[ILUG] Build your own MP3 player?

[Liam Bedford]

>Okay, lets get away from talking about the case for a sec. Let's assume
>you've got a low spec PC (say, Pentium 100 with 32MB RAM, 8GB HD and a sound
>card of some sort) what would you need to get a prototype going?
>
>I guess you'd install your favourite distro with the minimum of stuff but
>then you have to figure out a few things. Using the box as a PC to play
>MP3's is a piece of cake but what would you use if you wanted to have a very
>limited display, like an LCD and you do want to get to a stage of it being
>controlled by IR? I guess you've also got the problem of how to get the
>MP3's on there and once they're there how to pick what you want to play. A
>network connection isn't very practical if you plan on it being in your
>living room, unless of course you stick in an 802.11b card and access it
>remotely.

Well, start with:
lcd projects are all over the place (if you just want to display information)
(freshmeat.net)

IR is actually quite easy (especially if you do what I want to, which is
put a TV tuner card in) (www.lirc.org).

The basics are actually quite easy. It really is just a question of putting
them together again. Put a TV out card in, and you can write a little
GTK app which will let you choose what to do (watch TV, play DVD, surf
the net, play mp3's).

making it all look nice is left as an exercise for the interested reader.

L.
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