a gui friendly bootloader! :]

Kitt0s · 10-26-2006, 12:50

hey all,

well, the first i installed rockbox i thought only good things about it, except its really reallly reallly ugly..

and then came the wps, the themes.. then the custom splash screen..

and now.. a custom bootloader..

u know that ugly text with the not-so-very-usefull information when you turn ON your x5?

well, i'v managed to make my own gui friendly bootloader.. wich looks like this:

there is a nice progressbar that moves till 100%... it works very nice, and tested alot of times...

i have not yet managed to make it as the dual bootloader so its not yet botting the original firmware... but soon enough it will..

leech it here: http://kitty.clank3.nl/x5_fw.bin
source files: http://kitty.clank3.nl/bootloader.rar

do comment..

Kitt0s

maxwen0 · 10-26-2006, 13:15

Cool work

JRWaite · 10-26-2006, 13:44

Boy does the X5 Rockbox community have taleted people or what.. Great job all..

afruff23 · 10-26-2006, 14:34

"not-so-very-usefull information"
This information can sometimes help in troubleshooting.

Ant · 10-26-2006, 15:02

Hmm, looks fantastic. I will cerainly give it a try, when you get it working on the dual bootloader. However, I must admit I find being able to see the voltage of the battery very handy as I can get an idea of how much battery I have left, without having to wait for it to load fully. (very handy as a quick check to see whether I need to grap the car charger)

Kitt0s · 10-26-2006, 15:19

@ afruff23

well i can agree with that.. but i think most ppl don't realy look at that information.. i know it can be very useful.. but this bootloader is for those who don't find this info useful..

@ Ant,
i think we can work something up..
how about a battery icon at top that tells u how much u got? or even the text it self..

bk0 · 10-26-2006, 17:34

I hate to sound like a jerk (from your screenshot this looks like some good work), but remember that rockbox including bootloader is GPL so please also make sources (or a diff) available when you distribute binaries. I'm interested in seeing how you implemented this.

Kitt0s · 10-27-2006, 07:18

heh sure bk0 np,

if you look up, i'v included the source..

greyTux · 10-27-2006, 07:25

I tested it on my x5 30GB... It works great and looks ok, but the progress bar is flickering... It would be great if this can be fixed.

So we are just waiting for a setting in rockbox for loading a individual startup logo... (i know that the bitmap can be changed and compiled, but i mean, it should be loaded from hdd

)

Ant · 10-27-2006, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitt0s

@ afruff23

well i can agree with that.. but i think most ppl don't realy look at that information.. i know it can be very useful.. but this bootloader is for those who don't find this info useful..

@ Ant,
i think we can work something up..
how about a battery icon at top that tells u how much u got? or even the text it self..

Sounds like a good plan, I think either would be fine although with the voltage it can give you an idea of just how far you are down the last bar, but then a battery meter would just look a load better. If you want to do this, that would be great, do it however you would prefer.

maxwen0 · 10-28-2006, 05:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by greyTux

So we are just waiting for a setting in rockbox for loading a individual startup logo... (i know that the bitmap can be changed and compiled, but i mean, it should be loaded from hdd

)

Problem is that the logo is displayed before even the hdd is enabled

Kitt0s · 10-28-2006, 09:14

i don't think so max.. i'v managed to make it load the a bmp.. but not show it.. didn't have time to mess around and find how to load it for real.. and show it.. but it should be easy..
the rockbox itself is loaded after loading all the hdd stuff..else from where would it read the .rockbox file ?

anyway, its possible.. just gotta find how.

RaeNye · 10-28-2006, 10:57

Personally I don't like the new bootloader as I want it to be as quick as possible, but if it helps to attract more people towards RB, it's a good thing.

In order to have a slight chance of committing this, there must be a way to re-enable information printing, e.g., by pressing any key or by having HOLD set.
Also, when something goes wrong (e.g., load_firmware() returns nonzero), relevant information should be printed.

To make it dual-bootable, apply the dual-boot patch from flyspray, compile a bootloader build and run mkboot with the newly created bootloader/bootloader.bin and the OF.
The patch changes boot.lds and crt0.S, so it won't collide with Kitt0s' code.

Kitt0s · 10-28-2006, 14:01

well, as far as i can see.. there is no big diffrence in the loading time.. we can make a test tho.. calculate the bootloader loading time and printing \ writing it in a txt file or something...

when something goes wrong, as in an error.. it _will_ print the error message as you can see in the code.. it will just overwrite the images.. so no problem there..

about the dualboot.. i tried it before i released it.. no big luck.. the patch didn't work on the latest CVS (a few days ago..), cuz crt0.S really changed from what i saw.. but i will try it on a CVS from 17-05-2006 should be ok..

i managed to make the RB dualboot.. but when i combined the 2 with mkboot and upgraded my player, it didn't boot..
and a question.. do i need to scramble bootloader.bin?

maxwen0 · 10-28-2006, 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitt0s

i don't think so max.. i'v managed to make it load the a bmp.. but not show it.. didn't have time to mess around and find how to load it for real.. and show it.. but it should be easy..
the rockbox itself is loaded after loading all the hdd stuff..else from where would it read the .rockbox file ?

anyway, its possible.. just gotta find how.

