manual/getting_started/main.tex

   1 % $Id$ %
   2 \chapter{Getting started}
   3 \section{Welcome}
   4 This is the manual for Rockbox. Rockbox is an open source firmware replacement
   5 for a growing number of digital audio players. Rockbox aims to be considerably
   6 more functional and efficient than your device's stock firmware while remaining
   7 easy to use and customisable. Rockbox is written by users, for users. Not only
   8 is it free to use, it is also released under the GNU public license, which means
   9 that it will always remain free both to use and to change.
  10
  11 Rockbox has been in development since 2001, and receives new features, tweaks
  12 and fixes each day to provide you with the best possible experience on your
  13 digital audio player. A major goal of Rockbox is to be simple and easy to use,
  14 yet remain very customisable and configurable. We believe that you should never
  15 need to go through a series of menus for an action you perform frequently. We
  16 also believe that you should be able to configure almost anything about Rockbox
  17 you could want, pertaining to functionality. Another top priority of Rockbox is
  18 audio playback quality -- Rockbox, for most models, includes a wider range of
  19 sound settings than that device's original firmware. A lot of work has been put
  20 into making Rockbox sound the best it can, and improvements are constantly being
  21 made. All models have access to a large number of plugins, including many games,
  22 applications, and graphical ``demos''. You can load different configurations
  23 quickly for different purposes (e.g. a large font for in your car, different
  24 sound settings for at home). Rockbox features a very wide range of languages, and
  25 all supported models also have the ability to talk to you -- menus can be voiced
  26 and filenames spelled out or spoken.
  27
  28 \section{Getting more help}
  29 This manual is intended to be a comprehensive introduction to the Rockbox
  30 firmware. There is, however, more help available.  The Rockbox website at
  31 \url{http://www.rockbox.org/} contains very extensive documentation and guides
  32 written by members of the Rockbox community and this should be your first port
  33 of call when looking for further help.
  34
  35 If you cannot find the information you are searching for on the Rockbox
  36 website there are a number of support channels you should have a look at.
  37 You can try the Rockbox forums located at \url{http://forums.rockbox.org/}.
  38 Another option are the mailing lists which can be found at
  39 \url{http://www.rockbox.org/mail/}. From that page you can subscribe to the
  40 lists and browse the archives. For searching the list archives simply use
  41 the search field that is located on the left side of the website.
  42 Also you can ask on IRC. The main channel for Rockbox is \texttt{\#rockbox}
  43 on \url{irc://irc.freenode.net}. A bunch of helpful developers and users
  44 are usually around. Just join and ask -- if someone knows the answer you'll
  45 usually get an answer pretty quickly. More information including IRC logs
  46 can be found at \url{http://www.rockbox.org/irc/}. We also have a web client
  47 for joining the rockbox IRC channel so there is no need for you
  48 to install additional software to your computer.
  49
  50 If you think you found a bug please make sure it actually is a bug and is
  51 still present in the most recent version of rockbox. You should try to
  52 confirm that by using the above mentioned support channels first. After that
  53 you can submit that issue to our tracker. Refer to \reference{sec:feedback}
  54 for details on how to use the tracker.
  55
  56
  57 \section{Naming conventions and marks}
  58 We have some conventions especially on naming that are intended to be
  59 consistent throughout this manual.
  60
  61 Manufacturer and product names are formatted in accordance with the standard
  62 rules of English grammar, e.g. ``\playerman{} playback is currently
  63 unsupported''. Manufacturer and model names are proper nouns, and
  64 thus are written beginning with a capital letter.
  65
  66 % write a bit more about names etc. here.
  67 \ifpdfoutput{
  68 This manual has some parts that are marked with icons on the margin to help
  69 you finding important parts or parts you could skip. The following icons
  70 are used:
  71 \note{This indicates a note. A note starts always with the text ``Note''.
  72   For easier finding of notes we have put this an icon in the margin like
  73   here. Notes are used to mark information that could help you
  74   or indicate a possible ``weirdness'' in rockbox that would be explained.
  75 }
  76 \warn{This is a warning. In contrast to notes mentioned above, a warning
  77   should be taken more seriously. While ignoring notes will not cause any serious
  78   damage ignoring warnings \emph{could} cause serious damage. If you are new to
  79   rockbox you should really read the warnings before doing anything that is
  80   warned about.
  81 }
  82 \blind{This icon marks a section that are intended especially for the blind
  83   and visually impaired. As they cannot
  84   read the manual in the same way sighted people can do we have added some
  85   additional descriptions. If you are not blind or visually impaired you most
  86   likely can completely skip these blocks. To make this easier, there is an
  87   icon shown in the margin on the right.
  88 }
  89 }{}% end ifpdfoutput
  90
  91 Links to the wiki are abbreviated by the name of the wiki page. Those names
  92 are still linked so you can simply follow them like any other link in this
  93 manual. If you want to access a wiki page manually go to \url{\wikibaseurl}
  94 and type the page name in the ``Go'' box at the top of the page.
  95 \ifpdfoutput{Links to wiki pages are also indicated by the symbol \wikiicon
  96 in front of the page name.}{}
  97
  98 \input{getting_started/installation.tex}