testdasi branch

[testdasi]

As I promised, this is the compiled version of rockbox with patch 6996 (less sensitive scrollwheel), 6908, 6911 and 3045 (album arts
patch). I did not write any of the patch, kudos to the patch writers. I just do the easy job of compiling in Cygwin.
It comes with my Leo01 skin and Leo01_aa (a slightly different version of Leo01 to display album arts).
Must read:
1. Because of the attachment limitation, I have to break the rockbox zip file into 2 parts, just unzip both files to the root folder of your Sansa (Overwrite the .rockbox folder. Don't delete whatever is already there, just overwrite it.).
2. If you want album arts display, see the instructions here http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/AlbumArt The instructions are towards the end of the wiki. Don't ask me how, the steps are all there. If you can't follow the steps, stick with Leo01.
3. I shall not be held responsible if anything screws up.
4. If you download the files when I am updating the post, it's pretty certain that you will get problems. Therefore, after you have downloaded both files, refresh this page to see if there is any change. If there is, download the files again just to be safe.
5. If you want to remove the patch, just download the latest build from rockbox and overwrite the .rockbox folder.

I plan to update this as frequent as I have free time at least until patch 6908 and 6911 are included into SVN.

Update (04/08 8:14pm): Add patch 6996 to make the scrollwheel less responsive. 3045 still has problem so no album art for now.

[CrowdAds]

[cpchan]

Good job. This will keep the non-techies happy.

Charles

[major_works]

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to prepare the compiled version with the patches. I'm sure it's going to be helpful for people.

Yet, I think I'll be best served by trying to follow the "Guide to Compiling" in the Rockbox wiki, which I'd never come across before. I want to learn how to do this myself.

Hopefully, one of you guys will be willing to deal with a question or two should I get stuck.

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by major_works

Hopefully, one of you guys will be willing to deal with a question or two should I get stuck.

I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Charles

[subdrum47]

why are this patches not included in official rockbox firmware?

[testdasi]

From rockbox wiki:
Patches are modifications which have not yet been included in the daily builds by the Developers. The patches are not made by the Developers so there is a chance that they could contain bugs, but it is unlikely that they could actually harm your player. These patches can be downloaded from http://www.rockbox.org/patches.shtml. These patches easily allow you to edit certain source code files, but if these files have been updated by the Developers, and the patch has not been modified for the new files, it is unlikely that it will work. Depending on what files a patch modifies, you may only be able to apply 1 patch, because if the first patch modifies a file, the contents of the file would then change and the second patch would have difficulty in updating it. However, if the patch you want to apply, is only going to patch a file that you have never patched before, then it should still work.

[kyleande]

The patches aren't included for a number of reasons:

They are waiting to be committed.

They are literally a temporary patch fix for something that will be properly fixed later.

They may alter features which are in the standard set - like different key maps.

They may be in the really rough stages of development.

[subdrum47]

This has totaly screwed up my sansa .(
It completely freezes after a few seconds of usage, my theme doesnt work anymore (I put back the theme and fonts I was using before) and it has even freezed on the "shutting down.." screen... ufff hopefully it will work when I put my old rocbox back.

[kratonator]

That isn't good to hear. Although I use Rockbox, I think I wouldn't use those patches. It's a bit risky and I'll just wait until the build is getting optimized. But I think it's just me...

P.S. I don't want to blame testdasi's work. Particulary the leo01 skin is very very good. I use it on the regular Rockbox.

[Lion2k6]

Great but i dont like the backround

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by subdrum47

This has totaly screwed up my sansa .(
It completely freezes after a few seconds of usage, my theme doesnt work anymore.

Hum, I wonder if it is the album art patch- I don't use it (it might require you to use a theme with album art and have the images there, I don't know). My Sansa is fine without that patch.

Charles

[testdasi]

Phew, fortunately, I put the disclaimer line. Somebody just has to screw something up.
It's just strange how I use the exact same files and have no problem so far.

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by subdrum47

This has totaly screwed up my sansa .(

Did you download and unzip both files?

Charles

[Amblin]

This type of thing is not dangerous at all. In this type of operation you can ALWAYS load up recovery mode, or atleast manufacturing mode and restore the original firmware.

[subdrum47]

Originally Posted by cpchan

Did you download and unzip both files?

Charles

Sure mate...

I have tried put back Leo theme and it does freeze once again after few button presses. I am starting to think that my Sansa is ill

[major_works]

Originally Posted by cpchan

I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Charles

FWIW, I've managed to successfully navigate:

-- the installation and configuring of Cygwin;
-- the installation (and usage!) of the Nano editor for purposes of correcting the cross-compiler path;
-- download of Rockbox source code using SVN;
-- an initial compilation of the source code alone;
-- and a second compilation with the audio-fix patches.

I unzipped the newly compiled/patched Rockbox.zip to the root directory of my e270, and lo and behold, it lives... IT LIVES... ahh hahhahhhahahhahaaa! Mind you, I have never undertaken compilation of source code in my life. I'm fairly proud of myself at the moment. Actually, the hardest parts were figuring out SVN and Nano. I haven't seen a command line in a *long time.*

The patches seem to work fine. Right now, I'm listening to music using Rockbox that had been plagued with channel dropouts and general audio weirdness. The same music has always been fine using the Sansa firmware. After installing the patched firmware, everything sounds MUCH better when running Rockbox. No more of the channel dropouts.

Not bad for a "non-techie," I guess.

Thanks, all, for your patience and instruction.

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by major_works

Not bad for a "non-techie," I guess.

Congratulations on your first successful compilation.

Charles

[testdasi]

@subdrum47: I just realize one thing. It may be possible that you were downloading the files when I was updating. In that case, one of the zip file is older than the other one so problems are quite certain to happen.

@major_works: It's really simple, isn't it? I don't think you are considered "non-techie" anymore. Or maybe you level up to non-techie level 2.

[major_works]

Originally Posted by testdasi

@major_works: It's really simple, isn't it? I don't think you are considered "non-techie" anymore. Or maybe you level up to non-techie level 2.

I don't know about "really simple." Like I'd said, the hardest part for me was figuring out how to invoke SVN properly for downloading the source code and then the same for the Nano editor. I had to go with an older version of Nano because I'll be darned if I can figure out how to unpack a .deb file in Windows. I found an older version archived as a .zip file, which worked fine once I puzzled out how to use it.

The compilation and patching part was easier, in part thanks to the help from you guys on the patching part.

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by major_works

I had to go with an older version of Nano

Nano? Doesn't Cywin came with vi?