Battery wasting

[mickmos]

After installing rockbox about a month ago i was amazed at the great features you guys have put in. But since i have been using it i have noticed that my batteries only last about half as long as they would if i was using the original OS. Is there any way to make rockbox use less batteries because im thinking of taking it off(although i wish i didn't have to)

[scorche]

I assume you are on a PortalPlayer device?  As has been said before, this is due to our lack of understanding of the PP chips.  Sadly, this is the sort of thing that happens when companies hide all relevant data from you...

There are changes that you can make to squeeze a bit more battery out of the device: Don't skip songs so much, change to a more efficient codec, minimize backlight time, etc.  But, sadly, as of right now, there is much that can be done besides that.  Unless you have a PP datasheet of course.  

[mickmos]

does this mean ipod linux has the same problem?

[soap]

Yes it does, though you won't notice it because you will be unable to stand using IPL for more than a few hours anyway.  

[TexasRockbox]

Nvidia now owns Portal Player.  What would it take to get a data sheet for the iPod 5.5g Portal Player chip?  Buying an SDK for the chip or is the chip proprietary to Apple and not available at any price.  I would suspect that third-party vendors for the 5.5g player accessories wouold have access to the Portal Player information.

[AlexP]

Even if you get one I very much doubt you would be able to release open source code written using it.

[TexasRockbox]

Here's a place to register as a developer at nvidia: http://nvdeveloper.nvidia.com/content/developerapplication/application.asp?handsetdevice=true

May be not agreeable to the group but if the rockbox code for the 5.5g Rockbox was closed and the FDK distributed to the main rockbox developers with an NDA would that satisfy the requirements for Nvidia?  Might be a way to forge ahead.

[AlexP]

Rockbox is GPL.  The code is open and must remain so.  No proprietry/closed source code will/can get into Rockbox.

If you can get the datasheets (even under a NDA), for them to be useful you must be able to write open source code from them.

[saratoga]

Try it and see what terms they offer you.

[soap]

I would suspect that third-party vendors for the 5.5g player accessories wouold have access to the Portal Player information.

I believe you will find that to be a poor assumption.  Accessory makers need to know little outside Apple's serial accessory protocol, as they are working at least one layer of abstraction away from the PP hardware.

[TexasRockbox]

Try it and see what terms they offer you.

Has it been tried before and with the results being doors slammed in the face?

[scorche]

Has it been tried before and with the results being doors slammed in the face?

Yes, and they haven't even afforded us the dignity of a response.  Feel free to continue to bug them though.  

[saratoga]

Has it been tried before and with the results being doors slammed in the face?

Yes, and they haven't even afforded us the dignity of a response.  Feel free to continue to bug them though.  

I don't think anyone tried that link.  At least not that I know of.  Might be worth filling out the "student" option and seeing if they'd give you any materials under acceptable terms.  Probably a long shot though.  I don't think Nvidia really cares if people develop for the old PP chips, since they're all but discontinued.  

[scorche]

/me thought you were talking about email.

[TexasRockbox]

Not email.  I'm not a student but I would think we would not want to flood nvidia with Rockbox submissions.  I could try it but I'm not a student and other "oldtimers" to Rockbox may be better at filling out the partiulars.  Maybe a well worded submission might get a response: i.e. we have our working Rockbox firmware under a GPL and has x-number of installations. We would like to take this Rockbox firmware to the next level and work on battery consumption and implementation of options.  Thank you for your time and consideration.  The developer with the most number of years experience with Rockbox could submit it.