ABM Computers

"Shaping Your Future, like it or not"

Welcome to ABM Computers home page!

Home of the P.I.M.P.³

(Portable In-car MP3)

Yes! That's right! I have a MP3 player in my truck.

And as far as I can tell, I am the first person to install one in a Ford Truck (But if you think you can prove me wrong then drop me a line)

It's really easy to make, and can be built for about the cost of a 12 disc CD changer ($340 US), and you too can be the first kid on your block to own one of these fine contraptions!

Here's how much mine cost-

Not too shabby, eh?

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking- Cyrix, what the hell was he thinking? Well, I was thinking if a true Intel pentium 90 is bare minimum and the cheapest i could get it was $45, then why not just go Cyrix?

Next, you may notice that Best Buy, and Radio Shack do not sell any of the above items this cheap, and you're right. Go find a computer trade show, thats where I picked up almost everything. The Video card and network card were out of the "bargin bin", and both worked well. Keep in mind, you don't need a 16 meg Creative Labs Banshee or anything top of the line, since you arent even going to use a display.

As for the software, it currently runs:

Win 95

Winamp 2.0

Intar plugin

Instant Disc plugin

and thats it, it leaves me with about 5 gigs free for mp3s, which works out well. And with the network, I can even have an "off site" backup of my home computer

Really cool features i could add (but probably won't):

• Cell modem card (a web server inside my truck)
• Radio Scanner Card, for monitoring police & etc (although they arent exactly legal in cars in MI)
• Radar detector w/ output fed to the PIMP³ (you could check it via the web while i'm driving and see where i found speed traps, but that would also require a....)
• GPS card (even more useful with an awesome graphics card and monitor)
• Awesome Graphics card (the afore mentioned 16 meg CL banshee and perhaps an accelorater or two as well)
• 6" tv mounted in the dash, or, 14" flat panel monitor
• wireless highspeed network (the passenger could play quake w/ another PIMP³ owner while riding, and I could upload without dragging it inside the house to my other computer)
• camera inside my truck
• voice recognition ***now available***
• tv tuner
• dvd player
• Dual Intel PII 450 (So i can rip cds straight to mp3s immediatly, it takes quite a bit of processing power, and a little extra never hurt)
• Build a paper scanner into the dash for faxing/storing documents

Sure, there is no way I will add all of these options, or maybe I will, who knows?

 

Links:

This is an excellent computer trade show in michigan

Mp3.com

A page with links to many other mp3 car projects and lots of help

The dilbert Homepage

Email me with comments or questions