Question for Karma Owners

I have a question regarding the docking procedure for the Karma. When you dock the unit, assuming its all plugged in via USB, etc, does the unit remain in a usable state or does it go into "connected" mode like the Ipod does where it's basically unusable?

The reason I ask is because I have been considering a Slimp3 for playing MP3s over my home stereo, however if the Karma can do the same thing (albeit from its own hard drive, not via the network) then it may be something to consider instead. The pricing is almost the same and even tho I have an iPod, I could stand to have a Karma as well, if for no other reason than for playing music via my stereo.

It's frustrating to find a device to stream music to your stereo. I had an Audiotron for a while, which worked really well but only holds about 27,000 song titles. I outgrew it a while ago plus it takes almost an hour to search my music share. The Slimp3 looks appealing but the Karma would be okay even if limited to 20GB of music.

Thanks!

I have a question regarding the docking procedure for the Karma. When you dock the unit, assuming its all plugged in via USB, etc, does the unit remain in a usable state or does it go into "connected" mode like the Ipod does where it's basically unusable?

It remains usable (indeed, continues playing) when docked to USB and Ethernet. It's only when you start using Rio Music Manager on it to manage its content that it goes into "connected" mode.

Peter

Is that because manipulating file(s) in RMM would "lock" them and prevent the Karma (or anything else) from working w/them?

Partly (which is why Ethernet sessions also lock the player during transfers, the same as the car player). With USB it's a little more fundamental - the USB controller takes over the entire IDE bus.

Rob

And would that be because (and I promise this is my last question on this) you're using a USB HOST controller?

We're using a USB mass storage class controller. The PC communicates direct with the disk, with almost no involvement by the processor.

Rob

With that being the case (USB mass storage class controller), is it standard enough that an unusual_devs.h entry for it could easily be created? (Linux usb-storage driver) I'd really like to be able to 'dd' the drive to other storage as a backup occasionally...

I'd really like to be able to 'dd' the drive to other storage as a backup occasionally...

IIRC, there's some kind of out-of-band commands you have to send it to mount/unmount the drive via the USB mass storage. Effectively, you're telling the player to relinquish control of the drive to the USB chip and vice versa. This would require more effort than just adding the manufacturer/product IDs to a header file.

Moreover, once you have connected to it as a mass storage device, the Karma uses a proprietary filesystem, so you won't be able to mount it directly.

Assuming that you can jump the first hurdle, you ought to be able to use 'dd' for backing it up, however.