Is FreeBSD up to this job?

[Jeff MacDonald]

I think the idea is fairly sound as well, tho you should confirm
freebsd's support for the tv card, that is the only part that would
be in your way.

Also keep in mind , to develop such a device with acompanying software
will run you much much more than 4500$.

Jeff.

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org 
>> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of 
>> Jeremy Pavleck
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 3:34 PM
>> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
>> Subject: Is FreeBSD up to this job?
>> 
>> 
>> Hi gang,
>>  I was looking at purchasing a jukebox recently for a poolhall. When 
>> all is said and done, I found a refurbished 100 cd jukebox which I 
>> thought was really nice, until I heard the price - $4500. This is on 
>> par with a lot of older refurbished models, and the price can double 
>> for newer ones! So, the gears in my head started turning, and I 
>> mentally devised a plan to build my own jukebox that does more then 
>> your "standard" juke for a lot less money. Though I am unfortunately 
>> more of a Windows guy, I am thinking of turning to FBSD for 
>> this job. 
>> 
>> My plan is to build a custom "jukebox looking" enclosure 
>> like everyone 
>> is used to seeing in bars, poolhalls, etc. In place of the 
>> CD changer 
>> I'd like to have a full PC (Thinking XP2800, 1GB RAM, 500Gb 
>> SATA RAID) 
>> built inside, connected to a CD changer that I can control. 
>> This way I 
>> can offer more then just CDs, but mp3s and videos as well. 
>> I'd like to 
>> pick up a nice vid card (Say an ATI Radeon 9xxx Pro series 
>> with S-Video 
>> out) and setup the S-Video side to stream videos/xmms mp3/cd 
>> visualizations to 6 TVs spread throughout the place. 
>> In place of the normal song selection screen you normally 
>> see, I'd like 
>> to place a 17 or 19" LCD that only display 4-8 CD covers & 
>> song lists 
>> at a time. 
>> Here's what I need to do:
>> *Build a catalog of all music and videos on harddrive and CDs in 
>> changer, automatically 1-2 times a day or on demand.
>> *Output video to a monitor which shows only the music list. For 
>> CD's/mp3s it will show the CD cover and a songlist. Typical jukebox 
>> style with CD's being numbered as well as song (EG. say 
>> NOFX's "War on 
>> Errorism" is listed as CD 22 and the song "Mattersville" is 
>> track 12, 
>> they'd enter 2212 as the song request). Show anywhere from 
>> 4-8 CD's and 
>> song info at a time (depending on screen size)
>> *Interface with several buttons to control display. A set of 
>> NEXT PREV 
>> buttons which "flip through" the virtual catalog, and another set 
>> entitled "Music" and "Videos" which switch display
>> *When pressing the "Videos" button, I'd like to be able to see the 
>> screen switch to a similar style as the above, only showing a 
>> screenshot of the video, artist name, song title, and album. 
>> *Tell FBSD to listen to a bill validator 
>> (http://www.videocan.com/bill_validator.html - currently waiting for 
>> info from them about interface) for credit inputs, and 
>> display it as an 
>> overlay on the screen (Let's say $1 buys 3 songs or 2 videos 
>> - display 
>> would show that)
>> *Once it's determined that there's credits in the machine have FBSD 
>> listen to a keypad (telephone pad style) for input in the style of 
>> XXXX, first 2 being album number, second 2 track number.
>> *Queue up and keep track of songs to play. mp3s/CDs will launch a 
>> visualization studio to display the music vis to the TVs, or launch 
>> videos to play on TVs. 
>> *When there's no activity, it will enter a screensaver mode where it 
>> changes screens on monitor.
>> Stuff I'm thinking about adding but isn't necessary - search 
>> function, 
>> user inserted CDs (which lock CDtray until song/cd is 
>> through playing).
>> 
>> Although I'm fairly certain FBSD can handle this, I wanted 
>> to ask the 
>> experts, to see if I'm right. I'm hoping to have a real easy 
>> to operate 
>> jukebox, so I don't want to have to many buttons, keyboards, 
>> etc there 
>> to confuse people. And if at all possible, I don't want to 
>> make mention 
>> that I'm using FBSD/PC hardware/etc inside (well, except for some 
>> powered by FreeBSD stickers on the back hehe). 
>> Let me know your thoughts! If I go forward with this, it's 
>> at least 2 
>> years away, but I think the idea is fairly sound.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>>   Jeremy Pavleck _______________________________________________
>> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list 
>> >> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebs>> d-questions
>> 
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