Interesting idea...
 

So in the past few weeks...I've gained many computer parts (mainly a 486dx with a busted mobo and a p75 with a working mobo. I wanted to do something semi-unique with one of these computers and I think I have figured out what to do... I would like to buy one of those aluminum Attache briefcases and put a computer inside it. It would be like a desktop laptop. I'd most likely get a laptop monitor and mount it into the top of the case then somehow wire it into a graphics card. Then just mount the mobo to the bottom and find some way to mount the cards in slanted. I'd then just loosely secure in a keyboard and touchpad (in place of a mouse). I'd guess maybe $200 would cover the entire thing. The attache case would probably the most expensive component :)

Wouldn't that be something interesting to walk into a LAN party with? :P

no, it wouldn't be cool to walk into a lan party with a P75 :D

/me says make a car MP3 player, sure it's been done, but how many people do you actually know with one?

a kid that lives on my floor here at WPI did the briefcase thing..... its not an aluminum briefcase, but its the same genral idea.

He did it with a new mobo and new parts :)

Tom

One?

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FfIrXAu...asp?i=133DP171

:)

M: The point is to make one, not buy one.

A friend of mine made a car mp3 player for his RSX. I'll ask him for a link later, as he's not online right now.

Another friend, and former 258er, bought a car mp3/cd player a couple years ago, when they were insanely expensive...

I did that. Still have it. Love it, but now I'm spoiled and think that 12 albums per cd is not enough...

NEED MORE. I seroiusly considered getting a changer for it. :D

Heh. Well my only problem would be getting the DC charge from the battery/alternator (or whatever) to my AC PS. Another problem might be actually changing songs and stuff... If I actually understood electronics good enough, I might be able to make a parallel port 'remote' then probably use a serial LCD display. It'll be hard...since I don't really want to get rid of my current cd player...I'd also have to make a switchbox :)

Hmm...a gaming machine with a P75. Maybe I'll spend a bit more and get an athlon or something :P But money is certainly a factor (seeing as how I have none)

There's that pesky consumerism sneaking up on you again :)

I want the mp3s on a hard drive, anyways. I'm sick of cd's. I have probably close to 100 cd's in my car. At least 40 of them aren't in a case...just floating around loosely. When I come to school, I sometimes find my cd's in the parking lot from when they fell out of my car the day before :D (Nobody takes them...ever...due to my awesome cd-labeling scheme! I have cd's numbered 1-60. Then I have a peice of paper with the number, artist, and album on it...No more flipping through cd cases looking for any cd.)

theres a neat idea on keeping track of all your cds

Yeah. It works really well for me. I tend to lose things and forget about them. This way, every month or so...I can reorganize my cd's. If I'm missing one, I don't have to overheat my brain trying to think of what I don't have...I can just consult my little paper and see what it is then just reburn it. I even make copies of my original cd's (yes...I have bought cd's...not many, but I have :P) so in case I lose the cd, I won't lose the _actual_ cd. And I don't have much of a worry about losing my list. I have one copy of my list in my cd books, one taped to my wall, and the doc/swx files somewhere on the computer.

For powering a computer in a car, an easy solution is a DC/AC inverter. You can usually find these at electronics stores, probably RadioShack, and probably automotive stores.

Here're a few examples. I'm no electronics expert (but I know there're more than a few who frequent these forums :p ), but I'd suggest getting one of the 150 watt inverters, or higher. Typical AT/ATX PSUs are >200 watt, and nowadays typically from 300-400, if I recall correctly. If the box is running headless, without a cd-drive, and much else in the way of peripherals, I'd think that a 150 watt inverter would work.

As for controlling it, a serial mouse and mpg123? :)

Hmm...what exactly would a mouse do in a console? :P I just thought that maybe a numberpad off a keyboard would do the trick...not sure if you can get one for a serial/parallel port, though.

Hack xmms-tool up a little, and read /dev/ttyS0 in a simple C or perl (or whatever you want to use, frankly) program?

Mp3 player in car = great for long distance driving.
Drove to Indiana, listened to one cd. (drove really fast, so I could make the trip in 10 hours)

Need to set up that 386 box of mine as an mp3 jukebox/server.
Once I get another, largeish hd. 8.6gb on this computer are consumed by mp3's, and I have only ripped about half my cds.

/me rips a few more cds...


Wetzel
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Linux learning continues...