Recording Enhancements Pack

[kleusl]

Mmmm,

thank you for this great work!

Kleusl

[BayTaper]

Am I just an idiot? I tried to upgrade to your new build by simply dragging the rockbox file and folder onto the HD. I thought that's all I needed to do, but I've never upgraded before. Anyway, the rockbox bootloader loads up, but then I can't get into rockbox. If I select it, it acts like it's going to go into rockboxs, but then ends up back at the boot screen. WTF? What did I do wrong? Then I tried to move back the files I had before that worked, and I'm stuck with the same problem? What did I do wrong? Should I just start over?

I was thinking about reformatting anyway, is that process easy? Do I just reformat the drive, and start the installation from scratch? Will that work?

Any help is much appreciated. Shit! I'm going to a huge music fest in one day, I knew I shouldn't have messed with my stable install -- doh!

[Davide-NYC]

Baytaper:

Before anything else try rebooting and hold down the REC button *just after* the unit powers up.
This will clear all of the settings and might solve your problem. If not...

What I usually do is take the rockbox.iriver file and put it inside the .rockbox folder.
Then I rename the .rockbox folder to old.rockbox.

Then I unzip the new rockbox-full.zip to the root of the player. (Mine is R:\)
That way if I don't like anything i can just roll back to the previous build.

You might want to delete the .rockbox folder and the rockbox.iriver file and un-zip fresh.
Why not just use a daily build from just before the encoding options where put in for the mean time?

Davide.

[BayTaper]

Alright, I'm going to try to fix it tonight, but I essentially did what you are saying, I just took the backup to my own hard disk. I copied my current build's rockbox.iriver and the rockbox folder to my desktop, then I deleted them from the H120, then I copied over the new files, and I have this strange behavior. So then, I just copied back the build files that were working from my desktop, but I still have the same problem? Isn't that basically the same approach you are taking (which I like BTW)? I'll try resetting the settings, but what's weird is why wouldn't my old version work? I don't need to update the bootloader/firmware do I?

[Mmmm]

f I select it, it acts like it's going to go into rockboxs, but then ends up back at the boot screen

What does this mean? How do you select it? which boot screen and what does back at the boot screen mean?

Bootloader 6 is the latest but I think it should work fine with 5 I'd reflash if it's below 5, but otherwise this isnt your problem.

If you had 'startup on recording screen' enabled then this is currently out of action and results in a hang on the loading rockbox screen (thanks to  nigelsh for spotting that one) - resetting the settings will get you in but you can't use this feature at the moment. I'm looking into it - but no promises

[Mmmm]

I don't see any screenshots in post #1!

really? weird...They are definitely there at the bottom of the post.

Could someone explain what the three items are that display at the bottom of the recording screen (iriver h120). There's something that looks a bit like a battery which has 23m written in it,

That's the remaining battery time

then comes a rectangle with 14h in it

that's the amount of diskspace left. Thinking about it I'm not sure if this works with the new codecs...something to look at...

and then another rectangle that looks like it might be some kind of a gauge.

Thats the Balance meter.

Is this stuff documented somewhere?

Nope, Although it could be on the histogram flyspray page - link in post#1

[BayTaper]

Sorry, I don't have my "terms" down right. I managed to figure out that I had to press the A-B button from the first menu after boot. Funny thing is, I used to be able to press on the rockbox file to move forward, but not anymore, who cares though, as long as I know how it works. HOWEVER, man 'o man did I have issues with the REC on Startup. I finally fixed it all, but here's the post I made at TS in the hopes of sparing others the hassle. I learned a few things about recovering that's for sure...


