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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: Re: question to all blind rockboxersRe: question to all blind rockboxers
From: Amy <amy_at_faylen.com>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:24:59 -0500 I wish I could get mine working. Still waiting to look for a decent price on eBay. I would prefer one with rockbox installed already, but I'm thinking it very unlikely at this point. sigh ----- Original Message ----- From: <chou.clement_at_gmail.com> To: "Rockbox" <rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 6:03 PM Subject: Re: question to all blind rockboxers > Actually, just one minor correction if I may, Paul. The fourth whole on > the subpack as you described is not a line jack. Rather, it's not a line > out jack. It's actually a line in / out jack, ad I believe it can be > changed via the firmware and settings. The other jack that is right next > to your usb is actually a remote jack. And the slit's purpose is unknown > right below the headphone jack. Under the slit is actually a piece of > plastic, which reveals the USB 1.1 OTG port. If you feel carefully, you > will feel something that is not quite smooth. It should be noticible.. I > Thought it was the internal microphone, but you don't want to get that > mistaken... that's where you said it was. Just a few things I thought I > would point out. > > Best, > Clement. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Paul Erkens" <pjealt_at_xs4all.nl> > To: "Rockbox" <rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se> > Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 3:48 PM > Subject: question to all blind rockboxers > > >> Hi, >> >> Since I got my IAudio x5, I really had a whole bunch of stuff to learn. I >> was rather a novice. The information on the net aimed directly at blind >> people is there to some degree, and that's wonderful already. But it is >> not very extensive up till now. >> I'm writing a document right now, from which other blind folks can learn >> what I had to learn. I started writing this afternoon, and I'd like to >> know from you guys out here, if you think I should do it differently, >> keep going this way, or leave it altogether because I'm completely wrong. >> >> If any of you cares to take a look at my first attempts, I am pasting it >> below. If the reactions are okay and I can get it finished in the near >> future, I'm planning to send it off to the rockbox team, and see if they >> find it useful enough to place it on their site for other blind >> adventurous souls to use. Rockbox is made by very knowledgeable people, >> but introductory docs for the unknowing like myself, I haven't found so >> far. Would you as a blind reader find this a useful document? Especially >> the section describing the IAudio mp3 player itself. >> >> Comments welcome. It is my first attempt to write it, unfinished nor >> polished. I'm not a native English speaker. I just want to know if I'm on >> the right track to really make a difference when I get it done. I'd like >> to contribute my little bit. >> --- >> Guide for the blind: rockbox on your IAudio x5 mp3 player. >> >> Contents ideas: >> ======== >> introduction >> What are we talking about? >> -walkmans and accessibility >> -what is mp3 really? >> Description of the IAudio x5 >> Hearing the demos on the unit >> an explanation of firmware >> what is rockbox for us? >> How the speech system works >> About the files to download and what they do >> >> Introduction >> >> Welcome. This guide is intended for blind folks, wanting to have an >> accessible mp3 player. I am blind myself, and from the directions on the >> internet, I finally managed to get rockbox to work on my player. The >> information I needed was not bundled in one place, and most documents >> were very brief. Now that I have my own player going and now that I've >> seen how great rockbox just is for us once it's running, I want to share >> my knowledge and experience with you, so you don't have to invent the >> wheel again. >> >> In short, if you already know what an mp3 walkman is: with rockbox, you >> can now navigate almost all menus, configure almost all options and do >> almost anything a sighted user is capable of, using the display screen on >> the unit. New functions and possibilities are added constantly, and what >> you can't do today, may be possible next week. Rockbox makes your mp3 >> player talk, so you will know what you are doing as you operate its >> controls. That is what rockbox is all about for blind people. A work in >> progress, already working on many different mp3 players, talking to you, >> and improving continuously. >> >> This is not a technical document, because I'm not technically inclined >> myself. I will explain what you are required to do, why you must do it, >> and in our case without vision: how it should be done. >> >> I can only describe the procedure for the