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Q1: Are my batteries charged all the time when connected to my Player/Recorder?
A1: Player: the charging is all done by hardware and the exact
functionality is hard to determine. It is however not recommended to keep
the charger connected for more than 10-15 hours if you're not using the
unit.
Recorder: no. The charging algorithm is carefully crafted in to not wear
out the batteries any more than necessary. If you're using your unit
connected to the charger most of the time, use the 'deep discharge' option
to save your batteries somewhat.
Q2: Will keeping my charger connected a long time damage my batteries? Can I
leave it over night?
A2: The charger logic lets the batteries charge until they are full. After
that, the charger is disabled, but the device will stay powered on and
continue to consume some power from the batteries (the hardware does
not allow running from the charger without charging batteries, or
powering off with the charger connected). After some time, it will
start charging the batteries again to keep them full. This will
wear the batteries a little, but overnight charging is what most
people do.
As the Battery FAQ at http://www.greenbatteries.com/ puts it:
"A NiMH battery can be charged and discharged hundreds of times,
but whether that means 200 times or 800 times has a lot to do
with how (you use it)".
Q3: Does Rockbox charge the batteries more/less/worse/better than the Archos
firmware?
A3: Player: Rockbox doesn't affect the charging on Players, it is all done
by hardware logic out of software control.
Recorder: The current release of 1.2 is much worse than the Archos
charger, it tends to stop charging much too early and leave the batteries
half empty.
The current development code (CVS daily builds as of 20.8.2002) is much
better than the 1.2 release, but still not perfect. Linus recently
measured 6 hours continuous playtime after a rockbox charge, and much
over 7 hours after an Archos charge. We are working on fine-tuning
the charger logic to get the most out of the batteries, but the
emphasis is on not overcharging them, since that would damage the
batteries. Better be safe than sorry.
Q4: What kind of batteries are there in my factory default Player/Recorder?
A4: Both ship with 1500 mAh NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries.
Q5: Is it hard to change the batteries? Does it void my warranty?
A5: The archos manual and web site describe how to replace the batteries,
so you're supposed to do it. They recommend using only Archos-supplied
batteries, but my Recorder 20 unit only shipped with one set. Some
units have been shipped with two sets of batteries. Someone actually had
Archos send him new batteries free of charge after they had weared out,
under the warranty. (have asked from support-technique@archos.com,
waiting for an answer to arrive!)
Q6: How much do replacement batteries cost? Where can I buy them?
A6: http://www.greenbatteries.com sells 1800 mAh NiMH cells at $3.25USD each,
and I bought 4 of the same GP batteries for 20 euros in an home
electronics & household appliance store in Finland. NiMH batteries are
sold in almost all shops that sell consumer electronics, and in many
online shops. Browse around.
Q7: What kind of run-time can I expect on a set of fully-charged batteries
when running Rockbox?
A7: For the stock 1500 mAh cells, from 6 hours to 8 hours, depending on
which charger was used (see Q3). It depends a lot on the condition of
the batteries. We are looking into implementing more battery-saving
techniques in rockbox to make it rock longer.
Q8: Can I use different batteries in my Archos?
A8: Only use NiMH-type rechargeable batteries. It is considered to be safe
to use NiMH batteries of different capacities though, a lot of people
have purchaced 1700 or 1800 mAh batteries to replace the stock 1500 mAh
cells and have the device run a bit longer.
Q9: Can I use non-chargeable batteries in my Archos?
A9: This is not recommended. The unit has been designed to operate with
four 1.2V batteries producing about 4.8V at most, and using 1.5V
alkaline/zinc carbon batteries will produce around 6.0V, which will
heat up the unit a lot more and might even damage it. The Archos
manual explicitly tells you not to do so.
Q10: Can I use a different charger?
A10: People have successfully used different chargers with similar
specifications as the stock charger. The charger must have the
same kind of connector with same polarity (center positive/+).
The charger should supply at least 7-8 volts, and if it provides
more than 9V, it probably should be current limited (do not
directly plug it in your 12V car battery or it's charger!).
Using lower charging voltage will slow down the charging, and using
higher voltage will cause a higher charging current, more heat,
and too much heat and current can damage the batteries or the unit.
Using a different charger will void your warranty and can be
dangerous to your unit, so we can not recommend it.
