Johannes' Blog

A new firmware image for the Ben NanoNote has been released. This image also includes the Gmu music player and comes with gmenu2x preinstalled, which is launched at boot instead of a shell.

Probably the easiest way to update the firmware is to use the reflash_ben.sh shell script.

Make sure to also read the Official Software Image wiki page which has a change log.

After eight beta releases it is finally here: The Gmu Music Player version 0.7.0. This Gmu release comes with full source (GPLv2 licensed) and is available for the GP2X (with Open2X firmware), the GP2X Wiz, the Dingoo A320 (with Dingux) and the Ben NanoNote. Please note that due to the new theme engine old Gmu skins are no longer compatible with this release. Creating new themes is rather simple though. For those who are interested in creating Themes for Gmu, just have a look at the supplied default theme for now. If I find some time, I'll write a little theme creation tutorial later on. Compared to the last beta release there are only a few minor changes and bug fixes. Most of these changes are relevant for porting Gmu to new devices and are less visible to the end user. Still, it is worth upgrading Gmu even if you have been using the last beta release, as some bugs have been fixed.

Gmu has been around for quite some time now and previous versions of Gmu always have been released as Freeware. Today I release another version of Gmu. It is another beta release of the 0.7.0 series and hopefully the last beta release until the final 0.7.0 release. Over the past few years, people have frequently asked me if I would release the source code of the Gmu music player, but until today I didn't. Although I had planned to release Gmu as open source software, I always wanted to make Gmu somewhat feature-complete, first. Now Gmu is very close to such a state. Of course there will always be features worth adding and bugs that need to be fixed, but (in my opinion) it is in a very usable state.

The Ben NanoNote is a handheld device with hardware similar to the Dingoo A320. It runs Linux as its operating system (OpenWRT). Instead of gaming controls it has a qwerty keyboard. Probably the most interesting aspect about this device is its open hardware design.

Here is a photo of a Ben NanoNote running the Gmu music player. The Gmu port for the Ben NanoNote is not finished yet, so there is no public release yet.

I do not currently own a Ben NanoNote myself. That is why the photo has been taken by zear of the Dingoo community, who has been helping with testing Gmu on the device.

Here is another Gmu release for the GP2X (Open2X), the GP2X Wiz and the Dingoo A320 (Dingux). It is the last Gmu release for this year. ;) It comes with some new features and bugfixes.