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Gigabeat flash conversion project

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scharkalvin:
Well I just bought a second Gigabeat player on ebay.
This one is an F10, and I intend to replace the hard disk
with a 16gb CF card.  I also ordered one of those CF flash
to Toshiba 1.8" disk drive converter adapters.  The only
problem may be figuring out which way to plug in the adapter
as those 50 pin connectors aren't keyed and you can end up
with the thing plugged in upside down.  The fact that the pinout
for the 50pin socket doesn't use 6 of the connections at one end
(it's really a 44 wire connection and a 50pin socket) might be
a clue if I can see how the ribbon cable on the player is setup.

I'll be back with more news on how this works out.  I'm sure I'll
have to modify the ata.c (or was that ide.c) file the same way that
was done for the ipod mini flash conversion.

Phalangees:
I suggest looking here: http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=13408.0

You may find some things that can help you out.

scharkalvin:
Thanks, I've seen that thread.  I got the F10 in the mail yesterday.  Although I've seen the web page on how to open the player up to get at the hard disk, I can't figure out how the top and bottom covers are removed.  I guess you just have to wedge a thin screwdriver or knife edge in there someplace and pop it off.  Anybody done this and can give me a hint?
Thanks!

As soon as I get the CF adapter I ordered I want to get to work on this.  Hopefully it will show up early next week (coming air mail from Hong Kong).  I hope it will fit in place of the hard disk, the F10 is thinner than I thought, but it's thicker than an iPod mini, and the type II flash drive in the mini looks like it's a bit thinner than the F10 hard disk should be.  I might have to shave the CF socket on the adapter card down a bit (if it's made to fit a type II card, I'm putting a type I sized CF card in).  

From everything I've read on the web this conversion should work, a 16GB flash based player the size of the Gigabeat F10 with a color screen running Rockbox should be a real iPod killer!

Mad Cow:
To get the top and bottom covers off, just stick something sharp into the crack at each side, then just pull up while going along the front to the other side.

scharkalvin:
I'm wondering.  Starting from scratch with the brand new Gigabeat player I could NOT get the player to appear as a USB disk (using Debian Linux) until I booted into the OF and changed the USB setting from MS Media player to Gigabeat room.  I'm assuming this enabled the USB storage mode.  It seems that the USB driver is NOT in the flash memory on the player but in the firmware, so if I start with a blank hard disk I might not be able to format it by plugging the player into the computer.

I might have to put the files on the CF card via an external reader/writer before I put the card into the adapter and the adapter into the player instead of the hard disk.
That's assuming that the file layout on the CF card is the same when the card is used in a USB/CF reader as it is as an ATA interfaced 'disk drive'.

Is the actual Gigabeat F boot loader sequence in the OF documented anywhere?
Does the original boot flash on the player even have a USB boot loader mode or is this in the OF and rockbox?

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