IAudio x5 mp3 player. Other >> players, I don't have any experience with so far. If you have something >> other than the IAudio x5, this document will provide you with background >> information so you will understand what's up, but the specific >> installation details for other players than the IAudio x5 are not covered >> here. >> >> We will begin by providing you with some useful background information. >> Only read it if you're interested. We will discuss audio compression, and >> similar background topics. Then, we'll dive into describing the IAudio x5 >> unit, showing you how to get started with rockbox. >> >> In many cases, I will refer to the IAudio x5 rockbox manual on the >> rockbox site. This document is an addition just to get you started; It's >> by no means a replacement for anything. >> >> If you have any suggestions for this document, please write me at >> pjealt_at_xs4all.nl. I can't provide support for general rockbox problems, >> because all I do is write and maintain this document. Please write me >> only if you think an important concept is missing from this document. >> >> What are we talking about? >> ===================== >> >> So, what are we talking about in this document in the first place? Simply >> put: until rockbox came, we did not have good access to digital walkmans. >> But now we do. If you buy yourself an x5 walkman from IAudio, this >> document tells you how to set it up for yourself, so that it talks to you >> as you operate it. >> >> walkmans and accessibility >> >> If you like music, talking books, radio plays or other forms of recorded >> audio, it is great to have a mobile device, on which the audio you want >> to listen to is stored. When I was young, I used to have one of the first >> walkman players that could play cassette tapes. It weighed almost two >> American pounds, which is near to 1 kilo gram in European measurement. It >> required six pen light batteries, it had head phones attached, the >> batteries lasted less than two hours, and I was extremely proud to walk >> around with that brick. But after two months of intensive use, the tape >> started to slow down, the sound became bad and I did away with it >> finally. Not only had the player been expensive, but it wore out pretty >> quickly. >> >> These days, walkmans have improved dramatically. The music is no longer >> stored on cassette tapes but on different media. The modern media are >> digital in nature. How digital audio works exactly, falls outside the >> scope of this document. The advantage of using digitally stored audio in >> your walkman is however, that its sound quality is much better. Besides, >> it is now much easier to instantly play a song of your liking. You don't >> have to change tapes and cue back and forth, to find the song you want to >> hear. Instead, you navigate through your collection using a small display >> screen on the walkman, to find and play it. >> >> And here is our problem. If you can't read the display on the unit, you >> won't be able to access most of its functions and settings. These devices >> become more and more menu based, with logical categories in which you can >> find the option you want to tweak. Absolutely fabulous for sighted >> people, but by far not for us. You know how computers are made accessible >> though. The screen is read to us by an electronic voice, and because of >> that, we can navigate our files, do text processing and many other >> computer tasks, even including installing windows XP without sighted >> assistance. If you are determined, that is. >> >> Generally, most manufacturers of modern digital equipment don't really >> adapt their stuff such, that people with disabilities can make good use >> of them. We can get along some by memorizing key stroke sequences, but >> modern devices have become way too complex. This meant, that the pleasure >> of digital walkmans was only available for us if we didn't demand too >> much. You could buy yourself one, but only 20% or so of its functions >> that you payed for, will be usable for you. >> >> Well: no more. Thanks to the time and effort spent by the rockbox team, >> we now have the possibility to use these modern walkmans, and not just >> that. We can also make a well informed choice among the different models >> on which it runs. Rockbox won't work on all modern walkmans, but more are >> added over time and what these people have achieved so far, is >> impressive. Just take a look on the rockbox site, and see which mp3 >> walkmans are already currently supported. Go to your local dealer and get >> yourself one from that list. >> >> What is mp3 really? >> >> Next, we need to understand what mp3 really is. Mp3 is not a walkman, a >> player, nor a dvd feature. Mp3 is a file format. Let's see what this >> means. >> >> A file on your computer is something you will be familiar with. A file >> can contain a letter or other text, it could contain a picture, and >> likewise a file on your computer can also contain audio. If you play an >> audio file on your computer, you will hear the sound from the file out of >> your pc speakers. There are a number of different audio file types that >> are currently used throughout the world. Simply put, there are only two >> basic types of audio files: compressed, and uncompressed. Let's talk >> about what this means. >> >> On a regular audio cd, audio is stored plainly. The original sound has >> been encoded into small groups of digits: ones and zeroes, and these are >> stored on the compact disk. It is possible to have your computer's cd or >> dvd drive read that digital audio information off the cd, and storing it >> in regular computer files on your hard drive. This process is called >> "ripping a cd", i.e. copying the audio data over from the cd on to your >> computer's hard disk. >> >> However, a simple cd contains an enormous amount of data. If we speak in >> megabytes, a cd contains roughly 800 megabytes worth of audio data. Once >> you have the contents of your cd inside your computer, you can hook up >> your digital walkman to it, and then transfer those files. >> >> You should be aware however, that the storage capacity of your digital >> walkman is usually quite limited, if you compare it to the capacity of >> your computer's hard disk. Audio, in its plain form, is quite big. When >> digital walkmans first came to market, we had devices that could contain >> 32 megabytes max. Now if you realise that in plain storage format, an >> audio file eats up 10 megabytes for every minute of music, you will >> understand that in these players, there was only room for a song of about >> 3 minutes in length, and obviously, you want more music in your walkman >> than just one little song. >> >> Two things have been done to overcome this problem. First, a group of >> clever people invented a method of reducing the size of regular audio >> files down to a tenth of what they used to be. This is what is now >> called: audio compression. It essentially just means, bringing down the >> size of the audio file whilst retaining the maximum possible sound >> quality. The human ear is not very accurate, compared to a computer. What >> audio compression does, is throw away those parts of the audio that we >> are not likely to perceive. The more of the audio you throw away, the >> smaller the resulting file can be. >> >> And now we have something to work with. On a windows machine, a file >> containing plain audio is called a wave file, usually having a period and >> the letters w a v at the end of its name. Wave files can be quite big. >> Usually, they are uncompressed. Plain. >> >> On the other hand, the most common way of compressing audio these days, >> is called mp3. So the word mp3 just refers to the way the audio itself is >> compressed. Compressed audio files usually have a dot and the letters m p >> 3 at the end of their name. >> >> To summarize: if, for example, you see a file called song.wav on your >> computer, you know that it usually is an uncompressed audio file, because >> of the dot wav at the end. If you encounter something like song.mp3 or >> today.mp3, you know that it is compressed audio, because of the dot m p 3 >> at the end of the file's name. This is only a rule of thumb, because we >> did not take into account the fact that even wave files can be >> compressed, and still be called .wav. But let's not get lost in the >> details. >> >> We mentioned before, that mp3 reduces file sizes by throwing away >> frequencies in the audio you are not likely to hear. The better >> compression you want to achieve, the more audio you need to throw away. >> If you keep going, you will get to a point where the audio damage becomes >> perceptible. You will hear it. So there's always a tradeoff between >> filesize and quality. In mp3 jargon, the compression factor that >> determines both the final file size and also the resulting sound quality, >> is called the mp3 bitrate. If you are going to create your own mp3 files >> from cd's you have, then the bitrate is something you can configure. >> Bitrate and compression factor refers to the same thing, as far as mp3 is >> concerned. >> >> A song in wave format containing 3 minutes worth of cd quality audio, >> would become 30 megabytes in size on disk. If you make an mp3 out of >> this, then you will still have a file of reasonable quality if you >> compress it down to a tenth of its original size. One song in mp3 format >> could then become 3 megabytes rather than 30, and still sound quite okay. >> And if you only have 32 megabytes of storage available on your player, >> that's quite an improvement. You can now store ten songs, rather than >> just one in uncompressed format. In other words: audio used to be way to >> large to handle. Mp3 has given us a solution, by drastically cutting down >> the file size of our digital audio. >> >> Old mp3 players were equipped with a memory chip and these devices are >> still widely used, except that the memory capacity has grown enormously, >> which is the second improvement over the first digital mp3 players with >> limited capacity. Mp3 walkmans in the form of a small plastic stick can >> well contain 4000 megabytes, 4 gig, which is really quite something. And >> that's not all. >> >> Modern mp3 walkmans don't store their audio in a memory chip. Instead, >> they have a tiny hard disk built in to them. This leads to walkmans with >> great storage capabilities. 