Sure it is possible but later in the init process (when hdd is initialized)
and then it is shown only short which makes not much sense

10-26-2006, 12:50	#1
Kitt0s Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 74	a gui friendly bootloader! :] hey all, well, the first i installed rockbox i thought only good things about it, except its really reallly reallly ugly.. and then came the wps, the themes.. then the custom splash screen.. and now.. a custom bootloader.. u know that ugly text with the not-so-very-usefull information when you turn ON your x5? well, i'v managed to make my own gui friendly bootloader.. wich looks like this: there is a nice progressbar that moves till 100%... it works very nice, and tested alot of times... i have not yet managed to make it as the dual bootloader so its not yet botting the original firmware... but soon enough it will.. leech it here: http://kitty.clank3.nl/x5_fw.bin source files: http://kitty.clank3.nl/bootloader.rar do comment.. Kitt0s Last edited by Kitt0s; 10-27-2006 at 07:19..

10-26-2006, 14:34	#4
afruff23 Hater of Epithets Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,062	"not-so-very-usefull information" This information can sometimes help in troubleshooting. __________________ When you put somebody on the ignore list, do it for real. Don't bother responding, because I won't be able to hear you.

10-26-2006, 15:02	#5
Ant Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 337	Hmm, looks fantastic. I will cerainly give it a try, when you get it working on the dual bootloader. However, I must admit I find being able to see the voltage of the battery very handy as I can get an idea of how much battery I have left, without having to wait for it to load fully. (very handy as a quick check to see whether I need to grap the car charger) __________________ iAudio X5L 20GB Black zCover Creative EP-630 Dynatron SP-3 (Retro, lol)

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10-26-2006, 13:15	#2
maxwen0 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Austria Posts: 569	Cool work

10-26-2006, 13:44	#3
JRWaite Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boston Posts: 447	Boy does the X5 Rockbox community have taleted people or what.. Great job all..

10-26-2006, 15:19	#6
Kitt0s Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 74	@ afruff23 well i can agree with that.. but i think most ppl don't realy look at that information.. i know it can be very useful.. but this bootloader is for those who don't find this info useful.. @ Ant, i think we can work something up.. how about a battery icon at top that tells u how much u got? or even the text it self..

10-26-2006, 17:34	#7
bk0 Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 183	I hate to sound like a jerk (from your screenshot this looks like some good work), but remember that rockbox including bootloader is GPL so please also make sources (or a diff) available when you distribute binaries. I'm interested in seeing how you implemented this.

10-27-2006, 07:18	#8
Kitt0s Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 74	heh sure bk0 np, if you look up, i'v included the source..

10-27-2006, 07:25	#9
greyTux Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 16	I tested it on my x5 30GB... It works great and looks ok, but the progress bar is flickering... It would be great if this can be fixed. So we are just waiting for a setting in rockbox for loading a individual startup logo... (i know that the bitmap can be changed and compiled, but i mean, it should be loaded from hdd )

10-28-2006, 09:14	#12
Kitt0s Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 74	i don't think so max.. i'v managed to make it load the a bmp.. but not show it.. didn't have time to mess around and find how to load it for real.. and show it.. but it should be easy.. the rockbox itself is loaded after loading all the hdd stuff..else from where would it read the .rockbox file ? anyway, its possible.. just gotta find how.

10-28-2006, 10:57	#13
RaeNye Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 125	Personally I don't like the new bootloader as I want it to be as quick as possible, but if it helps to attract more people towards RB, it's a good thing. In order to have a slight chance of committing this, there must be a way to re-enable information printing, e.g., by pressing any key or by having HOLD set. Also, when something goes wrong (e.g., load_firmware() returns nonzero), relevant information should be printed. To make it dual-bootable, apply the dual-boot patch from flyspray, compile a bootloader build and run mkboot with the newly created bootloader/bootloader.bin and the OF. The patch changes boot.lds and crt0.S, so it won't collide with Kitt0s' code.

10-28-2006, 14:01	#14
Kitt0s Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 74	well, as far as i can see.. there is no big diffrence in the loading time.. we can make a test tho.. calculate the bootloader loading time and printing \ writing it in a txt file or something... when something goes wrong, as in an error.. it _will_ print the error message as you can see in the code.. it will just overwrite the images.. so no problem there.. about the dualboot.. i tried it before i released it.. no big luck.. the patch didn't work on the latest CVS (a few days ago..), cuz crt0.S really changed from what i saw.. but i will try it on a CVS from 17-05-2006 should be ok.. i managed to make the RB dualboot.. but when i combined the 2 with mkboot and upgraded my player, it didn't boot.. and a question.. do i need to scramble bootloader.bin?