upgrade complete

Replace the Sansa Clip (Clip+ or Clip Zip) firmware to make it scrobbleable

Written by  on May 3, 2015

Work of 5 min (?)
Maybe even less if you know how to handle a mouse, the keyboard and a browser … 😉

First step is to exchange the firmware with Rockbox. A very good OSS mp3-player software for several different device kinds which enhances the hardware. You can even play Doom on your player!

  • set the device to MSC-mode (MTP or Auto does not work)
  • get the firmware for you device: Firmware thread at the Sansa-forums
  • get and run the rockbox-installer
  • select device and mount-point; pick the firmware-binary; select your options (bootloader and firmware yes; no games, no themes, no fonts …): “finish”, doneScreen Shot 2015-04-21 at 10.09.09

The second step is to enable scrobbling:

  • got to your players settings (after restarting it and select “Settings > Playback Settings > last.fm log” with “enable”)

Play some tunes and afterwards connect you device to the PC and run QTScrobbler (note: Qt not QT! We are not in a hurry ;))

CHDK or “upgrade your old digital camera with new features”

Written by  on March 11, 2015

Canon Hack Development Kit is an alternative firmware for a lot of Canon cameras licensed under the GPL.
I decided to upgrade my fairly outdated 6 MegaPixel “Canon Ixus800” because the new “live view histogram”-feature sounded quite promising. Also: why not testing: loading and running scripts; like for motion detection(!); RAW-output; ..?

Installation was quite simple:

  • format the SD-card via the camera’s menu (of course: backup your old pictures/videos 😉
  • download; extract and copy the needed files to the root of the card via PC: URL
  • restart Ixus800, go to “Play”-mode; press “up” then “upgrade firmware” and confirm
  • done … wow … another great project. Kudos to all contributors!