40 to 60 gigabytes (being 40000 to 60000 >> megabytes) is no exception these days, giving you ample space for >> thousands of songs. >> >> There are many brands to choose from, if you want such a walkman or mp3 >> player. Before purchasing one, you need to decide for yourself how much >> you are going to store on it. If a couple of gigabytes is enough, a >> player with a memory chip will suffice. But if you want 40, 60 or 80 >> gigabytes worth of music, then you should buy a player that has a hard >> drive built in. >> >> Description of the IAudio x5 >> ============================ >> >> I chose the Cowon x5, which is an mp3 walkman manufactured by a company >> called IAudio. This player comes in a few flavours. The things that make >> the difference between the various models are the capacity of the hard >> disk inside it, and the battery life. If you have an x5l, then the l >> stands for long battery life. The player is thicker because of the bigger >> battery. Mine has a normal battery life, it is not the thicker one, and >> the hard disk can contain up to 60 gigabytes worth of data. >> >> The player is as small as a packet of cigarets. It is a metal casing that >> feels very solid. It has only a few buttons, and a joy stick. You can buy >> an optional leather protection for it, and even when the player is inside >> the protection leather, you can operate it well. Let's describe the unit, >> so you will know what is where. >> >> Put the player on a flat surface in front of you. If you feel its roof >> and all you encounter is four tiny dots, one on each corner, then you now >> have the unit upside down. The side that is now facing the table, should >> face the sky. If however, you now feel a very smooth rectangle and a >> button inside a circle, then the unit is already half way in the correct >> position. >> >> Now, we must make sure that the player is in the same position as I have >> it here, in order for the side descriptions to match. As you can feel, >> the roof of the player consists of two distinct levels. A thick and a >> thin part. Now, the thicker part that feels all smooth, is the visual >> display screen. Rotate the unit, so the display is at the top of the >> unit, furthest away from you. The bottom part of your x5 contains this >> little knob inside a small circle. This is your joy stick, and we will >> discuss what it does later on. Now, we can describe the four sides of >> your x5 in succession. >> >> The left side contains your head phone connector, and a slit to make the >> player act as a USB host. The top has a light, the right has power/hold, >> record, play, microphone and reset hole, while the bottom has the subpack >> connector. Okay, slowly this time. >> >> We'll start with the left side. Sliding your finger from top to bottom, >> so from the top left towards the bottom left corner, the first thing you >> encounter is a tiny round hole for your head phones. >> >> A little further down is a slit, which is probably a connector you won't >> be using very often. Sighted people can use it to have the x5 act as a >> USB host, so they can connect their digital camera to the x5, and >> transfer the pictures they have in the camera, over to the x5. This way, >> the camera's internal memory card can be wiped out and the photo shooting >> can continue again. Rockbox may utilize this connector for other >> purposes, but to my current knowledge, it is of no use for us right now. >> The rest of the left side does not contain any extra connectors or >> controls. >> >> The top side, running your finger across, reveals no more than a visual >> indicator, showing wether the x5 is currently charging. If you're totally >> blind, this is of no use to you. >> >> Then the right side of the player. Again, slide your finger from top to >> bottom, from upper right to bottom right. First, you will find a switch >> that you can slide up or down. Initially, it is always in its middle >> position. This switch has many functions, but to begin with, remember >> this as your power switch to turn the x5 on and off. Push upwards and let >> go. Then listen closely if you hear the hard disk spin up. If not, just >> try again until the device switches itself on. After a few seconds, the >> hard disk will shut off again, but the device is still awake. Making the >> hard drive spin, takes power from the battery, so as soon as the x5 