Loading Slider Ringtones/Wallpapers via data cable HOWTO

[ozien]

OK, since so many people are asking, I have taken the time to compile the information about BitPim, Wallpapers and Ringers into one single HOWTO file. I'm sure I will need to add or modify things as this goes along, but here it is all nice and typed. Cheers.
P.S. is there any way to get a Moderator to make this thread Sticky so it's right at the top for everyone when they come here???

General Stuff:
-You *cannot* download wallpapers to your Slider any other way. You *cannot* download
---ringers that aren't bought from Virgin any other way. Please prove me wrong and write a
---HOWTO explaining the process.
-There is at least one other way to download files to the phone, using a program called
---GAGIN. GAGIN only runs on NT-based Windows platforms (Windows NT, 2000 or XP). BitPim
---has versions for NT or 95 based Windows OS, as well as MacOS 10.1 and Linux.

Hardware I'm using:
-Kyocera SE47 Slider phone (duh)
-Kyocera Serial port data cable for SE47. USB may work as well.

Software I'm using (all FREEWARE):
-Bitpim: http://bitpim.sourceforge.net
---use to upload files to your phone, or download files from your phone.
---Version 0.62 will work, 0.7-test1 should also work but I haven't tried.
-IrvanView: http://www.tucows.com/preview/194967.html
---use to make the 128x116x24bpp Windows BMP files for wallpaper.
---Be sure to get the base package. You'll probably also want the plug-ins as well, but I'm
---not sure you need them
-Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net
---use to resample recordings to 16kHz mono and save them as 24kbps CBR MP3 files
---you need to get the 1.2.0 beta version of Audacity. The 1.0.0 'stable' version wont work
---for this.
-LAME MP3 encoder: http://mitiok.free.fr
---use to allow Audacity to save resampled recordings direct to MP3 format
---You only need the DLL, you can ignore the rest of the stuff in the archives. Put the DLL
---in your windows/system directory, the tell Audacity where to find it. (It will ask the
---first time you try to encode an MP3 file.)

Using BitPim:
-If you have previously installed the Kyocera Desktop software, UNINSTALL it first.
-Download version of 0.62 of BitPim and install it
-Connect your computer to your phone via the data cable for the SE47
-Launch BitPim
-Go to the 'View' menu, and make sure 'View Filesystem' is checked
-Click on the Filesystem tab to see the directory structure of your phone.
-Open the /user directory on your phone. This is were everything is going. It will also
---cause BitPim to attempt to connect to your phone.
-To save a file to your phone, right-click the directory to save in and select 'New File...'
---Pick the file you want to download from the dialog box and click OK. You can't rename
---things in the dialogue, so rename any files you need to before downloading them to your
---phone.
-To download a file from your phone, right-click the filename and select 'Save As...'
-To Delete files, right-click the filename and select 'Delete' (duh)

Making Wallpapers:
-Use IrfanView or your favorite image editor to make a graphic file that is the right size
---and color depth for the Slider. The largest image the Slider can display is 128 by 116
---pixels. (The screen is 128x128, but the top 12 rows are reserved for status icons.)
---Images must be 24-bit color depth (24bpp). I assume you can figure out how to do this
---on your own.
-Once the image is formatted correctly, save it as a Windows BMP file.
-Rename the file to 'BmpX', where 'X' is a number from 1 to 25 (no leading zeros). The file
---must have NO extension ('Bmp6.bmp' WON'T work). You may need to get to a command prompt
---to do this, as Windows makes it hard to remove registered file extensions.

Downloading Wallpapers:
-Save the renamed file on to your phone using BitPim. Put the file in the directory
---'/user/mypictures'. Remember it *must* be named 'Bmp1' to 'Bmp25' with no extension.
-Open the Doodler application on your Slider, under Games.
-Go to 'My Pictures' in Doodler. Scroll down using the arrow pad until you see the image
---you just downloaded.
-Make sure you DO NOT click the 'Edit' button. If the image is large, you'll probably crash
---your phone and have to take the battery out to restart it.
-Click 'Assign' and select 'Wallpaper'. Click OK
-Close your phone and admire your new wallpaper!

Making Ringers:
-Ringers can be either MIDI files (*.mid) or MP3 files (*.mp3). MP3 files must be encoded
---at 24kbps constant bit rate. MP3's must be at 16,000 samples/second (16 kHz). MP3's
---must be MONO (not STEREO). You can use Audacity (or something similar) to split a
---stereo recording in to two mono tracks, then mix them into a single mono track. Again,
---I leave it to you to figure this out. This is a phone HOWTO, not a recording HOWTO.

