Post by thread:(OT) Re: Car MP3 Player (was Thanks for the Inform

I wouldn't have thought a trackball was such a good thing for a car control system. Too much attention required. You could add a few buttons hooked up as a keyboard (then at most you'd have to write something to convert your non-standard keypresses to standard ones which isn't that hard. Intercepting key messages is about the limit of what you can easily do from another process I believe). Then you could have a couple of buttons at appropriate places on the steering wheel (like most new car radios) for things like track advance and volume. That way you don't need to concentrate on the trackball/screen. If you had audible signals as well you would barely need the screen for standard operation. I just think if cops pulled you over and you had a screen and trackball they might get a bit suss. If your running 9x not NT then LPT interfacing shouldn't be too bad. It's NT where you have real problems as it wants evrything on the LPT to be a printer. However COM ports might be possible in NT or as suggested above a custom keyboard interface. My old boss was at one stage planning to gaffa tape an IR keyboard to his steering wheel but was convinced by friends/family/complete strangers that he would (or at least should) get arrested for such a thing so you want to be careful about this when installing electronic devices in a car. For instance it is against the law for car TVs to function while the vehicle is running btu you can still have one installed. I would have to assume a monitor would invoke similar laws. I also would have thought a system based on a 486 with ISA video and sound would have been cheaper than an AGP system and just as functional (although $180 ain't bad). For a start that MB will only have Slots not sockets so you'll need an adapter or a celeron or greater. Which IMHO is all a bit over the top if all you want is MP3 playback. Tom. {Original Message removed}

A 486 probably isn't going to cut it for MP3 playback. Especially if you're running Windows. Cheers, Ben > I also would have thought a system based on a 486 with ISA video and sound > would have been cheaper than an AGP system and just as functional (although > $180 ain't bad). For a start that MB will only have Slots not sockets so > you'll need an adapter or a celeron or greater. Which IMHO is all a bit over > the top if all you want is MP3 playback. > > Tom.

Thomas Brandon wrote: > I wouldn't have thought a trackball was such a good thing for a car control > system. Too much attention required. The track ball I was thinking is actually in the shape of a pen with a lead comming out the end, nice and small and easy to hide when your car is parked. I agree that you shouldn't use it when you are driving, that's why I intend to use playlists. Load up a playlist eg. to play one album or two and let it go or even get your passenger to do it. You could add a couple of buttons (connected to the comm port) to enable skipping songs etc (you can get a plugin for winamp to enable you to do this) > My old boss was at one stage planning to gaffa tape an IR keyboard to his > steering wheel but was convinced by friends/family/complete strangers that > he would (or at least should) get arrested for such a thing so you want to > be careful about this when installing electronic devices in a car. > Thank god for that > I also would have thought a system based on a 486 with ISA video and sound > would have been cheaper than an AGP system and just as functional (although > $180 ain't bad). For a start that MB will only have Slots not sockets so > you'll need an adapter or a celeron or greater. Which IMHO is all a bit over > the top if all you want is MP3 playback. > Hmmm, yep I agree a bit over the top, you could probably do with a 100Mhz pent but trying to get a motherboard with everything on it of that vintage would be difficult or atleast I haven't been able to find one. I'd prefere to get everything on one board to make it more compact so it can easily fit under the drivers seat $180 for the motherboard $150 for the processor $300 aprox for an 8 gig HD $60 for ram $80 for the display $? for the power supply total $770 for the best part of it, this is a bit of money but if you compare it to a CD stacker for you car the price seems a bit more acceptable pluss the fact that you could have alot more albums to play and if it gets ripped off then you don't loose any cd's (I've had that happen once before) Regards Stuart

>If you had audible signals as well you would barely need >the screen for standard operation. I just think if cops pulled you over and >you had a screen and trackball they might get a bit suss. Well, most police cars have some sort of terminal in them, so you could just turn it right back on them. Remove the BALONEY from my email address. ----------------------------------------------------- Matthew Fries Minneapolis, MN USA spam_OUTfreezeTakeThisOuTbaloneyvisi.com "Quit eating all my *STUFF*!" - The Tick

