Editing Rockbox (section)

== History ==
The Rockbox project was founded by the three Swedish developers Linus Feltzing, Björn Stenberg and [[Daniel Stenberg]] in late 2001. It was first implemented on the early [[Archos]] series of hard-disk based MP3 players/recorders (including the flash-only model Ondio), because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations. These devices have relatively weak main [[central processing unit]]s (CPU), and instead offload music playback to dedicated hardware MP3 decoding chips (MAS).<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=https://github.com/Rockbox/rockbox/blob/0709d12e5f4dd5d64a3d43be98d0bfcbf166f5b8/docs/HISTORY|title=rockbox history|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref> Rockbox was unable to significantly alter playback abilities. Instead, it offered a greatly improved user interface and added [[plug-in (computing)|plug-in]] functions absent in the factory firmware. Rockbox can be permanently flashed into flash memory on the Archos devices, making it a firmware replacement.

Versions of Rockbox have since been produced for more sophisticated devices. These perform audio decoding in [[computer software|software]],<ref name="swcodec">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoftwareCodecPlayback|title=rockbox software decode}}</ref> allowing Rockbox to potentially support many more music formats than the original firmware, and adding the extensibility and increased functions already present in the Archos ports. Rockbox is run from the hard drive or flash memory after being started with a custom boot loader, so to upgrade Rockbox, users need only copy the files onto the player's drive and restart the device. Reflashing is only needed when changing the boot loader, and on some platforms is not needed at all.

The first of these ports, beginning in late 2004, was for the [[Freescale ColdFire|ColdFire]]-powered devices manufactured by [[iriver]], focusing on the [[iriver H100 series|H1xx series]] of hard drive players (H110/H120/H140). About one year later, a port for the [[iriver H300 series|H3xx series]] became functional, offering similar functions.<ref name="history" /> In late 2005, work began on a port of Rockbox to Apple's iPod portable players based on CPUs from [[ARM architecture|ARM Ltd.]] incorporated into [[System-on-a-chip|systems on a chip]] sold by [[PortalPlayer]]. Throughout 2006, Rockbox ports were made available for a variety of iPod models. Beginning in 2007, ports became available for a large number of additional ARM based targets, including players from [[Sandisk]], [[Toshiba]], [[Olympus Corporation|Olympus]] and [[Philips]] in addition to newer Apple and iRiver players based on a variety of ARM7, ARM9 and ARM11 series processors. During this time, extensive work was conducted optimizing open source audio decoders for each of the ARM series processors. In 2008, porting began to processors based on the [[MIPS architecture]]. In 2010, work began on supporting "hosted" architectures where Rockbox runs as an application inside of more complex [[operating system]].

{{As of|2012}}, all Rockbox ports have been accomplished by reverse engineering with little or no manufacturer assistance. As free software, many Rockbox developers and supporters hope to eventually see official manufacturer support for new ports, or at least unofficial assistance in porting Rockbox to new devices. Only a few companies have expressed interest in Rockbox, and none have officially contributed code to the project or included it with their hardware. The Sansa e200v1 port is the first to be started at the request of the hardware manufacturer, who gave the Rockbox team samples of their devices.

Rockbox is continuously developed, with new [[Git (software)|Git]] builds being released after every source change, and stable releases every 4 months for targets deemed sufficiently mature.<ref name="buildsys">{{cite web|url= https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/BuildServerRemake|title=buildsys}}</ref> Additionally builds are often available to developers of unsupported targets, which, while somewhat functional, are typically not ready for general users due to incomplete features or poor stability.<ref name="unstable">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TargetStatus#Current_status_of_supported_targ|title=unstable}}</ref> As of 2025, the latest stable build is 4.0.<ref name="Latest Stable Build">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/ReleaseNotes400|title=Latest Stable Build}}</ref>

As of 2024, there have been no new ports released.

=== Future ===
Rockbox is targeted primarily at [[digital audio players]], rather than the much more powerful general-purpose devices (such as [[smartphone]]s and [[tablet computer]]s) that have been increasing in popularity since 2010.<ref name="lwn">{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/391982/|title=Rockbox 3.6 and Beyond|publisher=[[LWN.net]]|author=Joe Brockmeier|date=June 16, 2010}}</ref> [[Daniel Stenberg]], a founder of the Rockbox project, envisions the project evolving away from a standalone Rockbox operating system to Rockbox as a media player application that runs under [[mobile operating system]]s, such as [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]], [[Sailfish OS]] or [[Tizen]]:

{{cquote|In a chat after my Rockbox talk at Fosdem 2010, two other core Rockbox developers (Zagor and gevaerts) seemed to agree to the general view that a Rockbox future involves it running as an application.

Out of the existing systems mentioned above, I'd prefer to start this work focused on Android. It has the widest company backing combined with open source, and it's also the most used open phone OS. I don't think there's anything that will prevent us from working on all those platforms, as the back-bone should be able to remain the same and portable code we already have and use. Heck, it could then also become more of a regular app for common desktops, too.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2010/02/15/the-rockbox-future-is-an-app/|work=Daniel Stenberg's blog|title=The Rockbox future is an app|date=February 15, 2010|author=Daniel Stenberg}}</ref>}}

A project to port Rockbox to run as an application under a full-fledged operating system was accepted for [[Google]]'s 2010 [[Summer of Code]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/RockboxAsAnApplication2010 |title=RockboxAsAnApplication2010 < Main < Wiki |publisher=Rockbox.org |access-date=March 12, 2011}}</ref> and completed.<ref>{{cite web|author=Rockbox Contributors |url=https://www.rockbox.org/mail/archive/rockbox-dev-archive-2010-08/0097.shtml |title=mail archive |publisher=Rockbox |access-date=March 12, 2011}}</ref> Currently, Rockbox runs on Android based players, but integration into Android and conversion to work with touch based devices is ongoing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TouchscreenInterface |title=TouchscreenInterface < Main < Wiki |publisher=Rockbox.org |access-date=March 12, 2011}}</ref> Subsequently, an anonymous Chinese developer unofficially ported Rockbox to [[Palm, Inc.|Palm]]'s [[WebOS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treo8.com/bbs/thread-169671-1-1.html |title=万能播放器ROCKBOX for palm pre，新软支持下，绝对不会失望~~ – Palm Pre/+, Pixi/+, webOS – Pre, Pixi, webOS, Treo – Powered by Discuz! |publisher=Treo8.com |access-date=March 12, 2011}}</ref>