Touchscreen BoomboxPC

leerpm writes "Someone has managed to put together a Touchscreen BoomboxPC. It can function as both a boombox and PC. They mention plans to make it run Linux too, by making it dual-boot to Debian."

Comments

I actually got to the site before it died

[HolyCoitus]

And I have to ask... What is the point of the camera mentioned in the article? I can understand USB to some degree, but 4 USB ports seems overkill. If only I could reload the page, eh?

w00t

[su2ge]

Awesome! Where do I sign up? I always wanted a boombox that was capable of compiling code AND playing my MP3'S :D

All I can say is

[Roland Piquepaille]

This thing runs Windows 98 with a scan of the original boombox' front panel as background image.

This is truly ghetto...

Re:All I can say is

[HolyCoitus]

Since the mistake was made going Windows, that's about the best you can get without having more power.

Re:All I can say is

[gutterslide]

1980 ;)

Superb anti-theft device

[CdBee]

I love these project computers we see, but my reaction is often to think that the owner could never go out with the PC as it would be an instant theft item

Here's a PC modder who knows what its at - fitting something high-tech and cool into a radio which very much is not.
I wonder if I could make a boom-box skin for my iPod.....

Re:Superb anti-theft device

[tyleroar]

I love these project computers we see, but my reaction is often to think that the owner could never go out with the PC as it would be an instant theft item

Ha!
If he was a real geek he'd never go out anyway!

Image mirror

[nuclear305]

Here's a tasty mirror of the images...since everyone loves pretty pictures! Image1 Image2 Image3 Image4 Image5 Image6 Image7 Image8 Image9 Image10 Image11 Image12

Re:Image mirror

[Fizzl]

It would help if the 'tasty mirror' wasn't running on an 386 over 256k DSL line.

Re:Image mirror

[mobby_6kl]

And here's the text:

Touchscreen BoomboxPC

Hitachi TRK-8200HR + Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 Color Tablet PC
currently running win98 (Debian dual-boot when complete) with MediaCar as the default mp3 interface, designing a custom skin for the 480x640 portrait display
currently 2g hdd, increasing to upwards of 20g
pcmcia LAN, upgrading to WiFi
internal webcam
4 USB (when completed)
custom wallpaper to keep original aesthetics

the powersupply for the tablet is internal, and wired into the outlet on the boombox, so you only have to plug in the standard AC wire for both units to get power. the tablet also has a battery for complete portablity.

functional as both PC and boombox. radio works, but the indicator had to be removed. the built-in mics will feed into the tablet, along with line-in and possibly radio so i can record radio to the harddrive, if i ever wanted to. the line-out of the tablet goes to the line-in of the boombox. the headphone jack on the boombox is unchanged, and the amplified external speaker jacks on the boombox had to be removed to make room for the power switch, standby and restart switches.

not sure if i'm gonna upgrade the speakers right away. most of what's left is building in the 4 USB ports, some bondoing, and repainting, most likely in shades of silver and grey.

obviously a fake!!

[victorvodka]

The funderator has too few wires connected to the plasma petulicator, and the quazimemotron could never generate enough jouls of gudzja through 30 gauge copper. But it's a good concept!

What about a car unit?

[raistphrk]

While I think this is a novel idea, for most people, carrying around a boom box went out in the eighties, along with Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. If they want any type of embedded device, it's going to be a stereo.

There are a few projects that do this already, but I think it would be cool to have the UI from the boom box project.

I must say though, it would make a lot more sense to use Linux or FreeBSD for a project like that. If you ever wanted to mass produce and sell them, you couldn't if you embedded Windows. You get extra geek points for hacking Linux or BSD properly to work in a car. And, if you care, you won't be violating license agreements. But on the flipside, if you do choose to upload mp3s that you downloaded off the net, you probably don't care about EULAs to begin with.

To be fair though, I know that the first thing I do when I buy a CD is rip it onto my hard drive so that I always have a copy in case my disc breaks. Uploading all of my discs to a stereo PC would be a good way to archive, and would also mean I wouldn't have to lug around my massive CD case anymore.

