[l008com]

I have this old LC II (pizza box form). It has a 160MBHard Drive, PDS slots etc. It is pretty usless to me, especially since i don't even have a monitor, or keyboard and mouse for it. I brought this comptuer out to my truck, and I was happy to find out, that hte untire unit, when taken apart, can fit easily in my center console, with plenty of room for say, a CD ROM drive AND a ZIP drive. Problem is, I don't think this 16MHz 030 is going to be pumping out and MP3 tunes anytime soon. Now the LCII's motherboard will fit in teh console perfectly, along with the powersupply, hard drive, and any other drives I might wanna use, but no other bigger motherboard will fit. It looks like a Powermac 6100 is about the same size, but i can't really tell from the picture, and I can't find the exact dimensions anywhere. Also, is there a single MP3 player anywehre the runs on a 68K?? Even if it has to take over the entire Mac? I might be able to find an 040 on a motherboard that is the same size, Probably more likely than finding a PPC one, and probably cheaper too. Any input on any aspect of this project would be appriciated.

Vehicle is a 2000 Chevy Blazer ZR2. It has a factory Bose system, but I
m pretty sure there is a AUX input, because I have seen these trucks with a factory tape player on the lower part of the console. Also i'd need a power inverter to power the unit, but that should be easy, it should also fit inside and i have 12V plugs under my dash it could plug into. there's even a removable cover on teh back of the console, wehre i coudl mount the fan. It's almost perfect, except getting the CPU power to fit. I can even get one of those caddy loading cd rom drives so i can mount the drive sideways and at an angle.

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I see dead people.

[oscar]

Maybe you could run netbsd and play mp3's, but the with macos a 68k machine will not play mp3's

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-See Yea!

[This message has been edited by oscar (edited 10-01-2000).]

[The Godfather]

Exchange it for a 486/66. You can install Win95+Soritong and play your MP3's.

[l008com]

NO NO NO, there will be NO PC's in my truck.
If anyone had a 6X00 motherboard they could measure for me, so I can see how big they are, that would help me alot. My LCII's board is 9" X 7.5" X 1".

What is 'netbsd'??

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I see dead people.

[This message has been edited by l008com (edited 10-01-2000).]

I am UNIX! Haha! (Er, well.. a flavor of UNIX.) I will take over your motherboard and make you spew command line commands! Bwahahaha! Say it with me, "tar xzf archive.tar"! Hehehehe...

[NastyP]

pm 6100 motherboard-11x8in.

i use my book in my car but i'm gonna put my 6100 in there as soon as i get the money for a new bigger hd.

Nasty P.

[l008com]

I jsut measured, 8*11 won't fit.

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I see dead people.

[NastyP]

how about you throw the 6100 under the seat....or in the back....why the console?if it's for easy access to drives just throw the drives in the console and run the cables to the motherboard......

Nasty P.

[l008com]

I din't know if you've ever been in a 2 door blazer, but there is no "under the seats". Center console is the only place unless I wanted the put the unit in the back, but then i'd have to take apart my whole interior to get teh SCSI cables under the rug, and even then, that would be a long way to go, SCSI cables, i'm told, are best when short.

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I see dead people.

[Ruddigger]

I thought you had to have 100MHz to play mp3's. Am I thinking of something else? Either way I have two 6100/60 mobo's in case you need to aqcuire one.

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-Ruddigger
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Have you had your
gigaflop today?

[l008com]

Nope, thier too big, I'm goona try and find a powerbook board.

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I see dead people.

[Evinyatar]

I know of a hardware MP3 decoding solution for PC's using the parallel port. It allowed a 286 to play MP3s with great quality. Maybe if you could find a serial->parallel convertor and write some drivers (in RB e.g.) it might work.

[Ca$h68]

question... How are you going to 'control' this. I mean, unless you hook up a monitor, you wont see what you have, or what you're playing. I thought of doing this for a while, but this part frustrated me, so i quit.

Ca$h

[l008com]

Well I would make a real basic app in the startup folder that would automatically play an mp3's on any disc inserted, and would eject all discs when thmouse butotn was clicked. Then I would tear apart a mouse and turn it into a simple button. Now for skipping through the tracks, i though of making my own small keybord, with only a few buttons that were identical to certain buttons on the keyboard, lik 'q' 'w' 'e' 'r', but the RB app would interprate those as 'next' and 'prev'. I know a kid who is very into electronics, and he once showed me this this that showed all about how information was transmitted through ADB, so i think with his help, I could do this. I might need a STAMP computer for the keyboard though, which might mean going without it.

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I see dead people.

[Ca$h68]

You know what'd be REALLY mint???

Ok,, they sell TVs that fit in a DIN sized area, so you put them wehre your radio goes. When you hit power, they extend into the cab, then flip upward, displaying a 5"ish LCD screen. Ok, get one of those, and mount a trackpad on your armrest of something. THAT WOULD OWN!
'
Ca$h

[l008com]

Yeah but it'd be really hard to type your IM's and drive at the same time!

