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Rio Karma gets Flashed
comment: 29 | Monday, May 14 (2007) 02:04PM | Posted by Michael
No. the title above doesn't imply someone showing off their bare essentials to their DAP. Although that would make for an...err nevermind. This is about our resident Rio Karma mod-king Steve, providing another wonderful makeover of his beloved player. Rather than getting a facelift this time around, he's dealt with the insides of the player. He has successfully transformed the Karma into a flash player:



As you can see, he's supplemented the 20GB hard drive with an 8GB Compact Flash card. The Karma recognized the new memory without a problem, and the system is apparently faster now with it installed. So, while many here still wait for an official flash Karma (c'mon Trekstor!), this mod is certainly doable for the brave and impatient alike.

via our Forum
Comments

Steve

Comments: 1197
May 14 (2007) 02:13PM  

I just want to make it clear that the soldering job is not really necessary, it was the result of a mistake (hatchet job) I made trying to get the pins on the adapter connector a bit shorter. I'll post a picture of what it's supposed to look like in the forums.




bloodycape

Comments: 730
May 14 (2007) 02:58PM  

good work man I want to do a similar thing to a rio carbon perl and make it like a 8gig or what ever the largest cf card is. Can you tell us if there is a difference in battery life?
[ edited May 14 (2007) 02:59PM ]




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 14 (2007) 03:19PM  

It's hard to tell battery life because i'm using an old Karma that I wasn't using a lot (I bought a few broken ones last year and replaced the hard drives) but as I use it the next few days i'll try to get an impression of battery life and report back.




bloodycape

Comments: 730
May 14 (2007) 03:21PM  

you think battery maybe a little longer seeing as there is no hd spinning?




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 14 (2007) 03:28PM  

I would think so, but writing to flash memory takes more power than reading from it, so I guess it depends on how much information the Karma writes back to the card. I wouldn't think it does much writing, just indexing where it is in the song when it shuts down and stuff like that probably.




Hari Iyer

Comments: 87
May 14 (2007) 06:30PM  

are you leaving the hard drive in there? or are you taking it out and effectively reducing the overal capacity by 12 gigs?




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 14 (2007) 06:37PM  

Yes, the hard drive is removed. The card replaces it, so it has less capacity, with the advantage of having an all-flash Karma. 8 gigs isn't that bad, and eventually prices will come down on bigger cards.




LiQuiD_FuSioN

Comments: 117
May 14 (2007) 07:13PM  

So, basically the Karma does everything it's supposed to do like gapless playback, and cross-fading when using another type of storage?




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 14 (2007) 09:28PM  

Yep, so far so good.




Anthony7

Comments: 98
May 15 (2007) 06:31AM  

Congrats on a good job. Flash memory prices are really dropping, so soon you'll be able to buy a larger card than 8Gb for a small price.
The Rio Karma will never die (I also would like to try this on my 6Gb Carbon one day).




Hari Iyer

Comments: 87
May 15 (2007) 12:14PM  

It is pretty cool how you made it run on flash memory, but i just really don't see the point.

it's still the same size as a hard drive player, only know it has the storage capacity of a flash player...wouldn't it be better to put a larger hard drive in there?

It seems like it has all the drawbacks of a hard-drive player (large/bulky build) but none of the benefits. And it has the drawbacks of a flash player (low storage capacity) but not the beneficial compactness desired in a flash player.

I'm probably just a little ignorant regarding daps...because there must be some overall benefit in doing this, I'm just not seeing it.




Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
May 15 (2007) 12:37PM  

compatible HD for the karma are becoming increasingly scarce, but by the end of the year we could have 32gb CF cards, what steve has done shows off the great potential the karma still holds on to regardless of the current capacity size.

does it make sense to do this over buying a small flash player, yes, perfect sense if you have a busted karma... but otherwise there is no need to perform this upgrade.




Malloc

Comments: 46
May 15 (2007) 12:58PM  

Hari and Dom:
People may do it for fun, or for bringing a glorious past back to to temporary life, for a set of features that this player may still have that no other player has, or even for sentimentality. Even sentimentality makes more sense to me than buying something that looks like a sweet, but hey, people are different, and people change over time.




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 15 (2007) 04:33PM  


It is pretty cool how you made it run on flash memory, but i just really don't see the point.

It seems like it has all the drawbacks of a hard-drive player (large/bulky build) but none of the benefits. And it has the drawbacks of a flash player (low storage capacity) but not the beneficial compactness desired in a flash player.


The main draw back of hard drives is that they are mechanical and can break. That's also the main advantage of flash memory: no moving parts. Like I said before, the Karma's sound quality and features make up for its bulk. To have a Karma and not have to worry about the hard drive dying is worth at least 12gigs.






kadajawi

Comments: 51
May 15 (2007) 04:39PM  

Now I only need to find a spoilt second hand Karma or Carbon... but it's hard to find one at all on eBay... darn.




Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
May 15 (2007) 05:19PM  

thanks malloc?




Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 927
May 15 (2007) 06:00PM  

Yeah, seriously. If I could find a karma with a dead drive, decent screen, and no busted scroller wheel, id be all over that in a second. No DAP I have ever used has made the impression that the Karma did. I hope the CE is similar to its big brother enough that I will enjoy using it. If not, atleast its a good replacement to my now busted Xs200 and Gmini400 and MPIO HD400... Ive got much soldering/drive swappings to do.




Malloc

Comments: 46
May 16 (2007) 02:16AM  

Dom: Just that "does it make sense to do this over buying a small flash player, yes, perfect sense if you have a busted karma... but otherwise there is no need to perform this upgrade" isn't necessarily true, because it is subjective.






Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
May 16 (2007) 05:22AM  

since when do emotion and sense go hand in hand?

My question was rhetorical malloc, as a karma owner myself I know why people would do this and thus I do not need an explanation from you.




Tony_

Comments: 2
May 17 (2007) 02:18AM  

Hi Steve, I'd like to know what kind of flash memories work with the Karma. I've tried about a month ago the Sandisk 128 CF card I had langing around, but it was too short for writing the firmware in it. I also tried a Dikom 1GB card, but while the Karma in recovery mode recognized it, the Rio Karma updater didn't. Also, what firmware did you put in your karma?
Thx




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 17 (2007) 03:39AM  

The only card I know works is the one I used. I took a chance ordering it based on it being fully ATA compatible.




Tony_

Comments: 2
May 17 (2007) 10:47AM  

Where did you buy it? Is there also a 4 GB version? Too bad 8 gb cards are still too expensive.
Thanks,
Tony




Steve

Comments: 1197
May 17 (2007) 11:47AM  

I bought it from Newegg for $70 I think they also have a 4 gig version.




BadState

Comments: 1
Jun 25 (2007) 01:35PM  

I'm doing it. I ordered the parts yesterday. Hopefully they work out for me. I ordered an 8gig cf for now. I figure in a year the 16gig ones will be cheap enough. They'll probably have CF cards bigger than the original 20GB hdd soon enough, then there will be no drawback at all.

The reason I'm doing it is I recently started jogging again, and my Karma is not happy about it. I've had a couple of freeze ups and scary sounds coming from the drive. Flash memory will make running with my Karma worry free.

Thanks, Steve, for paving the way.




Wes

Comments: 1
Oct 10 (2007) 04:08PM  

I read through the post, but I didn't see any mention of the requirements to pull off this feat. My Karma of 4 (5?) years just head-crashed today and I found this post. Have any of you tried this mod with any success?
[ edited Oct 10 (2007) 04:10PM ]




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