E10update

Intro

Right, this is a project for updating Iriver E10, GUI-style in Linux. Some probably come to this page to find out if the E10 is supported in Linux. Well, it is. It mounts as a standard USB-disc. You just need to install pmplib to create the database on your player. My script runs on pmplib.

Index

1. Current version
2. Changelog
3. Introductory notes
4. How to use the script
5. Gotchas
6. Important notes
7. Ideas (which probably won’t ever be implemented)

1. Current version

• Version 0.2.20070514 (this is the download link)

1.1. Previous versions

• Version 0.2.20070505 (this is the previous version)

2. Changelog

v0.2.20070514

• Fix some typos
• Shorten list entries, adding explanations before the list instead
• Made variable “unmount_player” making it apparent to see where to change the script if we want to use a different unmount command. (I recently discovered pmount can be used, but it needs to be installed first)
• Aesthetic changes here and there

v0.2.20070505:

• Player directory is now a variable, so that it only needs to be changed once according to your setup. (Thanks for the tip Eugenia)
• Version number shows up in first dialog, in order to avoid confusion
• No longer keeping a Norwegian version. Will probably start doing that again at some point down the road. (Imagine if I could make one script including several languages…)

Previous:

• Lots of stuff…
• 0.1 > 0.2: Incorporated a list with different options, so it does more than just handle creating the database.

3. Introductory notes

Alright. This is not a huge project. It’s not even slightly big. It’s just something I spend 5 minutes on every now and then. (Nice to get some understanding on how shell-scripting works.)

E10update is based on the great, great pmplib. It does not add any functions to those tools. It’s merely some simple dialogs, for the command line sceptical (I may add, if that’s you, I really recommend getting into command line for some tasks. It’s a great learning experience!)

4. How to use the script

1. Download pmplib and pmplibtools. This script has been tested with version 0.14.

2. Install it. I downloaded the rpm-packages and did:
$ sudo alien pmplib*
That gave me deb-packages I could install by:
$ sudo dpkg -i pmplib*
(That’s for a Debian-based system, like Ubuntu. You’ll figure it out!)

–> 2.1 On 64 bit
I can’t seem to get neither stuff from version control or 0.14 of pmplib installed on 64 bit, and the i386 packages does not work. (Not even the src archive)
So, I made my own package of what works, which is 0.13, which seems to work fine for me (been using it for a while). Here is the deb for all architectures. I have no idea about the dependencies, so you’ll have to work that out for yourself. (Please leave a comment if you find something.)

3. Make sure you have zenity installed (you probably do, if you use Gnome)

4. In order to make e10update run, the easiest way is having the script itself or a link to it in /usr/bin. Now, you have (at least) 2 choices on how to do that:

• Put it right in /usr/bin:
  $ sudo mv /whereever/you/put/it/e10update /usr/bin
• It’s also possible to just make a link to it, like this:
  $ sudo ln -s /path/to/downloaded/script/e10update /usr/bin/e10update

I’m personally going with the latter. Just remember that you have to change the link when you replace e10update with a newer version, and that the link target has to be kept in place. The decision is up to you.

5. Make sure the script is executable:
$ sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/e10update

6. Run the script by simply:
$ e10update

7. You might want to make a menu item for it. I used the mp3-player icon from the human icon set. Use System > Preferences > Main Menu to set a menu entry for it.

5. Gotchas:

• Make sure your player is mounted as /media/E10. The script needs to be changed if it’s mounted elsewhere. Just launch the script in a txt editor and change the line that says playerdir=”/media/E10″ to reflect your setup.
• There might be packages besides zenity and pmplib* that you need.
• Line breaks in the wrong place in this script will cause the script to die horribly. You should be able to figure this out by yourself.
• There is currently a bug in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, so you will get an error when the script tries to unmount your player. See this post Update: You can use pmount instead. unmount command has been made a variable (from v0.2.20070514).
  UPDATE: Bug in eject seems to have disappeared. Don’t know what changed.
  

6. Important notes:

• Any changes that makes the script better is very welcome, but please let me know. The open source community grows on sharing your stuff, and of course you will be duely credited.
• Not that this will ever be relevant, but: This script is never to be sold or otherwise abused. If you do, I will hunt you down, and tickle you to death. Seriously, making money on other peoples work is just so uncool.
• Have fun! Avoid eurotrash, if e10update detects crap music it will brick your player. (Not really…)

7. Ideas (which probably won’t ever be implemented, so don’t ask, but please send me your ideas)

• Make first run options:
  • Language choice
  • Mount point choice (manual changing GUI-style is relatively easy to do, but auto-recognition of the mount point won’t probably ever happen, and that is actually what’s needed.)
  • This could be achieved by making a totally new script, changing e10update, but would require that e10update is kept in a dedicated location, or at least a link to it is. Question is, will this actually be easier than just changing a variable in e10update for the end user?
• Dialog with the possibilty of adding files

7.1. Restrictions on ideas:
Ideas are restricted by the fact that they have to be supported by Zenity, and I’m almost useless, so it can’t be hard to do either.