I've finally managed to get me a Central, after months of trying, and much frustration with ebay auctions.

I'd like to be able to apply the latest firmware to it, but the file I downloaded from the Rio site seems to be corrupt. I've seen this mentioned on the forum before, but does anyone have a good copy of the image?

Failing that, is there a way to repair the image so it works? I'm working on a Mac, and Stuffit simply won't extract the iso from the zip. Would a PC be any better at this?

I'd also like to get an ethernet adapter for it. Does anyone have any tips of where to find one that will work. I've done some searches on the net, and can't find anyone who is still selling any of the supported ones.

Thanks,

Andy.

Darn, they were supposed to have fixed the problem with the corrupted image.

If I recall correctly, the image that had the problem was only the larger one with the CDDB attached. I think there is a smaller one without the CDDB that you can get and apply, and that one wasn't corrupt.

I could be remembering that wrong, though.

Hi Tony,

It's the bigger image (with CDDB) that I downloaded, and it's definitely still corrupt.

If the CDDB data that comes with the 1.10 beta image is the same as in the older firmware, then I gues it doesn't matter if I apply the smaller update.

Does anyone know if the CDDB data is the same across all updates?
Again, I've seen this discussed, but never seemed to see a definitive answer.

I'm off to download the smaller update....

Andy.

Yes, get the smaller update, for sure. Remember that the player can dial out for a CDDB check for each disc you rip, so you don't necessarily need a recent CDDB on the player itself.

I'm out of town at the moment, but my two cents worth is that the CDDB database is not updated on the larger "corrupted" file. So you can apply the update without the CDDB database and you should get a working 1.10 system.

I use the Linksys USB to Ethernet adapters and they work fine. The last one was less than $10 on eBay...I've posted the model number on a previous message but don't have it right now....

Welcome to the Central community!!!!

Randy

Thanks for the advice, Randy.

I've now downloaded the non-CDDB update, and it seems to be fine. I don't yet have the Central (picking it up tomorrow), but I don't anticipate any problems in applying the update.

I've managed to pick up a Linksys USB100TX for $15 including shipping to the UK, so I'm pretty happy with that. What sort of transfer rates can I expect using this interface. I know it will be limited by the capabilities of USB1, but do you get anywhere close to the 12Mbps theoretical maximum?

I'm really looking forward to playing around with the Central. I'm trying to decided if I should get a 120GB disk for it, or bite the bullet and get a 250GB and then try and build a kernel with LBA48 support. Choices, choices.......

Oh well. Off to bed now, as I need an early start on my journey to Cambridge tomorrow.

Andy.

Sure, no problem....I'm glad to help out...

Yes, that USB adapter is the one that I use...No problems at all, works great.

One of my current projects I'm in the process of is transferring 100GB worth of music (on a 120GB drive) from the Central to my PC. It is now on the "P" artists, and has been running since last Saturday. That represents about 2/3 of the music on the disk, so I'm guessing it'll go a couple of more days before completing...I'm crossing my fingers that it won't lockup during the process....I've had a few problems getting the copy to go correctly from the "A's" to the "C's", but it's been running all at once from "C" to "P"...

As far as the hard drive, I've learned some things through the school of hard knocks (or school of experience) with the Central. You probably realize that 120GB is currently the largest drive that will work with a "stock" or unmodified machine.

I always wanted to figure out a way to put a larger drive in the machine and did quite a bit of experimenting to make that happen from a hardware perspective. I don't have the software skills to build a new kernal, or do much else with the machine software-wise, but did try a lot of other ways to build a working larger disc. Unfortunately, I had no luck...

But, you know what? What I've come to discover is that if we don't also increase the RAM in the machine (and modify the player's software to use the new RAM properly), it just won't be worth it. I'll tell you why...

I have fixed up my Central with removable hard drive caddies, allowing me to swap disks in and out. This one disc that I'm copying with 100GB on a 120GB drive is not very stable. I could tell you all kinds of stories about how things start to act "weird" as the drive fills up. After all, I realize that the machine was originally designed with a 40GB drive and a lot less music files to deal with and buffer.

When stuff happens, lockups, etc., you can usually get it to work again by rebooting the machine itself, messing around with jEmplode, etc. But there are definitely some issues with that much music on one drive.

I really prefer the performance of a 120GB drive that is up to about 50-60% full. Up to that point, I don't see any stability issues whatsoever....But as you get above 70GB of music or so on a 120GB drive, things start to degrade (slowly, intermittently). It's not the end of the world, but I notice how much better a fresh disc with less music performs...Maybe I should use 60 GB drives or something, but I already have a fleet of 120's...

If you've got the skills to looks into this, that sounds great. Maybe we can learn something that would allow larger discs to be used, and also improve up the performance of the machine with larger discs, etc.

In any event, I'm sure you'll love your Central...It's the greatest home music solution I've seen that stores the music internally. There's lots on the market that will stream the music from something like a desktop PC, but the Central provides such a great all-in-one solution that I love it!!! Hopefully you will too!

Let us know if you have any questions about the unit, jEmplode, etc...

Thanks, Randy