Pandora As A Dap (Rockbox)

[urjaman]

Would it be possible to boot Rockbox while Linux is suspended to disk?

Should be doable, given it's suspended _to disk_. You need an SD to hold the linux ram image for that btw.
If rockbox doesnt write to any media (how it stores it's preferences?), it should be safe. One would just need a bootloader that allows choosing between linux and rockbox, as anyways. Or you could have rockbox in SD and just press the button (ugh dont remember which) to boot from SD (rockbox) instead of NAND (linux).

I actually thought of whether it would be possible to boot Rockbox while linux just "suspends to ram". Linux would need to give rockbox some area of RAM to live in (eg. limit linux ram usage with mem= parameter, or the like, and have rockbox loaded above the limit) and rockbox would need to know how to return to linux or really activate suspend-to-ram when done.

 

[w1ll14m]

Would it be possible to boot Rockbox while Linux is suspended to disk?

Should be doable, given it's suspended _to disk_. You need an SD to hold the linux ram image for that btw.
If rockbox doesnt write to any media (how it stores it's preferences?), it should be safe. One would just need a bootloader that allows choosing between linux and rockbox, as anyways. Or you could have rockbox in SD and just press the button (ugh dont remember which) to boot from SD (rockbox) instead of NAND (linux).

I actually thought of whether it would be possible to boot Rockbox while linux just "suspends to ram". Linux would need to give rockbox some area of RAM to live in (eg. limit linux ram usage with mem= parameter, or the like, and have rockbox loaded above the limit) and rockbox would need to know how to return to linux or really activate suspend-to-ram when done.

I'd say, we need a rockbox bootloader that defaults to pandoraos (chainload nand bootsectors) unless otherwise specified.
For suspend to disk you can do 2 things, create a swap partition or a file in a filesystem. A swap partition would be the easiest way i think.

 

[ep0ch]

There's a brief mention here for an idea called BeaglePod - possibly based on rockbox.

 

[w1ll14m]

There's a brief mention here for an idea called BeaglePod - possibly based on rockbox.

Intresting...
I think we should keep that close.
I'm not shure wether or not they are talking about a real port or a port of the rockbox as app.

 

[bobc]

Hello everyone

I have been working on a port of Rockbox to the Mini2440, a ARM9 based SBC. I'd be interested in developing a port of Rockbox to a more product-ready platform such as Pandora.

My experience with Mini2440 taught me that Rockbox lacks a lot of features that would be useful, such as USB drivers, networking, non-FAT file systems, Cortex etc. From that point of view, a Rockbox/app running on Linux would both provide a quicker route to porting to new platforms, and access to more functionality. How much a Rockbox/app impairs battery life and usability is an open question, but I'd like to find out.

Of course, a Rockbox/app doesn't preclude a native port in the long run. I suspect that a usable Rockbox/app would be much easier to retarget to a lighter OS such as FreeRTOS, or whatever is available for the target platform. I'm certain that writing device drivers for new Rockbox ports is not a viable future, and this is reflected by the fact that Rockbox is not supported on any players still on sale.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

 

[rabidpoobear]

bobc's the only realistic post I see here.

The point of using Linux is not for the power management, it's for its extensive support for all the weird-ass hardware in the Pandora. Seriously, how much battery life do you need? would 20 hrs not be enough? Is it really worth going through the huge trouble that getting rockbox to work natively would be, for a few more hours of battery life?