porting RockBox to a Mp3/MP4 player with Manufacturer's cooperation

[saratoga]

I doubt they're going to hand over any money unless Rockbox motivates a LOT of sales. 

[ryran]

It would motivate a sale (or buy, rather) from me and at least a couple other people I can think of.....

[portable]

Hi everyone,

Well, at this stage, manufacturer seems to be willing to give free X8 player to developers who is working on it. Cash incentive maybe possible but that will depends on what developers can provide and whether manufacturer takes it or not. (e-mail me if you want better answers..)

Sorry for taking so long, at last I can supply you with the circuit diagrams for the X8 mp4 player. There is problems getting hold of the source codes because the source code mostly belong to Telechips, not the manufacturer, and they have agreements on the source code. Therefore, we are working out what we can do about it.

I can e-mail you the circuit diagrams if you are interested to look at it. However, as these diagrams are not for public release, in accepting these diagrams, you agreed that you will not release them to the general public. And if you forwarded these to any Rockbox developers, please let me know who have got them.

BTW, the mp4 reviews are not up yet. The X8 players had just been manufactured and I have yet to receive them. I intend to get a comprehensive review on the X8 player after it arrive and release the A8 and X6 reviews together. Thanks for waiting.

[portable]

I also have the software for loading up the firmware, if it is useful to you, I can e-mail it to you as well.

Cheers
Eric

More info for you
OTG chip used is ALI M5637
http://www.ali.com.tw (manufacturer site)

Some info on the chip (sorry, only found chinese pages)
http://www.eedesign.com.tw/article/forum/fo829.htm
http://info.ec.hc360.com/2005/01/26094656403.shtml

Update: Don't worry about the this OTG chip, my manufacturer already had complete information on this chip, the only problem is the TCC761....

[portable]

URGENT

The manufacturer intends to have a new project.

They would like to know if they supply all (everything you can dream of) hardware information on their machines to Rockbox, and let Rockbox do the OS development for them.

How much time (the shorter the better) and how much would it cost $$ (lesser the better) ? (they apparently can't afford much money as the cost of a 80GB model of these mp4 players easily exceed one month's salary of most people living in the manufacturer's country i.e. China)

Obviously, they would want the new firmware to be capable of all current features. (i.e Rockbox need to be able to support OTG, Mp4 playback, FM transmitter(X8)/FM radio(A8), Macromedia flash playback, etc)

And mostly importantly, would developer require any help from manufacturer's engineer? If yes, what sort of help needed.

Can interested developer e-mail me asap? Or I suggest Rockbox developers can have a group discussion before giving me confirmations on cost and time.

Thanks
Eric
------------------------------
If any developer accept such arrangements, they would definitely get their hands on source code, etc.....

For now, seems like it is impossible to get source code and datasheets as they are confidential.

The software they use to write all their software is nucleas
If you can or interested to reverse engineer the current firmware (*.bin), the Hi-A8 firmware is available here
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ericwong/a8v194.rar
http://www.cecsz.com/upload/a8v194.rar
(The A8 firmware is similar to X8, only with slight modifications. X8 firmware is not available yet.)

[portable]

Hi there everyone,

Although I have not got my hand on TCC761 sourcecode.

I have found something which may help a lot.

Take a look, please....
http://ferenczy.coex.cz/mt-500/index-en.html

This page contains the telechip datasheet for TCC730 and some information on how to reverse engineer the firmware.

Can someone let me know if it can be used as basis to reverse engineer TCC761? assuming we can't get actual source code and datasheets from telechips.

[Bagder]

The TCC730 in the Xclef is the same CalmRISC based one that is used in the (early) Archos Gminis and a totally different beast than what is in the TCC761 and similar microcontrollers.

So no, unfortunately that doesn't help us at all. But we can also say fortunately since the CalmRISC artchitecture is a pain...

[portable]

The TCC730 in the Xclef is the same CalmRISC based one that is used in the (early) Archos Gminis and a totally different beast than what is in the TCC761 and similar microcontrollers.

So no, unfortunately that doesn't help us at all. But we can also say fortunately since the CalmRISC artchitecture is a pain...

Alright then, we will continue to try to get the TCC761 source code / datasheet somehow then..

[MadChef]

Did any developers ever get a unit sent to them?

[portable]

Did any developers ever get a unit sent to them?

We are still waiting for the manufacturer to provide the technical bits before the ball can start rolling.

Thanks for the interest though.

[2202083]

I dont like this whole thing, sounds messy. If the Rockbox devs are really intirested in this whole thing I suggest:
1. You get lawyers.
2. Your ready to sacrifice the rockbox image of a free indapendant firmware.

Once a company starts getting it's hands in your stuff it can be hard to get them out.


My 2 cents.

[saratoga]

1. You get lawyers.

Why?

2. Your ready to sacrifice the rockbox image of a free indapendant firmware.

I don't think you understand what open source software is.  Ever hear of "linux", "gcc" or "firefox"?  Companies are involved in all of those projects.  I suggest you Google the GPL and get a feel for how this works before giving (terrible) advice.

Once a company starts getting it's hands in your stuff it can be hard to get them out.

This is a GPLed project.  We can't keep or get anyone out, and doing so would make no sense and violate the entire spirit of the project.  The whole idea of the GPL is that the software is availble to EVERYONE, not just people we like.

[portable]

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that someone started another thread on this mp4
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=5735.0

And there is some updated info over there.

Cheers
Eric

[portable]

To aid/encourage efforts to reverse engineer this mp4 player, here are photos of the opened X8.
(Higher resolution photos available from me.)

Bagder should have made X8 PCB diagrams and OTG datasheets available to Rockbox developers. Or request it from me.

So far, I am not aware of any significant progress on this port.


X8 with its front cover opened.


X8 with its front cover and LCD flipped


X8 with its LCD removed. Note that the connector next to the battery is used to connect to the keypad on the front of the X8.


X8 with its battery flipped


X8 with its back cover opened. This is where the hard disk is installed.

[nimdae]

You know, I hate to be a negative nancy, and I'd like this to be as true as it's being made out to be, but this seems a bit...off. If I were a manufacturer of a device and wanted help from open developers, I would be more prone to contact the developers directly rather than through an open forum. I read through this entire thread, and I hope it's all legit, but part of me believes one should proceed with extreme caution.

If the mp4 manufacturer is serious about using rockbox as their primary OS on their player, I hope that it is with understanding that they have absolutely no control over it unless they contribute to the project as it is NOT a "mp4" project.

If this is real, I will hold the manufacturers of this device as gods for bringing us something that many of us have been wanting out of all the other devices out there.

However, something tells me that there is something not quite right about the whole thing. I'd like to see some kind of confirmation of legitimacy from one or more developers.