below 128GB in the same style the Archos has it - which is due to the ATA-USB bridge chip.
And there already are 160GB 2.5" disks available.
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The 32GB limit is most likely just a firmware limit that Rockbox won't suffer from. FAT doesn't have such a limit and nor does ATA. It would surprise me if the actual limit (if there is any) is below 128GB in the same style the Archos has it - which is due to the ATA-USB bridge chip.
And there already are 160GB 2.5" disks available.
Well, the 32GB limit is in reality Windows's inability to format FAT32 for anything >32GB. If you find a utility to format >32GB, then it won't be a problem. However, I have not found any open source or free utility to do this yet.....any pointers would be apprecipated..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT32
This article indicates that FAT32 can in theory support up to 8 Terabyte partition.
As to 160GB HDD, as far as I know, it had not arrived in NZ yet....Maybe available in other countries which I am not aware of.
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Well, there's Swissknife which is free as in beer, I believe.
And if I recall the DOS format utility didn't have the restriction the windows one has, oddly enough. I could be wrong on that one though.
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Oh, a search online and I found a utility to format FAT32 partition >32GB
Here it is if anyone wants it.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/fat32format.htm
Good, now I can format the drive as one partition.... ;D
And I have tested the partition on the player and the player can access it, cool.
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If the HDD is connected to the Telechips SoC and not to a USB-ATA bridge, we would need to add a USB stack to rockbox, right?
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Ah, that's indeed a good little remark.
But it seems the Telechip 72x only supports USB 1.1 while these players boast USB2.0, which would indicate either a factual error somewhere or that there's another chip involved.
Edit: the brief info page on 72x actually lists "IDE Interface for HDD or USB 2.0 device (specially for CY7C68001)" which kind of sounds like some kind of bridge function.
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i am interested though as how it would be used as rockbox is open source and free and for a company to make money off the code thats been writen by all the developes for free over the years is not very fair.
Companies make money off of Linux. Some make a lot of money off it, and very few people would argue this is a bad thing, so long as they're obeying the GPL. The idea of an open source project is to share code, and to make sure code is available to people for free. The GPL ensures this (well provided you follow it).
If people still want to pay for a product that is under the GPL, then its their choice. IMO having companies start using Rockbox would be amazing. It would save developers the time of reverse engineering firmware and drivers and let them work on more interesting things. Plus users wouldn't have to buy outdate players just to have a stable Rockbox build available.
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(I posted this this morning, but it disappeared....Strange..need to post again..)
Admin note: no it was moved to a separate thread. Do not post everything imaginable in the same thread.
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Update: Manufacturer interest confirmed. Waiting for manufacturer to supply more details. (eg source code, etc)
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Yay!
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That sounds pretty amazing, and it is certainly good news for all of us rockbox'ers. The more companies start using this firmware -> the more publicity -> the more developers -> the better firmware. And maybe other companies will follow...
If this thing succeeds, and my H120 gets stolen or destroyed, I will undoubtly buy one of these MP3 players (2.5"-disc - awesome)...
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just wondering, will the devs get money for each player sold with rockbox? If so, they could do a lot more with money to spend on this project, such, and rockbox could be ported and optimized much faster on all of our targets.
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I doubt they're going to hand over any money unless Rockbox motivates a LOT of sales.
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It would motivate a sale (or buy, rather) from me and at least a couple other people I can think of.....
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Hi everyone,
Well, at this stage, manufacturer seems to be willing to give free X8 player to developers who is working on it. Cash incentive maybe possible but that will depends on what developers can provide and whether manufacturer takes it or not. (e-mail me if you want better answers..)
Sorry for taking so long, at last I can supply you with the circuit diagrams for the X8 mp4 player. There is problems getting hold of the source codes because the source code mostly belong to Telechips, not the manufacturer, and they have agreements on the source code. Therefore, we are working out what we can do about it.
I can e-mail you the circuit diagrams if you are interested to look at it. However, as these diagrams are not for public release, in accepting these diagrams, you agreed that you will not release them to the general public. And if you forwarded these to any Rockbox developers, please let me know who have got them.
