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Music Media

A Big-Screen Mobile MP3 Console 201

Posted by timothy from the time-value-of-fiberglass dept.
psymaster writes: "I found the link to this mod over at hardocp.com; it's a car MP3 player mod, the guy ripped apart the whole center panel of the car to install it and did it all over again in fiberglass." This is dedication.
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A Big-Screen Mobile MP3 Console More

A Big-Screen Mobile MP3 Console

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  • it may be a cool thing, it looks like crap! i cant believe he put more than 2 hours into this.
  • Now all I need is a vehicle!! And .. oh yeah .. money :(
    That's a very clean job that guy did. Nice!

  • Will it come standard in a Cavalier?

    :>

    • Too bad it's an Eclipse. I think the Japanese would probably put something like this in one of their cars before an american company. And the plus would be that it probably wouldn't run Windows.
  • All I know is I want one. I don't care how. But I want it and one for my girlfriend's car too.
    • Yeah, but will she let you? Honey, can I chop up your dashboard? No, honestly, I THINK the AC will still work... On the other hand, if she lets you she's a pretty cool girl.

  • And you thought cell phone users were bad (Score:3, Funny)

    by dreamt ( 14798 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:08PM (#3866919)
    Oh, joy. Now we have some idiot with a touch screen panel in his car running Winamp. Like this guy won't cause an accident.
  • It looks cool, but image the first time he parks his car in the sun with the windows rolled up and the inside gets to about 160 degrees Farenheit.

    Will he post pictures then?

    "Hey, what's this big assed black piece of glass you got right here in the middle of your control panel?"
  • WOW I really like the idea. By running windows he is going to be prone to crashes but GPS and such will be easy. Now he needs a oronico wireless card and he is set to wardrive!

  • RIAA Illegal Car? (Score:3, Funny)

    by maynard-lag ( 235813 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:13PM (#3866970)
    So when he gets pulled over do they call the RIAA for not purchasing his music in each format he plays it in? Policeman into radio: Uh dispatch.. we need a tow truck, code napster. MP3 owner: What did I do officer? Policeman: Just wait here a minute, the nice folks at the RIAA are here to help.
  • Jesus Christ! Look at the amount of information on that screen. I hope I never run into this guy in heavy traffic while he's talking on his cell phone and scrolling through his Jimmy Eat World tracks.
    • Actually, I noticed that it's "Better than Ezra," not Jimmy Eat World... what should be even more of a concern than him talking on his cell phone is the fact that there's a shortcut to "Quake III Arena" on the bottom left corner of his desktop.

      And "My Network Places" and "Internet Explorer"? Oi. It almost makes me WANT to see people picking their noses and changing their clothes while driving.

  • Let me just find... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Q2Serpent ( 216415 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:15PM (#3866986)
    that one song that I heard the other week...

    i think it was after this one...

    no no, about 200 back from here (scroll...)

    was it around here? maybe down a few... (tap tap tap)...

    *incoming telephone pole*

  • Another story - another unreachable site (Score:3, Offtopic)

    by Sanity ( 1431 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:22PM (#3867048) Homepage Journal
    It is getting rediculous - what use is Slashdot if 50% of the stories link to slashdotted sites? Many people have proposed potential solutions for this (such as /. providing a Google-like cache), but the editors always come up with lame excuses.
    • Unfortunately it won't change untill the day someone claims slashdot dos attacked them when it was just a large amount of users hitting a site at once.

      I have already seen sites being shut down because they were slashdotted and used up all their allocated bandwidth, with only a 'sorry to shut down this site but we were slashdotted' message left. It's an interesting dilemma.
    • It's simple. Smart web admins will start denying referrers from slashdot. Then it will reduce the /. effect on their server. Many places already do this. An obligatory link to a google cache prior to posting would be good enough for me. Or maybe contact the person who runs the site and get approval first, as well as approval to borrow some pictures or whatnot, since that's what every wants to look at anyway.
      • Why deny slashdot refers in particular? They're no better or worse than referrals from anywhere else. You could save the cost of setting up the connection (to get the referrer string) just by refusing connections as necessary to stay up.

