Warning, the internal storage is not working so you must install Rockbox on a microsd card !!

Warning, it appears that there could two types of Zen X-Fi2: one NAND based and the other SD based. I've only encountered NAND based but I would like to know if someone has a SD based one, please contact me (AmauryPouly) if you do. See below on how to determine the kind.

Port Status

driver	status	comments
LCD	95%	LCD is working. Still lacking lcd sleep, and inversion.
Keys	100%	Physical keys are handled. Touchscreen driver has been implemented.
Music playback	100%	Everything works.
FM Radio	0%	We don't have a DRI driver so we FM doesn't work.
Recording	0%	Not implemented.
Power Management	100%	Everything works.
DMA	100%	DMA works
SSP	100%	SSP works
NAND	0%	NAND driver and FTL are not implemented so no internal storage.
SD	100%	External SD works.
Clock/voltage	100%	Everything works.
USB	100%	Everything is implemented and should work.
Manual	00%	TBD.
Rockbox Utility	50%	Most of the code has been written but we need to put pieces together. Upgrade the bootloader is a bit tricky.

Daily builts

You can download a prebuilt version of Rockbox for the Zen X-Fi2 for the build bots here: zenxfi2.zip. Unpack it to the micro-sd card you will put in the X-Fi2. It should create a .rockbox directory at the root of the sd-card. You still need to installer bootloader the first time to be able to boot rockbox.

Bootloader features

The bootloader comes with a number of features which allow to recover from potential problematic situations.

Booting to the OF

The bootloader can either boot rockbox or the OF. By default it will boot rockbox. Booting to the OF can be achieved by several combination, depending on the context:

• usb unplugged
  • hold menu for a small time: boot to the OF
  • hold menu for a long time (until logo): boot to the OF in recovery mode
• usb plugged
  • hold power for a small time: boot to the OF
  • hold power for a small time then menu for a long time (until logo): boot to the OF in recovery mode

Note that when usb plugged, you need to press the reset button to reboot and perform this combination.

Building the bootloader

The bootloader can be built using three different methods. The recommend one is the automatic method using RockboxUtility. The semi-automatic method requires a working cross-compiler and a copy of the Rockbox source code.

Automatic method

TIDI

Semi-Automatic method

Windows with prebuilt file

I prebuilt two complete images because producing them is a bit tricky currently, they will disappear when RbUtil? is ready for the Zen X-Fi2. First download one of those two image, pick the right type (see section at the end to determine the type)

• NAND-based: firmware.sb and rename it to firmware.sb
• SD-based: firmware_sd.sb and rename it to firmware_sb.sb

If you are unsure about your device type, download both: the installer will pick the right one provided that they are correctly named. Then get a copy of the latest firmware installer for the Creative Zen X-Fi2, usually called ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe. Put the downloaded images in the same directory as the installer make sure they are correctly named (firmware.sb for NAND and firmware_sd.sb for SD). Plug your device, the OF will boot, now launch the installer: it should give you the opportunity to upgrade. Check that the proposed version is not 1.23.03, it should be 1234.5678.9012 for the NAND and 9876.5432.1098 for the SD. If you don't see those number, it will not work.

Linux + Windows

This method requires the following things:

• a working cross-compiler (arm-elf-eabi), see HowToCompile
• a copy of the source code, see HowToCompile
• a copy of the latest firmware installer for the Creative Zen X-Fi2, ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe.

First you need to compile the bootloader, to do this follow the instructions from HowToCompile and when running the configure script, select the Creative Zen X-Fi2 and bootloader build. After the build, you should get a bootloader-zenxfi2.creative file (you don't need to go further than the 5. Build step in HowToCompile).

Then you need to build the mkimxboot tool in rbutil/mkimxboot. To do so, just cd into rbutil/mkimxboot and run make. It should produce a mkimxboot executable.

Finally, you need to run the tool with the correct parameters. Assuming you are in rbutil/mkimxboot, run:

=./mkimxboot -i creative-installer.exe -b bootloader-zenxfi2.creative -o firmware.sb -t dualboot -v zenxfi2-nand =

If you have a SD based one, replace zenxfi2-nand by zenxfi2-sd.

You should replace creative-installer.exe by the path to the firmwareinstaller you downloaded from Creative (like ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe), and replace bootloader-zenxfi2.creative by the path to the bootloader-zenxfi2.creative file produced by the compilation.

This is where you need windows: put the firmware.sb file produced somewhere available for Windows. Reboot to Windows (or use another computer). Put firmware.sb in the same directory as the Creative installer (something called ZEN_X-Fi2_PCFW_L22_1_23_01.exe). Now run the installer and do a normal firmware upgrade: the installer will use the firmware.sb file you put instead of the standard one ! Note that you can use a virtual machine with Windows on it for this step. If you already have rockbox installed, you will need to enter recovery mode or the OF to successfully upgrade.

Of course, to run rockbox, you will also need to do a normal build of rockbox and put rockbox on your device (see HowToCompile but this time to a normal Creative Zen-X-Fi2 build and go until the 6. Install step). Alternatively, you can download the latest build here: http://build.rockbox.org/data/rockbox-creativezenxfi2.zip

Recovery procedure

If for any reason your device doesn't work anymore (doesn't boot, stuck in the bootloader and even the OF doesn't work or if a firmware upgrade failed). You might need to recover your device. You should not attempt this without an advice from someone knowledgeable. The point of the recovery procedure is too reinstall the OF and will remove any trace of the rockbox bootloader.

Linux

NAND vs SD: how to determine type ?

You can determine the type by looking at the model number, written on the back of the device

• DVP-FL0012: NAND based
• DVP-FL0015: SD based
• PF2494: unknown, if you have one, please contact me (AmauryPouly)

TODO

-- AmauryPouly - 15 Jan 2013