Rockbox: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:Rockboxlogo.png|right]]
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'''Rockbox''' is a [[GPL]]-compliant [[open source]] operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2002 and was first implemented on the [[Archos]] Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.
'''Rockbox''' is a [[GPL]]-compliant [[open source]] operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2001<ref>https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2011/12/07/ten-years-of-rockbox/</ref> and was first implemented on the [[Archos]] Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.


Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.
Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.
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Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.
Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.


== Archos devices ==
== Codecs ==
Rockbox was first designed for the Archos series of [[MP3]] players and player/recorders. These devices have relatively weak main CPUs and instead offload music playback to dedicated hardware MP3 decoding chips. Rockbox, therefore, was unable to significantly alter playback capabilities.  Instead, it offered a greatly improved user interface and added plugin functionality not present in the factory firmware.
Rockbox on software decoding platforms (non-Archos) supports playback of eleven [[lossy compression|lossy]] codecs (depending on how one counts), five [[lossless data compression|lossless]], two uncompressed and six miscellaneous formats.<ref>[https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildap2.html#x17-335000B.1 Supported audio formats], Rockbox Manual</ref> This makes a conservative total of 25 supported audio formats, although a few of them do not operate in realtime on all platforms. Extensive work has gone into optimizing each codec, with FLAC, Ogg, WMA, APE and WMA Pro among the fastest known implementations for those formats.<ref>[https://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=82125&view=findpost&p=716976  Codec performance comparison], Hydrogenaudio Forums, accessed 2011-03-12</ref>


Rockbox is capable of being permanently flashed into flash memory on the Archos devices, making it a literal firmware replacement.
=== Lossy formats ===
* MPEG audio layers I-III ([[MP3]]/[[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]]/[[MPEG-1 Audio Layer I|MP1]])
* [[Vorbis|Ogg Vorbis]]
* [[Advanced Audio Coding|MPEG-4 AAC]](-LC/HE/HEv2 profiles) (in [[MPEG-4 Part 14|MP4]] or [[RealMedia|RM]] containers)
* [[Musepack]]
* [[Dolby Digital|AC3]] (raw or [[RealMedia|RM]] container)
* [[Windows Media Audio|WMA Standard]]
* [[Windows Media Audio|WMA Professional]]
* [[Speex]]
* [[Cook Codec|Cook]]
* [[Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding#ATRAC3 (LP2 and LP4 Modes)|ATRAC3]]
* The lossy portion of [[WavPack]] hybrid files
* [[Opus]]


== iRiver devices ==
=== Lossless formats ===
=== H1xx/H3xx ===
* [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]]
Beginning in late 2004, an effort began to port Rockbox to the Motorola ColdFire-powered devices manufactured by [[iRiver]], focusing on the H1xx series of hard drive players (H110/H120/H140). In November of 2005, that effort was expanded to include the H3xx series of hard drive player, which is similar to the H1xx except for the addition of a color screen, USB host capability and the removal of the H1xx digital optical in/out jacks. These devices perform audio decoding in software, allowing Rockbox to potentially support many more audio codecs than the original firmware as well as bringing the extensibility and increased functionality already present in the Archos ports. Rockbox is run from the hard disk on these devices, after being started with a custom bootloader.
* [[WavPack]]
* [[Shorten]]
* [[Apple Lossless]]
* [[Monkey's Audio]]
* [[TTA (codec)|TTA]]


As of November of 2006, the iRiver port is in pre-release advanced testing. Most major functions are fully supported including [[gapless|gapless playback]], [[Replay Gain]], "on the fly" (OTF) playlists, FM radio, remote control, custom UI themes and [[WAV]] recording (including FM recording). Supported playback codecs include: MPEG audio ([[MP3]]/[[MP2]]), (Ogg) [[Vorbis]], [[Musepack]], [[AC3]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]] (experimental, not yet real-time), [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], [[Shorten]], [[Apple Lossless]], [[WavPack]] and uncompressed [[WAV]] audio. Plugins include a colour JPEG viewer, the Rockboy Game Boy emulator (not yet real-time) and a number of games.
=== Uncompressed formats ===
* Intel-style [[WAV]]
* Apple [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]]
Together they include over a dozen different [[Pulse-code modulation|PCM]] and [[Adaptive DPCM|ADPCM]] formats.


=== iFP-xxx ===
A port to the iFP-xxx flash-based devices (starting with the iFP-790) is underway. When completed it will be the first pure flash device to be supported by Rockbox. The port is currently suitable for developers only.


=== H10 ===
== Rockbox features ==
An active Rockbox port is underway for the [[IRiver H-Series|iRiver H10]].  As of November 2006, a pre-release version of Rockbox is available for both the 5/6 GB and 20 GB versions of the H10, although some features, such as recording, have not yet been implemented.
Beside the ability of playing and recording audio files, Rockbox offers many playback enhancements that other firmware packages may not have implemented yet. Listed below are a handful of these features.