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I see dead people.

[ibookuser2]

so add a gps system too and just program the thing with roadmaps and tell it to drive for you

[l008com]

Let me try and make an MP3 player first though...

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I see dead people.

[pcurtner]

Does QuickTime 4 require a PPC?

Also, the author of SoundApp has said that a 68K version will be released soon; it plays mp3s and supports playlists-- http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~franke/SoundApp/

It requires at least System 7.0, Apple's Sound Manager 3.1 or greater, the Drag Manager (aka Macintosh Drag and Drop, part of System 7.5) and at least a Macintosh with a 68020 or a Power Macintosh.

[...]

Post pictures when you're done!

-pwc

[l008com]

Quicktime 4 can run on an 040, but it still down't play MP3's, it jsut give you some alert box about how it can't play the file.
I wanna try and install NetBSD but the whole site is so confusing, i have no idea what I have to do...

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I see dead people.

[iPad]

You can use a LC 475 motherboard as it has the same dimensions as the LC 2.

It's still not a PPC though, it uses a 25Mhz 680LC040 processor..but you can replace it with a 33Mhz 68040 with a little soldering.

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People aren't as dumb as you think. Wait, what was I thinking, 90% of the world uses WINDOWS!
You don't like Macs? Good, more for me.

[jaguarandi]

You can get whole 6100's for $99 at www.poweron.com . They're not advertised on the site, but trust me - they have a whole warehouse of them that they are -dying- to give away.

/e

[l008com]

Ya but that 6100 board might as well be a 9600 board, it just won't fit.

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I see dead people.

[seanyepez]

How about a PowerBook 1400? That sounds ideal for your task...

They go for cheap, and they were one of the best PowerBooks made. Then again, you could go all the way and get a Wallstreet...

[seanyepez]

How about a PowerBook 1400? That sounds ideal for your task...

They go for cheap, and they were one of the best PowerBooks made. Then again, you could go all the way and get a Wallstreet...

[l008com]

iPad, can you give me more info on replacing the 25MHz 'LC040 with a 33MHz '040? I've never seen a processor on a boars that I could solder off.

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I see dead people.

[The Godfather]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to use a 486/66 board? Try to get one of those with incorporated IDE interface, 16 bit audio and VGA out, they should be a lot cheaper.

[l008com]

I'm not using a PC board. I know nothing about windows, nor do i want to. I'm goona need some custom software that I would have no idea how to make. No way, NO PC.

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I see dead people.

[witulski]

Quicktime 4.0 on my PPC sometimes has problems recognizing MP3s if they aren't already QuickTime files. Maybe that's your only problem in 68k world. Try hacking the creators with ResEdit or set Macster preferences to create QuickTime files.

Forgive me if you've already tried this. If you haven't, I hope it works! I wanted to do something like this in 1989 when I found out a Cuisinart Mac was a perfect replacement for the entire center console of my '85 Renault Encore. I'd just write some drivers to control the heat & air-conditioning vents.

Hmm. I wonder if I can get a G4 Cube in a VW Thing...

[The Godfather]

I am just suggesting stuff that would be best for your wallet. ... you don't have any respect for your wallet. ... Windows 95 is just like the MacOS, but with real multitasking and just 1% harder to learn.

Hey, I forgot about this other alternative that would be great for you if you don't have so much cash. Go to www.easybuy2000.com and see.

No Mac, no PC. Just MP3s.

[Ruddigger]

I have an I-Jam portable MP3 player. It's the IJ-50 silver and blue one. It really blows, but maybe it can be converted into a console in a car. Only problem is the low storage capacity of the 8MB card it shipped with. Does anyone think it'd be possible to rig a HD to it and make it run in a car? Even better, make it run off of the car's CD player, so you wouldn't haveta take the HD out to load new songs, just burn new CD's.

As you might have noticed, this kind of stuff is way over my head, but I think it's be pretty cool.

Anyone have any thoughts?

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-Ruddigger
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Have you had your
gigaflop today?

[eep!]

Would the 6100 board fit if it were rotated 90 degrees? it would be far easier to re-mount the drives this way than route scsi all over the place
or maybe the board would fit in diagonaly with one drive under the board and one over.




[This message has been edited by eep! (edited 10-28-2000).]

[l008com]

--------------
[ ] Hole
[ ]
--------------

====================== Board

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I see dead people.

Performa 6360 8 7/8" by 9 1/2" PPC603e 160mhz ide and scsi pci slot uses 168 pin dimms and is G3 upgradeable (as if that would matter in this case)

Oh Yeah the 6360 has 16 bit stereo in & out ports

You may want to go to crutchfield and just purchase this awia http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...mp;o=M&a=0 for $299. It a receiver, cd player and mp3 player and best of all it will fit right in the dash.

