As was originally said in the general forum, the firmware for the 5th Gen has been released. I've downloaded it, and I really wish I hadn't stopped studying C++. Nevertheless, the C++ files are all there, and after doing a bit of exploring, I've come up with some ideas. Some of these may have been stated before me, IDK.
There is a text editor widget.
The linux it's based on is 2.6.
The icon files are just sitting there. If we were to recompile, and find a way to get the firmware to the device, it is very likely we could simply change the graphics.
There are icon files for VGA, QVGA, TV, WQVA, and WVGA.
And that's all I can tell for now. I'm installing C++ again. I'll explore some more then.

Good news!
keep up the good work and be sure to let us of any updates.

I'd love to get at the graphics

How hard would it be to recompile?
Getting it onto the device is a non-issue.

dramamoose, here is a topic on the 604 forum that might interest you in your firmware hacking. A lot of things have been tried.
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=2734

there are also a couple people in my thread here:
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.p ... sc&start=0
interested in helping out.

Recompile looks somewhat easy. Lol; it actually comes with instructions for the make commands. The question will be whether or not that creates a finalized firmware, or whether hacking would be necessary to get the firmware finalized. I'm loading up ubuntu now, and I'll install it. Next step will probably find a 605 that someone is willing to test the stuff on. Maybe we can find a cheap 30GB that someone no longer wants? I'd try mine, but...well, I'm on a limited budget, and explaining to my mom that I need $400 to replace my 605 wouldn't go down very well.

you really think it might brick it?
I might be willing to try in the name of science.

just wanted to throw this out there, if you want to view all the files on the HD (not what you see when USB connected) you can run opera (have to purchase it first i assume) and open a web browser to "/" this will give you the full linux file sturcture, now to find some way to get them off...

No longer possible on the newer firmwares

Update:

After dry-running through the build firmware process, I've come across the following config settings:

A405
A605
A605F
a704tv
a704wifi

In addition, I've found the Archos font, if anyone's interested. It should be replaceable; it just looks like a TTF.
There's also the connected logos there, sitting as .jpgs. If I can find a way to compile the code, then replacing the images should be easy. As for adding 3rd party functionality, I don't think so, although there should be a way to open up a command box, which would hugely open up our possibilities.

I was wondering about that, there should be one somewhere.
(not that id know what to do with it, lol)

I was wondering if we could set up some php/flash/java/something script that could run in opera, and allow us to brows the whole device, and possibly upload/ download from the different folders otherwise not accessable?

I was going to try and mess with it when i get home.

luckily i still have the old one then huh lol

Maybe, but I think it would just be easier to allow access to all files via the file browser. Probably just a couple of switches to turn.

currently making a backup of every file on the HD (the hidden linux file structure ones) will post when done (although might get banned for doing so)

setup IRC channel on #EFNET... Channel #archosfans... come join me for live hacking talk =)

well I've exhausted all of my ideas lol!

It looks like archos has blocked file browsing from most all script types, i thought flash could get around it but it is even blocked there!

I like ot think im doing something, but in reality i barely know php / action script, let alone whatever language is used to write a program.

r0bot, it sounds like you and dramamoose got the right ideas, and have the know-how. ill sit back and hope for the best

Lol. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but I was present for all of the hacking development on the Cowon X5, and I have a bit of c++ knowledge. I will probably be dedicating the rest of my senior year to working on this (mainly because I want to be able to brag about it next year in college to the other geeks.)

Hi,

This is what I found out from the GPL Source:

- the icon files that dramamoose mentioned are unfortunately only for the apdf application. (this is the PDF Viewer application you start by opening some .pdf file from the file browser).
If you change the "theme" appearence to another color set (i.E. blue), you will notice that inside the PDF Viewer, all the icons (Battery/Menu etc) are still displayed in the default orange-yellow theme colors. these are the .png files you find in the /apdf/icons/[res]/general

- Although the Sources can be compiled, there are crucial parts missing from the sources. The whole "avos" application (this is the frontend you see most of the time) was not derived from an existing GPL or LGPL Project and archos is not forced to release its sources to this application. Another part that is missing is Opera and the private key for signing the archos .aos firmware file.

This has been discussed and discovered with the a604 GPL sources already, as pointed out by Gomez.

I am very interested in the backup of the internal file system done by r0bot, maybe this will bring us closer to hacking the device.

G.

Yeah. After trying to compile, I figured out the missing stuff. And I guess I had hoped the icons would change colors .

Hopefully Rob0t's dump will let us know what's going on.

Good Stuff! Ill be watching this thread closely... I just got my 605 and its the almost perfect device for me... The one thing id love to see is an SHH client with on screen keyboard... that would be great.

hey dramamoose, i don't know if it's possible to change the "subject" of the whole thread, but maybe you should change it to something more like "605 hacking" or whatever you want so that people who potentially know something about this stuff could find the thread more easily.

if ya want to that is