BTW, the mp4 reviews are not up yet. The X8 players had just been manufactured and I have yet to receive them. I intend to get a comprehensive review on the X8 player after it arrive and release the A8 and X6 reviews together. Thanks for waiting.
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I also have the software for loading up the firmware, if it is useful to you, I can e-mail it to you as well.
Cheers
Eric
More info for you
OTG chip used is ALI M5637
http://www.ali.com.tw (manufacturer site)
Some info on the chip (sorry, only found chinese pages)
http://www.eedesign.com.tw/article/forum/fo829.htm
http://info.ec.hc360.com/2005/01/26094656403.shtml
Update: Don't worry about the this OTG chip, my manufacturer already had complete information on this chip, the only problem is the TCC761.... ???
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URGENT
The manufacturer intends to have a new project.
They would like to know if they supply all (everything you can dream of) hardware information on their machines to Rockbox, and let Rockbox do the OS development for them.
How much time (the shorter the better) and how much would it cost $$ (lesser the better) ? (they apparently can't afford much money as the cost of a 80GB model of these mp4 players easily exceed one month's salary of most people living in the manufacturer's country i.e. China)
Obviously, they would want the new firmware to be capable of all current features. (i.e Rockbox need to be able to support OTG, Mp4 playback, FM transmitter(X8)/FM radio(A8), Macromedia flash playback, etc)
And mostly importantly, would developer require any help from manufacturer's engineer? If yes, what sort of help needed.
Can interested developer e-mail me asap? Or I suggest Rockbox developers can have a group discussion before giving me confirmations on cost and time.
Thanks
Eric
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If any developer accept such arrangements, they would definitely get their hands on source code, etc.....
For now, seems like it is impossible to get source code and datasheets as they are confidential.
The software they use to write all their software is nucleas
If you can or interested to reverse engineer the current firmware (*.bin), the Hi-A8 firmware is available here
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ericwong/a8v194.rar
http://www.cecsz.com/upload/a8v194.rar
(The A8 firmware is similar to X8, only with slight modifications. X8 firmware is not available yet.)
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Hi there everyone,
Although I have not got my hand on TCC761 sourcecode.
I have found something which may help a lot.
Take a look, please....
http://ferenczy.coex.cz/mt-500/index-en.html
This page contains the telechip datasheet for TCC730 and some information on how to reverse engineer the firmware.
Can someone let me know if it can be used as basis to reverse engineer TCC761? assuming we can't get actual source code and datasheets from telechips.
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The TCC730 in the Xclef is the same CalmRISC based one that is used in the (early) Archos Gminis and a totally different beast than what is in the TCC761 and similar microcontrollers.
So no, unfortunately that doesn't help us at all. But we can also say fortunately since the CalmRISC artchitecture is a pain...
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The TCC730 in the Xclef is the same CalmRISC based one that is used in the (early) Archos Gminis and a totally different beast than what is in the TCC761 and similar microcontrollers.
So no, unfortunately that doesn't help us at all. But we can also say fortunately since the CalmRISC artchitecture is a pain...
Alright then, we will continue to try to get the TCC761 source code / datasheet somehow then..
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Did any developers ever get a unit sent to them?
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Did any developers ever get a unit sent to them?
We are still waiting for the manufacturer to provide the technical bits before the ball can start rolling.
Thanks for the interest though.
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I dont like this whole thing, sounds messy. If the Rockbox devs are really intirested in this whole thing I suggest:
1. You get lawyers.
2. Your ready to sacrifice the rockbox image of a free indapendant firmware.
Once a company starts getting it's hands in your stuff it can be hard to get them out.
My 2 cents.
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1. You get lawyers.
Why?
2. Your ready to sacrifice the rockbox image of a free indapendant firmware.
I don't think you understand what open source software is. Ever hear of "linux", "gcc" or "firefox"? Companies are involved in all of those projects. I suggest you Google the GPL and get a feel for how this works before giving (terrible) advice.
Once a company starts getting it's hands in your stuff it can be hard to get them out.
