Status of RockBox C250v2

[ScottMartin]

Is there a status page of the current status of C200V2 (ie, playback does not yet exist)

I have seen mention that version:
rockbox-sansac200v2-20100114.zip does allow playback.

It was also mentioned that the current version does not provide playback at this time.

Does anyone have the older version mentioned above that I could download?

Regards,
Scott.

[saratoga]

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

You can make any revision you like by checking out and compiling, but as I told you before, playback doesn't work, and using old builds won't fix that. 

[ScottMartin]

Thanks.

I was not trying to  dismiss your comments, but another user mentioned that they indeed have playback on an older version and that when they upgraded to the latest version, they lost playback.

I was just curious if this was the case.

Also, I see the comments for the page you provided does mention that playback is available?

Regards,
Scott.

[yapper]

Playback may work to some extent, but as summarized on the front page (http://www.rockbox.org/) the c200v2 isn't even currently considered "unstable", let alone "stable".

[ScottMartin]

OK.

[saratoga]

Thanks.

I was not trying to  dismiss your comments, but another user mentioned that they indeed have playback on an older version and that when they upgraded to the latest version, they lost playback.

They are wrong.

Also, I see the comments for the page you provided does mention that playback is available?

"Clip/c200v2/m200v4: Playback & recording crashes (infrequent on Clip, frequent on others), recording is completely disabled."

If thats unclear, feel free to improve it.  The wiki is editable by the public.

[fratermus]

They are wrong.

If you are saying my report is counterfactual:   I am willing to send video of it --

A:   not playing any files on the most recent daily build, and
B:   playing at least one complete file on a prior build

That was my claim;  it is proveable and reproduceable on my c200v2.

[Llorean]

You yourself said that playback doesn't continue onto the second file, which fits with his statement that playback still crashes.

The fact that one build is apparently capable of completing some files (depending on the file, most likely) does not prove that playback works - once playback consistently doesn't fail at any point you can start claiming such.

[saratoga]

The crash on the c200v2 is probably just due to how handles line up with the edge of the ring buffer in each build.  I think each build should be stable for some subset of files that align in some way, and unstable for others.  I doubt specific builds are any better or worse then one another. 

[ScottMartin]

If you are saying my report is counterfactual:

In the 25+ years I have been a software developer and IT manager, you will surprised how many times I run into this from people who can write some code.

Thanks for the file.

Regards,
Scott.

[fratermus]

B.N.  In the spirit of accurate information I will take another swipe at it.  I hope that this clarification has some value for users or developers. 

The fact that one build is apparently capable of completing some files (depending on the file, most likely) does not prove that playback works - once playback consistently doesn't fail at any point you can start claiming such.

That is something of a straw man.  I tried several builds last week.  All of them played any 1 file I chose to play.


It might be productive to revisit what it is that I am, and have been, claiming.  Here it is:

I could play an mp3 file reliably under a prior build but not at all under today's build.  There is something in today's build that breaks, or continues to break, what little playback functionality existed in a prior build.

A more specific version might look like this: 

I can play any given mp3 file exactly once, reliably, under r24225-100113 but not at all under r24302-100120.   There is something in r24302 that breaks, or continues to break, what little playback functionality existed in r24225.

It does appear that any MP3 will play (all those I've tried) as long as it's tried first after reboot (ie, no other file has been played). 

The failure to play the subsequent file has these symptoms:
* the new file's info is loaded to the UI (name, length, etc).  I have not checked the accuracy of the length but I think it was right.
* the audio never starts
* the timer never advances beyond 0:00. 
* the UI remains responsive.  It is possible to navigate all over and interact with Rockbox but the 2nd file will not play.

On the current build the failure to play the 1st file looks /exactly/ like the failure to play the 2nd file on the earlier build.  Same symptoms.

If I have misrepresented the capabilities of either build in this or the original thread please point out my error and I will fix it so readers will not be mislead by my error.

Here is a video of mp3 playback, and the later build's failure to play even one.  I apologize for the craptastic video.  That's the "compact" mode in the Dear Wife's digicam.  I shot versions normal mode, too;  you could clearly read the screen but the files were 50-100MB.  D'oh!

{edited to add link to original thread}

[Llorean]

A single file playing, then playback breaking is not playback "working."

That's the problem - "playback works" means "you can listen to music like a normal MP3 player." Telling someone playback worked on older builds when you really mean "it's marginally less broken" is not a useful statement.

It's not a "straw man." Older builds than last weeks have, on and off, been in varying states of playback. If they all worked for you, that's great. All you've "proved" is a basic "it works for me" that's useless.

Nobody actually working on anything claimed playback was supposed to work, so saying "it's broken" doesn't tell anyone anything new, even if it did work briefly it wasn't supposed to work, and wasn't actually in working condition. The minimal playback you experienced was a fluke of the broken playback code and whatever fix necessary now was still necessary a week ago, you were just somewhat lucky.

That's more or less Saratoga's point - claiming it worked a week ago is misleading and incorrect. You didn't have playback in the sense that everything worked, and he simply stated that if someone claimed playback worked they were wrong - this is true, what you experienced isn't even remotely what we'd call working playback.

[saratoga]

If I have misrepresented the capabilities of either build in this or the original thread please point out my error and I will fix it so readers will not be mislead by my error.

Well you certainly mislead Scott, who read your post to say that playback was stable, even if thats not what you meant him to think. 

The failure to play the subsequent file has these symptoms:
* the new file's info is loaded to the UI (name, length, etc).  I have not checked the accuracy of the length but I think it was right.
* the audio never starts
* the timer never advances beyond 0:00. 
* the UI remains responsive.  It is possible to navigate all over and interact with Rockbox but the 2nd file will not play.

I've spent a very large amount of time trouble shooting this bug.  You don't need to explain it to me

[ScottMartin]

I've spent a very large amount of time trouble shooting this bug.  You don't need to explain it to me

You may want to have another look. I received the older version in question and I am working without fail. I am on my 4th song and still going.

Using the latest version(s), I was unable to get any playback at all.

disclaimer: I have read all the comments about it is not working, not stable.. and I understand. I also know that you now have 2 users that can get playback using an older version. My playback, unlike Fratermus, is uninterrupted and continuous.

Use this information, or not.

Added:

In my playback, I have noticed that _sometimes_ it will start a new song, then immediately jump to another song and start playing, but I am still working since my last post. The jump is so quick that I cannot tell if it is restarting the current song, then jumping to new song, or if the jump involves new songs altogether.

Just a little info to help with the debug process.

Regards,
Scott.