Rockbox as an Application (Android, WebOS etc.)

[Jon_]

Edit:  Deleted a lot of stuff.


This is the thread for Rockbox as an Application on various devices:

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/AndroidPort

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/RockboxAsAnApplication2010

[coolmak]

so guys....the google project to work on rockbox as an application is exactly what is needed to start it from android.

http://www.anddev.org/native_c_-und-quothello_world-und-quot_working_in_emulator-t61.html

but thats only console.....we need to start a real C application..

i have read a book about android development the past 3 weeks and there is one problem i am not sure about....android boots to "activities" which use "views" for displaying the gui...if we want rockbox to run on android some way then we need to quit the java gui, start the native rockbox application and if quiting rockbox we need to start the java gui again. rockbox needs to take over control over the screen and later release it again. ah and btw there maybe should be a way to still receive calls/sms/mms while rockbox is on...so there should be a way from the outside to trigger this switch.

the vendors of the android handsets have to write drivers for the linux kernel in a standardized way because the dalvik virtual machine would always perform the same calls to the linux kernel.....the vendors themselves have to compile the dalvik virtual machine and everything underlying fresh so it works on the cpu architecture....it would be crazy if they now still would use custom hacks to make something working after google removed the constraint to develop an OS...they only have to create support in the linuxkernel - and the main git tree is at android.git.kernel.org ..... and thats damn great. i think vendors will concentrate on provider the drivers for sensors/gps/touchscreen/whatever ....

what does this mean for rockbox? rockbox as an application for android would mean:

1) it needs to be compiled for every supported android device as they might use a different cpu architecture (but thats the same for all other devices as well)
2) the drivers for the sensors/gps/whatever i think will be standardized....if rockbox would be ported once to run as an application on unix/linux OS then i think it would be relatively easy to  get a different smartphone supported....probably again only a recompile?


i plan to buy an android phone as soon as there are some smaller formfactors available...for now i want to write some small android apps / android games with the help of the emulator.....i guess that will be enough to give you reliable advice soon...and maybe i can help later when i digged deeper in this issue.

[mcuelenaere]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but Google/Android is planning to support native applications (google 'Android NDK').

[coolmak]

well, that would be even better.

http://groups.google.com/group/android-framework/browse_thread/thread/af52cf9740f694f6/c704d0a0548f0909?lnk=gst&q=ndk#c704d0a0548f0909

again rockbox running as an application would be the key then.

[coolmak]

first release of android ndk!

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/06/introducing-android-15-ndk-release-1.html

so.....first step done. now we need rockbox as an application. i know there was this summer of code project....but i think it got rejected by google?

are there still any efforts to make rockbox work as an application?

[Chronon]

There's still interest, but I think people have been busy with other things.  If you want to see this port this would be a good thing for you to investigate.

[saratoga]

You could start by trying to get the rockbox simulator to run on Android.

[Llorean]

Please don't fill this section with "I would like it too" posts. Keep it to work actually being done.

[ti.teg.tnod.I]

I know this should be in new ports however the topic seems pretty dead.

Ubuntu 10.04 now supports direct access to the iPod Touch hard drive! Now I know rockbox is already on a few touch screen media players so I was wondering if anyone had any motivation to port rockbox to the iPod touch.

I would help out as much as I can but I know little about rockbox and little about compiling code for the iPod Touch.

I, and many other people would really appreciate being able to run rockbox on the iPod Touch! The iPod Touch doesn't support Ogg Vorbis (Which still 99% of my library is), and I would absolutely LOVE to have Rockbox on my iPod Touch .

I really hope someone considers this as it would make so many people happy as Ogg Vorbis is a heavily used codec and considering there is no way to play it on the iPod Touch at the moment (Besides the VERY buggy VLC port) you would be doing a great service to even begin an iPod Touch port!

(If this needs to be moved please move it to New Ports or merge the topics, thanks)

[karashata]

Please see here. There has been discussion of how to *possibly* approach Rockbox on iPod touch devices, though any actual development down that route is, as far as I know, very limited if not nonexistent.

[Chronon]

Rockbox as an application is probably the best way to make that happen on the Touch.  This is one of this year's GSoC projects.
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/RockboxAsAnApplication2010

==========

I merged the iPod Touch capability topic in Feature Ideas with the existing iPhone/iPod Touch topic in the New Ports forum because it isn't really an idea for a new feature.

[ti.teg.tnod.I]

Rockbox as an application is probably the best way to make that happen on the Touch.  This is one of this year's GSoC projects.
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/RockboxAsAnApplication2010

==========

I merged the iPod Touch capability topic in Feature Ideas with the existing iPhone/iPod Touch topic in the New Ports forum because it isn't really an idea for a new feature.

Thank you I'll follow that project.

[boss134]

By Open iBoot someone ran on iPad,iPod and iPhone Android (as other os not like virtual machine!) so i thik it would be possible to run Rockbox OS
http://www.idroidproject.org/wiki/Openiboot
Open iBoot on iDroid Wiki (Android on iPhone)

[saratoga]

I don't think theres any interest in booting rockbox on those devices, since it would mean disabling phone, internet, etc.

Most people have been interested in running rockbox as an application on them, in which case you don't need a bootloader.

[Davide-NYC]

Someone please take a look at WebOS.
Particularly the "PDK" http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=1936
Native C/C++ and SDL, ready to go.

If I understand correctly there is work being done on an SDL port to ultimately bring Rockbox as an Application to life.
I suspect (caveat: I'm not a developer) that WebOS would be a very easy target to write for.

Please discuss.