Downloading Ringers:
-Save the MIDI or MP3 file, *with* the appropriate extension, on to your phone using BitPim.
---Put all ringer files (MIDI or MP3) in to '/user/sound/dnld' directory. Remember you can
---only have 10 downloaded ringers on your Slider, so you may need to delete some off first.
-Open your phone, go to 'Settings - Sounds - Ringtones' and your downloaded files should be
---at the top of the list.
-You must do the above step before the ringtones will show up in 'Settings - Sounds - My
---Ringtones'. If you go here before opening the Ringtones menu, you won't see the files
---you just downloaded.
-Just select the file you want to be your ringer and enjoy!

[xanthus]

Don't forget that adding large files to the Slider will cause it to act funny. I loaded a 250K mp3 file and my phone took a very long time to boot up. The mp3 would not play, and the phone was having problems displaying the menus.

So be careful.

Nice write up. I was going to write one, but I figured everything that I found out was in the first couple of replies in my thread.

[ozien]

Originally posted by xanthus
Don't forget that adding large files to the Slider will cause it to act funny. I loaded a 250K mp3 file and my phone took a very long time to boot up. The mp3 would not play, and the phone was having problems displaying the menus.

Ah, I have not tried filling my phone up, so I didn't know this. I'm paranoid about deleting things (after backing them up to the PC of course) to make room, for fear that I'll break the thing by filling up it's little memory. Biggest MP3 I have downloaded so far is only about 126K (42 seconds), and it seems to work fine. So the cutoff is somewhere between 126 and 250K...

Also, 24kbps seems to be the only encoding choice. 16kbps didn't work. Haven't tried 8kbps, but I'm sure the quality would be horrendous anyway.

[beerbaron]

I can confirm that the USB cable from Kyocera does work with BitPim. In Settings > Com Port > Browse: It shows up (for me) as "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM3)" I had installed the cable & drivers prior to installing BitPim

Installing the cable went as follows:
1. Plug into USB port.
2. Windows pops up with the new USB device wizard
3. Direct the wizard to use the drivers provided on the CD that came with the cable.

I've added a bunch of video game midis to my phone.

Anyone have any clue how to do animated screensavers? I was thinking maybe concatonate a bunch of bitmap files. I can't even find where the stock screensavers are saved on the phone (maybe in rom ???)

[mrt32487]

My Mp3 tracks are extremely slow at 16,000 hz

[ozien]

Two possibilities here.

1) Most likely, you're making your MP3's and them checking them out by playing them with WinBlowz Media player before downloading them to your phone. Media player can't seem to handle low bitrate MP3's correctly. I get the same thing when I play them on my computer (pitch drops and tempo slows down, like a 45 record being played at 33 RPM), but they sound just right on the Slider.

2) The only other possibility is that you're changing the playback rate without downsampling. If you play a 44.1kHz file at 16kHz, it's going to be too slow. When you convert bitrates, you have to downsample from 44.1kHz recording to 16kHz. But I doubt this is your problem. Just try downloading the MP3 to your phone and see what it sounds like. It should be OK

[mrt32487]

How do u even make a mp3 only 100 something kb for 42 secs? My 45sec mono mp3 is at 700kb? How do u make it so small?

[ozien]

Originally posted by mrt32487
How do u even make a mp3 only 100 something kb for 42 secs? My 45sec mono mp3 is at 700kb? How do u make it so small?

Well, a quick calculation reveals that your MP3's are encoded at:

(700kiloBytes * 8 bits/Byte) = 5600kilobits
(5600kilobits / 45 seconds) = 124.44444 kilobits/second (kbps)

So you're probably encoding at 128kbps instead of 24kbps. 128kbps MP3 files won't play on your Slider. You need to figure out how to make your encoder produce MP3's at lower bitrates. They *must* be encoded at 24kbps, no more and no less, to play.

[mrt32487]

what is the maximum size mp3 that u can downlaoad on the slider?

[ozien]

Well bleah. Can't edit my original post after 2 hours of posting it? Anyway, I've revised the HOWTO slightly. Text follows:

Slider Data Cable HOWTO v1.0.1 (1/10/04)
All information compiled from various threads on the Kyocera hardware forum of Howard's
Forum (www.howardforums.com). WARNING: You will be directly manipulating the file system
of your phone with BitPim. You can render your phone inoperable if you alter or delete the
incorrect file! Use caution - if you screw up your phone it's your fault, not mine.