Many people are happy using an external quick charger which
is specified to work with NiMH batteries.
Q11: Can I buy a replacement charger exactly as the one Archos shipped?
A11: The FAQ on the Archos web site and the top of the charger both read:
Output: 9VDC 600mA
Center positive (+) polarity
Chargers with similar (or user-adjustable) properties are available
at shops selling consumer electronics.
Q12: I often need to stop my player for about 15 minutes or so, and when I do
it runs off it's batteries. I was wondering, which is best: shutting the
player down completely and rebooting it when I want to listen again, or
leaving the unit on? Which way does it draw more power?
A12: In our testing we found the following results:
HDD off, LED off, idle 94 mA
HDD off, LED off, play 97 mA
HDD off, LED on, idle 129 mA
HDD off, LED on, play 131 mA
HDD on, LED on, play 230 mA
HD on, reading, LED off ~ 600 mA
HD spin up before read max 800 mA
So leaving the unit on and paused consumes ~100mA, and thus much less then
needing to reboot the unit. Your mileage may vary.

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Q1. What is a FAQ?
A1. A rare small animal of the species 'Textius Electronicus'. It is known for
its helpful attitude and vicious misspellings.
Q2. Okay, fine, what is _this_ FAQ?
A2. This FAQ is for questions (that we have answers too) that have been asked
repeatedly either in emails or on IRC.
Q3. What is Rockbox? What is it's purpose?
A3. The purpose of this project is to write an Open Source replacement
firmware for the Archos Jukebox 6000, Studio 20 and Recorder MP3 players.
Q4. I want to write code for my Archos, how do I proceed?
A4. First make sure to read the file CONTRIBUTING in the firmware directory
on Sourceforge. See http://rockbox.haxx.se/firmware/CONTRIBUTING
if you do not want to have to wade through the CVS directories.
Q5: Whats CVS?
A5: Concurrent Versions System (http://www.cvshome.org). We have a small
help page about how to use this to get, update and commit files on the web
at http://rockbox.haxx.se/cvs.html
Q6. What exactly is the CONTRIBUTING file?
A6. Just like the name implies, it lists conventions that the project follows,
and in turn asks you to follow, for the formating of source code in
general.
Q7. Okay, so I read CONTRIBUTING and although I don't agree with all your
conventions, I am going to be sensible and follow them anyway. Now what?
A7. Start by reading up on the information about the jukeboxes on our web page.
Then go into CVS and look at the code we've written. Then take what you
need and start writing.
Q8. Okay, so how do I submit a patch?
A8. Run: "diff -u oldfile newfile > patchfile" against the file(s) you have
changed. Then mail the output to any member of the development team and
we will take it under consideration. (Please remember that all
submissions are not automatically accepted, this is nothing personal.)
Of if you would like to run the diff against the current cvs code:
cvs diff -ub [file(s)]
Q9. I want to join the development team, but don't have a SourceForge account,
what should I do?
A9. Head on over to http://sourceforge.net/account/register.php and create an
account for yourself.
Q10. Do you have a mailing list?
A10. Sure do! As a matter of fact, we have several of them for specific
things. Please check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail/
Q11. Great you have a mailing list! Is there anyway for me to catch up on
past posts?
A11. Check out the archives at: http://rockbox.haxx.se/mail.cgi
Q12. How can I meet the developers working on the project?
A12. One way is by visiting us on IRC. Head on over to the server
irc.openprojects.net, and then join "#rockbox". There is usually at
least one person there. If you don't see any activity, feel free to post
questions anyway, serveral of us log the channel and will get you answers
when we unidle.
Q13: Wow, you guys talk on IRC alot? I wish I had been around for those
conversations to see what happened.
A13: We are glad you mentioned that! http://rockbox.haxx.se/irc happens
to have a list of various logs we have recorded of events in the channel.
Feel free to read up, and ask questions on what you find.
Q14. What is this "SourceForge" you keep mentioning?
A14. http://www.sourceforge.net
Q15. Can the changes or the software that Rockbox suggests or offers
possibly damage my Archos Player?
A15. All firmware mods that are presented are still highly experimental.
Try them at your own risk. We offer no guarantee that this software, or
the hardware modifications we show, will not damage your player or void
your warranty. That said, we have not been able to damage any of our
units by modifying only the firmware. You can accidentally password
protect your harddisk, but there are ways around that. (See below.)
