Project: no name yet. a pc in Da_CaR - UPDATE 7/2/03!

w00t! my first project log!

here's the plan, short and simple: to put an old pc i had laying around into my car so i can have hundreds, nay thousands of mp3s at the tip of my finger! i've been discussing doing this here so that should give you some more info on the overall project's ideas and thoughts.

here's some (crummy) pics for ya!


My car - a '94 mitsubishi eclipse: base model. it's nothing special (in fact, its a piece of poo ) but it's mine and that's enough for me!



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my new cd deck. also nothing special, but it has the two main things i was looking for: amp preouts (for adding a sub later so i can go bounce bounce ) and auxiliary ins - this is how i will connect the pc in order to get sound to my car's speakers. it was a cheap cd player (only $100) but i like it - the sounds much better than before (considering all i had before was the factory tape player/radio, and the tape player part didn't even work!)



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the pc itself. the pc was given to me a while back and i finally decided to use it for this (i had considered using the case for an htpc among other things). it's nothing special - an old gateway pc in a desktop case (which should make it pretty stable sitting in the back of my car versus a normal tower case) with an intl mmx chip, about 160mb of ram, a 2gb hd, and an old isa style sound card. nothing special, but it should work. it's also running windows 98 and one big thing i'm working on is getting the boot time to a minimum (the pc can be shutdown in literally 1 second - all i have to do is hit the power button and it shuts off without giving me any errors or anything the next time i boot it up)

 

a bit more info:

first off, this mod is on a budget (hence, why i'm using the old gateway pc versus buying a m-itx mobo or other sff mobo)

what i want to do is make myself a nice way of controlling the pc. if you notice below the cd player, there's an empty storage compartment area. on the high-end models of my car, there was a tape player/radio on top (like what i used to have) then either an equalizer or cd player or something, but i simply have the storage bin thing. what i plan on doing is getting either a vfd or lcd and hack a keyboard, along with some acrylic (of course) and make my own control unit. i want it to look like it's suppose to be in a car (i was going to try to mimmick my new cd player's look, but it would be too complex, so i'll design something to compliment it - maybe in bl00!)

 

Which OS, and whats the plan for the software whichll receive the input from the hacked up keyboard?

 

it's windows 98. i'm going to use winamp to play the music and it's got built-in keyboard shortcuts, so those are the keys i'll use for the hacked up keyboard

 

while talking to Phat_Ass and Green_Soda in the bit-tech chat room, i was told about this lil booger - it's a stand-alone mp3 player with stereo out and support for an 8 X 24 lcd screen. it also runs off of just 4 AA batteries! . the price is very good also - $150 for the unit itself, then about $75 for a back-lit lcd and controls for the unit. if i use the gateway pc i've got, i would probably end up spending this much, if not more once i bought an inverter, a lcd/vfd, switches for the hacked keyboard, the keyboard that would be hacked, etc.

so what's everyone's opinions? personally, i kinda like the stand-alone player - it's very small (just a lil bigger than a hard drive) comes with controls, lcd, pretty much everything. my only concern is the lcd might be a bit big for my needs, and it doesn't look like you can use a smaller one (at least as far as i know of). if i did get this, i might try to make some cool lil flip-up action for the screen

 

Or maybe one of these?

http://www.myplace.nu/mp3/index2.htm

its pretty cool, but its more if you want an already built one, but the same price if you build it...

 

few things, since i've been named!

1) Dont spend the $$ for the backlit one. Do it yourself. Small sheet of sanded plexi behind the LCD with LEDs shining through it.

2)And you would be tapping into the cars power right, no batts for you

Hope to see the results. I dont really ahve much more to say since i talked to you in the irc channel... (irc.quakenet.org #bit-tech, go there and TALK)

 

Hi

Nice idea


Yes, the controller bord seems to be a good choice... but what input does it use ? cd/hard drive ? (sorry I could have found this it out if I would read the site, but I have to get to school, so don't have time)

I assume it dosnt support harddrive's, so that would be ur downside... if u worked with a computer, U could very easily get a huge HD and put that it , with thousands of MP3's ..


Keep us posted what ur going to do !! Have u thought about a normal CD player for ur car stereo wich supports Mp3 cd's ... they have really dropped in price... so its much cheaper/smaller/easier


If you go with the computer or controller board, make sure U get controlled power from ur battery, that dosnt swing up or down when u start the car... this could destroy some parts... most radio's are though made so they can take this...

