Sansа Clip Zip - Improve battery life

[oid_maps]

I want to re-ask: Which "stress-tests" should I do to test if the delay values for fuzev2 work reliably? Or is it enough if without playing anything I see no flickering when switching to "hold"-position? (Anyway, flickerings could be that short that they wouldn't be visible with the human eye -- should there be some log data written out one could analyse afterwards?)

[cereal_killer]

Test builds with frequency scaling enabled but not voltage scaling:

http://mit.edu/mgg6/www/rockbox-clipv2_frequency_test.7z
http://mit.edu/mgg6/www/rockbox-fuzev2_frequency_test.7z
http://mit.edu/mgg6/www/rockbox-clip+_frequency_test.7z
http://mit.edu/mgg6/www/rockbox-clipzip_frequency_test.7z

Source for just this change:

http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/1242/

Edit:  Updated builds.

I am not sure if this is something relevant, but I tested the clipv2 build and experienced a short delay when navigating from WPS to file browser and then to the parent directory with a button press to the left. Music is playing and not paused. This doesn't happen with the current dev build.

[Mihail Zenkov]

I am not sure if this is something relevant, but I tested the clipv2 build and experienced a short delay when navigating from WPS to file browser and then to the parent directory with a button press to the left. Music is playing and not paused. This doesn't happen with the current dev build.

We know about this issue (http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,48549.msg233424.html#msg233424) and have temporary solution (http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,48549.msg234910.html#msg234910).

[saratoga]

The CPU speed is definitely much lower during normal use, on the other hand we used to run on even slower devices so I'm surprised a simple GUI like on the clip lags.

[johnb]

I tested three fuze v2 builds that Oid Maps had provided me (will all saving patches active I believe and varying delays).
I have two devices, these are the results:

19_5: works with both
19_4: works with both
19_3: works fine with one. With the second the display shines through for a short time (flickers) when keys are pressed and a few secs afterwards.


I will now move on and test the builds that saratoga provided both on my fuzes and clip+es.

[Mihail Zenkov]

The CPU speed is definitely much lower during normal use, on the other hand we used to run on even slower devices so I'm surprised a simple GUI like on the clip lags.

What should we change in gui boost patch to see  it in mainstream?

[saratoga]

The CPU speed is definitely much lower during normal use, on the other hand we used to run on even slower devices so I'm surprised a simple GUI like on the clip lags.

What should we change in gui boost patch to see  it in mainstream?

If I understand correctly, that patches changes the current boost on scrollwheel behavior to boost on any button press and then enables it for AMSv2 targets? 

I think enabling boost on scrollwheel for the fuzev2 should happen regardless, all other scroll wheel targets do it, and its probably necessary.  I'm not sure about the other change to make boost happen on more types of button press, we should probably talk to other people about it.  Testing on my Clip Zip playing MP3 (fast enough that there is no boosting at all) I notice that menu transitions involving album art are noticeably slower when unboosted, but otherwise everything seems comparable.  I don't think boost is really necessary, but I am ok with enabling it as the cost is very low. 

[Mihail Zenkov]

If I understand correctly, that patches changes the current boost on scrollwheel behavior to boost on any button press and then enables it for AMSv2 targets? 

Yes.

I think enabling boost on scrollwheel for the fuzev2 should happen regardless, all other scroll wheel targets do it, and its probably necessary.  I'm not sure about the other change to make boost happen on more types of button press, we should probably talk to other people about it.

Many people note low response rate with frequency scaling patch. We can boost not at all buttons, but is it have sense?

Testing on my Clip Zip playing MP3 (fast enough that there is no boosting at all) I notice that menu transitions involving album art are noticeably slower when unboosted, but otherwise everything seems comparable.  I don't think boost is really necessary,

I feeling mostly same, but I don't use EQ or DB.

but I am ok with enabling it as the cost is very low.

Yes, few minutes at boost - mostly nothing for whole playing time.

[oid_maps]

I tested three fuze v2 builds that Oid Maps had provided me (will all saving patches active I believe and varying delays).
I have two devices, these are the results:

19_5: works with both
19_4: works with both
19_3: works fine with one. With the second the display shines through for a short time (flickers) when keys are pressed and a few secs afterwards.

To complete the information, those builds are based on the following git sources:
* delays of 19, 05 and 19, 04: Rockbox source from 2016-01-16,
* delays 19, 03: Rockbox source from 2015-12-26,

and then patched with the following patches, applied in that order:

* amsv2_scaling_v9.patch
* fix_button_clipv2_irq.patch
* fix_hold_fuzev2-2.patch (with varying delays, see above),
* rockbox-gui_boost.patch
* rockbox-restore_irq.patch
* rockbox-usb.patch

as posted in this forum,
as well as the patch

rockbox_firmware_tuner.c.diff

which is by myself and enables the maximum available frequency range
(76..108 MHz) and minimum available frequenc granularity (0.05 MHz) of
the device when the tuner setting REGION_OTHER is selected.

[saratoga]

Committed frequency scaling.  Do we want to do boost next?  Its probably annoying to use the Fuze V2 without it. 

Edit:  Just realized its already enabled, but only for the scroll wheel. 

[Mihail Zenkov]

Committed frequency scaling.

Great! We do that

Do we want to do boost next?

Yes, as it fix regression in responsiveness. Also it can help with quick identification of problems in boost.

Its probably annoying to use the Fuze V2 without it. 
Edit:  Just realized its already enabled, but only for the scroll wheel. 

It also read scroll wheel each 5ms. All other AMSv2 targets read buttons each 10ms.

[johnb]

On the fuze v2 the USB connection seems more unstable (Win10):
Plugging in the device (which was completely off), it boots, shows my recent bookmark list, then displays the USB logo. It does not mount properly on the PC.
Unpluggin it, the logo stays, but it's not completely stuck: the clock display updates, remaing battery life is displays 222h 0m, screen timeout is active, I can even use the Hold key, but the USB logo stays.

I have not seen this, when booting the device before plugging into USB.

My first tests involved a USB hub, then I also tried directly with the USB socket on the PC. There a first try worked fine, on the second same behaviour as above.

Using the "long power off", I shows a "undefined instruction at 000003c" until if finally turns off.

Other than that, I had no problems so far.
-------------------------------
Doing the same thing with the clip+ it goes into bootloader usb mode, which I suppose is the expected behaviour. Is it normal that only the internal memory is mounted, but not the sdcard?

[johnb]

While the rockbox-info.txt from Sartoga's 7z file states
Version: ad18fa3-160119
the System->Rockbox Info on the player shows
Version: ad18fa3-160118

Should I care?

[saratoga]

On the fuze v2 the USB connection seems more unstable (Win10):

Could you clarify what you are testing and what you are comparing to?

[johnb]

Hi saratoga,

I apologize for the wording, I actually have no proof that it's "MORE unstable".
I am using your "frequency scaling" build from this thread (ad18fa3-160119).

Before that I have been using various other "battery optimized" versions from this thread. Maybe 2 months ago I upgraded from Win7 to Win10. I just don't recall seeing this behavior over the last year or so, but maybe it is just that the fuze was usually turned on before I connected it, which is anyway not as regular as with my clip+ which I use for podcasts whereas the fuze has a rather stable collection on the sdcard.