[plug] A Call for help regarding embedding linux

[Sacha Schlegel]

Hi Peter

That was a cool project about 2 years ago. I still have the pictures of
my computer in a car.

http://sacha.schlegel.li/SachaSchlegelMegacar.html

I put in a tv card as well, in case I wanted to watch tv. I had a
wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. BUT sometimes it good realy
dangerous when I was tweaking the system while driving!

I even planned to access the internet through infrared to my mobile ...
but never made it.

My wife got pulled over twice and the police man asked: what is that? is
it a global positioning system? My wife answered: yes yes and could
drive ahead.

Maybe someone posted the http://www.megacar.com page already but thats a
cool car.

Sacha

On Thu, 2002-10-24 at 18:44, Peter Revill wrote:
>   Ok boys and girls, im getting my first car as you may know, ill 
> probably have it by next weekend, and boy do i have some plans for it.
> 
> The very first thing i want for it, is an mp3 player, now this is 
> incredibly expensive, so i had a better idea: screw buying one, im going 
> to make one.
> 
> Bare with me at this point and check out my proposal:
> 
> Goals:
> a very cheap mp3 player that uses the cars stereo etc. to play mp3s and 
> the cars power to run the computer, a computer in the boot provides the 
> hard drive etc. required to run the mp3s, (except in Matt's car, which 
> is a 4wd and is constantly bumped around and therefore must use a CDROM 
> and floppy disk to boot Linux)
> 
> This is the basis of it, this is the first part , which means, what i 
> basically need from people, whoever can help, is the following:
> 
> Any, any cheap computers you have lying around and your in perth, cpus, 
> whatever, any cheap computer peices that you don't mind giving to a good 
> cause, if you just want to help a fellow linuxl dood out now is the time 
> :p. It will be open sourced ofcourse
> 
> I will be writing some java to do all this. me and my friend matt 
> actually plan to start doing it for whoever asks for it if this goes well.
> 
> The final Document describing everything actually reads like this, for 
> those intrested:
> 
> 
> The mp3 car player By Nystrom and Nervlord
> 
> Roles:
> Nervlord – Lead Programmer
> Nystrom – Lead Engineer.
> 
> Goals:
> a very cheap mp3 player that uses the cars stereo etc. to play mp3s and 
> the cars power to run the computer, a computer in the boot provides the 
> hard drive etc. required to run the mp3s, (except in Matt's car, which 
> is a 4wd and is constantly bumped around and therefore must use a CDROM 
> and floppy disk to boot Linux)
> 
> Recommendations thus far:
> It has already been decided it must run Linux, and use mp123 to play the 
> mp3s, the computer can be any 4 dollar computer with a sound card that 
> functions, a Vibra 128 is the proffered model (25 dollars) as it 
> provides excellent sound quality (PCI device however, which may cause 
> complications.) A PCI computer would be the proffered computer, since 
> this makes it easier for Linux to detect hardware. The Vibra is also 
> well supported in terms of drivers for it.
> 
> Programming required: a Perl or Java script must be written that can 
> parse an entire directory of mp3s, place them into a listed array, and 
> accept input to begin playing a song, eg. Input 122 would play song 
> number 122.
> 
> Ok, there are two ways: using the Java media framework, or using Java 
> and the Java runtime class, if not, use Perl
> 
> Second thing: The CPU must be able to stand very hot temperatures, as it 
> will be in the boot of my car, not exactly a cold place
> 
> that takes care of the major “definite” requirements
> 
> Recommendations not yet confirmed.
> 
> It is recommended the computer of course have no monitor
> It is recommended the power be controlled with a inverter, however this 
> can be quite costly, the inverter would have to be a 300 watt which is 
> approx 185 dollars (marlows sells it at this price)
> 
> Types of input:
> 
> Obviously simply having it play songs is not the idle situation, it is 
> therefore recommended the following methods of input:
> 1.a Mouse
> Works by:
> Simply click left and right to skip to certain songs
> 
> Advantages:
> Easy to program for
> Simple, and can easily reach anywhere, so i could push it through a hole 
> in the car and simply click left/right for the songs i want.
> 
> Disadvantages:
> Lack of flexibility, since it takes ages to skip to songs you enjoy.
> 
> 2.A keyboard
> use a keyboard hooked up by any method (serial to ps/2, it does not 
> matter) and simply use up down arrows and other bits and bobs to select 
> which song you want
> 
> Advantages
> Flexibility, can be programmed to do just about anything we wish
> 
> Disadvantages
> Big and bulky = looks bad, where to place?
> 
> 3.A keyPAD
> 
> use a keyPAd, which is a keyboard but simply with only the right hand 
> side (the numbers)
> 
> Advantages:
> Simple, and a reasonably flexible input, while still not looking bad.
> 
> Disadvantages:
> Difficult to find and probably expensive, may be difficult to find 
> drivers under Linux for a simple keypad
> 
> Another method proposed is to simply load the data for what songs to 
> play from a floppy disk, meaning every time i enter the car, it simply 
> checks the “playlist” on my disk, write a program that runs on my main 
> computer which takes care of writing new playlist data,
> 
> These are all our methods, version 1.0 must meet all requirements, 
> version 2.0 will possibly have an LCD depending on time and inclination.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Comments? suggestions? Willingness to help?
> 
>