How do I edit the Gigabeat Flashwriter to accept my checksum? Is it safe?

[blackbird]

I've looked around the bugtracker for rockbox, and I've noticed a very interesting patch for the Gigabeat Fs. It apparently flashes the flash memory so that it does not have to use Toshiba's factory bootloader. Many people, even people who have not followed development(ie. people who changed the code to accept foreign checksums) have attempted to use the writer, and for many, it works. IT seems like the success rate of the writer is very high, and i'd like to try it. However, I don't know how to edit the code to accept my "foreign" checksum, or how to get a checksium in the first place. Can someone help me(I know, I'm stupid).

Does anyone think this is safe, or at least safe enough to try?
http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/7505

[LambdaCalculus]

The Gigabeat flashwriter plugin is a patch which you must add into the source code yourself and then compile into a Rockbox build.

However, please note that you can still run a risk of bricking your device! Even well-tested code is not going to be 100% safe from failure.

See the WorkingWithPatches wiki page for info on how to use the patch. If you haven't compiled Rockbox code before, check out the HowToCompile and CrossCompiler pages for more information on how to build Rockbox from source.

Again... USE THE PATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.

[blackbird]

Hmm, is it really that complicated? I thought it was simply something that you could put into the plugin folder and use. I don't know if I'm capable of recompiling code.

[GodEater]

That would depend on your definition of "complicated" I suppose. Many people find that getting the rockbox code and compiling it isn't nearly as difficult as they imagine it to be once they actually try it. Then again there are those who never get the hang of it. If you fall into the latter group, then you're not techy enough to be messing with this patch in my opinion.

[BdN3504]

i tried compiling that patch, but i always get some file not found errors. I placed it in the root folder using "patch -p0 <". Do i have to place this patch somewhere else?

[GodEater]

When you get errors, and are looking for help with fixing them, it's really useful if you actually post the errors.

It's really hard to help otherwise.

[saratoga]

i tried compiling that patch, but i always get some file not found errors. I placed it in the root folder using "patch -p0 <". Do i have to place this patch somewhere else?

Which patch is this exactly?  The gigabeat flash writer isn't distributed as a patch . . .

[LambdaCalculus]

Which patch is this exactly?  The gigabeat flash writer isn't distributed as a patch . . .

The original poster was talking about FS#7505, and BdN3504 was referring to that.

[BdN3504]

Ok so first give you my setup:
i am running the old vmware Debian GNU/Linux provided on the wiki, have installed the crosscompiler and was also able to enable the tool window which let's me copy and paste from windows directly to start up with the vm.
now the first thing i do, when i started it up i cd to rockbox and do a svn update. i now have updated to revision 21883. now i downloaded the gigabeat_flash.c file provided by tom ross to the rockbox folder.
now when i normally download a patch and compile it with the svn i simply do the patch command like i mentioned above. But what puzzles me with this plugin is that it's extension is c as in a normal programme, not a standard rockbox patch or diff file. so why should patch create something usable with such a file? maybe you could elaborate on that...
so i now try
patch -p0 < gigabeat_flash.c
and get this output:
patch: **** Only garbage was found in the patch input.
that's because of what i already mentioned i guess, ...flash.c being c and not patch or diff. So logically what i want to do now is simply compile that file using gcc right?
so now i try
gcc -o flasher gigabeat_flash.c
and get this output.
am i using gcc wrong? i thought the "-o flasher" option directs the output into the file flasher and gigabeat_flash.c is the input. did i miss something here?
hm putting that c file into apps/plugins and then compiling a normal build didn't create any errors for the first time, but there also is not a sign of an application in the folder where i "make"'d that build. how do i access it?

[saratoga]

now when i normally download a patch and compile it with the svn i simply do the patch command like i mentioned above. But what puzzles me with this plugin is that it's extension is c as in a normal programme, not a standard rockbox patch or diff file.

Yes as I said above the flash writer is not a patch, so you cannot use patch to install it.  Instead you'll have to put it in your plugins folder, and add an entry to the SOURCES file in the plugins folder so that it is compiled. 

gcc -o flasher gigabeat_flash.c
and get this output.
am i using gcc wrong?

For future reference, you cannot compile programs for your mp3 player using the x86 linux compiler since the CPU and operating system are different.  If you want to compile them with gcc outside of rockbox, the command would be arm-elf-gcc, but that still will not work in this case since plugins cannot be compiled alone since they link large parts of the rockbox code. 

[BdN3504]

For future reference, you cannot compile programs for your mp3 player using the x86 linux compiler since the CPU and operating system are different.  If you want to compile them with gcc outside of rockbox, the command would be arm-elf-gcc, but that still will not work in this case since plugins cannot be compiled alone since they link large parts of the rockbox code.

silly me! I'm sorry that i was too dumb to find this out on my own.
wow! i don't know what i have done differently than the last time i used this method, but i now have three gigabeat_flash files in my plugins folder.
now do i have to "make zip" and then i use this plugin on-target, or how does it work?
i didn't ifdef the rtc part that is mentioned on the tracker, because i only wanted to know if compiling finally works. Do i have to redo the procedure including that step or will it also work without that part?

Please don't stop helping me, now that i'm so close to succeeding!

OK, this plugin is pretty self explaining, except it's not shown in apps... thanks for the help.

[blackbird]

So how does this work? You just stick the file into the plugins folder? How do I add my gigabeat's checksum to the plugin?

[Chronon]

It will be built along with the other plugins when you do as saratoga said.  It's probably best to see if it's recognized or not and submit your info if it isn't.  Otherwise you'll have to edit the source to accept your checksum.

[blackbird]

Sorry for being so stupid, but do I simply put the gigabeat_flash textfile into the apps folder(there is no plugins folder)? I don't really know how to follow the instructions, as there is also no "sources" file. Please help me.

[saratoga]

Sorry for being so stupid, but do I simply put the gigabeat_flash textfile into the apps folder(there is no plugins folder)?

The plugins folder is in apps.  Remember you can always find files using the "find" option in your operating system.