We have liftoff

Rockbox for the Zipit has sound!

I tweaked the rockbox makefile and the rbpaths.h file a bit to split the difference between a normal sdl application and an embedded build that gets packed all up in the /.rockbox directory.  Then I added just a few lines of code to allow the zipit smily key (aka the ESC key in most of the userlands) to quit  the rockbox app and voila, we have an almost usable port of rockbox to the zipit.

I still need to add some more zipit specific key bindings to the sdl code, especially the two volume keys on the side of the zipit.  I also need to figure out why it complains about the playlist file.  Probably some sort of permissions issue with the way I grafted the /.rockbox directory onto the wejp userland.  But for now I think I'm just gonna sit back, crank up the tunes, and enjoy.

If you're running wejp's userland maybe you can help test it.  rockbox-z2-b8.tgz

Looking for the right GUI.

Did I mention I want to remake the zipit into an mp3 player I can use in the car?  To me that means it must have a simple GUI controlled by the nice clickity d-pad in the top right corner of the zipit keypad.  It should be readable at a glance because I wanna keep my eyes on the road, mostly.  That means GMU needs some rework with a larger font and all the important controls moved closer to the d-pad.  I might go that route, so I decided to check out the gmenu2x program launcher GUI used on some other gizmos that also run GMU to get a better feel for what does and doesn't work on gizmos with this form factor.

At the time I only had a buildroot working for IZ2S and could only run static linked executables so I must say it was quite a pain in the butt to build.  Gotta get a better buildroot setup for OABI builds so I can use the shared libs from the IZ2S family of userlands!  Anyhow, the GUI seems to work ok and the controls are acceptable.  It doesn't actually launch anything yet, but here's a pretty pic of the progress so far.

I can't seem to get the ext2 filesystem on wejp's userland to survive a poweroff, but it came with a buildroot config file so I can build stuff to use the shared libs.  I just gotta reload the entire ext2 filesystem anytime I wanna test something.  Oh well, I'll figure out the filesystem problem later...  Meanwhile it appears to have everything I need to build rockbox as an SDL application.

Only the GUI works so far, but it was fairly easy to build so that's encouraging.

The preconfigured controls work almost exclusively off the d-pad, and the font in the default skin is already pretty good at 320x240.  Plus there are like 100 skins for the 320x240 ipod video, so I'm sure I can pick one that's car worthy. Now If I could just get it to gimme some sound.  It oughta work with SDL audio like the UI simulator, but I think I missed a few config options related to the location of the codec shared libs it built, as you can see in this picture.

So close, I can almost taste it...
 
I'm not sure where to go next.  I might try to move the rockbox experiment to IZ2S because the FAT filesystem makes it easier to move music to and from the SD card.  Plus it boots really fast, and I really like the wifi setup script.  Or I might see what it takes to tweak the GMU GUI for the car.  Or I may see what gmenu2x can do when I hook up the launcher part.  Who knows?  Not me.

First Post!

I'm on the internet.  I'm somebody now. Woo Hoo!!

Actually I've been here for just about forever it seems, but now I got me one of those fancy bloggy things.  Seems like a good excuse to avoid working on my other pet projects, which have been feeling much more like work than fun lately.

I suspect the dog must've sensed this as he got me a trio of zipit Z2s to tinker with for Christmas this year.  So my next few posts will most likely be about my pitiful attempts to shoehorn enough software into the poor little zipit to remake it into a suitable replacement for my aging juicebox as the car mp3 player of choice.


So far I've got one running IZ2S enhanced and I've managed to get a buildroot toolchain good enough to make a static partly broken version of qemacs that  runs on it.  Yeah, I know you don't really need emacs to play mp3s, but everyone wants emacs, right?

I've got another zipit converted to u-boot and running the teensy wejp userland with the gmu music player.  If I could get the ext2 filesystem to survive a reboot (and learn to control gmu without squinting) this one might be good enough for my purposes.  I've also compiled rockbox as an SDL app with the buildroot toolchain for this userland but haven't managed to test it due to filesystem unstability.  Dang it!  Rockbox would be perfect for the car.

We'll see how this all pans out soon I hope.