[l008com]

yeah but It won't fit right in my dash because i have a 1,5 DIN reciever, and I have controls on my steering wheel that I wouldn't be able to use anymore. and $300 is probably more than this whole thing is going to cost me anyway, and most of all, you can't put a hard drive in a reciever.

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I see dead people.

[druber]

It's pricey, but here's another off-the-shelf solution: http://www.ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/

True, you lose the I did the hardware hack myself appeal, but you also get to spend a lot of cash. (oh, wait..)

[IamBob]

I'm kind of looking at doing the same thing. I have a Quadra610 and Plus(got for nadda!) and 2 extra drives that can be used.

I could use the Plus monitor if I needed a display. For input I was thinking I could rig up a telephone key-pad and/or some other simple device.

I guess the question still remains..is there a 68k mp3 player anywhere?

[bluedog]

OK, you'll lose the appeal of voice recognition and speech controls by NOT using the MacOS and going with some off-the-shelf item.

I've just set up my home system with a microphone and have Apple's Plaintalk voice recognition set up to send applescript commands to Audion! The company has a free download of the software to try.

Then I simply say, "Play Music" or "skip this song" or "stop playing music" or "Open My Playlist" or "Open Rock Playlist"

Once I get a wireless set of speakers (hopefully for christmas!) and microphone I'll have them set up elsewhere in the house. Right now its in my basement. I'd like to be able to just say, "play Stone Roses" to start playing selections from the Stone Roses.

In your car, you could have the microphone mounted in the dash. No problemo there! THAT would be an awesome system.

This is with Apple's PlainTalk voice recognition software and a package from a company with software called "iDo!" or "ListenDo!". I'm at work and can't remember the name off-hand.

I'd recommend a faster computer and then put the hold shabang in the trunk. Wire the microphone to the front along with the speaker sound out. NO NEED FOR A MONITOR!

This sounds like my next project!

[This message has been edited by bluedog (edited 11-14-2000).]

Would like to feature your project on my website:
http://imac.mainpage.net

Let me know if you approve? Email vleett@yahoo.com

Cheers!

[l008com]

Someone's not reading the whole thread before they post, i have not trunk!

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I see dead people.

[bluedog]

Originally posted by l008com:
Someone's not reading the whole thread before they post, i have not trunk!

Whoops! I read your earlier post wrong. You said something to the effect there will be no PCs in my truck! Which I read as 'trunk.'

Sorry.

I'm going to research if there are *any* mp3 players that may run on a 68k chip.

[l008com]

Well please let me know if there is!!!

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I see dead people.

If you ever get the hardware to fit, the software control should be relatively easy. A few months ago MacAddict ran an article on how to write your own mp3 player using RealBasic. It was basically a shell for an embedded Quicktime player, since QT can read mp3s. Buy a stand-alone numeric keypad, and you'll have more than enough keys for all the functions you want.

If you really want to get fancy, and do some serious hacking, buy a little LED display, kind of like the ones in calculators and microwaves. You can get them ones that can display alphanumerics in all sorts of sizes. Jury-rig it to one of the serial ports, and you might be able to get your RealBasic app to display the mp3 tags, time dispays, etc. on the display.

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but still.

Cyrano

If you ever get the hardware to fit, the software control should be relatively easy. A few months ago MacAddict ran an article on how to write your own mp3 player using RealBasic. It was basically a shell for an embedded Quicktime player, since QT can read mp3s. Buy a stand-alone numeric keypad, and you'll have more than enough keys for all the functions you want.

If you really want to get fancy, and do some serious hacking, buy a little LED display, kind of like the ones in calculators and microwaves. You can get them ones that can display alphanumerics in all sorts of sizes. Jury-rig it to one of the serial ports, and you might be able to get your RealBasic app to display the mp3 tags, time dispays, etc. on the display.

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but still.

Cyrano

[l008com]

I already have control figured out, my only problem besides my current lack of income, is cheap and physically small cpu with enough power to play mp3's

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I see dead people.

[eep!]

MPLAY Multimedia Player 1.4.08 runs on a 040 needs macos 8 and QT4 (min) it's free and you can get it from http://hem.passagen.se/deep9

[l008com]

Yeah but that program uses QuickTime and need PPC to play MP3's. But uh thanks for getting my hopes up and then smashing them down like that.

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I see dead people.

[bluedog]

loo8com,

I saw MPlay and was about to post the same message about it. The thing is, the application is a 68k application. It says NOWHERE that it wouldn't use all features with a 68k machine. Of course the Quicktime notices say MP3 playing is out for 68k users.

Everything I've seen is basically out for 68k processors. I'm of the mind you should buy an all-in-one player and perhaps rig up a connection to a larger volume (big IDE or SCSI drive) to store your files.

MP3s are just becoming too popular to ignore. I've recorded my whole collection onto a large drive and never touch my CDs anymore.