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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-

Socket 7 MMX MotherBoard

$55

Trade Show (NEW)

Cyrix MII 233Mhz

$36

Trade Show (NEW)

16 Megs ram

$20

Trade Show (NEW)

5.7 gig Maxtor Hard Drive

$100

Comp USA (NEW)

16bit stereo sound card (ASOUND brand)

$10

Trade Show (NEW)

Network Card 10Mbps (off brand)

$5

Trade Show (Used)

Video Card 512K ram 640x480 16 colors

$5

Trade Show (Used)

Power Supply 100 Watts

$15

Trade Show (Used)

Power Inverter 330 Watts continuous

$60

Target (NEW)

KeyPad

$30

Office Max (NEW)

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Total

$336

WinCalc

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):

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