Rockbox Development > New Ports
Rockbox Player - Project to design and build a Free/Open hardware audio player
casainho:
--- Quote from: spark on May 13, 2008, 08:40:52 AM ---low cost gadgets (arm+linux)
chumby http://www.chumby.com/
GP2X http://www.gp2x.co.uk/
--- End quote ---
I would prefer to have the GP2X... however I already have a kind of that gadgets, small with Linux, the eee pc 701 :) - I am reading and developing with eee pc, I can also watch video, listen music, surf on internet, play games, etc... --- all these gadgets are portable multimedia capable and they have very good price... they even use ARM processors, so, why don't port Rockbox and use them? - because they are not audio focused hardware.
About Rockbox Player V1, I think that to have a TFT display as that gadgets will kill the project because that displays are very expensive, I didn't find any for less then $100 :(
A good option, I think is this one: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=712
Also I think we should stick near to the AT91SAM9260-EK board, using the same memories, etc, because Atmel gives a lot of source codes to initialize the memories, initialize the peripherals, gives bootloader, instructions, etc... - will be quicker to develop and good for beginners as me :)
casainho:
--- Quote from: friendlyzookeeper on May 15, 2008, 12:30:37 AM ---If you do want to upgrade to a touch screen display the Wolfson Microelectronic stereo codec...
--- End quote ---
As you may understand, there are much more important things to work on before that!! For example, the memories for the system and the display:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxPlayerV1#Block_Diagram
spark:
i.MX
my conclusions about i.mx
i.mx31 is the best performer (532MHz/ARM11), but we'll suffer poor battery life. It is too complex to start with. Good thing is that rockbox porting is already nearing completion for this platform (see Gigabeat S port http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/GigabeatSPort)
i.mx27 is the next best performer. best value for money. Price is same as at91sam9261 but it gives 266-400MHz operation, and hardware MPEG4(H263/264) codec (30fps @ D1 resolution), high speed USB OTG and high speed ATA-6 support. So this is my dream processor. (A scaled down version i.mx27L is available at same package but lower cost since some goodies are removed. so we have 2 cost/feature options for same board design)
However 400+ ball BGA, is too complex to start with, so this'll have to wait.
i.mx21 is more powerful than at91sam9261 and yet cheaper ($4 to $8 cheaper depending on qty). highlights are: 266MHz operation, 133MHz bus, USB OTG and Host (full speed though). Also, 0.8mm pitch BGA is manageable, same as 9261. So i.mx21 is a practical choice.
Best part is, you only need to spend $180 and buy a Chumby... This can be a good platform to start Rocbox port till V1 comes out. Since Chumby hardware is open source, we can re-use a lot from there.
Too bad, they don't ship it outside US.
I'm sorry Casainho this is coming in late. But it's better late than never to review our CPU selection. This is for V1.
casainho:
--- Quote from: spark on May 15, 2008, 03:39:33 PM ---i.mx21 is more powerful than at91sam9261 and yet cheaper ($4 to $8 cheaper depending on qty). highlights are: 266MHz operation, 133MHz bus, USB OTG and Host (full speed though). Also, 0.8mm pitch BGA is manageable, same as 9261. So i.mx21 is a practical choice.
Best part is, you only need to spend $180 and buy a Chumby... This can be a good platform to start Rocbox port till V1 comes out. Since Chumby hardware is open source, we can re-use a lot from there.
Too bad, they don't ship it outside US.
I'm sorry Casainho this is coming in late. But it's better late than never to review our CPU selection. This is for V1.
--- End quote ---
Looks like chumby is a good hardware platform to develop, because of It's price/hardware: http://wiki.chumby.com/mediawiki/index.php/Hacking_hardware_for_chumby#What.27s_in_a_chumby.3F
If freescale gives good application notes as Atmel this should be the best choice.
Now the problem is how to get one for that price?? - I saw in ebay just a few that are sent for international however that price should be at least +150$ because of taxes and carriage :-(
I will not buy a new hardware, the chumby, so soon, first I will wait to see if you really start developing with chumby, after buying it. While that I will continue to learning with the development board I already bought.
friendlyzookeeper, about memory, we have here a change in hardware so that work will be for later :-)
EDIT 1:
Why not GP2X?
The advantages that I see in GP2X over Chumby:
- it's almost half the price of the chumby - 119.99 € (without VAT) - http://www.adictron.es/epages/61488288.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61488288/Products/gp2x_f200;
- it's worldwide available while Chumby not;
- it's much more portable, Chumby don't run on batteries, GP2X is much more a portable media player while Chumby not;
- have USB 2.0 High Speed while Chumby just USB 2.0 full speed;
- have SD card while Chumby not;
- have tactile buttons while Chumby not :(
- would be great for people that uses GP2X having a Rockbox working on It, being a portable device in nature, while will not happen the same on Chumby - also would be great for Rockbox project having it working on GP2X - there are people looking for Rockbox on GP2x, we might get help from them: http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=28343.
spark:
why not gp2x?
Because it uses some MagicEyes processor which could have a support problem.
Chumby uses freescale which definately has better support. Appnotes and Linux BSP is available. Shematics & Layout available.
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