is >> done reading and writing to the disk, it stops to save power. To turn the >> x5 off again, do the same thing. Push the switch up and let go, until the >> device switches off. >> >> This power switch has yet another function. If you slide it down, it >> won't flick back to its original position in the middle. After sliding >> the switch down, it just stays there. In this position, the unit is on >> hold. This means that none of the other buttons perform any function. >> Very handy if you want to tuck away the x5 somewhere in a pocket, and you >> want to be sure the battery won't go flat by accidentally starting >> playback without head phones, which obviously wastes battery life. >> >> Note: you can test wether the device is on or off, by making sure this >> switch is in the middle so that the x5 accepts key strokes, and then >> attempting to play, see below. If it playes, then the unit is still on. >> This is no guarantee that the player is on or off indeed, but is is >> something to begin with. >> >> Further down the right side, just below the power/hold switch, you will >> find two rectangular buttons. The top one is rec, the bottom one is play. >> More on these later. >> >> Further down, you may feel a couple of teeny weeny holes in the metal >> strip. The top hole is the internal microphone, and the bottom hole is >> reset. To reset the unit, you can stick a long, thin object into it, >> which will touch the hidden reset button. Use it in case your firmware >> crashes and you want to start over. >> >> Finally, the bottom side. In the middle, this side contains a metal slit >> that almost feels like a slot for an sd memory card, but that is not what >> it's meant for. This is the connector for the subpack, being a small >> plastic device that you got together with your x5. One side of the >> subpack plugs into the x5, and on the other side of the subpack which, >> when connected, is now the bottom side of the device, you will find a >> number of connectors. >> >> From left to right, the connectors on the subpack are as follows: AC, >> USB, line in and line out. The last two I am not sure about. They may be >> line out and then line in. >> >> Hearing the demos on the unit >> ============================= >> >> If you are like me, before doing anything else, you will want to hear >> what your x5 really sounds like. If all goes well, you won't be >> disappointed. Wear your ear phones and plug the cable into the socket on >> the top left side of your x5, as described earlier. Then, turn the unit >> on as described. When the hard disk spins up, wait for it to spin down >> again and then press play. If you don't hear anything, try play again. I >> heard music immediately and it sounded just awesome. Not that I love the >> demo itself, but the quality is pristine. >> >> Now, feel your joy stick. This joy stick can be moved in all four >> directions: east, west, north and south, or three o'clock, nine o'clock, >> twelve o'clock and six o'clock if you prefer. Place your finger south of >> the joy stick, six o'clock, and push upward, away from you. The volume >> will increase. Likewise, place your finger north of the stick and gently >> pull the stick towards you, down. The volume will decrease. >> >> Pushing right will move to the next file on the player. Moving left first >> goes to the start of the current song or, when done in the first few >> seconds of the track, moves you to the start of the previous track. >> >> You will notice that the demos more or less all sound the same. There's >> video together with the audio, but just forget about that because it's >> useless to us. >> >> What is firmware? >> >> You may wonder, how your mp3 player is capable of playing digital music. >> Your pc has a micro processor to read from disk, process sound, create >> video etc. But what about your mp3 player? Well, your x5 is a computer on >> its own. It too has its own memory, its own hard disk and a micro >> processor. The operating system is usually stored on the hard disk. In a >> pc, that is usually windows (sorry linux lovers, just by means of >> saying), and on mp3 players, the operating system is going to be rockbox. >> >> Now to understand what we are actually changing to make the player go >> rockbox, we need to go over some concepts first. You know that your >> computer has a processor and that it has memory too. If you turn the pc >> on, it loads its operating system from hard disk, and then waits for you >> to do something with it. But let me ask you. How does your pc know that >> the operating system to load is stored on hard disk? You know that the >> computer can only do something if it has software that tells it what to >> do, and the operating system is exactly the piece of software to do that. >> But, when you first turn on your computer, the operating system still >> needs to be loaded from hard disk first. So, how can the computer know >> how to perform its