Creative Zen Vision:M

[itsmeguys]

Just recently there has been some more discussion about this over at epiZENter.net. Unfortunately, at that website, noone so far has come forth and said they have the skills necessary to make this project happen. However, I believe that if someone with the skills would be willing to do it, that we could get them a player to take apart and work with.


With that said, would anybody with the skills/time like to step up and port Rockbox over to the Zen Vision: M? It would be a free player for you, and would hopefully provide everyone with some amazing firmware. Of course, everyone else would be extremely supportive, but there is only so much some people can do (myself included)

Yes! There would be many people willing to support whoever steps up! I dont mind donating some money aswell, if it is needed.

[shotofadds]

I'll stick my oar in here and say that I've just upgraded from my Rockbox'd iRiver H110 to a Vision:M (simply because I was getting fed up with having to keep opening up the case and soldering the Stop button back on again!).

The retail firmware on the ZVM is truly miles ahead of anything I've seen so far, from any manufacturer. That said, there are still problems: lack of true gapless playback being the main one (though it's much better than the stock iRiver firmware), slightly dodgy sound quality and very occasional crashes needing a reboot.

I'd love to see Rockbox on the ZVM (for better sound quality & adjustment and plugins) but I honestly think the stock firmware is sufficiently good that there won't be the momentum pushing for Rockbox that there was for the iRiver or iPods.

Of course, if Rockbox did make it onto the ZVM there'd be lots of new challenges for the devs if it's to compete with the Creative firmware - DivX playback being a big one 

[itsmeguys]

is there somewhere where we can donate money for rockbox to be developed for ZV:M (specifically)?

[Bagder]

is there somewhere where we can donate money for rockbox to be developed for ZV:M (specifically)?

No. And do note that donating money will not specifically help a porting effort unless you intend to donate a lot .

Besides, it is like the bounty discussion. When Rockbox gets ported to a new device, there's like 95% of existing code that's being used so why should only the authors of the new 5% of the code get the money you donate?

[shotofadds]

There are several commercial linux distros built for the TMS320DM320 (google for DSPLinux or Monterey Linux) so a GCC toolchain for these devices must be feasible, if not widely available.

Not that a commercial Linux particularly helps Rockbox...

[Bagder]

a GCC toolchain for these devices must be feasible

Linux for a TMS320 doesn't in any way imply a gcc for its DSP parts.

[shotofadds]

Did I say it did?

[Bagder]

There have been gcc support for ARM7 and ARM9 for a very long time.

[markun]

and the GNU binutils have support for the TI C54x DSPs

http://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.17/as/TIC54X_002dDependent.html

[pianoboy3333]

I was thinking about purchasing the Zen Vision:M over the iAudio X5L.... and I would love it if there were rockbox for the Zen Vision:M, if there were, I'd buy that over the X5L.

[Bagder]

This is a TMS320-based player.

There is very early work on creating a Gmini402-port and there have been some early steps at an mrobe 500 port (two other TMS320-players).

So all it takes is for a determined Creative Zen Vision:M owner to step forward and joining forces with the Rockbox hackers and perhaps we could get something going in a future...

[RaiderX]

it would be nice on vision M. i didnt know about it when I got my ipod, and when i found out about it, i was so mad. but once i got rockbox on my ipod, i didnt want any other DAP!

[larryzotter]

Hi i'd like to contribute. I've got a Zen Vision M Green 30gb. I've extracted the nk.bin firmware from the updater. What tools are there so that i can make edits to it? I'm willing to help as much as i can.

Larry Zotter

[larryzotter]

Opened nk.bin with a hex editor. Only see Creative Zen Vision:M... Attached screenshot

[attachment deleted by admin, too old]

[saratoga]

Found this today almost by accident:

http://www.fulton.asu.edu/~karam/eee498/Lectures/TIC55x_Arch.ppt

Tons of info on the DSP core in there.  Its quite impressive for a DAP.  Shame TI doesn't have the sense to release free tools to work with it.