Installation / Removal > Sandisk - Installation/Removal

Another newbie who can't install Rockbox on their e250

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phpeters87:
I've read the somewhat convuluted instructions and have spent the last 2 hours trying to get this firmware to work.

The install instructions obviously aren't of any help on the rockbox site.

Anyone have any instructions that are written for everyday user's and not for geeks and coders?

Thanks.

1) Do I run the "Sansapatcher"?
2) Do I unzip the "Rockbox.zip" file to the root of the e250?
3) What about Themes? How do I Install those cool looking ones?
4) Why can't I play my MP3's with Rockobx installed?
5) Why can't I change the fon't so I don't need a microscope to read it?
6) Why am I wasting my time with this lame-ass program and it's ill-designed installer?

Thanks again.

Apologies for my tone, but I've spent the last 3 nights after work trying to get this firmware installed and working correctly, and the install instructions on the site are not helpful.

Anywhere are they written so an average person can understand and use them?

Llorean:
What install instructions are you referring to?

Hundreds of "average persons" have had no problem following the instructions written in the PDF manual. Is that what you're trying to use? If so, what parts of it specifically are confusing, so that we can attempt to improve them (this means, please tell us what's confusing about the part, and we can tell you what that part is trying to tell you to do).

phpeters87:
I've mentioned 5 different items above.

Do I run the Sanspatcher?
Do I unzip the Rockbox.zip file to the Root of the player?
How do I use the various "Themes"?
How do I use different Fonts? The default one's are tiny.
How do I get my MP3's to play? I get some text stating something about "unable to resume"

I can reload and go step by step, but I've done it a dozen times and it's late and am not about to do it again right now, espeically after the "undefined" message on my e250 screen which left me with a black screen, a blue wheel, and a locked up player.

I had to remove the battery, reinstall the battery, run the Sanspatcher to Uninstall the Rockbox firmware to bring it back to life.

Again, If people want to have the "I'm too cool to help you" and "RTFM" attitude, then don't bother responding unless you are willing to help.

If someone wrote install instructions like that on a job interview, I would not hire that person.

Long, long ago, I worked as a QA engineer. Not a "game tester" but a QA tester for a company that put out medical patient tracking software.

When I wrote bugs, they were often 20-30 steps and easily recreatable by everyone who read them, even by people who had never seen the application before.

Example of how I would write bugs:
1) Right mouse click the "example.zip" file
2) From the resulting context menu, select "Extract to..."
3) Extract zip file contents to the destination directory described in test case 1.1
4) Upon completion of decompressing file, navigate to the destination directory and open the folder named "XXXXX" that was previously unzipped in step 3 above
5) Double click the file named "XXXX.XXX' and follow the default prompts and install the application to the default directory.
6) Upon completion of installation of the application, wait for the reboot prompt to be displayed on screen
7) When the onscreen dialog is displayed  prompting the user to reboot their system...etc....

THAT is how instructions are written, not what is written on this site, which is convoluted, unclear and I would not hire the person who wrote the instructions because their written communication skills are terrible.

Could you imagine reading and trying to regress 50 bugs that they wrote?

So please, if you can't contribute positively to this thread, don't contribute at all.

Again, apologies for my tone, but the poorly written instructions have left me with a nearly bricked player and night and night of frustration.

Thank You

BTW, there are at least 3 or 4 posts on the first page alone from users confused on how to install Rockbox on their player, despite reading the instructions, so either the instructions are not that clearly written, or there are a lot of stupid people here who can't read and follow instructions.

Llorean:
Now you stop right there and listen to me:

I TRIED to contribute. I asked very specific questions, which you did NOT answer: One question was which step was confusing. You never told me. You instead assumed I hadn't read the above.

We can't write it 1, 2, 3 as you've posted because we can't know what operating system our user will be using, nor any changes they've made to their setup.

Instead we tried to write instructions that make sense to most people. Considering the hundreds of people who've followed them without problem, perhaps you should take a step back, calm down, and start again.

What step is the first one that confuses you, and what confuses you about the way it's written? I can help you, but you need to tell me how far you've gotten, and which installation process you're trying to follow (manual or automatic).

As someone who was once a QA tester, SURELY you know the value of actually giving feedback on specific details of the problem. We can't fix the manual if you simply say "It's bad, but I refuse to tell you how other than it's too confusing for me", especially given that we have some 10,000+ users who disagree with you, and it's clear that in writing it we thought it was good enough, so we clearly can't psychically tell what specific parts of it are giving you problems.

