Welcome to my CARMP3 page.
I have been building a MP3 player so I can listen to my CD collection in my car or wherever.
It is a custom pc controlled by a Mouse Remote, Keypad or Windows CE. Runs on Windows 98. Sound gets to the stereo via FM transmitter. It is powered by a DC-DC power supply and has 18GB hard drive. Dimensions are 12.5"x10.5"x1.75".
Please check the NEWS section below for the latest updates and info.
Thanks for stopping by.
Matt
This Site has been visited:Hits:
NEWS
8-31-2000
Still been pretty busy. I have started working on the player again. The hard drive problem was the result of a bad cable. Go figure. I put a new drive cable in and it works fine. Good news finnally. I have posted some newer pictures. They are high resolution and about 345K+ each. Just got a new Sony FD96 Digital Camera.
I have also decided to sell my extra power supplies. I only plan on having two players and it is just to expensive to build them for someone else with all the other players out there. www.carplayer.com
6-27-2000
I have been a little busy lately to work on my player, but I plan on getting
back to it. Here is the main reason for the delay. 
1988 928 S4 .
5-10-2000
I have updated the sales page to show the prices that I have to pay to get the necessary parts. I really do recommend people building their own. It really isn't to hard. Just takes a lot of time.
4-29-2000
I got the power supplies in. They are exactly the same as the ones that you used to be able to get at MECI. The web site is MPJA and here is a direct link to the supply. I tried one of the Rat Shack FM transmitters and man did it suck. I am mean it really sucked. Did I say it sucked?
4-25-2000
I have found another supplier for the DC-DC power supply. I have placed an order with them, but have yet to receive anything. Once I determine if they are reputable I will post a link here.
4-23-2000
MECI is out of stock on the DC-DC converters. What a major bummer. I only have one spare that I ordered a while back and I plan on hanging in to it for now. I will be unable to build any for anybody until I find an alternative.
4-17-2000
I finally got listed at MP3.com. Whew.... Also, the FM transmitter is getting to be flaky again. I have to press on the top of the case sometimes to make it fire up. I have another bad solder connection somewhere. I believe I am going to have to find one that is prebuilt and about the same size. Still waiting on my circuit city order for the I-Opener. Oh Well.
3-29-2000
I took some more pictures. I have had several requests for where I got the case and the top secret place is Office Max. Or Office Depot. It is simply a paper holder.
3-29-2000
I have installed an X10 mouse remote and can use it to control the player with a plugin called ampapod. Download Here. The developer has removed the info from his web site.
With the MECI power supply I sometimes seem to have to hit the reset switch on the motherboard to get it to boot when I first plug it in.
I reinstalled windows using 98LITE. The boot time is now about 30 seconds. This removed all of the overhead from all of the other windows junk that is unused. I installed the micro version. I am still unable to get any DOS MP3 programs to work with the motherboard.
3-15-2000
It has been a while since my last update. I have been pretty busy with life lately. Anyhow, there is a new idea in the making. Netapliance is selling an internet appliance that you can send and receive email and surf the net with. The kicker to this is that this machine is "hackable". You can put a hard drive in it and put what ever operating system you want on it. Linux, Windows, BEOS etc. The machine is basically a 18OmHz with 32MB ram, one usb port, one printer port and a non "winmodem" type 56K modem. You can currently order these from circuit city for $99. The catch is there is a shortage of these items. They are backordered everywhere. This seams to me to be the perfect MP3 player. The only thing this thing needs is a touch screen. Here are some links to some other good reading material.
http://www.linux-hacker.net/iopener/
1-18-2000
The player ran from 1/13/2000 to Monday with out any interruptions. I had downloaded a diagnostic program from the western digital website that checks the hard drive. It went all the way thru with no problems. The "Click of Death" seems to have disappeared. Anyhow, the player seems real stable now. I added a network remote control plugin so that I can control the player remotely thru the network at work with using any external controls. The MECI power supply works great. The only issue that I have with it is that when you first turn on the power to it (externally 12V) you have to hit the reset button on both the motherboard and the power supply every now and then you get it start up. Other than that, it works great.
The software section has more information on getting the palmpc remote control working properly. NSBasic is not the easiest to when it comes to distributing programs.
1-10-2000
Well the holidays are finally over. I got the FM transmitter working. The solder connections were bad. Now my hard drive is crashing. Whew.... Will try to get it replace by western digital. I add some more information to the software section. Some people were having trouble with the serial control. I hope this helps.
Well just ran a DIAG on the hard drive and it found no errors. Arghhhh. Updated the software section several times today.
12-22-1999
I am still having minor difficulties with the FM transmitter. It will not transmit in stereo no matter what I do. I just got off the phone with Ramsey and the techie said that there were only three items related to stereo. The capacitors C30, C32 and the crystal. I am going to try and check the leads and solder points and see what happens. Another problem that I am having, is that I believe my hard drive is crashing. This is probably from working on the unit with the drive in an elevated (45 degree) angle, but I am not sure. I get the dreading slamming head.
Merry Christmas All !!! - Mattman
12-8-1999
It has been a while since my last update. I am still having minor difficulties with the FM transmitter. It seems to be soldering problems. DAMP still does not work the 571 LMR motherboard. DAMP is a DOS based MP3 player. It will work in a DOS command prompt, but that kind of defeats the purpose. Oh Well.....
11-15-1999
I have added a picture of the software playing on the Casio E100 and added a download section for the program and related items to the that the software requires.
11-7-1999
I have scanned the manual for the DC-DC power supply.
11-7-1999
I have updated the pinout configurations page to show the following:
| ATX Motherboard Power | AT Motherboard Power | Keyboard AT | Keyboard PS2 | Mouse (PS-2) |
| Parallel PC | PC Gameport | PC Gameport+MIDI | Serial (PC 25) | Serial (PC 9) |
I have been unsuccessful at getting any of the dos mp3 players to work. All I get is repetitive static. So I am going to stay with Windows. I know, I know, but it is working and giving hardly and problems. If anyone has this motherboard and gets it to work with any dos player please email me.
11-3-1999
I added a page with pinout configurations for power supplies.
11-2-1999
The FM transmitter is working great now. I evidently had a short somewhere on the PC board. I also have the serial communications working good to. I had some baud rate conflicts. All I have left to do now is copy my CD collection. I am using MusicMatch to do this. The DC-DC converter is working great also. Man what a load off. Now I can just enjoy my little creation.
10-29-1999
It is working!!. Finally a smaller portable version that works completely off of 12 VDC from your car or what ever. The enclosure is a small plastic box that I got at Office Max. It is only 12"x10"x1 3/4". Plug it into the cigarette lighter and away you go. The serial communications is giving me some difficulty. I am checking cables and the like and have yet to determine the problem. It was working earlier, but is giving me some trouble now. I use the serial comm to control the player using my Casio E100 Palm PC. I have add some new pictures so please take a look and send me some comments.
10-25-1999
I have currently been trying to put the player in a smaller enclosure and
utilize a DC to DC converter that I bought from MECI.
It has been a little difficult but I should have it up and running in the next
couple of days.
10-12-1999
I have added more pictures and information on the motherboard. I am currently researching using a dos based mp3 player.
10-11-1999
Well, I just got this page started today.