Good Luck

 

both of the mp3 player stand alone thingymabobs both support hard drives. i'm liking the look of the one DeLorean5000 posted because it seems to have more features (usb, more lcds supported, etc.) *sigh* so many choices to make

*note - more people should come to the chat room! green_soda, Dad, and myself get quite lonely!

the reason i dont want a cd player that can play mp3 cds is because i don't like having to change cds at all 9especially since my car is a manual - it makes things tricky). with a hd loaded down with mp3s, all i'd have to do is hit the "next" button. i'll make a choice on where i'm goin from here hopefully in the next day or so. i'll probably go ahead and test the pc out some just to see how it does (with pics of course!!)

and green_soda, i was just pointing out how much easier it was to power that thing versus gettting an inverter for the pc......

 

As I said on irc, I would go with the standalone player thing. Much more simple and would be extremely easy to hook straight to the car electrical wiring since it uses batts. The only thing I would do with it though is to use a dc-dc converter so that your voltage doesn't fluctuate at all...

(

You guys seem to be able to keep yourself occupied though!

 

Dude, you have the same headphones as I do
I like the car though...

 

they're comfortable headphones, ain't they??

and you can't tell from the pics, but half of my paintjob has oxidized and it looks a wee-bit poopy

i've decided where i'm taking this project from here. i WILL in fact be purchasing this mp3 player versus the other one, mainly because i can get that one with an lcd and buttons for about the price of just the main unit of the other one. the lcd screen for it may be a bit tricky mounting it since its a big one, but i'm thinking of doing a "flip-out action!" screen. more news once i order it.....

 

i did a bit of testing with the gateway pc (though i'm still going to get the mp3 board), mainly to test out the sound going through the cd player's auxiliary inputs.

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first off i had to FIND the inputs. this was simple enough - after popping off the trim work, i could see them dangling down



the music sounded fine, but there was one problem that i noticed - i had to turn the volume up a LOT on the cd player to be able to here it at all. anyone know why this would be? would an amp solve this problem? hopefully it won't even be an issue with the mp3 player board, but we'll see.

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now that i've (re)decided on what i'm using for the hardware, i can began getting ideas of how to mount it. here's a pic of the "pocket" that will be removed for the mp3 player to go in (flash is kinda bright, but i couldnt get a good pic without it):



and a side view to give you an idea of how much depth i've got to work with (also a bad pic, sorry ):



the area itself is 7 inches wide, 2 inches tall, and the pocket is 5 inches deep, though i may be able to make it a little longer than that if need be.....

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just for the heck of it, a "semi-night" shot of the cd player (it's actually just in my dark garage with no flash on. the cd player looks amazing at night time - this pic doesn't do it justice because it's not REALLY a night time shot and it's also not the best camera either, so:



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i'm hoping to order the mp3 board tomorrow, and if i can get my thoughts straight and come up with a decent sketch, maybe post a pic of how i intend on designing the control panel.....

 

After looking at that site it seems that:

a) you *can* run it off the car battery itself

b) every time you wanted to add more music you would have to pull out the hard drive, install it into your computer, move your files over, uninstall from the computer, and reinstall into the car,

#2 sounds a bit tedious. IMHO you could just get a 10, 20, or 30 GB Nomad or other MP3 player and output to the receiver. couldn't you?

 

Penguin4x4, you're right, it would be very tedious to do that, but i think i found a solution for this (more details once i look into it more)

as for going out and just buying a nomad mp3 player, you're right - it probably WOULD be easier. but i haven't done much modding and i want to do this - it'll give me a nice summer project. plus, it's a little cheaper to DIY (adn of course more rewarding imo).

 

Maybe it's an idea to install the harddisk in a removable harddisk rack. Makes it easier to remove and put back

I recognize the problem with the sound limitation. I've been working on an MP3 Box quite a while ago, and I have actually checked everything. Even if I plug my headphones into the sound card, I have an enormous sound limitation. Now this project is dead, and I hope someone finds a way to solve that problem, because a project like this is REALLY worth it.

2 Thumbs up for you!

 

To move new files onto your car computer, you could just have a network card and a network cable running to your garage. Just plug it in whenever you want to do transfers. Or you could even get a wireless one, and just park it in the driveway while transfering.

 

Check up in the manual of the CD player, does it say the inputs are speaker level or pre out level?

Speaker level input is already amplified to give the speakers something to work off, the pre outs have not been amplified and so very little power is being sent across the lines.

I wouldn't recommend putting an amp inbetween MP3 player and headunit, between headunit and speakers would definately be fine. But again just check the outputs on the headunit, are they pre out? if so most amps will work with it, if it is speaker level only you'll need to get an amp that supports speaker level input

 

I dont think that will work with the little stand alone mp3 player thingy though .

I would have thought a removable hd tray would be the best option. one in yout PC and one in the car. You might even be able to mod it to fit the mp3 player inside, but it looks a little big in the picture. maybee a nice custom case for it incorporationg the HD tray

 

Or you could still have that pc in your car just have it wake on lan and put a wirless in it for tranfering when you are parked in your garage! just wire the pc and the mp3 player to the one hdd! do you like that idea?