PC - MP3 Player, car, help, ideas --

[hallam2003]

looking into building a little system to mount in my car and use it for an mp3 player. I need to know all about it though...anyone have any sites? I don't know exactly how to do the sound, and the video is really messing me up. I can build the system, but i know nothing about the video setup i need. I'd like about a 5-8 inch screen, prefeably dashmounted, or near to it. I guess it needs to be and LCD screen, but what kind of a connection does it use? what kind of card do i need to get. I know i have a few options here, so someone please explane them to me. Also, how do i set up the sound? and last of all, what about power? how can i get the systems to start up when i start the car, and not really have to worry about just turning the car off, and not having to shut down first? and how do i power the thing? How do i do the wiring? oh, one more thing. what about environmental issues? if i put it in the truck...it'll get really hot in there sometimes, and in the winter, the opposite. so how do i do this. If i could get it small enough i could just bring it in if i know it'll be getting hot in there, but i'd have to have a quick way to disconnect, like a notebook's docking station type thing. Also, how do i get it so when i hit a big ol' pot hole it won't screw up the HD, or knock a wire loose or something like that. I really more orried about the drives though. Plan on having it running MP3 from HD, but load them from the CD, so the cd won't really be spinning when it's playing. Is there anyone who has done this that will actually tell me how they did it...i know a couple of you have...sure i could buy an mp3 player, but that's just wouldn't be as cool, besideds, I like the winamp plugins.

Hallam

[hallam2003]

still looking for ideas for the original systems, but inlight of the time this thing may or may not take, i'm going to buy a pre-build one. Any one have a suggestion? i found some for an actually good price, it thinkg it was called a Neo or something. Looking fomr somthing like this. Lice looking Display, easy interface, good sound quality, easy updating of files, both firm-ware (if accable) and MP3. This one i saw swapped betewwn PC and dash....In PC it acted just as a HD. I think i've seen these in some systems on vitualhideout.net, always wondered what those things were. Anyway, looking for recommendations of a good one...of those things....darn, i don't even know what to call it...guess i need to look around a bit more..


Hallam

[Szech]

Hey Hallam,

Check out http://www.mp3car.com. They have software there, information on hooking up LCDs, and all that good stuff. People there deck out their systems. As in installing MP3, DVD, GPS, Playstation, TV tuning, wireless internet and more. Very good reference IMO. I was using that as a guide when I was building my system, before it got scrapped that is http://fordpinto.homestead.com/CarMP3Player.html http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif.

~~Edit: If you just want to play MP3s, you can use a character LCD to display the song title/time. If you want to deck out your system, you should look into graphic LCDs. There are two types of graphic LCDs: some run off NTSC/PAL (a.k.a. TV signals), and others run off of a controller card (a.k.a. PCI card). The latter have better quality by far, but they will cost you, since you have to buy the controller card and a high quality LCD. The former are good only for graphics (don't even think about reading text on them), and you can hook them up to a TV-out so it'd be cheaper if you don't need to read text. You can get these graphic LCDs at www.partsexpress.com (http://www.partsexpress.com) , www.eio.com (http://www.eio.com) and www.flat-panel.com (http://www.flat-panel.com) . As for the issue of power, you'll need to buy a power inverter (hooks into the cigarette lighter, provides 115VAC). For audio, you can either use one of those tape deck-headphone jack converters, or you can purchase a head unit that has RCA jack inputs. I recommend the latter, as it's a lot less ugly. Some people hook the computer directly into their amps, but I don't think this would be the best quality, plus you wouldn't have very functional volume control. Anyway, check out the page.

BTW, if you only want to play MP3s, and you need a character LCD, I still have mine from my scrapped Car-puter project. You can have it free, I'm not doing anything with it. It's a 16 X 2 with an HD44780 controller chip. E-mail me if you want it.

Good luck w/ your project http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by Szech (edited 05-11-2001).]

