mccourtyboy Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Hi all,Anyone who isnt scared to take apart their hd5 please respond.If you would like to contribute any information to this project please post it, scans of PCBs service manuals anything, i am currently researching the chipset so if anyone out there has anything they would like to share please let me know.I need any and all info people have ie datasheets.Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 The service manual is in the downloads area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Does the service manual contain enough information? Seems to be quite extensive and complicated, not that I know anything about firmware and the like! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccourtyboy Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I really need to find out the chip model numbers and find more specific datasheets. the service manual is not in depth enough. I am searching, im waiting on a new hd5 from ebay so when it comes i will be prepared to take apart my old one to get a better overview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I really need to find out the chip model numbers and find more specific datasheets. the service manual is not in depth enough. I am searching, im waiting on a new hd5 from ebay so when it comes i will be prepared to take apart my old one to get a better overview.So what exactly is the goal of this project - to modify the existing firmware? Or create new firmware from scratch? And to what end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSP62 Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 So what exactly is the goal of this project - to modify the existing firmware? Or create new firmware from scratch? And to what end?You pretty much answered your own question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) You pretty much answered your own question. Did I? So which was it and why bother? Edited June 30, 2006 by richyhu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 The goal I believe is to have the opensource firmware Rockbox loaded onto the walkman. This should allow a wide range of codecs to then be played back and music can just be dragged and dropped onto the HD5 with file explorer. It would then be compatible with both Linux and Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I found some information and links to datasheets here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnUnCoolCat Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Well, then i would suggest that anyone requesting stuff for this project.. and is intending to compile info to work a solution such getting a RockBox (or other known project group) solution, mentions it from the outset.Call me crazy if you will, but given some inspired reason to believe this is more than a simple 'hey, that's cool idea.. i'll post an outline request for help' request and there is intention to go forth with it (and the fact the poster is sourcing a second deck is a good indicator of some serious intent at some personal level), people are often more open to doing stuff to help.With Rockbox, and particularly the iRiver implementation side, the initial public response of donations etc was pretty poor (well, we had seem lots of prospective 'i want to build a firmware, but aint got a clue where to start' projects request for info etc.. and disappeared rapidly) - but as the contributors picked up in numbers and the development started to get documented and publicly viewable (even back in the initial device sniffing and device ID stages), people outside the project got more inspired.So if it is an associated developmet, aka a Rockbox fork intent for the NW-HD5 deck, then for gods sake mention it.., kinda nail your 'Rockbox for the HD5' colours to the wall and let it be known it's a serious credible project That way, you can be sure of people taking interest and those who are interested, getting off their backsides to do what they can to help Have seen it happen, so i kinda know how it works this stuff Be Cool Always'Tom Kat' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccourtyboy Posted July 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Indeed this is an attempt to port the rockbox firmware to the hd5, i apologise for neglecting to mention it specifically in my first post,to be honest i didnt even think many people would answer my post as there seems to be very little interest in the rockbox forum on starting a project like this.And regarding how serious i am, i have successfully broken my old walkman this weekend (another second hand unit is winging its way to me as we speak). and i will keep on breaking them(within reason) to get the info i need.The info you posted has been a big help thanks f1rick.I am off to speak to a couple of guys who work for a Printed Circuit Board Manufacturer just down the road from me in a couple of days and we are gonna have a bash at figuring out the boards in my broken walkman, what the. hell it cant get any more broke. Ill let you guys know if we have any joy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 This is the best news I've heard on this forum... FACT! Very best of luck to you!N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Do hope the news is going to be good :-). It would be fantastic!Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sander151187 Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Yay, can't wish you anything else then very much luck. Hope it won't be that hard because i'm looking forward to use rockbox on my hd5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I am off to speak to a couple of guys who work for a Printed Circuit Board Manufacturer just down the road from me in a couple of days and we are gonna have a bash at figuring out the boards in my broken walkman, what the. hell it cant get any more broke. Ill let you guys know if we have any joyAny luck with this Mccourtyboy?N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXarr Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 Hey, everyone!This is very nice, BUT are you really shure you can make something very convinient? Lately I've been thinking why not to write to SONY support (or to someone important person there - like the head of representative [only this way it could work]) and just tell them what few thousands of SONY walkman users need from the new firmware. And there is A LOT of editing to be made. Compare for instance the amount of money, time and brainpower that have you and some SONY department)))This may sound a bit naive but this could really work out. Has anyone written a letter to SONY support? Why end-users can't help company to improve it's products functionality? I see no reason why not. And I think that if we get a lot of people to support our idea - then SONY might listen to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSP62 Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hey, everyone!This is very nice, BUT are you really shure you can make something very convinient? Lately I've been thinking why not to write to SONY support (or to someone important person there - like the head of representative [only this way it could work]) and just tell them what few thousands of SONY walkman users need from the new firmware. And there is A LOT of editing to be made. Compare for instance the amount of money, time and brainpower that have you and some SONY department)))This may sound a bit naive but this could really work out. Has anyone written a letter to SONY support? Why end-users can't help company to improve it's products functionality? I see no reason why not. And I think that if we get a lot of people to support our idea - then SONY might listen to us. , draft the letter.