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Subject: Re: Gmini 120- any impressions?
From: Laurent Giroud (laurent.giroud_at_libertysurf.fr)
Date: 2004-01-18

> Had rockbox installed on my jukebox recorder 20 but it had an electrical
> problem and wouldnt boot up anymore. It was still under warrenty, so I sent
> it back to Archos, but Im sure they will void the warrenty when they see I
> had Rockbox loaded. I still had the Archos o.s. loaded as well, so when it
> first boots up it shows the archos software, then switches over to Rockbox.
> Since the warrenty is probably not going to be honored, I was thinking of
> getting a Gmini 120 in hopes that Rockbox would someday crack it.

The gmini 120 does not seem uncrackable at all since I have managed to "decrypt" its firmware. It's only a partial work and it might still need to be uncompressed as for the AV models (see Bjorn Stenberg's post) but I guess that it's not the most difficult problem to overcome.

Getting access to its CPU machine language might be more touchy since it's apparentely not made public by Samsung. I had a few exchange of mails with them and their Telechips subsidiary and it looks like it might be possible to have it providing I feel the form they sent me 2 weeks ago. I haven't had time to do it both because I need to install StarOffice (linux only) and because I'm not on hollydays anymore which did not left me enough time to work again on the gmini.
I think I'll be able to find some time this week to do it however.

I haven't published anything yet about the firmware descrambling process because I'm not sure yet if it would be legal here in France (I also need to work on that issue this week...), but I can send any material I have gathered to people willing to continue this work since french law explicitely states that it's legal. Note that Bjorn probably went further than me with its work on the multimedia models since what he found looks very similar to what I have found and he also managed to uncompress the firmware which I didn't.
But do not hesitate to ask via email if you're willing to continue the work from what I've found.

> My question is if anyone has a Gmini and what their impression of it is,
> especially compared to the jukebox recorder 20. Im also thinking of getting
> an iHP-120 but have seen so many negitive comments on their user forum that
> its kind of scared me off.
> Thanks

I almost never use the gmini to listen to music but I find its overall use very practical, I could not compare it to other Archos models since I never had one in my hands. There are a few things that could be enhanced such as the C/F card handling but nothing worth rejecting it. However the plugin system really is something I despise and one of the reasons I want to have rockbox on it, the thing is expensive enough that we don't need to pay just to unlock already installed features.

Regards,
Laurent

Page was last modified "Jan 10 2012" The Rockbox Crew
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