for my next project i want to make a stand-alone-MP3/AVI player from a old computer. main problem to overcome is that i will not be using a monitor, instead 2 LCD displays. 1 display is gonna be a 2X16 LCD. line 1 is 2 display the title of the file being played and the 2nd line is to display the time played/total time of the file. the 2nd display is gonna be a 4x20 LCD. this is gonna be where the files are selected from. ideally what i want it to be a mini browser. i want a file which i will put more files (e.g 1 for music and 1 for video). the files are to be listed and scrolled thru using up and down arrows, right to open the folder and back to go up a level. what i was thinkin was to interface winamp, since it can play open the files needed. i kno there are programs what allow the title to be displayed on an LCD but i cant find anythin to display the files in the larger screen. ne1 kno how this can be done? as for other controls, winamp allows keyboard shortcuts so i was gonna take apart an old keyboard and make a smaller keyboard to control pause, nxt track, previous track etc.

overall: main question is how can i make the larger screen browse the files?

other idea, altho not as important, was to add a DVD reader, so i could play DVD's altho am not sure how am gonna add this feature yet. any ideas would be much appreciated

EDIT: missed a part. what i also need is some way to connect it to a TV to play AVI files. what i want for this part is for whatever is in the winamp video window to be displayed on a TV. i could use a VGA to TV converter but i only want a certain area to be played. can this be done by changing settings on a TV adapter?

 

One place you may want to start, is to look on the web for car mp3 players based on small PC's. Many run on linux, and there is alot of code already written for these applications. The reasoon I suggest the car version is that many use a simple LCD to display track information, since you don't want to lug a monitor in your car. Many are also network ready for importing files.

A few years ago there was a full article ( in the now defunct Maximum Linux magazine ) by Anders Brownworth on how to build one. It's called the "Route 66" see link below:

http://www.anders.com/projects/route66/