        The google cache doesn't redirect links (including inline images!) to itself so it's nearly useless for reducing slashdotting.

        Finally, cnn.com, news.com etc. don't need or want traffic directed away and would probably get upset about it.

    • "...but the editors always come up with lame excuses."

      Funny, I thought they fixed that by using the karma system. Why write extra code when people will do the work for you and get that +1 Interesting? heh.

      Besides, isn't that what Open Source is about? "If you're having a problem, YOU fix it."
    • Again, I say why not a cache server, or is Slashdot afraid of being Slashdotted?
      Wow... Slashdot could have it's own outer event horizon o' shlashdottiness!
    • /. providing a Google-like cache)

      But then Slashdot would Slashdot itself.

    • Nobody reads it anyway. Just speculate wildly and pretend you read it all the while making gestures while talking into YOUR DAMN CELLPHONE while reading /. on your DAMN TOUCHSCREEN CONSOLE! Damn you all! I'm getting a touchscreen jammer.
  • I would buy such a thing...

    if it had a HEADS UP DISPLAY projecting on
    my windshield and if it played DVDs and DivX
    movies too, while I am driving long Arizona
    and Nevada highways on cruise control.

    And maybe the Windows PC could steer my car
    through light traffic as well, using a webcam
    taped to my center rearview mirror.

    YIKES!
    • dude, i see two major problems with your solution:

      1 - would the rare event of a blue screen occur, you wouldnt be able to see a feet in front of you because your windshield would be totally blue.

      2 - would the rare event of a windows crash occur while the computer was steering your car, you might end up visiting god sooner than you expected! :)))

  • Nissan Macfinder (Score:4, Informative)

    by superdan2k ( 135614 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:26PM (#3867071) Homepage Journal
    There's a webpage here [mp3car.com]. He did it with a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder, an older Mac Powerbook (utilizing Airport for file transfer), and a lot of ingenuity. His page also goes into detail, instead of just photos.

    (I'm thinking about trying the same thing with my 2001 XTerra.)
    • I looked into doing this with an iMac and a GPS receiver (much safer than strapping my PowerBook into the passenger seat and turning my head 90 degrees to check the map), but ultimately I decided that would be like begging for someone to steal my car.

  • in transit quake3 arena (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    i wonder how he manages to drive and play q3a too.
    (note the icon for it in the pictures).

  • Lots more info for those that want to do it (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TwoStep ( 36482 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @04:34PM (#3867124) Homepage
    There is a lot more inf on this at MP3Car.com [mp3car.com], the user sites are a bit out of date, but the forum is excelent.

    Also, it looks like Q-PC [q-pc.com] sells premade car computers, though I haven't seen any info about one.

    I am building a car computer myself, that will completely replace my radio with a 8.4" touchscreen, running a custom program that does Radio, MP3's, DVD and GPS navigation.

    Twostep
  • and not add GPS capability to it? I mean, 90% of the work is already done.

  • "Wow! I got linked to by [H]ard|OCP today. I sure hope this server will hold up much better than my old one ;) "

    Oh, if it was only HardOCP, then you might have a chance. Alas, that was only the beginning.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday July 11, 2002 @05:00PM (#3867267)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • nice, but good luck trying to sell it if he is ever decides to.
  • Fast mirror here [polpo.org]
  • This guy is a regular over at www.mp3car.com forums. You can check out the progress of his install if you root around a little bit.

    Actually, if anyone is planning a car install, this is the best site on the internet for all things "carputer" related. They have a TON of information about how Power supplies, touchscreens, inverters, and all the rest work.