In response to your questions listed above:

Do I run the Sanspatcher?
 I don't know, which install process are you trying to use?

Do I unzip the Rockbox.zip file to the Root of the player?
 I don't know, which install process are you trying to use?

How do I use the various "Themes"?
 I don't know, which method of installing them are you trying to use?

How do I use different Fonts? The default one's are tiny.
How do you know the default one's tiny, since you haven't installed Rockbox? If you have, have you installed the font package, and if so, did you try simply using the "Fonts" option in the Theme Settings menu?

How do I get my MP3's to play? I get some text stating something about "unable to resume"
Please, look at the controls. The "Play/Pause" button RESUMES playback. Click the center ("Select") button on your song. Again, as the manual says. I really don't think the portions of the manual describing controls could've been too complicated, they're just basic tables listing the buttons and what they do...

And in response to your "lots of posts on the front page" statement, the VAST majority of those, if you read them, come from the tools being unable to automatically detect their player, not something we can write instructions to circumvent because it's a failing in the software, not the user.

Febs:

--- Quote from: phpeters87 on December 04, 2007, 12:44:57 AM ---1) Do I run the "Sansapatcher"?
--- End quote ---

From the Manual:


--- Quote ---There are two ways of installing Rockbox: automated and manual. While the manual way is older, more tested and proven to work correctly, the automated installation is based on a nice graphical application that does almost everything that’s needed for you. It is still important that you have an overview of the installation process to be able to select the correct installation options.
--- End quote ---

If you choose the automatic installation, then you do not need to run Sansapatcher manually:


--- Quote ---To automatically install Rockbox download the official installer and housekeeping tool Rockbox Utility. It allows you to

    * Automatically install all needed components for using Rockbox (“Small Installation”)
    * Automatically install all suggested components (“Full Installation”)
    * Selectively install any of all available parts of Rockbox
    * Install additional themes interactively
    * Install voice files and generate talk clips
    * Uninstall all components you installed using Rockbox Utility
--- End quote ---

There is a link to the installer in the manual immediately under this paragraph.

If you choose to install manually, then you do need to run Sansapatcher manually:


--- Quote ---In order to make your e200 load and execute the Rockbox firmware you have just installed, you will need to install the Rockbox bootloader. Unless bugs are found in the bootloader code, or significant new feature are added, you will only have to perform this step once.

These steps use the sansapatcher tool.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---2) Do I unzip the "Rockbox.zip" file to the root of the e250?
--- End quote ---

Again, from the Manual:


--- Quote ---   3.

      Note that the entire contents of the .zip file should be extracted directly to the root of your player’s drive. Do not try to create a separate directory or folder on your player for the Rockbox files! The .zip file already contains the internal directory structure that Rockbox needs.

Note: If the contents of the .zip file are extracted correctly, you will have a folder called /.rockbox, which contains all the files needed by Rockbox, in the main folder of your player’s drive. If you receive a “-1” error when you start Rockbox, you have not extracted the contents of the .zip file to the proper location.
--- End quote ---

This plainly answers your question.  In fact, I do not know how it possibly could be made any more clear.


--- Quote ---3) What about Themes? How do I Install those cool looking ones?
--- End quote ---

Read my answer to your question number 1 and then take a look at Chapter 8 of the Manual.


--- Quote ---4) Why can't I play my MP3's with Rockobx installed?
--- End quote ---

Do you have them in the hidden music folder?  If so, either put them somewhere else, or change your "Show files" setting to "all" so that you can see the hidden folder.


--- Quote ---5) Why can't I change the fon't so I don't need a microscope to read it?
--- End quote ---

You can, but we hid this valuable information under the heading "Installing the fonts package" so that all but the most clever users would be unable to find it.   ::)

Seriously, did you read the "Installing the fonts package" section of the installation instructions?  Did you install the fonts package?  This is the type of information that would help us to help you.  For information on how to use fonts, and other information about themes, read Chapter 8 of the Manual.


--- Quote ---6) Why am I wasting my time with this lame-ass program and it's ill-designed installer?
--- End quote ---

Did you even try the installer?  From what I've read, you seem to be following the instructions for manual installation rather than using the automatic installer.  If you are using the installer, then it would have been helpful for you to say so rather than wasting your time with gratuitous insults.


--- Quote ---Apologies for my tone, but I've spent the last 3 nights after work trying to get this firmware installed and working correctly, and the install instructions on the site are not helpful.
--- End quote ---

They are if you read them.  But if you believe they could be improved, we always happily accept constructive suggestions.  But I strongly suggest that you lose the attitude if you want to continue to post here and receive our help.

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