5th gen 30gig ipod: changed usb behavior w/3.2 (edited)

[aboe]

Since upgrading to rockbox 3.2 there is some different behavior in the way my ipod interacts with my laptop (ubuntu) and media player (gmusicbrowser).  First of all, when I plug it in, ubuntu does not recognize it as an ipod drive in particular, but as a general hard drive.  This may not seem important, but previously I had, addition to the unmount option, the "eject" option as well.  And using the latter was the only way to get to rockbox's "it's now OK to safely disconnect the device" screen with the big green checkmark.  Indeed, the unmount option had no effect at all, and eject was the only way to unmount the ipod.  Now, since the eject option is gone I cannot get to that screen (although the computer now treats the device as unmounted). 

Secondly, when using gmusicbrowser to play music from my usb-connected ipod, it seems that the ipod's disk repeatedly starts to spin, causing a continual drain on the battery.  When I stop the music, the ipod begins to charge again.  With rockbox 3.1 my ipod would charge up while I played music from it with my computer with no apparent activity from the disk.

I read this "solved" post (http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=21004.15), and understood from it that if I reboot into the native ipod OS (by switching the hold switch on during a reboot) it will work around these problems.  I tried this, and while it solved the first problem, the issue with computer playback/charging remains the same.

On the bright side, the sleep feature seems to have significantly extended battery life.

Regards,
Bo

[gevaerts]

First of all, if you get the rockbox USB code, you're not using 3.2.

Rockbox does not have a safe-to-disconnect screen, just like most USB hard drives and flash devices don't have that. Do you have difficulties in disconnecting those?

The battery charging problem is known, and it's one of the reasons for the rockbox USB code not being enabled in 3.2.

[cool_walking_]

Rockbox does not have a safe-to-disconnect screen, just like most USB hard drives and flash devices don't have that.

In my experience, most devices with a physical screen do have such a screen.  If you are just saying that devices without physical screens don't have such messages, I don't see how that is relevant.

I think it could be done better in Rockbox though - I think instead of a non-functional screen, it would be nicer to just go back to normal operation (play music, etc.) and keep charging from USB.

[aboe]

Sorry, I'm not sure what it means to 'get the rockbox USB code'.  Is this the code that causes the ipod to be seen as a general drive and not an ipod drive specifically?  I downloaded and installed 3.2 yesterday (I unzipped the archive into the root directory and selected "overwrite existing files") and now I have access to the new features such as the timed sleep function.  How can it be that I'm not using 3.2?  

Before I installed 3.2 there was indeed a "safe to remove" screen which included a big green checkmark.  When I unplugged it, it automatically rebooted.  Now when I unmount, the computer treats it as unmounted, but the rockbox stays on the same screen.  Perhaps this green checkmark screen has been removed from 3.2?  I do notice that when I unplug the device now it does not reboot, but goes directly into the OS.  I general don't have problems unmounting any drives.  Since the computer treats it as unmounted, should I not worry about it?  

Does disabling the USB code allow the ipod to charge while playing music on a computer?  If it's already disabled in 3.2, why do I have this behavior?

Thank you

[soap]

The green checkmark was Apple's disk mode, not Rockbox's.
Rockbox releases (3.2) do not have USB mode enabled on iPods, they reboot into Apple's disk mode for USB (and thus charging as well).
The generic USB logo which does not change on disconnect is Rockbox's USB mode which, while enabled in current builds is not enabled in the stable release build (3.2).

[aboe]

I guess I was confused about the green checkmark screen because I only saw it when I was using rockbox.

"The green checkmark was Apple's disk mode, not Rockbox's.
Rockbox releases (3.2) do not have USB mode enabled on iPods, they reboot into Apple's disk mode for USB (and thus charging as well)." 

So then why do I not see the green checkmark any more?

"The generic USB logo which does not change on disconnect is Rockbox's USB mode which, while enabled in current builds is not enabled in the stable release build (3.2)."

I manually installed  rockbox-ipodvideo-3.2.zip after following the link "Rockbox 3.2 is released" on the Rockbox front page.  I still see the screen I am familiar with from before while USB is connected, however the behavior has changed as I mentioned.  So, is my installation incomplete? 

BTW, I also noticed that my computer now thinks the device is a Toshiba MK3008GAL.

[Chronon]

Toshiba MK3008GAL is the model of hard drive in your iPod. 

[GodEater]

I manually installed  rockbox-ipodvideo-3.2.zip after following the link "Rockbox 3.2 is released" on the Rockbox front page.  I still see the screen I am familiar with from before while USB is connected, however the behavior has changed as I mentioned.  So, is my installation incomplete? 

No, it's not incomplete - but the version you have installed does not have Rockbox's USB code in it.

If you *want* to use Rockbox's USB code, you need to install a current build (i.e. one which has appeared later than the 3.2 release which you are currently using.

[aboe]

What I want is to be able to connect my ipod to my computer and be able to play music while charging the battery.  I would prefer to keep using the 3.2 release which includes the sleep feature.  Is this possible?

GodEater, as far as the rockbox usb code or mode is concerned, I have no preference regarding it.  I did not bring up this code or mode in my original post, and didn't know anything about it.  But I am confused by the the discussion of it so far.  For instance, gevearts said that "The battery charging problem is known, and it's one of the reasons for the rockbox USB code not being enabled in 3.2."  Does this mean that not enabling the code fixes the problem?  If so, then why do I have the problem?  And soap said "Rockbox releases (3.2) do not have USB mode enabled on iPods, they reboot into Apple's disk mode for USB (and thus charging as well)."  But if Apple's disk mode includes the green checkmark screen, and rockbox's usb mode is "The generic USB logo which does not change on disconnect", then why do I see the generic USB logo which does not change on disconnect and not the green checkmark screen? 

EDIT:  Having mounted and unmounted the drive several times it seems to now be consistently going into the Apple disk mode (although the Rockbox/generic usb logo still flashes up for a second).  However, the problem of battery drain while using a media player remains.

[GodEater]

GodEater, as far as the rockbox usb code or mode is concerned, I have no preference regarding it.  I did not bring up this code or mode in my original post, and didn't know anything about it.

Yes you did :

And using the latter was the only way to get to rockbox's "it's now OK to safely disconnect the device" screen with the big green checkmark.

This implied that you thought you were using some feature of Rockbox - although as has been pointed out, you weren't - you were using Apple's disk mode.

As to what gevaerts said: Not using our USB code means you won't run into problems with our implementation of charging.  If you're still having problems with charging, you're having problems with them in code that is written and supplied by Apple. There is nothing we can do about it, and it suggests you may have issues with your battery.

You will always see the Rockbox USB logo briefly before the ipod is restarted in Apple's disk mode.

[soap]

To listen to music while charging via USB you need to press and hold the "Menu" button while inserting the USB cable.  This has not changed for a long time.

[aboe]

soap, as I said in my original post, "when using gmusicbrowser to play music from my usb-connected ipod, it seems that the ipod's disk repeatedly starts to spin, causing a continual drain on the battery.  When I stop the music, the ipod begins to charge again.  With rockbox 3.1 my ipod would charge up while I played music from it with my computer with no apparent activity from the disk."  I am not talking about listening to the Rockbox/ipod through the headphone jack.

And GodEater, I am not having problems with charging in general, only this one particular issue, and only immediately after installing 3.2.

[soap]

As everyone has already said - IF you are using 3.2, and not a current build you are still using Apple's disk mode - and thus Apple's charging mode.  I can assure you with great confidence their software has not changed.  I'm not sure it would even be possible for Rockbox to change a hardware register that would survive the reboot into disk mode.  Could someone confirm this?