    And really, all you people who post "thats just what we need, someone watching DVDs while driving" can @#$% off. I think a lot of people are jelous they don't have the skill to build something like this themselves, and would rather rip on people that do. Of course there is a safe and unsafe way to use these, just like cell phones and eating fast food. But that is just my 2 cents.
  • Google caches are great for the HTML, but not the images.

    Here's my mirror [perljam.net].

    -ted

  • Now al he has to do is hookup a rear-facing web cam and he can get rid of the overhead mirror, allowing room for the overhead ejection seat lever.

    How cool would it be if he did it with OSX-compatible hardware!?!

  • I'm sticking in a phat I.C.E., laptop/desktop innards [shock dampened], fingerprint regognition [yeah I read the story], webcams, a G.P.S. thingy and an interface to several vital car components. A bit of UNIX Shell scripting/coding later, seeing as I'm doing it at college this year [hopefully]. I'll have the security system MMS me the coordinates, and mugshots of the "fucking stupid soon-to-be-dead" plonkers who think they can steal my motor, and de-activate the ignition, ready for me to pop a glock out the boot and teach them a lesson in Car Security they won't forget!

    Errrm, well, anyways, I've yet to see someone really combine a car and a computer. Ignitions on modern cars are usually computer controlled so it's possible, at lest in theory. How about a Tomorrow Never Dies stylee remote controll? I'd add some hidden internal fual pumps and lighters just in case the car was out of range [hell, insurance will cover it ;-] and a webserver, just to be 31337.

    Ah bollocks maybe I shouldn't post while drunk... but these are things I've seriously considered while Stone Cold Sober(tm)!

    When the world seems to shine like you've had too...*THUD*

    Ali

  • Why the hell didn't he just buy an MP3 head unit?

    - A.P.

    • This is great, the way it should be (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It is all about the control of the songs. When you have 2000+ songs (Can't do it with CD's) you need an easy way to get the right one.

      On a side note, there are very few head units out there that look professional and fit with your exact car. Kenwood's current one comes close with the ability to change the background color. But panasonic's will output more than just a few characters of the name on the screen at a time. I have an eMpeg that allows you to do both and store lots of mp3's. It looks good also, there are not a ton of flashing lights of all different colors(AWIA).

      When will car makers start coming out with this kind of setup?
    • It's much nicer to be able to just build the latest oggutils release on your own machine and play higher quality rips, rather than bitch at some company and wait for them to (possibly) build an ogg based unit.
  • Wow! I got linked to by [H]ard|OCP today. I sure hope this server will hold up much better than my old one ;)

    Well, here comes a larger flood to test your server!

  • it's touchscreen Quake III Arena that will get him killed. Anyone else notice that icon in the bottom left?

    Also, someone teach this poor guy how to download Winamp skins. Because that default skin is just painful.

    with a little ingenuity he could make a shifter-remote or steering wheel mountable remote and hooked it up to his system, utilizing max10 or some other serial line based remote control plug-in.

    -malakai
  • I see a Quake III icon on the desktop. Is your framerate tied to your RPM? Does your stickshift work as a joystick? How many cars have you hit so far? He he he. Will you make me one? Cool.

  • The Linux car (Score:2, Interesting)

    by smammon ( 88123 )
    Can't believe that no one has added this link yet (maybe I missed it eh) http://www.dashpc.com/ This guy rocks - besides mp3 he has a really nice tcl interface, plays movies on multiple screens - gps and 802.11 (bringing a new meaning to wardriving methinks)

    Even has a sourceforge project up for the code! Look and learn.

  • Nah.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Ogerman ( 136333 )
    This is dedication.
    More like stupidity. This story is not news for nerds, it's news for rice boys. (you know.. the people who think their Honda will go faster if they lower the suspension and add a giant spoiler..) Car MP3 player "mods" are no longer cool nor original. Sorry. Many (most?) commercial CD decks now play MP3's. The ones that don't probably have a line-in for an external portable unit. And for crying out loud, this guy is using Windows--the world's worst 'embedded' OS.