[Yar1182]

I remeber reading on how someone hacked a internet appliance called the I-opener an internet appliance. The unit sold for $200 dollars which was sweet because it had a LCD screen. They cracked the case open and swaped a bigger laptop hard drive with linux pre-loaded. I read somewhere also people were using this set up as a cheap MP-3 unit for their cars. Here's a link, you may be able to find a cheap internet appliance like the I-open or audrey and do something similar. Let us know how it goes.
<A HREF="http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/1612/1/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/1612/1/</A>

[This message has been edited by Yar1182 (edited 05-11-2001).]

[Szech]

I remember that i-opener http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif. The only problem with using that as an MP3 player is that you need to wire a power supply to it for the hard drive.

[Yar1182]

Could you use DC power from the cigarette lighter?

[hallam2003]

Well...i was going to scrap the idea and just go buy one, but then i realized that those things are darn exspensive... I'm going to try to find someone who has a system that they are willing to get rid of, i have a NEC that would work great, but it's only a 433Mhz, and it won't run dvd, without a little jumpiness, and it has a crappy onboard-audio card. so i'm hoping i can find like a 600-700MHz system, just as long as it kinda works, i can get it running. I figure i'm gonna use all the neccesary parts, (ie. mobo, proc, hd) then i'll leave in the cd-rom, just for updating files and such, and the floppy, for adding a skin or something small that i don't wanna write a cd for. I am kinda worried about the heat issue, i think i can manage to get it in the hous every once in a while durring the winter, but it get hot...quick...in the car, in the summer time...sure i can put extemsive cooling on it, but the fans will only run if the things is on...hhhmm....I guess i'll just have to play with stuff for a while...I did about 3 hrs of "research" last night, basically just looking at parts and stuff...I've already found most of the sites you guys offered, but thanks anyway. the mp3car(?) site is really cool... so if want a display where i can see the desktop, or winamp, or whatever. I can go with a NTSC LCD, which will run off of a TV out vid card...ok...but if i really want to be abel to read text and various things i'd want to get the VGA LCD, which will run from a PCI LCD controller. I found some desently priced kits available at flat-screen.com. I'll have to look around a bit more though. What is the downfall of using an ISA card for this? they have two of all the kits, a PCI and an ISA, if i get a systems old enought to have ISA, will it still run about the same? I've never used an ISA slot before, oh well. Szech thanks for the offer of your LCD, but i'm gonna have to go with a VGA or video LCD probably, it just looks too cool. I may have to find one that flips up and down though, the cops around here are kinda dumb, and it's illegal to have a TV screen in view of the driver. "But this is a COMPUTER screen officer!" oh well, i better make it flip down model... or i may just get a **** VGA screen and just use some of those little sticky pads to stick it to the dash or something...I could proabbyl manage to rig up a switch to turn just the screen off. I'm on a mission to find a systesm now, I can't afford to build a new one, I'll have to buy on for like $25 or soemthing

Hallam

[hallam2003]

oh yeah, how do i get the things to start up automatically when i trun the key. If i power if up once, then thurn off the car, it should be like a power loss to the computer, but then when it comes back on, how do it get the computer to start? none of mine start back up after the power goes out. hhmmm, I'll have to chech this one out.

Hallam

[Szech]

Yar1182: The only problem with the cigarette lighter is that it's 12VDC. Standard hard drives need 12VDC and 5VDC. Laptop hard drives need 5VDC.

Hallam2003:
If you bought a DVD decoder, the DVD would play fine on that 433. You wouldn't be able to play DivX movies, but that's no big loss if you have a DVD collection. You could also buy a Sound Blaster Live! Value for some pimp sounds.

As for updating files, I think the easiest route is having a removable hard drive rack in both your main computer, and your car-puter.

If you have a trunk, put the computer in there. It's a lot cooler than the cabin. I was actually thinking about water cooling my car-puter, and having the radiator up front behind the car's radiator. But, that would take a lot of cutting and all.

As for having the computer power up with the car, look around MP3CAR. Someone built a schematic.

[club_med]

This would be nice in the car: http://www.ibuypower.com/product-pc/pocket-epc2.htm