Q16. I want to see what the inside of my player looks like, but I would really
like to avoid voiding my warranty. Is there anything you can suggest?
A16. We have a collection of photos of both the player and recorder. Look at
http://rockbox.haxx.se/internals/
Q17. What exactly are you trying to achieve with this line of development?
(A.K.A. whats your purpose for being here?)
A17. Firstly, we wouldn't start something like this if we didn't simply enjoy
it profusely. This is great fun!
Secondly, we feel the firmware is lacking some features and contain a
number of annoying bugs that we want to fix.
Some ideas would include (in no particular order):
- No pause between songs
- Mid-song resume
- Mid-playlist resume
- No-scan playlists
- Unlimited playlist size
- Autobuild playlists (ie: "all songs in this directory tree")
- Auto-continue play in the next directory
- Current folder and all sub-folder random play
- Full disk random play
- REAL random
- Multi song queue
- Faster scroll speed
- More cool features with the wire remote control (including
controlling your Archos from your car radio (req hw mod))
- Support playing of other files types (ie: Ogg Vorbis support)
- Support for megabass switch (req hw mod)
- Player control via USB
- Memory expansion?
Note: Just because something is on this list, does not mean that it is
technically feasible. (But hey we can dream) And something not
being on the list does not mean it isn't a neat idea. Bring it to
the list.
Q18. I don't see you mentioning other file types on your list of ideas. What
about supporting those?
A18. Pessimist's Answer: At the current time we belive this is not very likely
The Micronas chip (MAS3507) decoder in the archos does not natively
support decoding and there is very little program space in the player to
implement it ourselves. The alternative would be to write a software
decoder as part of the RockBox firmware. However, as much as we love
our players, the computing power of the Archos (SH1 microcontroller) is
not fully sufficent for this need.
Optimist's Answer: We can play any format if only we can write code for
the DSP to decode it. The MAS 3507 (and 3587) are generic DSPs that
simply have MP3 codecs in ROM. We can download new codecs in them and
we will be the first to celebrate if we can get OGG or FLAC or anything
into these DSPs. Unfortunately, we have no docs or tools for writing new
MAS DSP code and Intermetall is very secretive about it. If anyone can
help, please get in touch!
Q19. What about supporting playing of WMA files?
A19. Dear Mr. Gates, you have two options. Re-read question #17, or go buy
your own project.
Q20. When do you think there will be a version available for my Archos?
A20. We recently released version 1.2, so head on over to
http://rockbox.haxx.se/download.html and pull it down.
Make sure to read the release notes.
(http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/rockbox-1.2-notes.txt).
Q21. What do you plan to add to coming versions?
A21. We have a rough idea of which features we plan/expect/hope to be included
in which versions. Once again, remember that none of this is written in
stone (noticing a pattern yet?)
Version 1.3
Persistent settings for Player, UI improvements
Version 1.4
Recording?
Q22. I tried one of your firmware files and now I can't access my harddisk!
When I turn on my jukebox, it says:
Part. Error
Pls Chck HD
A22. Your harddisk has been password protected. We're not 100% sure why it
happens, but you can unlock it yourself. Look at:
http://rockbox.haxx.se/lock.html
Q23: This FAQ doesn't answer the question I have. What should I do?
A23: You have a couple options here. You could forget the question, find an
easier question, or accept '42' as the answer no matter what. We don't
really recommend any of these (though I do opt for '42' often myself).
What we do recommend is stopping by IRC, reading
http://rockbox.haxx.se to see if the question was answered else
where and just not included here, or ultimatly dropping an email to the
mailing list (rockbox@cool.haxx.se) or the FAQ maintainer listed on the
project homepage.
Q24: Are there other ways to contact the developers?
A24: Yes.
Q25: Are you going to tell us what they are?
A25: No. Post to the mailing list and we will get back to you.
Q26: But I _really_ want to talk with you in person.
A26: I'm sorry. My girlfriend/boyfriend/pet says I'm not allowed to, and the
doctors here won't let me have pens or pencils. They say its some rule
about us not having sharp objects. I'm sorry. Now please stop calling me
here.
Q27: Will you ever port Quake II to the Archos?
A27: If you ask that again, I'm sending your address and phone number to the
guy that mailed us with question #23.
