Costs for the components in my mobile mp3 player
- Fic VA-503+ motherboard - $85.00
- Cyrix M2-300 processor - $42.00
- Realtek 10/100 PCI ethernet - $19
- Creative Labs Ensoniq PCI sound - $29
- 1MB Cirrus Logic sound card (used) - $0
- AT case w/ 230 Watt Power Supply - $29
- 2 GB Seagate EIDE HD (used) - $0
- SuSE Linux and accompanying software (free version) - $0
- Whistler 300W power inverter - $68
- Misc wiring, etc - $20
- Sheetmetal and misc hardware - $13
- Vacuum Fluorescent display with keypad interface- $215
- keypad - $?
Grand Total - $491
You could probably replicate this project for about the same price. You
would have to buy a hard drive, which would add around $130 for a 4.5
GB fujitsu. You'd also want video, which can be had for around $20.
If you're looking to save some money, you could og with the LCD for
$111 (assuming 10 bucks shipping). You could also get a used pentium
and motherboard for less. I recently saw a P133, case+PS, and motherboard
(as well as other parts I don't want) for $60, so there's $200 right
there, bringing the total cost to $278.
Of course, you need to install all the parts in your car, and you need
either an external amplifier, or a radio that accepts line-level inputs.
You could conceivably use one of those portable-CD player to casette
adaptors, or you could get an RF adaptor to run it through the antenna
input and use your existing stereo setup. I think that'd be a heck
of a good deal...