car mp3 player yo

[wyvrn]

Ok I am a bit bored here at work, and my fiance is out of town for spring break. So now i am thinking of ways to get myself into trouble. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Here is my idea, also posted at anand:

Ok just bought one of those easy bookpcs for my parents in law( computer dumb). I could also use one of those for the car mp3 player, with a 12v to 115v dc to ac inverter wired to my car batt for power. These only cost from 50-100 or so. That puts my little project at about 400 bucks tops. I have some space below my tape/cd player. If the VFD unit will not work, I could install a very small lcd-like monitor (like those on the sony vaio units)there to setup/use playlists of mp3s (so that I do not have to manually switch while driving--a good benefit of using winamp or sonique ).

www.maximumpc.com (http://www.maximumpc.com) has setup a linux version of this with a VFD display and software written specifically for it. It is really expensive and I am just learning linux and do not want to attempt their route 66 box. However, I can do the same with an nt4.0 or win2k install for about one third $$ and less hassle. The lcd monitor is what is tripping me up. Ne1 have an idea where I can find one for less than an arm and a leg plus my first born?

[wyvrn]

Thinking about how to mount the unit as to have some built in shock absorption. I keep picturing those cd mounts you can buy at Rat shack for 20 bucks that use rubber grommets. Bit buying 4 of those would be 80 bucks. Perhaps a more informed person could tell me where to get a bigger version of the same thing or something altogether different but with same results? This project really has me in a state, I just HAVE to make it work.

[jad1097]

You could just use a RIO with a cassete adapter.If you have a cd player in the car then you could convert the output from the RIO to RCA's.

Also Car stereos have come out that play MP3's now, but are way too much money.

[wyvrn]

That is a pretty good idea, I could hook the rio up to the audio imputs of my car cd player too. somehow, I am still infatuated the original idea, guess cause it involves customizing computers which is fun http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Other sites I have run into so far:
http://www2.empeg.com/main.html
http://utter.chaos.org.uk/~altman/mp3mobile/

And then I found this site:
http://www.jarcom.com/inmotion/
Similar to what I want, but still leaning toward a color lcd display so I can switch from playlist to playlist as I want.


[This message has been edited by wyvrn (edited 03-16-2000).]

[jad1097]

I like that empeg player! Only a grand with 4gigs of space. http://www.caraudiomag.com/ has a car audio forum, maybe someone there has done what you want to also.
Another good site is http://www.carstereos.org

[wyvrn]

Thanks jad1097 going there now

[jad1097]

You have to check out this site!http://www.mp3car.com/

[wyvrn]

That is a COOL site ahhh. I went there when the content was not as comprehensive. I like their units, but they cost an arm an a leg ouch. So far, I have everything I need to do my own. Got the lcd screen from here (http://www.flat-panel.com/video.htm) just a few minutes ago. With some modifications, I can drop all the components cept the vid screen in the computer case and mount it. Anyone have any good ideas for mounting? I want to have some flex for anti-skip for the hard drives.

[wyvrn]

OMG. Check this out:
http://ashleypowers.homepage.com/300tour9.htm

He made his own media center from wood with a 9.4" display and mounted the computer in back. I think I am going to die right now, that is one sweeeeet setup. The monitor tilts forward ahhhh!

[jad1097]

Now that is cool.

[wyvrn]

I saw that yesterday on anand. Really a cheaper way to do it. However, there is a hack involved in order to add your own hard drive (only has 16MB of flash memory built in). I looked at the bb there at the sight, and so far no one has claimed to have been able to make the cable switch work. It also appears to be a lot of work to do it. Now if someone could get the hack to work, then about 150 bucks + the cost of a laptop hard drive and you have a mobile mp3 player !!

[Joel Kleppinger]

wyvrn, what are you talking about? The site that jad linked to is SELLING cables to connect a laptop hard drive to the IOpener. I ordered one myself through Circuit City (wondering if I'll ever see it for $99 with no ISP), and I have several ideas for mine.

1. Set it up at my parents house to be a "kitchen kiosk" or "bedroom computer." The one thing about this is I'd DEFINITELY want a network controller on it, and I'd go either Windows or Linux.
2. Set up Win98 on it and buy a GPS module to go with it. Install it in my car as a GPS-only device. I'd even try to install it to be as removable as possible so I could carry it with me and use as a portable computer (since I have no laptop).
3. Wait until someone figures out the VGA-to-LCD pinouts and hook the LCD panel up to my currently-in-progress Linux-based car mp3 player for GPS. The problem with this idea is that I'm not aware of any Linux GPS software right now.

As you've gathered from #3, I'm currently working on a car mp3 player for my Senior project. When it's done, I plan to put up details of what I did as well as release the source code so others can do it, too. It'll be in the form of an article or section here on SysOpt and/or at linuxonwheels.com and intrepid.mp3car.com

However, that won't be up for at least another couple of months. But if any of you have appetites for this project, consider this a little whet of those appetites. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[elite]

Joe,

We would love to have that up on http://www.elitecaraudio.com so keep us posted!

Shoot me an email sometime @ bpalik@elitepub.com

-Brian

[jad1097]

I just thought of something. I bet this would work for you. http://www.linux-hacker.net/iopener/
And it has a 10" color LCD.

[wyvrn]

Yes you are right Joel I just noticed that. Nice little machine. However, I still do not want one http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif I just like to build my own, I think it is a curse or something http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Do not know policies about posting threads from other sites, but here goes:
http://anandforums.gisystech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=142421

Cheaper than 35 if you just need the cable.
Please let me know if I broke a rule with this post http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by wyvrn (edited 03-28-2000).]