very first steps, if the operating system has not >> been loaded yet? The computer tests its memory for errors right after you >> turn it on, but at that time, the hard disk has not even been touched to >> start loading the operating system. What makes the computer perform its >> startup tasks? >> >> The answer is: the bios. Bios, b i o s, stands for basic input output >> system. It's a small piece of software, not stored on a hard disk, but on >> a tiny chip somewhere on your motherboard, deep down inside your pc case. >> When you turn on your pc, what happens is that the bios first checks to >> see if all hardware is connected properly, and the bios then takes care >> of loading the operating system, windows. The bios only knows a few very >> basic functions to communicate with the hardware, enough to get the >> computer started. The operating system does the rest. >> >> The same goes for your mp3 player, your x5. When you turn it on, the >> first thing that happens is that the microprocessor starts running the >> program code, stored in the player's rom memory. After initializing the >> hardware, this code is responsible for loading the rest of the operating >> system from the hard disk. >> >> Because software is something created by humans, it can always contain >> errors, called bugs. Every now and then, computer manufacturers release >> new versions of this code on the internet. But as I said, bios code in a >> pc is stored on a chip inside the computer, not on the hard disk. Well, >> it is easy to download a new version of a certain file, on to your >> computer's hard drive. But how would you reprogram the contents of a >> special bios chip, deep inside your computer? Luckily, you don't need to >> worry about it, because the computer has a mechanism to do this for you. >> If you want to update your computer's bios, for example when USB >> functions strangely and you read on the manufacturer's site that the >> latest bios version fixes this, then you can simply download a file >> containing the new code. You then put this file in a special location, >> turn your machine off and on, tell it to look for the new bios file, and >> let it reprogram its own bios chip as you wait a few seconds. >> >> Now. Your x5 also has sort of a bios, and an operating system. When you >> first buy your x5, it's got startup code and an operating system inside >> it, provided by Iaudio. The code programmed into the rom memory of the >> player itself, is called the firmware. According to wikipedia, firmware >> is embedded software, but this can be a confusing and difficult term. >> Firmware in your x5 is like the bios code in your pc. It runs when you >> start the player, and makes the player react to your key presses and joy >> stick movements. >> >> However, this initially provided operating system from IAudio is not >> blind friendly at all. It does not speak, and you'll have a hard time >> remembering how many times to push your joy stick left, down, right etc, >> in order to get to a certain function. >> >> What rockbox is, is a complete replacement for the player's internal >> operating system. From the ground up, it has built in support for speech, >> so that we can use it as well. Part of rockbox must live inside the >> player's rom memory, and part of rockbox resides on the hard drive. >> >> So we need to get rid of the original IAudio operating system and startup >> code in our x5, and replace it with startup code and the operating system >> from rockbox. There are two separate processes to carry out. >> >> First, we need to put the disk part of rockbox onto the hard drive of our >> player. Next, we need to replace the boot code, so that the player knows >> how to load rockbox when we turn it on. A property of this x5 player is, >> that the original firmware can not continue to exist in the player after >> rockbox has been installed. On other players, at startup, you can choose >> to either run the IAudio firmware or the rockbox firmware. On our x5, >> this is not possible. Once you install rockbox, you loose your original >> firmware. No problem, because rockbox is better for us than Iaudio's >> firmware. >> >> Which files to get? >> >> Everything you need can be downloaded off the internet, from >> www.rockbox.org. For blind people using screen reading programs to access >> the information on the computer screen, this site is not easy to work >> with. If you need to, ask some sighted assistance if you can find someone >> willing to help you some. It's up to you to know what to get and where to >> look for it. You don't want to frustrate your helper by leaving it up to >> them to hunt for something they haven't read or learnt about. >> >> > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: > 269.7.1/807 - Release Date: 5/16/2007 6:05 PM > > I'm protected by SpamBrave http://www.spambrave.com/ Received on 2007-05-18 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |