Rockbox Player - Project to design and build a Free/Open hardware audio player

[00christian00]

Well that was just an example,it can be made in any way.Like this :


Also i noticed many would want tos-link input.Why?
Another thing i did expect to find here,strange it's not posted being this audiocentric:
Swappable Opamp

It's something I saw on a pc sound card,don't remember the brand.
An opamp greatly decide the sound output over the headphones and i think it would be cool if they
were easily swappable,using some kind of slot in mechanism,so that someone could have the sound he prefer.

Also i would like to know,is rockbox built from scratch or it's based on some os like linux?

[casainho]

Also i noticed many would want tos-link input.Why?

I don't know, maybe some others can tell...

Another thing i did expect to find here,strange it's not posted being this audiocentric:
Swappable Opamp

that exists?? :-) :-)

Also i would like to know,is rockbox built from scratch or it's based on some os like linux?

From scratch, no Linux.

[00christian00]

Yes,exist ,check this card :
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_prelude.php

Among the features :
"Swappable OPAMP Socket"

Here more details :
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/opamp_intro.php

This is what i call audiophile

[casainho]

Yes,exist ,check this card :
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_prelude.php

Among the features :
"Swappable OPAMP Socket"

Here more details :
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/opamp_intro.php

This is what i call audiophile

Well, I would just use a good one and use that for marketing :-). Anyway, the important is to define what kind of player will be, for who. It's up with you now.

And please do not forget the technical questions, as the main ARM IC, and all others that should have Open full documentation!! also long life in market!! -- I think this are anothers questions that will not help in the price...

[LinusN]

I'm all for changing the specs to make it more commercially viable, but it is very important that the components have public data sheets, or at least that we are able to release source code for the components without restrictions.

I also agree that it is less important to be able to build it yourself as long as the commercial player is reasonably cheap and is built on components that have a reasonable lifetime. I'd hate the player to die an early death because the components disappear from the market.

Regarding the toslink, many users use Rockbox to connect to the home stereo equipment. They want to use the toslink output for better playback sound quality, and the input for recording for example DAB radio IIRC.

[casainho]

Christian, so what do you think that Pasen can do? - did you already see the references of the IC's, the ARM, the stereo codec, etc?

What compiler and software are you using for the microcontoller programmer? What programmer are you going to use and under what operating system? Have you checked out this http://www.avrtv.com/  if not, please do.

 Thanks for your help

ARM-GCC and JTAG cable - USBprog programmer under Linux, it's a possibility.

[00christian00]

First I need to have the approval of my friend factory,i spoke with him today but he wasn't in office.
Regarding hardware,what do you mean about documentation?
Doesn't anyone provide you with that,how are you supposed to use the hardware otherwise?
If they just provide the hardware with their driver,It couldn't even be used (i doubt they have rockbox driver   ) so we won't even evaluate it.

I understand the tos link output,but the input seem a little overkill,maybe a a cheap hardware won't even be able to handle an encoding of the fly of it.

[casainho]

Regarding hardware,what do you mean about documentation?
Doesn't anyone provide you with that,how are you supposed to use the hardware otherwise?
If they just provide the hardware with their driver,It couldn't even be used (i doubt they have rockbox driver   ) so we won't even evaluate it.

About documentation in hardware, I mean the same that were written by Bagder: Manufacturers Hate Customers - http://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2007/09/09/manufacturers-hate-customers/

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc6277.pdf

4.4

Please stop with that!! As you can read, that information is already put on wiki page, If you want to help, put there the information:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxPlayerPrototype

You have questions answered there about the tools to build - the GCC-ARM, etc... :-) :-) - anyway, please help in what you can :-)

[AlexP]

@BigBambi
I understand your point,but you can't have both side of the medal.
If you chose material easily bought by anyone for "do it yourself" you are greatly limiting the project from a commercial point of view.Both way are not possible to achieve,what is possible i think is make a base in common,and create 2 projects like there are now,but how many do you think would spend double the money to build his own player while he can get the player already made with much more features for half price?
It's ok to keep the project open so that anyone can improve it,but to think that there will be more than a few bunch to really build it i think it's crazy.

I don't understand what you are saying.  I don't recall ever saying I wanted to build it myself.  Personally I don't really want to build it myself, but I would like an open player that would work nicely with Rockbox.  I am willing to sacrifice a few features to have that, or to pay a little more, but not to stupid levels.

[casainho]

First I need to have the approval of my friend factory,i spoke with him today but he wasn't in office.

About that blanked time for produce, I just would like to have public availably schematic and position of components in the board. No files to produce PCB nor files of the case, etc...

The important is to have information for individuals repair, hack their players.

[00christian00]

@BigBambi
Sorry when i read "it has to approach what can be bought commercially" i thought you meant that the component where to be easily bought by anyone(for DIY).Sorry for my misunderstanding.

@Casainho
I didn't know the situation was that bad,I did know about the really big guys(NVIDIA,Broadcom) but I hoped there were more open minded company.
I think it's ok for the schematic,but we'll discuss this once I get the ok from the factory.

[casainho]

@Casainho
I didn't know the situation was that bad,I did know about the really big guys(NVIDIA,Broadcom) but I hoped there were more open minded company.
I think it's ok for the schematic,but we'll discuss this once I get the ok from the factory.

Christian, can you please say what is the motivation of Pasen to want make a Free/Open hardware media player? - and maybe your personal motivation - I am curious.
You can read my motivations on wiki page of the project.

[00christian00]

Hehe,
there is more than one.My motivation are :
-Because i am a tech geek like you.I like to see cool and new things,a small gadgets that can
expand his feature over the time is really cool.
I was a developer myself some year ago,you can find some emulator porting(atari st,turbografx,wonderswan)  for symbian uiq if you check my nick on google
-Business reason 1.Right now we do only OEM,that mean the hardware is provided by some factory and we only make some small changes to the software and brand it.
We don't like much this because it's very limiting,you are forced to change models almost every 2-3 months because there is no development at all(they sell the new features with new models),so we would like to start producing our own hardware and this could be a chance to get used to this new business.
-Business reason 2.If we can make this well feature packed it can fill a market that altough being small have no competitor,so it can sell very well=money.

[casainho]

Hehe,
there is more than one.My motivation are :
-Because i am a tech geek like you.I like to see cool and new things,a small gadgets that can
expand his feature over the time is really cool.
I was a developer myself some year ago,you can find some emulator porting(atari st,turbografx,wonderswan)  for symbian uiq if you check my nick on google

Nice to know :-) - we are all geeks :-)

-Business reason 1.Right now we do only OEM,that mean the hardware is provided by some factory and we only make some small changes to the software and brand it.
We don't like much this because it's very limiting,you are forced to change models almost every 2-3 months because there is no development at all(they sell the new features with new models),so we would like to start producing our own hardware and this could be a chance to get used to this new business.

Like the S1MP3 players, where there is no Rockbox port because there are a lot of them, all different, so, there is no continuity :-( - that is not good for us consumers :-(

A good opportunity for both, I think - If Pasen want to start producing their own hardware.

[casainho]

Do you have a working model? This sounds more about money than a DIY. Sorry I offend you, I thought I might help. 4.4 was about placing other drivers when needed as for building up the hardware.

No working model yet, I hope to get at least, in the next 6 months, have that Prototype working.

The file you mention, were already selected for 1st stage bootloader:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxPlayerPrototype#1st_stage_bootloader

Do you have experience with AT91 Bootstrap bootloader? What do you think about the bootloader? - the first code I would like to have, is an flash LED, but, with that bootloader scheme.