== iAudio devices ==
* [[Gapless playback]]<ref>[https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildap2.html#x17-339000B.1.4 Codec Featureset], Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011</ref>
A port to the [[iAudio]] X5 hard drive player (also powered by the Motorola ColdFire chip) is underway. The port is currently suitable for developers only.
* [[crossfader|Crossfading]]<ref>[https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildch7.html#x10-1220007.7 Crossfade], Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011</ref>
* [[ReplayGain]]<ref name="soft_decode">Software decoding targets only</ref>
* 5 band fully parametric [[equalization (audio)|equalizer]]<ref name="soft_decode" />
* Variable speed decoding with pitch correction<ref>[https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildch4.html#x7-630004.3.3 Pitch], Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011</ref>
* [[Crossfeed]]<ref name="soft_decode" />
* OTF ("on the fly") playlists
* True random shuffle (fresh randomly shuffled list every time)
* Custom [[Theme (computing)|UI themes]]
* Dynamic Playlists (queue files to play next, or in other parts of a dynamic playlist)
* Stereo recording to WAV/AIFF/WavPack (lossless) and MP3<ref>MP3, WavPack and AIFF are available on non-Archos devices. Multiple sample rates and bitrates available (hardware-dependent).</ref><ref>[https://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildch10.html#x13-14900010 Recording], Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011]</ref> (supporting devices)
* [[FM broadcasting|FM radio]], including FM recording (supporting devices)
* Remote control (supporting devices)
* Digital [[S/PDIF]] input/output (supporting devices)
* [[Last.fm]] support (even on players lacking [[Real-time clock|RTC]])
* [[cue sheet (computing)|Cue sheet]] support
* Changeable selector bar
* Album art<ref>[https://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/AlbumArt Some limitations] – Details at Rockbox Wiki, accessed 2011-03-12</ref>
* Sleep timer


== Apple devices ==
In November 2005, work began on a port of Rockbox to Apple iPod portable players.  As of November 2006, support is available for iPod mini (first and second generation), color/Photo, 4g Greyscale, and nano (1st generation only), and first generation 5g (video).  Rockbox is not yet available for the second generation Nano or the second-generation Video (sometimes referred to as the "5.5g"), although some users have been able to get Rockbox running on the 30GB version of the 5.5g.


== Neuros III devices ==
== External links ==
Joe Born the leader developer of the Neuros open-source project for a time showed consideration towards allowing Rockbox firmware to be used in a future release of the [http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Neuros_III_development Neuros III], whether or not it will be possible to run the Rockbox firmware under or within [http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/DM320_Platform DM320 platform] is still up for debate between both groups of developers. The Neuros III is designated to run on Linux kernel currently.
* [https://www.rockbox.org/ Website]


== External links ==
 
* [http://www.rockbox.org/ The Rockbox Project]
== References ==
<references/>




<span style="color:green;">''~ Text taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbox Wikipedia entry for Rockbox]''</span>
<span style="color:green;">''~ Text taken from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbox Wikipedia entry]''</span>


[[Category:Firmware]]
[[Category:Firmware]]

Latest revision as of 09:21, 22 October 2020

Featured article

Rockbox is a GPL-compliant open source operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2001[1] and was first implemented on the Archos Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.

Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.

Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.

Codecs

Rockbox on software decoding platforms (non-Archos) supports playback of eleven lossy codecs (depending on how one counts), five lossless, two uncompressed and six miscellaneous formats.[2] This makes a conservative total of 25 supported audio formats, although a few of them do not operate in realtime on all platforms. Extensive work has gone into optimizing each codec, with FLAC, Ogg, WMA, APE and WMA Pro among the fastest known implementations for those formats.[3]

Lossy formats

Lossless formats

Uncompressed formats

Together they include over a dozen different PCM and ADPCM formats.


Rockbox features

Beside the ability of playing and recording audio files, Rockbox offers many playback enhancements that other firmware packages may not have implemented yet. Listed below are a handful of these features.

  • Gapless playback[4]
  • Crossfading[5]
  • ReplayGain[6]
  • 5 band fully parametric equalizer[6]
  • Variable speed decoding with pitch correction[7]
  • Crossfeed[6]
  • OTF ("on the fly") playlists
  • True random shuffle (fresh randomly shuffled list every time)
  • Custom UI themes
  • Dynamic Playlists (queue files to play next, or in other parts of a dynamic playlist)
  • Stereo recording to WAV/AIFF/WavPack (lossless) and MP3[8][9] (supporting devices)
  • FM radio, including FM recording (supporting devices)
  • Remote control (supporting devices)
  • Digital S/PDIF input/output (supporting devices)
  • Last.fm support (even on players lacking RTC)
  • Cue sheet support
  • Changeable selector bar
  • Album art[10]
  • Sleep timer


External links


References

  1. ↑ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2011/12/07/ten-years-of-rockbox/
  2. ↑ Supported audio formats, Rockbox Manual
  3. ↑ Codec performance comparison, Hydrogenaudio Forums, accessed 2011-03-12
  4. ↑ Codec Featureset, Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011
  5. ↑ Crossfade, Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011
  6. ↑ a b c Software decoding targets only
  7. ↑ Pitch, Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011
  8. ↑ MP3, WavPack and AIFF are available on non-Archos devices. Multiple sample rates and bitrates available (hardware-dependent).
  9. ↑ Recording, Rockbox Manual, accessed 22 May 2011]
  10. ↑ Some limitations – Details at Rockbox Wiki, accessed 2011-03-12


~ Text taken from Wikipedia entry

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