Sansa Fuze+

[pamaury]

Yes there is still some work to do to have an installation process feasible by anyone. Basically I need to write a tool that combines several other ones and integrate it into rbutil.

[Rarog]

Is there already an easy way to build alternative firmware and is the bootloader being able to boot rockbox as well as original firmware so I can always fall back? If yes, I'm willing to try the daily builds as I am waiting for the rockbox port for several months now and it seems to be usable for my needs.

[metaphys]

Yeah everybody is very impatient now to test this port! But I think, that if pamaury says so it means we have to wait. There used to be a way and it was on the port's page. Then pamaury stopped to update it. I guess there are good reason for it: it becames way to complicated. And from what I red on the IRC, dual booting is precisly the tricky part about it... Leave him one or two more weeks and I guess it will be there... 

[Rarog]

Of course I'll be patient. It's just that I discovered the daily builds on FTP, so I wanted to know the status. I was lurking in this thread since months.

[Adam.]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I actually bought a Fuze+ half a year ago because I knew you were working on it. Even though my Clip just died and I am music-less, I can wait

Everybody appreciates the hard work you do!

[pamaury]

Hi all,
I finally wrote the tool to build the bootloader image. The tool is called mkimxboot and instructions are written on the SansaFuzePlusPort page on the wiki. There is no support yet in Rockbox Utility so unfortunately this means you need to get the source and compile it. I hope to add Rockbox Utility support for it soon.

Please note that this is all very preliminary so do it at your own risks. If you follow the procedure from the wiki, please tell me if anything is wrong or unclear or doesn't work as expected. The IRC channel is best for discussing issues instead of polluting this thread. Thanks in advance.

Finally note that the wiki does not include the instructions on how to remove the bootloader yet.

[metaphys]

It works I've been able to start! Well I guess next step for me is to learn how to actually use it!  Thanks very much for this! 
Post Merge: November 06, 2011, 05:44:14 PMwhat is exactly the mapping of touchpad for now ? I try to set the timer select is the middle of the cross on the touchpad, and revert is the upper left button ? But how to change the item ? I tryed the different direction, it just change the selected item without any possibility to change the item itself ?? I must be missing a key ...

[Rarog]

I fail to build at this step:

Code: [Select]

./mkimxboot -i sandisk-firmware.sb -b bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa -o firmware.sb -t dualboot

It tells me following:

Code: [Select]

[INFO] mkimxboot models:
[INFO]   Fuze+: idx=0 rb_model=fuz+ rb_num=72
[INFO] mkimxboot mapping:
[INFO]   md5sum=c3e27620a877dc6b200b97dcb3e0ecc7 -> idx=0
[INFO] MD5 sum of the file: E8 24 AB 3B AE E9 9D F6 57 6E 52 E6 F5 B6 EF 7D 
[ERR] MD5 sum doesn't match any known file
Result: -4

I'm using the firmware.sb with version 02.36.03.

EDIT:
I'm an idiot, I don't know why I took not the latest firmware download. Everything works now.

[pamaury]

Just in response of this post, you need to download the latest sandisk firmware (2.38.6). Other versions might (and will probably) work but we only add support for them if there has been some confirmation that it works. I can't see any reason not to use the latest version of the OF so I only added support for the latest one, BUT if you have a good reason to stay with an older one, I can test it and add it to the tool.

[Rarog]

No, the reason was just, that I opened the older url from firefox cache. Then I decided to look into the code and noticed, that md5 is for newer version then the one I downloaded. (facepalm.jpg) Of course I have the newer version 2.38.6 installed.
Post Merge: November 06, 2011, 07:22:59 PMOk, another question, i flashed the firmware, now I just have gray screen. It seems, that i did boot into the non-existent rockbox, I connected the fuze and copied the folder .rockbox to my Fuze+, but I don't know how to restart it, so it would boot. It doesn't seem to react to 15 seconds holding down the power button. Do I have to wait, until the Fuze shuts itself down?
Post Merge: November 06, 2011, 07:25:58 PMHm... Strange. Seems it was off, as I can boot the original firmware now, but I don't see, why it didn't load the rockbox firmware previously. I will wait, till the original firmware hast read the SD card and will try to reboot and see what happens.
Post Merge: November 06, 2011, 07:28:19 PMHm... Still grey screen when I try to boot in rockbox mode.

[metaphys]

SD is not supported and not recommended during firmware update... could it be the reason ?

[Rarog]

During the update SD wasn't inside. I inserted it only after booting original firmware. Before I got the grey screen directly after the firmware update.
Also I tried to boot rockbox with and without the SD card. It doesn't make any difference. Independent of SD card inside I can boot the original firmware as described in the FAQ.
Post Merge: November 06, 2011, 08:37:07 PMAlso booting original firmware and afterwards connecting to usb leads to grey screen again.

[ddscentral]

Been following this thread for a while and decided to post my observations.

Built rockbox and the bootloader fine without much trouble on Debian 6.
Some observations:
- Boots VERY quickly (in 1-2 sec, original FW may take up to a minute)
- Music playback is louder than in original FW (I like that).
- The touchpad is very responsive (unlike in original FW)

Problems:
- The screen fade-in fade-out is funky (IIRC, this is already known)
- The keys (touchpad) sometimes act funky. For example Back key doesn't seem to work in the player screen. Cursor keys don't work at all in text editor screen.
- Some plugins are broken (again, mostly key related problems)
- SD card doesn't work (IIRC, SD card is listed in wiki as non-working, so can't complain here)
- Battery readout looks strange to me. The original FW shows about 50%, while rockbox shows 98%.

The only thing I miss right now is the SD card support (and possibly charging without the original FW).

[pamaury]

Hello,
a grey screen probably means you have the second type of LCD which I haven't tested (because I don't have it). Perhaps there is a problem with it, I will have a look. Thanks for the feedback. Note that plugging usb in the OF makes it reboot so if you want to reboot to the OF, hold volume down on usb plug.

[Rarog]

Ah, the thought with 2nd display came into my mind. Well, I wanted to  boot the OF to charge,a s it doesn't work with Rockbox yet, but I found out, that plugging the MicroUSB t directly into the wall instead of Computer does the trick.
Can I help you implementing it by using some special debug build or by providing you with some logging output perhaps?
Post Merge: November 07, 2011, 03:19:40 AMBut by the way we'll need a manual reflash function or instruction, as currently it seems to ignore firmware.sb during the boot.