Having some issues installing...this is weird.

[ledhed2222]

To my knowledge, I did everything I was supposed to do.  However, I get this message when I boot up my iPod:

Loading Rockbox...
Error!
Can't load rockbox.ipod:
File not found

Despite my iPod's inability to find the file, I did nothing except unzip it straight onto the iPod.  This is what I did, I am running OSX 10.4.9:

First I reformatted the iPod to FAT32 by restoring it on Windows.
Plugged iPod back into Mac.
Next I unzipped Rockbox and the Font package onto my iPod.
(No, I didn't rename the file, I even manually named it /.rockbox).
I unmounted my iPod through DiskUtility.
I ran the bootloader.
I ejected my iPod.

Am I missing something here?  I couldn't have followed the directions more explicitly.  I'm more annoyed than anything else right now!!

[Llorean]

What exactly did you do when you "manually named it /.rockbox"?

That sounds like an extra step not in the directions to me. What folder, exactly, shows in the root of your iPod, and what files are in that folder?

[ledhed2222]

Well first I simply extracted it, without renaming it.  The extracted files showed up as a folder in iPod named "rockbox".  When Rockbox wouldn't run, I remembered that the folder was supposed to be named "/.rockbox" so I tried renaming it that.  That didn't work either.  I tried naming it ".rockbox" but OSX wouldn't let me.  No matter what I named the folder, no files ever showed up in it.  I extracted the .zip using a program called Zipeg (after Stuffit wouldn't work) to the following directory: /Volumes/THE MASTER  (THE MASTER is my iPod's name).

[Llorean]

If it created a folder called "rockbox" instead of ".rockbox", then your zip program is creating a folder named after the zip file. Some zip programs have this as the default behaviour, though it goes against the usual expectation from an archive utility. The fact that you saw no files in the "rockbox" folder was because files starting with a period are often considered hidden in OSX, and the "rockbox" folder had the proper ".rockbox" folder in it.

Until you can resolve the issues you're having with extraction and get the proper ".rockbox" folder into the root of your player, Rockbox is not going to work.

[ledhed2222]

Thanks a lot! What is a good extractor to use?

[ledhed2222]

Sorry, but I'm still having issues.  I got Stuffit to extract rockbox directly to my iPod, without creating a folder.  No files show up in my iPod and it still can't boot.  This is very frustrating!!!!

[Llorean]

You really need to figure out how to make your operating system display hidden files so that you can find what's going where. I'm not a MacOS user, so I can't tell you how, but I'm sure there's something in your documentation.

[GodEater]

You really need to figure out how to make your operating system display hidden files so that you can find what's going where. I'm not a MacOS user, so I can't tell you how, but I'm sure there's something in your documentation.

There's also at least four posts in this forum where people have explicitly stated how to turn this feature on in OSX.

[linuxstb]

You could also try the Rockbox Utility - it will download and unzip Rockbox for you:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxUtility

It's still in development, so is a little rough around the edges, but it works.

[knight4led]

Download a program called OnyX, that will allow you to turn on "show hidden files" and with that you can see if you have the properly extracted files or not.

As far as zip utilities on Mac, I generally use stuffit and it works fine. But there is also The Unarchiver which should work and coincidentally, the built in utility also seems to work just fine.

[GodEater]

I take it you're an OSX user then knight4led ?

Could you enlighten those of us who don't use it as to why so many of our Mac based brethren seem to find their zip utility creating a "rockbox" folder to put the ".rockbox" folder inside? Have you seen this yourself ?

[ledhed2222]

I got it, albiet by cheating a little.  I setup rockbox on a Windows machine.  Thanks!

[knight4led]

Yes I am a Mac OSX user.

One major issue I see that faces Mac users is hidden files. Mac will not allow you to create any file that is hidden unless you are authenticated as an admin user, which basically means that directly creating the .rockbox folder from the zip application without putting it in another folder is a major annoyance.

I avoid that problem altogether by using the Terminal which basically works just like any*NIX system.

-first things first I copy the zip of my build to the root of my iPod.
-Next I open the terminal and type cd ../../Volumes/NAME (where NAME is my iPod's name)
-third I type sudo rm -R .rockbox to get rid of the old .rockbox folder
-then I type unzip BUILDNAME.zip (where BUILDNAME is the filename)
-finally rm -BUILDNAME.zip
-then I close up terminal and I'm happy

I have a few other tricks up my sleeve though, one is that OnyX has an option to show hidden files and folders for objects in the dock, so when I connect my iPod I drag it into the dock, which allows me to long click on it and gain access to the .rockbox folder without having to open OnyX everytime and enable/disable view hidden files.

[Chronon]

I have had renaming issues in Windows too.  Though, not unzipping issues.  I have found, similarly, that doing it through the shell works for naming a folder ".rockbox".

[GodEater]

Indeed - Windows Explorer will not allow you to name files that start with a ".", though as you found, the command prompt has no such qualms.