This is a GPLed project. We can't keep or get anyone out, and doing so would make no sense and violate the entire spirit of the project. The whole idea of the GPL is that the software is availble to EVERYONE, not just people we like.
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Hi everyone,
Just to let you know that someone started another thread on this mp4
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=5735.0
And there is some updated info over there.
Cheers
Eric
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To aid/encourage efforts to reverse engineer this mp4 player, here are photos of the opened X8.
(Higher resolution photos available from me.)
Bagder should have made X8 PCB diagrams and OTG datasheets available to Rockbox developers. Or request it from me.
So far, I am not aware of any significant progress on this port.
(http://www.portable.geek.nz/X8_PCB01.jpg)
X8 with its front cover opened.
(http://www.portable.geek.nz/X8_PCB02.jpg)
X8 with its front cover and LCD flipped
(http://www.portable.geek.nz/X8_PCB03.jpg)
X8 with its LCD removed. Note that the connector next to the battery is used to connect to the keypad on the front of the X8.
(http://www.portable.geek.nz/X8_PCB04.jpg)
X8 with its battery flipped
(http://www.portable.geek.nz/X8_PCB05.jpg)
X8 with its back cover opened. This is where the hard disk is installed.
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You know, I hate to be a negative nancy, and I'd like this to be as true as it's being made out to be, but this seems a bit...off. If I were a manufacturer of a device and wanted help from open developers, I would be more prone to contact the developers directly rather than through an open forum. I read through this entire thread, and I hope it's all legit, but part of me believes one should proceed with extreme caution.
If the mp4 manufacturer is serious about using rockbox as their primary OS on their player, I hope that it is with understanding that they have absolutely no control over it unless they contribute to the project as it is NOT a "mp4" project.
If this is real, I will hold the manufacturers of this device as gods for bringing us something that many of us have been wanting out of all the other devices out there.
However, something tells me that there is something not quite right about the whole thing. I'd like to see some kind of confirmation of legitimacy from one or more developers.
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You know, I hate to be a negative nancy, and I'd like this to be as true as it's being made out to be, but this seems a bit...off. If I were a manufacturer of a device and wanted help from open developers, I would be more prone to contact the developers directly rather than through an open forum. I read through this entire thread, and I hope it's all legit, but part of me believes one should proceed with extreme caution.
Well, given that Rockbox is developed by people in the community and not a software company, forums posts and messages to the mailing lists are probably the only way to actually reach developers, short of individually contacting each one.
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I think this is the manufacturers website and if the prices are to be believed the 160 gig model is only a few quid dear than the 80gb ipod (In UK anyway)
http://www.portable.geek.nz/
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Can I just ask what the current status is of porting Rockbox to this player?
Is anyone actually working on it or is it a lost cause...
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I want to ask if any of the developers have access to an actual player, or was the work up to now based solely on the schematics and data provided by Eric Wong. I'm asking, because I might have a way of providing players to some key developers, if there is interest and if it will speed up developement.
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Tired of paltry drive space of other targets. 250GB works fine.
I'm now working on this (Hi-X6)
Under original firmware added ogg support/NTFS. (piddling)
Looking under the development tools for the OS
(Nucleous) older version similar to Iphone and working
on reversing this to see how the hardware functions and work
from there. It will be slow but we'll get there (I'm no programmer).
Tutorial after tutorial, I'm slow but sure ;D
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Awesome, let us know if we can provide any help with testing/whatever!
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I would love such a high capacity rockbox running player! Pardon me for asking, but how far has this port progressed?
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The datasheet for the tcc76x chips is available online now, if it helps a port to emerge.
http://www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=TCC76X
Chris
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as far as I am aware, the manufacturer isn't producing X8s anymore.........in my opinion, there may not be any point in porting Rockbox as only those who already own one of these CEC players (X8) would benefit. And there aren't many X8s in the market.
We are working on a new 2.5" HDD based pmp unit, I will post information in the forum when it is ready for Rockbox porting. :)
(it is still in the design, prototype stage..)