Rockbox Bootloader

[d3nn1as]

I'm a basic coder RB/VB/PHP and all of those languages, i know the c language as it's reminds me of php and pawn.

I own a sansa player, so for a challenge i decided to get familiar with the rockbox code (at least a part of it) and learn C at the same time.

I was wondering, is there a possibility that my attempts to play around with the code and running it on my sansa will permanently brick the device (so there is no possibility to use the recovery mode).

Im trying to write a multi-bootloader which will enable me to have multiply copies of rockbox installed, and let me choose which one to load on startup.

But i'm also wondering if the same thing can happen if i play around with the rockbox source code (not the bootloader).

[saratoga]

You can't brick the sansa just from putting bad code on it.  Doing that will always leave you with a working recovery mode.  Once in recovery mode, you can put any software back on,

HOWEVER

If you put bad software on in recovery mode, yes you can brick your sansa, or at least damage it to the point where it's extremely difficult to repair.  Take a look at the unbrick instructions linked from the Sansa page on the Wiki to get an idea.  As long as you follow those and don't do anything silly in recovery mode, you should be completely safe.

[d3nn1as]

You can't brick the sansa just from putting bad code on it.  Doing that will always leave you with a working recovery mode.  Once in recovery mode, you can put any software back on,

HOWEVER

If you put bad software on in recovery mode, yes you can brick your sansa, or at least damage it to the point where it's extremely difficult to repair.  Take a look at the unbrick instructions linked from the Sansa page on the Wiki to get an idea.  As long as you follow those and don't do anything silly in recovery mode, you should be completely safe.

Thank you for your responce, just what i wanted to hear!

I succeeded to write a small test application, a plugin to see if i have written the menu part right.

Is there a way to compile just this plugin, and not the whole system?

[digerati1338]

when you configure select bootloader instead of normal.  after you run make, you are done.  there is no need for make zip or make install.

Be careful because I know there were some recent modifications to the bootloader code in SVN and I'm not sure if it is stable yet.  

[d3nn1as]

when you configure select bootloader instead of normal.  after you run make, you are done.  there is no need for make zip or make install.

Be careful because I know there were some recent modifications to the bootloader code in SVN and I'm not sure if it is stable yet.  

I have written and compiled the bootloader now,  how do i install it?

[saratoga]

when you configure select bootloader instead of normal.  after you run make, you are done.  there is no need for make zip or make install.

Be careful because I know there were some recent modifications to the bootloader code in SVN and I'm not sure if it is stable yet.  

I have written and compiled the bootloader now,  how do i install it?

The normal bootloader install tool has an option to install custom bootloaders.  However, you mentioned a plugin, which shoulnd't require updating the bootloader.  Did you actually write a plugin or just modify the bootloader?

[d3nn1as]

when you configure select bootloader instead of normal.  after you run make, you are done.  there is no need for make zip or make install.

Be careful because I know there were some recent modifications to the bootloader code in SVN and I'm not sure if it is stable yet.  

I have written and compiled the bootloader now,  how do i install it?

The normal bootloader install tool has an option to install custom bootloaders.  However, you mentioned a plugin, which shoulnd't require updating the bootloader.  Did you actually write a plugin or just modify the bootloader?

I wrote a test plugin, but i couldn't compile it. Then i wrote a custom bootloader which compiled without any problems.

I'm using a sansa e250 player, and i have been looking through the wiki (about the sansapatcher) but i couldn't find any info about it that actually worked.

Do you got a url to the right wiki page?

Also, how do i compile a plugin without compiling the whole rockbox source code?

[d3nn1as]

My fault, i found the page in the wiki (sansapatcher.exe -a :/PP5022.mi4)

Succeeded to compile and install the bootloader

Thank you for your help!