Rock Box For My Sansa e250 Via Ubuntu

So, since I've become an open advocate of Open Source Software, Linux, and uber geekieness I've found out about .ogg files, or also know as Ogg Vorbis a free and open source alternative music and video compression method. The mp3 format isn't open source, or even a"free" format even though it's widely used. For those of you who would like a quick link to the tar ball for Rock box, try this link. Index of /rbutil/linux If it doesn't work, (as link rot happens) just go up one level, [ http://download.rockbox.org/rbutil/ ] and look for the current version. DL the software, and un-compress.

I downloaded it to my Ubuntu 7.10 desktop and uncompressed it. Moved the new folder into my home folder and just clicked on the executable. Ubuntu ran the file just fine. Run the software, with your MP3 player plugged into the USB port, if you haven't done so already. I found it fairly straight forward to follow. I DL'd and installed all the different themes, fonts, and the Doom game. I didn't get any sound out of the DOOM game, but I might not have had it setup right, and as of this moment, fixing that was low on my priority list. :) I found navigation with Rock Box on my player took a little getting used to. Options Options, and more options that were never available via the stock Sansa software. But once I explored and figured out how to get it to startup in the window that I want (yea there's that option) found a theme with large fonts that are easy to read, not that I need to see them, as one of the features is that my player now talks to me.

So my Sansa e250 now talks to me, has games on it to entertain me, if I need it, plays .ogg files, such as one might find over at FreshUbuntu.org, and a load of themes. :)

Rock box doesn't work for all mp3 players, so go to http://www.rockbox.org/ and browse the site for your player.

Enjoy!
Randy

Index of /rbutil/linux