Xubuntu Pals : For Any and All Xfce-related Tidbits...
COWON iAUDIO D2 and GNU/Linux...
Hi Everyone,
This discussion is about COWON's line of iAUDIO Personal Multimedia Players, PMP for short, or as I like to pronounce them: PiMPs... Cuz you gotta PIMP your GEAR, see?
Anyway, I had trouble after selecting my COWON D2. I had trouble getting the Internal Memory to register and be accessible in GNOME and in Xfce on Ubuntu/Xubuntu, repectively. Especially had trouble with KDE's Amarok which, while being the ultimate music jukebox, is kinda mean when it comes to you trying to set stuff up. Like PMPs...
THE PROBLEM:
How to choose the Proper Mode: is it MSC, or MTP? I don't know, says Google, says ABI (Anything But iPOD), says the new GNU/Linux initiate... Says the Regular User.
Hmm... that _IS_ a Problem.
THE SCENARIO:
You "JUST WANT IT TO WORK." (So did I.) I spent MONTHS since this past Christmas trying to get my "gift" to work. Hey it worked with JetShell on Windows in MSC mode... Even in MTP mode in Windows Media Player. The Company _SAYS_ it's functional in GNU/Linux. But HOW??? You're wondering if COWON's Digital Pride is misplaced by now... :-(
You've tried both modes: MSC, and MTP available in Settings > System > USB Connection. No deal. You may get it to open in Nautilus or Thunar, but maybe only the Internal Memory and NOT your expensive SDHC card. That's quite a niggling disappointment. And Amarok is... A mystery at best.
THE SOLUTION:
My take, Use MSC mode. MTP isn't well supported yet, and I know how to get MSC mode to work if you follow my instructions, so let's leave it or put it in MSC mode, shall we?
1. Turn on your D2.
2. Navigate to Settings > System > USB Connection = MSC
3. You're ready to connect to your Linux system. It should mount both devices, the D2 Player's Internal Memory, and the SDHC Card, automatically as Hard Drives, using the /dev/scXX mounted under /mnt/XXX or /media/XXX. On Xubuntu Gutsy (upgraded to Hardy this morning) I see it listed as:
"/dev/sdc" -> "/media/D2" for the Internal Flash Memory, and:
"/dev/sdd1" -> "/media/D2_EXT_1" for the SDHC card...
You'll need to know the device mount points for AmaroK, so write em down.
At this point you should have a folder for named after the Player, and one named after the card in Thunar (insert your filemanager here).
If you DO get to this point without a Hitch, things are groovy and simple to resolve.
Here's a shot of the D2 and an SDHC card:
4. You will want to go into each "drive" in Thunar. Press CTRL+H to view Hidden Files, or menu View > Show Hidden Files and Folders. Basically you want to see the hidden "dotfiles" present in a *NIX system. You shouldn't see ANY with a factory fresh D2. That's why things don't quite work right in Linux. We'll fix that.
See... No dotfiles:
5. You will want to navigate to the directory where the D2's Internal memory is located. There should be a Thunar Window open to that location, and a second one opened to the location of the SDHC card, in my case that would be the mountpoints from the earlier step.
The Internal memory was mounted to the directory (folder): "/media/D2" (the device's volume name).
The SDHC card was mounted to the directory (folder): "/media/D2_EXT_1" (the card volume name).
6. Now we have to create some blank documents in these "drive root" directories (folders).
7. For the D2's Internal Memory, navigate to the drive root, in this case "/media/D2", and create a new empty file. Name it: ".is_audio_player". Note the dot at the beginning of the filename. That's crucial to getting it to work in Xubuntu and any flavor of Linux.
8. For the D2's SDHC Expansion Card, navigate to the drive root, in this case "/media/D2_EXT_1", and create a new empty file. Name it: ".is_audio_player". Again, note the dot at the beginning of the filename.
Here's what you should see, an empty file named ".is_audio_player":
9. Repeat Step 8 for every existing or new SDHC expansion card you acquire or purhase.
10. That dummy file will identify to the Music Jukebox programs that the media is capable of being used for music. I don't know why this is, It DOES seem like voodoo, (perhaps somebody could post an explanation), but I found the trick in an obscure and lengthy meta-search via Google, and have lost the original link to the forum post. All I know is that this trick WORKS.
11. If you can't get your device to show up in Linux, try to a blank, empty text file at the root of each Internal Memory directory (folder) and SDHC expansion card root directory (folder) from someone's Windows computer. After the dotfiles are created, your D2 AND its expansion cards should automatically be detected by Xubuntu.
Here is the Removable Volumes showing the automounted D2 and SDHC Memory Card:
AS FOR AmaroK:
I will verify the process and post that procedure in the future.