Q28: Umm, was that sarcasm?
A28: That's it, I'm mailing him now.
Q29: Is this legal? I mean, I'd just hate to see something like that
challenged under the DMCA in all its ridiculousness. Any thoughts or
ideas?
A29: We believe we are in the green on this. We are not violating anyone's
copyright and we are not circumventing any copy protection scheme.
This has been a big point for the project since its inception. Some
people wanted us to distribute patched versions of the original firmware,
but seeing as that _would_ have violated Archos' copyright, we didn't
follow that course of action.
Q30: On the website [and various information postings] you state
"Every tiny bit was reverse engineered, disassembled and then
re-written from scratch".
If it was rewritten from scratch then why was it first reverse-engineered
and disassembled? Instead this sounds more like someone disassembled it
then used the understanding that they gained to create a new version,
which is not quite the same as "from scratch".
A30: Don't confuse the terms. Reverse engineering means examining a product
to find out how it works. Disassembling the firmware is merely one tool
used in that examination. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers are other
tools we have used. We have written every single byte of the Rockbox
firmware. But we could not have written the software without first
researching how the hardware was put together, i.e. reverse engineer it.
All of this is completely legal. If you define "from scratch" as writing
software without first researching the surrounding interfaces, then no
software has ever been written from scratch.
Q31: Wait a minute here. When you released version 1.0 you did not have a
single one of the ideas you have mentioned on your website actually
implimented! Calling this version 1.0 is really misleading. Whats the
story?!
A31: In simple terms, the first release was called 1.0 because it had a basic
working feature set that worked and had no known bugs. That is what 1.0
meant. It is true that Rockbox 1.0 lacked most of the feature set that
every sane user wanted. However, we never said it was more
feature-complete or better in any way then the original firmware that early
in the project. The first release was done as a proof of concept that our
ideas are moving in the right direction. We also hoped that it would help
bring the project some attention, and some additional developers.
Adding the missing features was just a matter of time. In more recently
releases we have completed many of our desired goals, and several new ones
that were implimented to fullfill user requests.
Q32: I've heard talk of a 'Rolo'. What is that? (Or 'All you ever wanted
to know about Rockbox boot loaders')
A32: The developers have discussed the possibility of a boot loader. (Mainly
because having one sounds cool, and isn't Rolo just a great name?)
The idea would be that a user could use the load to choose between
different verions of Rockbox or the Archo firmware itself. We have a
working version of ROLO implimented for the players, and a version in
development for the recorders. However, at this time, the patch for ROLO
is not optimal for use and is not part of the main branch of the CVS.
Once this improves and has been tested sufficently, it will become part of
the main release. Please check the mailing list logs and irc logs for more
information.
Q33: I was thinking about making the USB a bit more usable. What are the
chances of using the USB port to [play games / share files / list
the device as something other then a hard drive / sell my soul to you
for a nickel]. What do you think?
A33: You really don't want to know what I think, it involves road flares,
microwave ovens and shaved cats. Enough said. But regarding the USB
portion of your question, this is not feasible. First, any ideas
regarding special communications over the USB port will not work because
we have no control over the USB port itself. We are capable of
dectecting if it is in use (so we know which mode to switch to) but that
is it. Second, if you would like to have your Archos as a harddrive for
another device, know that this will not work either. The Archos unit is
a slave. Most other USB devices are slaves as well. So without some
master involved there can be no communication. Sorry. Now about your
soul. Would you settle for 3 cents and a small wad of belly button lint?
Q34: When I use RockBox my jukebox's red "error" light turns on a lot, but this
doesn't happen on the factory firmware. Why?
A34: Rockbox uses the red LED as harddisk activity light, not as an error
light. Relax and enjoy the music.
Q35: How do I use the loadable fonts?
A35: Loadable fonts are a work in progress. We do not have full documentation
for it. The best we can do now is tell you that you need a valid .bdf
font, and to use the tool "bdf2ajf" from CVS to conver to the .ajf format.
The final .ajf font must be stored in the archos root as 'system.ajf'
We do expect more documentation on this process shortly.
Q36: I have a question about the batteries...
A36: STOP! We have put togeather a completely different FAQ for battery
related questions. Check out: http://rockbox.haxx.se/docs/battery.html