Re:What about a car unit?

[CdBee]

well, you could include Windows actually - Microsoft allow customised builds for embedded projects, it's just that for an essentially stand-alone project the benefits of Windows such as they are, are largely irrelevant.

Any OS that can share files with a Windows desktop would be suitable, Linux obviously springs to mind because of good driver support and interface compatibility, but not so long ago the Be OS was being touted for exactly this purpose.
Be Inc went down after the CEO botched a chance to sell his OS to Apple Computer, but many of its software engineers now work for Palm's Operating systems division.

Possibly the latest builds of the Palm OS would be well suited also. A media device only really needs a player, codecs, and network & removable storage drivers after all.

Re:What about a car unit?

[raistphrk]

A BeOS stereo would be amazing. The thing would boot incredibly fast if nothing else. And since the OS was designed largely for embedded devices, I doubt much customization would be necessary.

Re:Win98

[raistphrk]

Fatal exception error at memory address MC Hammer.

Media Car

[anonicon]

While this little project is interesting enough, I caught a link from this piece to Media Car:

Media Car (mostly in French, but the screenshots do it justice)

It seems to be a do-it-all for multimedia software, but it looks bleeding edge enough to warrant wariness. I'd be interested in this if it could run on BSD or Linux and supported a remote.

Re:Media Car

[CdBee]

Add Wi-fi and a convoy of cars - for example on a motorway - can share media. Hit-and-run filesharing, love to see the RIAA stop that

Some software tweaking gives the option of a car stereo that hunts down Mp3 tracks as you travel...

Stylus

[j235]

What he fails to mention is that you need the stylus to touch the screen.

I have one of these Tablet PCs, and only the stylus can register clicks.

But the burning question is....

[lxt]

...does it play OGG?

Re:But the burning question is....

[gutterslide]

yep. it plays midi, too. if you were curious. ;)

So how does ya know

[Phidoux]

when da man has bin shot in da head?

He has a hole in his boombox PC!

I'm not impressed...

[Anonymous Coward]

The image on the touchscreen is a non-functional background image? The user accesses the player through the Windows' Start Menu? Now, if those VU meters actually moved (maybe as a WinAMP or XMMS plugin) and the buttons actually selected functionality and the "tape" spun indicating approximate time remaining on the playlist, then I might be middling impressed. Such functionality would have jumped the described project into the realm of a homebrew embedded system with some innovation. As it is: this "device" is only a case mod and not a particularly impressive one as such mods go.

Re:I'm not impressed...

[gutterslide]

the touchscreen is not, non-fuctional. the icons you see are on the desktop, and functional. the start menu is displayed simply for the sake of the pic. this is a work in progress, i had no idea it would get spread all over the web this fast. the type of animation you're talking about is in the works. i'm working with another guy who is better at skinning than i am. the tape spinning is a good idea. and since you posted anonymously, i guess there's no reason i can't steal the idea from you. :D thanks!

Re:Already done?

[gutterslide]

i think you might be referring to the Bass-Station Linux Boombox www.bass-station.net i can't say i wasn't inspired by his work. good stuff.

Why Dual Boot?

[R.Caley]

The true boombox feel would be to run the OS from bootable CDs. You can walk down the street with the box and a case of music and OS CDs, and when you hang about on the corner with your mates have conversations like:

Seen that new XP CD?

Yea, got it here
[click] [clunk] [whirrrr]

Oh, that's crap manufactured stuff, here, stick this in, it's a bootleg HURD CD from an unadvertised release in a small club in Cambridge...

(passer by)
Bloody kids today, why can't they play real software with a file system you can hum along to!

boombox?

[maxbang]

Who the hell came up with the name? Meatwad? On the otherhand, he does got the money, see, so he can afford a tablet pc. Rumor has it the original version was made from an empty box of Cheerios and a strawberry until Frylock intervened. I don't have any proof of this because Shake ruined my proof with his anger.