"Oh man, I thought I was screwed for a while, but I learned a few things and tips from you guys made a BIG difference. For strarters, I was able to get to the normal rockbox menus by pressing A-B. Doh! So I wasn't as screwed as I thought I was this morning. But then, after getting the new REP installed and working, and after setting all of my settings, I was goofing around recording, and the thing seized up, frozen solid, like mmmatt it sounded like, but I didn't have the luxury of being able to unplug the damn thing. I so couldn't figure it out, nothing would unfreeze it, not plugging in electricity, plugging in the USB cable, holding various buttons, nothing. Then, I figured out there is a tiny reset button on the bottom (think paperclip hole), but even though that made a clicking noise, the unit was still hung. I thought I was going to have to wait until the battery died. But then I read somewhere that people were having a really, really hard time getting their reset buttons to work, they said you needed to use something even smaller than a paperclip, and you need to hit the reset direct on or it wouldn't work. So, I used the backside of a threaded needle, the eye part not the pointy part, and lo and behold, I could get it to turn off. But, I'd turn it back on and then freeze. Hit reset, pluged it into the computer, worked no problem again. Unplugged the USB, frozen again. Booted into iRiver no problem though, so I reformatted, reloaded the files, turned it on, frozen again. Then I reset the firmware again, reformatted, loaded the files, and FREEZE. FUCK! Sound familiar though? Exactly what was happening to mmmatt, but I had to use the reset to get it to turn off (very important to know, this should be added to the FAQ). So finally, doh! I did what mmmatt said (and took it one step further with flashing the firm again). I (1) re-flashed the firmware (probably not necessary), booted into iRiver mode, reformatted the drive, turned it off, connected to computer, loaded an OLDER version from 7/31/06 daily build, safely unplugged, and FINALLY, it worked. Then, dragged back on the latest version, and everything has been working sense. I also get the same sinking feeling mmmatt got, which was that it was RECORD on startup that screwed me over. It always hung with the startup screen showing, and the words "Recording" overlaid on the screen, the "Recording" text box looking just like it does when you go into the recording screen from the menus. For now, on my trip, I'm not going to use that boot to recording screen or any of the recording shortcuts cause I don't trust it. Also, I learned that you can save a CONFIG file from the Manage Menu, that saves all of your settings to a file and can easily be reloaded after upgrades if your settings get reset. So, I went back, customized all of my settings, and saved a config file (manage > save config > press play to save... I think). Finally, I'll have to say, the ability to tweak the font a little bigger (you still can't use the taller fonts, but you can get a slightly bigger one that is bolded, I found something that starts with an "n" I think was the largest/boldest I could get to work in the recording screen -- if you pick a font too big, the recording screen will go back to the default size, so you have to experiment to find a bigger font that will actually show on the recording scren. Finally, the new REP has a setting for the size of the peak meters -- just SO F'ING COOL. Worth installing REP for that feature alone, LOL! The meters on this thing are so awesome!!! Anyway, thanks so much for the tips here. I thought I'd write this all down for everyone because it might help someone someday. But at a minimum, I think we need to add some content to the iRiver FAQ about the reset button, what it is, where it is, and that it behaves weird (paper clip fits in and feel like it presses a button, but that doesn't work, something thinner in just the right spot, doesn't even feel like a button was pushed, so be careful not to push too hard with something sharp, that does reset it. The second thing we should add to the FAQ is the process for resurrecting an iRiver that's badly hung/frozen: the whole reflash, reformat via irvier, reload rockbox files with an old build, then boot, then reload newer software routine. It's more of a desperate act, but now there have been two of us that have been saved by that routine.

THANKS! (phew, what a rant... Hope that helps someone someday...)"

[Rincewind]

an easier way would have been to start rockbox and hold the Record Button    IMMEDIATELY after the bootloader. This sets rockbox to default settings.

reflashing and reformatting doesn't help much, because there is only the bootloader in the flash (bootloader is never changed by a running rockbox, if it works once it works every time), and the settings are stored in a hidden sector of the disc that can possibly stay even after formatting.

You succeded, because you switched back to a version that used different settings than the current one, so it cleared automatically at boot.

But that's only my guess, I can be wrong.

[BayTaper]

Seems reasonable enough to me. I was trying to figure out how it could possibly stay screwed even after flashing and reformatting. I didn't realize that the settings could survive those two steps. Thanks for the tips!

[Mmmm]

Baytaper: Glad you got it working in the end.. You should practise the 'holding record just after pressing the on button' trick. It'll get you out of many a sticky situation..

About the recording on startup...I have finally (after two days of following trails of code around and keeping that record button pressed) worked out what the problem is and all CVS builds should work now.

I've done a new build for the REP and so all should be well again..Hoorah \o/ post#1...

[nigelsh]

About the recording on startup...I have finally (after two days of following trails of code around and keeping that record button pressed) worked out what the problem is and all CVS builds should work now.

I've done a new build for the REP and so all should be well again..Hoorah \o/ post#1...

Great work. Thanks. Your latest build appears to be working OK now.

Any chance of adding the recording source to the recording window? Most of the time I record via Line-In but occasionally I record from FM. It would be nice to have a reminder of what source I'm using on the recording screen (I just know that I'm going to end up recording some FM when I think I'm recording a live show - showing the source on the recording window won't stop that happening but it might make it a little less likely!)

By the way, I've looked at post #1 in Firefox and in IE - there are no pictures - unless I'm logged in! When I complained about the lack of pictures earlier I was not logged in - now that I am I see the pictures!

Thanks
Nigel

[Davide-NYC]

While not recording the STOP icon in the statusbar is a musical note instead of a solid square. That tells you if the source = FM Radio. But nothing will tell you while you're actually recording. But maybe that's enough?

[Mmmm]

Great work. Thanks. Your latest build appears to be working OK now.

Ahh good stuff, thanks for testing it...

Any chance of adding the recording source to the recording window?

Yes, I've been thinking that now with so many sources it's getting difficult knowing which one you are in without going into the recording menu... But the question is, where does it go! And now we get a crossover with this thread http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=5882.0

[Mmmm]

I just broke the patch with a commit so there is a new one in post#1. No new build needed though as the commit didn't affect the functionality of the REP.

[redwood]

To everyone involved in the REP - thanks so much, with all the recent improvements this is what the H120 should always have been

Mmmm - thanks again for fixing that font overwriting the histogram probrlm - works like a charm.

jp