rockbox-hiby-r1

Patch-maintenance repo for HiBy R1 Rockbox builds with Bluetooth audio support.

This repository does not vendor the full Rockbox source tree. Instead, it builds a HiBy R1 Rockbox release by:

1. fetching upstream Rockbox at a pinned commit
2. copying in extra source files from overlay/
3. applying the patch series from patches/
4. building release artifacts for the HiBy R1

What it adds

Bluetooth Audio (LDAC + aptX HD + aptX + SBC)

• Bluetooth menu in Rockbox — scan, pair, connect, disconnect, and status
• Automatic codec negotiation — prefers LDAC → aptX HD → aptX → SBC (best available)
• Active codec displayed in the Status screen
• Playback routing to BlueALSA A2DP with automatic fallback to local audio on disconnect/failure
• Absolute volume sync from Rockbox to the Bluetooth stack
• Bluetooth preserved across the bootloader → Rockbox handoff
• BT-aware PCM buffering optimized for wireless latency

USB / ADB

• ADB handled through the existing USB mode setting path
• Clean mode-switch with proper gadget reattach cycle

Repository layout

├── .github/workflows/    CI build + release automation
├── baseline/             Provenance for the captured on-device baseline
├── overlay/              New source files not present upstream
│   ├── apps/             Bluetooth controller + menu integration
│   └── firmware/         PCM backend hooks for BlueALSA routing
├── patches/              Patch series applied on top of upstream Rockbox
└── scripts/              Local reproducible build script

Build outputs

A successful build produces:

Artifact	Description
rockbox.r1	Rockbox firmware binary
bootloader.r1	Bootloader binary
r1_rb.upt	Flashable update package (when a base r1.upt is provided)
rockbox-info.txt	Rockbox build info
build-metadata.txt	Build provenance (commits, mirrors, config)
SHA256SUMS	Checksums for all artifacts

Build locally

./scripts/build.sh

Artifacts are written to out/.

To also build a flashable .upt package:

R1_UPDATE_PATH=/path/to/r1.upt ./scripts/build.sh

Or:

R1_UPDATE_URL='https://example.invalid/r1.upt' \
R1_UPDATE_SHA256='<sha256>' \
./scripts/build.sh

Install

Update an existing Rockbox install

If Rockbox is already installed, replace:

/usr/data/mnt/sd_0/.rockbox/rockbox.r1

with the built rockbox.r1, then reboot into Rockbox.

Install a packaged release

If a release includes r1_rb.upt, use that through the normal HiBy R1 local update flow.

For most users, r1_rb.upt is the simplest way to install a full packaged build.

Releases

GitHub Actions builds release artifacts automatically for version tags:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

Bluetooth Codec Support

Codec	Status	Notes
aptX	✅ Preferred	Auto-selected when the receiver and on-device BlueALSA support it
SBC	✅ Fallback	Always available as the baseline A2DP codec
LDAC	✅ Preferred	Auto-selected when receiver and on-device BlueALSA support it (up to 990kbps)
aptX HD	✅ Preferred	Auto-selected when the receiver and on-device BlueALSA support it

To check which codecs your device supports, connect via ADB and run:

bluealsa-cli codec /org/bluealsa/hci0/dev_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX/a2dpsrc/sink

Known Issues

• Bluetooth connection setup prefers LDAC → aptX HD → aptX → SBC, falling back automatically.
• Bluetooth support is still experimental — expect occasional issues with pairing, connecting, or routing audio.
• Music playback does work, but the overall Bluetooth experience is not yet fully reliable.
• LDAC support requires on-device libldac libraries and a BlueALSA build with --enable-ldac.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.