    Now, on the other hand, if someone wants to show off a minimal-footprint Linux driven unit sporting gpsdrive, WAP scanning, police radar, clock sync via radio, cabin noise cancellation, speed/heading/mileage/odometer on a HUD, engine diagnostics, proximity sensors, and of course voice synth/recognition, THEN I might raise an eyebrow. So have at it fellow geeks. Oh, and you might as well make it play OGG/MP3/DIVX too. (-:
    • Jebus christo! Really, give me a break! You are the worst kind of troll slashdot has. Someone goes and does something that is pretty cool, and you demand it be 100% geek buzword compliant, runs Linux, have a T-1 speed wireless connection, Jolt soda cooler, hydrogen fuel cells, and night vision. Give me a $@#$$ break!!!

      What this guy did is more than you have done to your POS, so cut him some slack, unless you can make the Uber-smallpenis-mobile you have described in your post. Then you have every right to say his mod is "more like stupidity," but until then don't knock others creativity!
  • Back when it looked like I was getting a job I applied for (sigh) I had thoughts of taking a wireless approach myself. Take a P166 or faster laptop (Cheap) with a CD-ROM drive and a WiFi card and an FM transmitter plugged into the headphone jack.

    Then I'd take another WiFi card, drop it into my Newton 2100, run a network from that to the laptop, VNC from the Newton to the PC and run control of things from there.

    Probably can be done for under $500 and could be set up to facilitate some pretty kickass wardriving with an antenna on the trunk.

    As far as I'm concerned, power is a minor concern and the bigger problem would be mounting the Newton to the dash properly.
  • I too want to appear on /.

    I bet it was the author of the project himself who posted this story. ;-)
  • This is one of the nicest installs I have seen in a 300zx.
    http://www.ashleypowers.com/ZPCTour/300tour1.htm [ashleypowers.com]

    He even has it integrated into the car computer and last I heard he's working on making modifications to the chip (ECU) while the vehicle is driving.

    --derek

    derek.delconte.org [delconte.org]
  • switching the shell to winamp would be much more intelligent.... unless he uses the system for anything else.
  • In using a laptop to play MP3s in my car, I use a logitech Marble Mouse Track ball on the center console between the front two seats to control the system.

    ttyl
    Farrell
  • Lets hope he installed without AVS. The last thing we need is someone getting high off AVS while driving.
  • Check this car out [dashpc.com]. This guy ripped out his existing stereo and replaced it with a touchscreen display for a pc he has in his trunk. The computer runs linux and has a wireless network card so he can download data off of his LAN before he leaves. He even set it up with a chip to boot up the pc when the ignition is turned and wait to turn on the monitor until the software is loaded. And, of course, it's all GPL'ed.
  • Even cooler is the use of an almost unmodified Amiga as an mp3 player in a Suzuki, that has gone through several revisions since it was first created. Whilst this one may not have (yet) have the large LCD screen of the one mentioned, this one is a total DIY job :)

    The player can be found here [world3.net] (http://amimpc.world3.net/)

  • This big screen reminds of a new scourge to soon hit our streets!

    I've now seen on two occasions a color LCD of at least 15 inches either mounted on the stereo or above the rear view mirror play porno. Doggy-style, butt-slammin' porno. AND one of the guys was talking on a cell phone AND looking left at me wondering what _I_ was gawking at!

    Beware... the dangers of cell phones on the road seem miniscule to trying to drive, rewind, fast forward, ejaculate, and clean up all at the same time. B_E_W_A_R_E!

    LS
  • Okay, I know the idea for a custom built car PC is all cool and whatnot, but really, how well do these things hold up on a balmy 90F day, in the sun, with the windows closed (translating to 120+ interior temps)? If he's using some form of active cooling, then he's also cut his car's efficiency quite a bit, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to use the computer unless the A/Cs been running about a half hour...

    Great idea in the arctic circle, stupid everywhere else...

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