From: Gert Brinkmann <g111_at_netcologne.de>
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:40:49 +0200

Hello,

I now have bought a Sansa e280 Player (without FM) and after checking
the original firmware I did install rockbox. I am overwhelmed by all the
features rockbox offers, also the usability is really very good. Thank's
to all the developers! (Without rockbox I had never bought a Sansa,
because I need/want gapless ogg support.)

But there are a few things that I'd like to mention:

* The worst thing is that there are background noises when using
rockbox. The original firmware does not have this problem. Especially
when starting the first track (mp3 or ogg - this does not matter) you
hear modem-like sounds in the background. They disappear after some
seconds and you can listen clearly to the music then. (I am not sure if
some very quiet noises still can be heared, but if so they do not bother
me at the moment.) But when scrolling through the menu you can hear a
very quiet noisy tick on each menu item change.

Is there a chance of getting this fixed? Or is there a setting that I
could try? (This reminds me of a sound card in a Linux PC that I had.
When turning up the wrong mixer-channel you could hear such things (data
on a bus or something?))


* The folder "MUSIC" on the Sansa did not show up in the file browser.
After switching the settings to show all files, not only the supported
formats, it is there. Is this a bug? I think the music folder should be
shown in every case.


* Two times Rockbox crashed when trying some plugins and when wildly
jumping through some menus (I can't remember which ones). I asked google
how to reset the player and I have found the information to hold down
the power button for approx. 15 seconds. As far as I see this
information is not included in the manual? If not it should be included
there. I already thought that I had to take the battery out.


* The plugin Bubbles should use the wheel instead of left/right to turn
the arrow. ;)


* The display shows a line with pixel errors at the top. The symbols
that are displayed there are cut off at the half height. Can I fix this
somehow?


* The plugins should be sorted in submenus to separate games, demos and
tools. (maybe other categories?)


Ok, these are the things that I can remember after the first tries with
rockbox. Installing rockbox and the boot manager (under Linux) was very
simple (I have used the root account for patching. I do not know if this
is important). It worked with the first try. (The only little thing was,
that I was not sure if the sansa-device had to be mounted or not. But
without mounting it, the sansapatcher could not find the device, so it
was very clear.)

In some reviews I had read that the sansa has a too low sound volume.
But this is not the case IMHO (using Koss ThePlug in ear phones). For me
the original firmware has the problem that the lowest volume setting is
still too loud. Rockbox can control the volume much finer, so this is no
problem anymore.)


Thanks,
Gert
Received on 2007-07-28