Matthew Fries wrote: > Well, most police cars have some sort of terminal in them, so you could just > turn it right back on them. > With the screen I was thinking of having it mounted on the centre of the dash with a little metal bracket or even strong velcro, that way when you park you can just remove it , unplug it and hide it under your seat (easy to move when you get pulled over by the police)Regards Stuart

> > $180 for the motherboard > $150 for the processor > $300 aprox for an 8 gig HD > $60 for ram > $80 for the display > $? for the power supply > total $770 for the best part of it, this is a bit of money but if you >compare it > to a CD stacker for you car the price seems a bit more acceptable pluss the fa ct > that you could have alot more albums to play and if it gets ripped off then yo u > don't loose any cd's (I've had that happen once before) Stuart, I was about to have a heart attack on the prices you quoted until I observed that you are posting from Australia. I too am building such a beast. However I'm content to use a backlit LCD display ($3.95 US at Marlon P. Jones) and do a small bit of PIC programming to interface. I can get the core (350 Mhz K6-2, MB with onboard sound, 32MB of RAM, 8G HD) right at a $250 US price point. In fact I already have except for the processor because I had a 166 Mhz K6 already. BAJ

What opperating system are you using? What are you doing about a video card? Are you having one? What software are you using to play the MP3 files? Regards Stuart P.S. I'll swap you $250 Australian for $250 US <g> Byron A Jeff wrote: {Quote hidden}> Stuart, I was about to have a heart attack on the prices you quoted until > I observed that you are posting from Australia. I too am building such > a beast. However I'm content to use a backlit LCD display ($3.95 US at > Marlon P. Jones) and do a small bit of PIC programming to interface. > > I can get the core (350 Mhz K6-2, MB with onboard sound, 32MB of RAM, 8G HD) > right at a $250 US price point. In fact I already have except for the > processor because I had a 166 Mhz K6 already. > > BAJ

Stuart O'Reilly wrote: > > Matthew Fries wrote: > > > Well, most police cars have some sort of terminal in them, so you could just > > turn it right back on them. > > > > With the screen I was thinking of having it mounted on the centre of the dash > with a little metal bracket or even strong velcro, that way when you park you > can just remove it , unplug it and hide it under your seat (easy to move when > you get pulled over by the police)Regards > Stuart Dunno about there, but here, if you start moving stuff around when pulled over by the police, they tend to assume you have something to hide - and take your car APART, to find it... Better to do that some other way, methinks. One police officer I know suggests that the best thing you can do, if pulled over, is put both hands high on the steering wheel, and keep them there, once you've thrown your wallet on the dash where it's visible. He says if he's pulling someone over, he feels a LOT less nervous when he can see all car occupants' hands; Understandable... Mark

> First of all I'm prototyping with a home unit because I haven't yet deciphered Bob Blick's DC to DC converter that he's using for his YAMM, which is the same project, except that his is completely functional. Observe it here: http://bobblick.com/bob/projects/yamm What I've done is gotten a MB with onboard video and sound and put it in a case that used to hold an old home CD Player. I stripped a PC power supply from its case. It barely fits. No room unfortunately for a CDROM. It would be nice to be able to rip and play CDs directly from the unit. I'm thinking about moving from a home CDPlayer case to one for a receive or amplifier since they are taller and deeper. That way I can keep the power supply intact and add a CDROM. I may even be able to stick in the ethernet card I really wanted. BTW does anyone know a source of parallel port based Ethernet ports? If I keep my current case configuration, that may end up being my ticket for getting the unit on the net. > What opperating system are you using? Linux. > What are you doing about a video card? Are you having one? Nope. It does have video on board but for the home unit I plan to use the network as the primary control interface. I'm going to run a serial line from the MP3 player to my server. Then I'll build a web based playlist manager. As a strictly local interface I plan to build a LCD/button interface that connects to the other serial port. > What software are you using to play the MP3 files? I'm using mpg123 right now. Does the job for me. I may shop around again when I actually get some time to work on it. > Regards > Stuart > P.S. I'll swap you $250 Australian for $250 US <g> So I can haver another heart attack? ;-) BAJ