S1MP3 based players

[joust]

Is there a movement to port Rockbox to these cheap "MP4" ipod nano clones all over ebay? most of the one found here are S1MP3 based players.
http://electronics.listings.ebay.ca/MP3-Players_Other-MP3-Players_W0QQfclZ3QQfromZR11QQsacatZ73839QQsocmdZListingItemList

They are cheap, have descent sound quality but the interface really SUCKS HARD.
these would be great if they had a good interface like rockbox.

I only wish i could code....

[soap]

First step would be for some brave soul to buy one, take it apart, and determine what chipset is used.  Without that knowledge all is speculation.

[Llorean]

As has been said many time, for a port to get started someone with the player has to start doing work. It would probably be easier for other people with this player (as well as better adhering to posting guidelines) if you included some sort of unique identifier like the real model name in the topic.

[the_winch]

There is a wiki here http://www.s1mp3.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

It contains info on the hardware. I guess the fact they use a Z80 core and an unknown DSP would be a problem.

[joust]

There is a TON of info available.
I have a datasheet on the controller chip. it is a ATJ2085. http://www.s1mp3.org/wiki/index.php/ATJ2085
I think the biggest thing missing is the ability to reprogram the device with a Jtag or ICE in this case.
There is a group already working on this over at www.s11mp3.org

They are looking for help if anybody is interested.
I

[Llorean]

A unique identified would still be "S1MP3 based players" since that seems to be a core similarity, and where you start tackling it.

As for whether a Rockbox port is possible, I couldn't personally say. But all our code is open, so if you wanted to look at what you think you can do with it, it's there. The IRC channel is the best place to talk to people.

[Llorean]

Well, part of your approach seems to be trying to get other people interested in your project. Rockbox is its own project with a lot of people interested in it. People here will help you with using our code, but you're not likely to recruit many people to work on your stuff.

[wladston]

Yeah - this is true - if you don't like the "adversement", no problem, I can delete my posts.

The two projects are related, and if people here like rockbox, maybe s1mp3.org is another thing of interest. I'm not asking anyone here to come "work on my stuff", just posting a project that I think it's interesting.

[Llorean]

Well, this forum is for "Getting Rockbox to work on new players."

The expectation is that if you come here, you are interested in helping US with Rockbox, by working on getting it running on something new.

[wladston]

ahn ok... Sorry in this case. posts deleted.

I just wanted to make things easier for people that will post on this forum - if rockbox is to work on an "s1 based" player, I'm sure that the project I have mentioned have lots of people and material that will be an excellent starting point.

[joust]

Hey take it easy guys...
I'd like to see you both succeed on this player. I have a few of them and the original interface is really bad. It sure would be nice if you guys could co-operate and pool resources.

[wladston]

that was my intention

[joust]

Not being a coder myself please correct me if i'm wrong.
All we need to do is:
-Create a new loader
-write a display driver
-write a keyboard interface
-bring in the rest of the rockbox open source code.

am i over simplifying it?

[Llorean]

Create a loader for your device, create drivers for all the hardware in your device (display, audio hardware, buttons, etc), and compile Rockbox for your device's processor, but yeah. It's not nearly as simple as it sounds, but it could be summarized in that, in a very general sense I believe, yeah.

[Bagder]

Well,if you have sufficient knowledge and info about your hardware then it is fairly "easy" to write a Rockbox adaption. The hard part for most porters is to get that info.