This discussion is about COWON's line of iAUDIO Personal Multimedia Players, PMP for short, or as I like to pronounce them: PiMPs... Cuz you gotta PIMP your GEAR, see?
Anyway, I had trouble after selecting my COWON D2. I had trouble getting the Internal Memory to register and be accessible in GNOME and in Xfce on Ubuntu/Xubuntu, repectively. Especially had trouble with KDE's Amarok which, while being the ultimate music jukebox, is kinda mean when it comes to you trying to set stuff up. Like PMPs...
THE PROBLEM:
How to choose the Proper Mode: is it MSC, or MTP? I don't know, says Google, says ABI (Anything But iPOD), says the new GNU/Linux initiate... Says the Regular User.
Hmm... that _IS_ a Problem.
THE SCENARIO:
You "JUST WANT IT TO WORK." (So did I.) I spent MONTHS since this past Christmas trying to get my "gift" to work. Hey it worked with JetShell on Windows in MSC mode... Even in MTP mode in Windows Media Player. The Company _SAYS_ it's functional in GNU/Linux. But HOW??? You're wondering if COWON's Digital Pride is misplaced by now... :-(
You've tried both modes: MSC, and MTP available in Settings > System > USB Connection. No deal. You may get it to open in Nautilus or Thunar, but maybe only the Internal Memory and NOT your expensive SDHC card. That's quite a niggling disappointment. And Amarok is... A mystery at best.
THE SOLUTION:
My take, Use MSC mode. MTP isn't well supported yet, and I know how to get MSC mode to work if you follow my instructions, so let's leave it or put it in MSC mode, shall we?
1. Turn on your D2.
2. Navigate to Settings > System > USB Connection = MSC
3. You're ready to connect to your Linux system. It should mount both devices, the D2 Player's Internal Memory, and the SDHC Card, automatically as Hard Drives, using the /dev/scXX mounted under /mnt/XXX or /media/XXX. On Xubuntu Gutsy (upgraded to Hardy this morning) I see it listed as:
"/dev/sdc" -> "/media/D2" for the Internal Flash Memory, and:
"/dev/sdd1" -> "/media/D2_EXT_1" for the SDHC card...
You'll need to know the device mount points for AmaroK, so write em down.
At this point you should have a folder for named after the Player, and one named after the card in Thunar (insert your filemanager here).
If you DO get to this point without a Hitch, things are groovy and simple to resolve.
Here's a shot of the D2 and an SDHC card:
4. You will want to go into each "drive" in Thunar. Press CTRL+H to view Hidden Files, or menu View > Show Hidden Files and Folders. Basically you want to see the hidden "dotfiles" present in a *NIX system. You shouldn't see ANY with a factory fresh D2. That's why things don't quite work right in Linux. We'll fix that.
See... No dotfiles:
5. You will want to navigate to the directory where the D2's Internal memory is located. There should be a Thunar Window open to that location, and a second one opened to the location of the SDHC card, in my case that would be the mountpoints from the earlier step.
The Internal memory was mounted to the directory (folder): "/media/D2" (the device's volume name).
The SDHC card was mounted to the directory (folder): "/media/D2_EXT_1" (the card volume name).
6. Now we have to create some blank documents in these "drive root" directories (folders).
7. For the D2's Internal Memory, navigate to the drive root, in this case "/media/D2", and create a new empty file. Name it: ".is_audio_player". Note the dot at the beginning of the filename. That's crucial to getting it to work in Xubuntu and any flavor of Linux.
8. For the D2's SDHC Expansion Card, navigate to the drive root, in this case "/media/D2_EXT_1", and create a new empty file. Name it: ".is_audio_player". Again, note the dot at the beginning of the filename.
Here's what you should see, an empty file named ".is_audio_player":
9. Repeat Step 8 for every existing or new SDHC expansion card you acquire or purhase.
10. That dummy file will identify to the Music Jukebox programs that the media is capable of being used for music. I don't know why this is, It DOES seem like voodoo, (perhaps somebody could post an explanation), but I found the trick in an obscure and lengthy meta-search via Google, and have lost the original link to the forum post. All I know is that this trick WORKS.
11. If you can't get your device to show up in Linux, try to a blank, empty text file at the root of each Internal Memory directory (folder) and SDHC expansion card root directory (folder) from someone's Windows computer. After the dotfiles are created, your D2 AND its expansion cards should automatically be detected by Xubuntu.
Here is the Removable Volumes showing the automounted D2 and SDHC Memory Card:
AS FOR AmaroK:
I will verify the process and post that procedure in the future.
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