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXarr Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 , draft the letter....So nobody has ever tried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sander151187 Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 about half a year ago I was active at another forum. On that forum there was a much similar discussion like this but it was about sonic stage improvements. There where some peoples on that forum who wrote a letter to sony (including me) and we never get an answer back from sony. I hope this time it will work and sony will respond, but I think it is unlikely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXarr Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) what if we get big support team for our idea (find people on the net who are not pleased with SS) and tell SONY that there are couple thousands of people who want changes? That way we can achieve something Edited July 15, 2006 by eXarr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 I really doubt Sony will do anything, especially with the older HD models. But... Thanks to the great work with GYM and ML_Sony the Walkman music database is pretty well understood. Maybe a better idea would be to setup a sort of bounty (like that project to get XP booting on intel macs) for the first person to develop software / a plug-in that's fully compatible with the A series advanced features and HD series. Supports a full media library, syncing and transcoding etc... Maybe even make linux/osx support a requirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccourtyboy Posted July 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Hi All, sorry aint bin online but comp probs have been the bain of my life lately, anyhoo the guys down at the pcb place were very helpful, i am currently trying to make a dummy bin file for testing, i must admit this is much harder than i thought it would be but i will crack on and keep you updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Thanks for the update!CheersN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1rick Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Thanks for the update! Hope things progress well :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Any news - just interested on how you're getting on. Ready to throw in the towel yet?!! N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyano Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 little update for a pretty project and why you don't try to do a software who mix Gym and MP3FM? If winamp can upload and donload files with only a plug-in, why not gym? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juppe Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 (edited) Hi cyano.I'm developing a program like windows explorer, there you will be able to upload and download MP3 files from your sony device, you can search for message posted by me in the forum and you will find some info about it. Hope that it's something you like? Edited September 4, 2006 by Juppe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.M Brandt Posted September 18, 2006 Report Share Posted September 18, 2006 Greetings!I was just wondering if anyone has tried to reverse-engineer one of the firmware updates that you can download from the manufacturer's site (not sure how much good that would do). Maybe you could trick your computer into thinking that the player is still connected but in fact have it be a virtual device and have it install the firmware to that ('course, I'm sure that I'm not the first person to think of this one), and then reverse engineer whatever it is that it tries to install to the virtual device (if only it was that easy).Out of curiosity, is the firmware the only thing that determines what filetypes the player can play? If so, I wonder how hard it would be to add OGG support to the NW-E507 (Sony)... I'm sure it'd be no walk in the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 up up up waiting for the update . I hope it would work for HD3 too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poalopat Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Hi,There are some interesting informations here (diagrams...), maybe it can help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digihoe Posted November 27, 2006 Report Share Posted November 27, 2006 (edited) up up up waiting for the update . I hope it would work for HD3 too Both HD3 and HD5 uses the same CPU (and I would guess HD1 has the same too, but have not come across any service pdf's)... If you look at diagrams for them you can also find JTAG points... Wonder what program could be used to hook to the CPU, firmware development would be a lot easier with functional JTAG...I would guess HD5 has a diffrent keypad/display (would think the HD1 and HD3 would have the same actually... But maybe main CPU is diffrent, does someone have a HD1 upgrade? Or was that never released openly?) and therfor the firmware isn't interchangeable between HD5 and HD3... There is a firmware upgrade for HD5, has someone disassembled it (where could it be found if it has been done)? Does it have a bootloader or does it not need one since it's loaded from within the old firmware...?Any new firmware needs to be able to play gapless audio, it took iPod 5 generations before they could do it...Best regards!EDIT: I have just now looked at the HD5 firmware upgrade and it seems to be either compressed or encrypted, does anyone have more info on this? Also the HD3 as I can see does not have an update mode in the firmware, JTAG or maybe serial access (through the remote controller) might be the only options... I do remember the HD1 had to be sent in to get it upgraded... Hmm... EDIT Edited November 28, 2006 by digihoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrAshley Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 If someone has the know-how to find out a way to make the NW-HD5 (and 3 and whatever else) Rockbox compatible then I'd be very willing to chip in some money to get the necessary hardware to experiment with. If a bunch of people each some bucks then we'd be able to get something for someone to work on.Anyone think this would be worth doing?Cheer,mrA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 I would most definitely!However, I have a feeling that this model is now so obsolete no-one will want to bother. It basically lost Sony's support the day it was released... b4stards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madve2 Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Never give up hoping =) I still like this player. And I still hate its software.Anyway, as nobody seemed to want to start it alone, I decided to at least try gathering the information and start experimenting with Rockbox to port it to NW-HD5.I have quite good C/C++ knowledge and some assembly too, so it's not impossible that it'll be successfull. =)And if some of you could help me I'm sure it would be much easier.Here's the HD5 port topic in Rockbox forums:http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=3307Thanks for your attention =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 If I can help in any way - not sure how, as I am not that technical - let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickzeff Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 *bump*Any progress on this? CheersN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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