Virgin Mobile / General Stuff:
-You *cannot* download wallpapers to your VM Slider any other way. You *cannot* download
---ringers that aren't bought from Virgin any other way. Please prove me wrong and write a
---HOWTO explaining the process.
-There is at least one other way to download files to the phone, using a program called
---GAGIN. GAGIN only runs on NT-based Windows platforms (Windows NT, 2000 or XP). BitPim
---has versions for NT or 95 based Windows OS, as well as MacOS 10.1 and Linux. BitPim is
---also more versatile (a) in what directories you can access, and (b) in allowing you to
---download files from your phone, as well as uploading files to it.

Hardware I'm using:
-Kyocera SE47 Slider phone (duh) - Virgin Mobile V5 MTV edition
-Kyocera Serial port data cable for SE47. USB works as well, but you need USB drivers.

Software I'm using (all FREEWARE):
-BitPim: http://BitPim.sourceforge.net
---use to upload files to your phone, or download files from your phone.
---Version 0.62 will work, 0.7-test1 should also work but I haven't tried.
-IrfanView: http://www.tucows.com/preview/194967.html
---use to make the 128x116x24bpp Windows BMP files for wallpaper.
---Be sure to get the base package. You'll probably also want the plug-ins as well, but I'm
---not sure you need them
-Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net
---use to resample recordings to 16kHz mono and save them as 24kbps CBR MP3 files
---you need to get the 1.2.0 beta version of Audacity. The 1.0.0 'stable' version wont work
---for this.
-LAME MP3 encoder: http://mitiok.free.fr
---use to allow Audacity to save resampled recordings direct to MP3 format
---You only need the DLL, you can ignore the rest of the stuff in the archives. Put the DLL
---in your windows/system directory, the tell Audacity where to find it. (It will ask the
---first time you try to encode an MP3 file.)
-QualComm Purevoice: http://www.cdmatech.com/solutions/pr...e_download.jsp
---use to playback QCP files downloaded from the Voice Recorder directory on the Slider.
---Can also be used to create recordings to upload to the Slider for playback. The
---converter is a separate command-line application that can convert between QCP and WAV
---format.

Installing / Using BitPim:
-Bear in mind that the BitPim software was designed for use with the LG VX4400 phone,
---not the Slider. However, both use the QualComm CDMA chip, and are similar enough
---that BitPim can read/write the filesystem on the Slider. No other functions of BitPim
---work on the Slider however.
-If you have previously installed the Kyocera Desktop software, UNINSTALL it first.
-Download version of 0.62 of BitPim and install it
-Connect your computer to your phone via the data cable for the SE47
-Launch BitPim
-Go to the 'View' menu, and make sure 'View Filesystem' is checked
-Click on the Filesystem tab to see the directory structure of your phone.
-Open the '/' directory on your phone. This is were everything is going. It will also
---cause BitPim to attempt to connect to your phone.
-To save a file to your phone, right-click the directory to save in and select 'New File...'
---Pick the file you want to download from the dialog box and click OK. You can't rename
---things in the dialogue, so rename any files you need to before downloading them to your
---phone.
-To download a file from your phone, right-click the filename and select 'Save As...'
-To Delete files, right-click the filename and select 'Delete' (duh).
-You can seriously screw up your phone with Save/Delete operations, so use caution! Make SURE
---you know what you're deleting or replacing before you proceed.

Making Wallpapers:
-Use IrfanView or your favorite image editor to make a graphic file that is the right size
---and color depth for the Slider. The largest image the Slider can display is 128 by 116
---pixels. (The screen is 128x128, but the top 12 rows are reserved for status icons.)
---Images must be 24-bit color depth (24bpp). I assume you can figure out how to do this
---on your own.
-Once the image is formatted correctly, save it as a Windows BMP file.
-Rename the file to 'BmpX', where 'X' is a number from 1 to 25 (no leading zeros). The file
---must have NO extension ('Bmp6.bmp' WON'T work). You may need to get to a command prompt
---to do this, as Windows makes it hard to remove registered file extensions.

Downloading Wallpapers:
-Save the renamed file on to your phone using BitPim. Put the file in the directory
---'/user/mypictures'. Remember it *must* be named 'Bmp1' to 'Bmp25' with no extension.
-Open the Doodler application on your Slider, under Games.
-Go to 'My Pictures' in Doodler. Scroll down using the arrow pad until you see the image
---you just downloaded.
-Make sure you DO NOT click the 'Edit' button. If the image is large, you'll probably crash
---your phone and have to take the battery out to restart it.
-Click 'Assign' and select 'Wallpaper'. Click OK
-Close your phone and admire your new wallpaper!

