Questions!!!!!

**dSAINT** · 02-28-2004, 03:23 AM

Hello to everyone on this forum which in my opinion is great !!!!

I was thinking if building my own carputer, but i am not keen on colour lcd screens, gps, wireless internet that is crap for me i just want to hear good quality mp3s is there any solution !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i found some info on mpxplay and dos this seems good but did any one work with it???????

**carabuser** · 02-28-2004, 04:14 AM

Playstation 2 might be good

**deadweasel** · 02-28-2004, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by carabuser

Playstation 2 might be good

Build a quick and dirty little box, config it on Win98Lite, run Winamp and set it to run at startup with a playlist containing all your music, connect the getup to an inverter, run a cassette adapter (or FM modulator) to your car's stereo and plug in a keypad for control.

Not perfect, but certainly cheap and easy.

What? Don't think that would work well? I used it for a year. Seemed okay, but then I got frustrated with Winamp losing focus, not having better control of the system etc., so now here I am building my own interface...

*sigh*

**jjh221** · 02-28-2004, 05:30 AM

do you even want a screen?
what about a ipod mini? or some other mp3player, that is if you can connect to your head unit.

**grahamrb** · 02-28-2004, 09:03 AM

Why not just get an mp3 cd head unit. I have a pioneer one, works fine, you can fit just over 200 songs on a cd. My one cost AU$350.

**TeXaSLoNgHoRnZ** · 02-29-2004, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by deadweasel

Build a quick and dirty little box, config it on Win98Lite, run Winamp and set it to run at startup with a playlist containing all your music, connect the getup to an inverter, run a cassette adapter (or FM modulator) to your car's stereo and plug in a keypad for control.

Hell, thats not a bad idea. Could you be more specific on what all you need to do?

**none** · 02-29-2004, 07:12 PM

There is a ton of info on this forum about building a music-only system. Until about a year or so ago, that's what 90% of the systems talked about here were. My system is music-only, I use Winamp with Markus' (text)LCD plugin and an IRman being fed by a Pioneer steering wheel remote. Works flawlessly and doesn't distract me from the road.

Do I need to say the "S" word? I'd rather not since it seems to **** off many newbies, but that's where you will find your answers.

**deadweasel** · 02-29-2004, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by TeXaSLoNgHoRnZ

Hell, thats not a bad idea. Could you be more specific on what all you need to do?

Well... that's a little too vague in itself... Specific in what area? You will need to build a computer first, of course, and then it's off to the races. Get a copy of 98Lite (which is a modified install script for Win98; it leaves out IE and other bloat crap), and then play with it. Of course you will need Winamp. At that point, it's a matter of how to control it.
My first system used nothing more than Winamp and a keypad. I just set the All playlist to run in the startup, and off it went. I discovered I was a little screwed if Winamp somehow lost focus though, because then it wasn't paying any attention to keypad commands. That's when I discovered some control plugins for Winamp that made the keypad "global", which means that no matter if Winamp was in focus or not, using the keypad controlled Winamp and nothing else.

As to how to setup 98Lite, check out their site: LitePC

Any plugin you could wish for can be found at Winamp.com of course.

If you want some tips on what to use for a base system, and how to connect it, check out The ALEXIS Project. It won't tell you step by step how to build (you should at least learn that if nothing else), but that site, and a couple that it links to will help you get started choosing some hardware.

**tom2112** · 03-01-2004, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by grahamrb

Why not just get an mp3 cd head unit. I have a pioneer one, works fine, you can fit just over 200 songs on a cd. My one cost AU$350.

I definitely second that!! My Sony MP3 head unit only cost $225 USD, and that was a couple years ago. 10 hours of music on one CD is the bomb. If that isn't enough, get the Sony MP3 CD changer. For less that $300, add 12 more cd's of MP3's at your fingertips. I don't know about you, but my entire music collection will fit on 9 MP3 cd's, so that leaves 4 more for growth!

I'm only doing the car PC route because I'm insane and want GPS, OBDII, DVD, and wireless comms.

**toadster123** · 03-18-2004, 10:25 PM

i dunno if u already started ur project... but using mpxplay in dos might be better ...since u are just doing mp3's....
Dos will load faster than win98/winamp... and u can still use a little character lcd and remote....

At least thats what im going to do once i get my lcd....

With DOS u dont have to worry about shutting it down either i believe, u just hit the power....

o well, ill find out how good mpxplay is once i get my lcd and stuff together