Olympus Digital Voice Recorder

frank392 · Post by **frank392** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:53 pm

Hi
I just got this Olympus Digital voice recorder VN-4100PC:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... order.html
Please any one Knows how to make it work on Linux???
PLEASE HELP

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:42 pm

question first: if you plug it into your computer via usb does it show up as a storage device?

alright so here is the funny bit.
this device may be like some cameras and not show up as a usb storage device when connected to the computer. they have a different usb interface, so you may have to install some camera software to get the divers and lib files to be able to see the device.
I use f-spot but there is also gthumb, you may need both.

It maybe that even though linux can see the device connected it can not retrieve the data because it uses some propitiatory software that only comes for windows. sony are great for doing this and maybe Olympus are following suit.

so with the right libs and drivers you may now see the device once plugged in, or at least its storage. i have read that the files are either/or .wav or .wma.

frank392 · Post by **frank392** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:03 am

Hi Boo,
Thank you, when I plug it it dose nothing I have try amarok,Banshe, and exile with out luck.
and yes it comes with propitiatory software and I think this stupid device is looking for it

I have send a letter to Olympus complaining about this issue.
Just in case here is the output of my lsusb:

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 07b4:020d Olympus Optical Co., Ltd Digital Voice Recorder VN-240PC
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 004: ID 03f0:8904 Hewlett-Packard
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 093a:2468 Pixart Imaging, Inc. Easy Snap Snake Eye WebCam
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 03eb:3301 Atmel Corp. at43301 4-port Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 03f0:0105 Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 4200c
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c215 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

one more thing I have install the Digital wave player ( using wine) that comes with this recorder it loads perfect but the device is not recognize, this thing is looking for some driver i guess.

thank you very much

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:19 am

I don't know if wine is smart enough to see devices since it is not a full OS.

maybe using a Virtual Machine running windows would work.
but this may not get the result you want.

frank392 · Post by **frank392** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:54 pm

Hi Boo,
thank you for your help, wine is not that good, I even have try crossover office, with out any luck

About the virtual machine m......... I think I like this voice recorder, but i do not like it that much to see windows back on my machine

What I will do is Use the line out plug and use audacity to record from this device.
Thank you very much

Frank