Making Ringers:
-Ringers can be either MIDI files (*.mid) or MP3 files (*.mp3). MP3 files must be encoded
---at 24kbps constant bit rate. MP3's must be at 16,000 samples/second (16 kHz). MP3's
---must be MONO (not STEREO). You can use Audacity (or something similar) to split a
---stereo recording in to two mono tracks, then mix them into a single mono track. Again,
---I leave it to you to figure this out. This is a phone HOWTO, not a recording HOWTO.

Downloading Ringers:
-Save the MIDI or MP3 file, *with* the appropriate extension, on to your phone using BitPim.
---Put all ringer files (MIDI or MP3) in to '/user/sound/dnld' directory. Remember you can
---only have 10 downloaded ringers on your Slider, so you may need to delete some off first.
-Open your phone, go to 'Settings - Sounds - Ringtones' and your downloaded files should be
---at the top of the list.
-You must do the above step before the ringtones will show up in 'Settings - Sounds - My
---Ringtones'. If you go here before opening the Ringtones menu, you won't see the files
---you just downloaded.
-Just select the file you want to be your ringer and enjoy!

Downloading Voice Memos:
-Voice Memos are stored in the /VoiceDB/All/Memos directory on your phone. All have names
---of the form 'Memxxxxx.qcp', where 'xxxxx' is a 5-digit number (such as 'Mem00014.qcp').
-Simply right-click the file to download from your phone, select 'Save As...', then select
---the directory to save the file in. QCP files can be played back using the QualComm
---Purevoice Recorder/Player for Windows, or converted in to WAV files using the converter
---application (both freeware at QualComm's Eudora site). QCP converted in to WAV files
---result in 16-bit PCM, mono, 8kHz WAV files. (Very low quality recording.) WAV files
---of this same format (16-bit PCM, mono, 8kHz sample rate) can be converted in to QCP files
---using the same converter application, and then uploaded to your phone (see below).

Uploading Voice Memos:
-First, you need to record a short Voice Memo using your phone. Any length will do, as you
---just need a file on the phone to replace.
-Next, open BitPim and find the memo you just recorded in /VoiceDB/All/Memos
-Right click this file, and select 'Overwrite...'. Select the QCP file you wish to upload
---to your phone, then click OK.
-Go back to Voice Recorder on the Slider, and play back the memo. It should now be the
---recording you just uploaded.
-This is necessary to be able to see the recording in Voice Recorder. Simply uploading a
---new file will not allow you to play it back. It won't show up on the list of recorded
---memos.

[ozien]

Originally posted by mrt32487
what is the maximum size mp3 that u can downlaoad on the slider?

Unknown. The largest MP3 you can upload is however much free memory there is left on your phone. However, Xanthus reports that a 250K MP3 ringer causes the phone to work very slowly. In addition, you probably don't want an MP3 ringer that is longer than about 30-40 seconds, since it stops playing once your Voicemail picks up. There's little point in having a 5-minute ringtone file when you'll never hear more than the first 30 seconds or so.

[azn_wrx]

any one know how much space is on the slider? wuts the max kb?

[TigerX87]

how the HELL do you save an image without the file extention or if you save it with the extention how do you take it off.... please help... i feel im so close to finally gettin wallpaper and this is holding me back.... please.... please..... help

[ozien]

Originally posted by TigerX87
how the HELL do you save an image without the file extention or if you save it with the extention how do you take it off.... please help... i feel im so close to finally gettin wallpaper and this is holding me back.... please.... please..... help

Only way I know is to open a DOS box and use the rename command. Put the item to rename on your Desktop (Windows 98/ME, dunno about XP), then go to "Start menu - Run" and type COMMAND. You should land at a DOS box with a 'C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>' prompt. Then just type 'rename mystuff.bmp Bmp5' or whatever. Then type 'exit' and the DOS window closes. Now your file should be renamed to 'Bmp5' and it's ready to download to the phone.

There is a (possibly) slightly easier way to do this. Open up Doodler on the Slider and make up a Doodle - doesn't matter what it is since you're going to replace it. Save the Doodle, then go to BitPim and use the 'Overwrite...' command to replace the Doodle file with your wallpaper. (Right-click the Doodle file name in BitPim, select 'Overwrite...', then select your wallpaper BMP in the dialogue box, then click OK. This replaces the content of the file on your phone but keeps the original name.)

I prefer to rename the files on the computer myself, but you can always try the 'Overwrite...' if you just can't get DOS to work.

[RingRingHello]

SWEET! I just got a couple pictures sucessfully on my slider, as well as 2 ringtones from tag-tag using this method.. I am on US Cellular, running windows xp pro, and using Bitpim 0.62

The only thing is that I can't get mp3's to work. Seems like they kind of play, but very very very slow and don't even sound like a song (this is on the phone, NOT on the computer)..