Rockbox Development > New Ports
Sony NW-A80X/NWZ-81X Port
SvendTorgersen:
I have been looking into getting something else than Sony's firmware into this one, and it doesn't look impossible.
My reason, since I own the NW-A808, is to get support for MTP/UMS and hopefully Rockbox.
The players:
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProductCategory.action?site=odw_en_GB&category=NWS+A+Series
The players run on a modified Linux 2.6.10 kernel on a FAT filesystem, the kernel and the tools used for creating the old firmware kan be found here:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/Download/NW-A808_NW-A808_S_NW-A806_NW-A805_20070829.html
The player service manual can be found here:
http://stashbox.org/62685/NW-A805.zip
This manual is overwhelmingly detailed given that it is a service manual and gives a lot of information about the players hardware.
I have used some hours digging up info about the components in the player:
CPU:
The CPU used is a NEC MP201which runs the filesystem. It actually consists of an ARM CPU, with a DSP and some more stuff in the same package.
http://www.necel.com/application_processor/en/product_mp201_3.html
http://forum.mp3store.pl/lofiversion/index.php?t20249.html
USB2.0 Host - Seiko Epson S1R72V17 :
I have requested more info from epson about this chip.
http://www.epson.jp/device/semicon_e/product/interface/index.htm
I have also collected data sheets about some other ICs in the player and downloaded the data sheets.
Does anyone know if it is impossible (or hard) to port Rockbox to this player, and if so, why?
I appreciate all feedback:)
LambdaCalculus:
It's hard to say "hard" or "impossible" when it comes to starting a new port. What it takes is someone who owns the hardware, wants to start a port, and is willing to get their hands dirty.
Here's a page with some information that you should read: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/NewPort
Since you're getting information on the device, that's an excellent start. But the best place for that info is the wiki. Start by going to the main page of the wiki and typing a page name in the search bar; in this case, try typing "SonyNWA808Port" into the bar. The wiki will say the page isn't found and ask if you want to create the page; choose yes. Then edit away at your new wiki page.
What to put on the wiki page? Images, info, datasheets (if you can!), and basically anything that'll help you start the port.
Good luck with this!
Halloway:
As I am about to take delivery of a NWZ-A815 I thought I'd take some interest in this port. I have to confess that I know very little about electronics although I have some experience with assembler and cracking software, (admittedly 15 years ago!). So I am at the bottom of a long and very steep learning curve but I'll try and chip in where I can. I am a technical author by trade so at least I might be able to produce a nice manual if nothing else...
I have been playing around with the NW-A80x firmware update application. I have no idea if any of this is useful but I discovered the following information about the firmware update process:
Running the update application NW-A800_V1_03.exe causes a directory to be created: C:\Documents and Settings\peter\Local Settings\Temp\pft35E.tmp
This folder contains the following files:
Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\peter\Local Settings\Temp\pft35E.tmp
03/02/2008 15:13 .
03/02/2008 15:13 ..
10/01/2007 10:12 114,688 FWUpdater.exe
10/01/2007 10:12 110,592 FWUpdaterCom.dll
10/01/2007 10:12 114,688 FWUpdaterRes.dll
29/08/2005 18:52 2,998 license_cs.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 3,033 license_ct.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 5,939 license_en.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 6,397 license_fr.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 5,915 license_ge.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 6,493 license_it.txt
18/05/2006 15:22 3,470 license_jp.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 4,250 license_ko.txt
29/08/2005 18:52 5,865 license_sp.txt
18/05/2006 15:22 7,408 license_us.txt
04/09/2007 13:14 1,080 nwa80x.ini
04/09/2007 13:14 512 NW_A805-2G.PBR
04/09/2007 13:14 512 NW_A806-4G.PBR
04/09/2007 13:14 512 NW_A808-8G.PBR
04/09/2007 13:14 11,001,944 NW_A80X.UPG
18 File(s) 11,396,296 bytes
2 Dir(s) 2,186,571,776 bytes free
NW_A80X.UPG seems to be the actual data file used for the upgrade. I have no idea whether it is encrypted or not, nor whether or not it is a complete firmware image.
NW_A80*.PBR contains device specific update data, including an error message and is referenced by nwa80x.ini.
nwa80x.ini contains the following data:
[PAC_FWUpdater]
Target=NW-A80X
Comment=NW-A80X Firmware Update
;
; NW-A805: 2G Bytes model
;
[DEVICE00]
DeviceName=NW-A805
ProductInfo=WALKMAN
ClassifyType=4
DevicePropertyProductInfo=NW-A805
SubIdentification=00000000
CommandType=0
Signature=dbmn
Version00=1.03
FWPackage00=NW_A80X.UPG
FWPackageWritePathName=\NW_A80X.UPG
StorageMediaFormatType=0
PBRFile=NW_A805-2G.PBR
Timer=1:40
;
; NW-A806: 4G Bytes model
;
[DEVICE01]
DeviceName=NW-A806
ProductInfo=WALKMAN
ClassifyType=4
DevicePropertyProductInfo=NW-A806
SubIdentification=00000000
CommandType=0
Signature=dbmn
Version00=1.03
FWPackage00=NW_A80X.UPG
FWPackageWritePathName=\NW_A80X.UPG
StorageMediaFormatType=0
PBRFile=NW_A806-4G.PBR
Timer=1:40
;
; NW-A808: 8G Bytes model
;
[DEVICE02]
DeviceName=NW-A808
ProductInfo=WALKMAN
ClassifyType=4
DevicePropertyProductInfo=NW-A808
SubIdentification=00000000
CommandType=0
Signature=dbmn
Version00=1.03
FWPackage00=NW_A80X.UPG
FWPackageWritePathName=\NW_A80X.UPG
StorageMediaFormatType=0
PBRFile=NW_A808-8G.PBR
Timer=1:40
-------------------------------------
Would it be worth trying to find out more about the firmware file? Let me know if you want me to upload any of the files above to a common location.
Best regards,
Pete
SvendTorgersen:
I'm happy for all you can do. Have been reading about the boot loader (u-boot 1.1.1) and still need to figure out how the firmware is upgraded, is it after the original linux kernel has booted up, or are firmware upgrades done through the boot loader. I've seen in one of the firmware files that mkdosfs is run, on what memory address does the FAT32 filesystem start? What is the memory adress of the linux kernel? I'd appreciate any info like that.
More info on the MP201 processor from NEC is especially needed, can't find documentation anywhere:)
Bagder:
u-boot!
u-boot is GPL licensed, you should immediately ask Sony for the full source code they used to build it.
Of course there's also the remote possibility that they already provide the source...
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