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The egroup seems to be a hit, just remember that you can also use it as a message board on the web, or you can choose to only recieve a summary every day instead of individual mail. Here's the URL: www.egroups.com/group/elmp/
br> New software version today, v1.0pre2. Not much new but many bugs fixed and Plug n' Play hopefully working now...

Still not dead, but really starting to hate school...

Some minor progress has been made, but not enough for a new release yet.

If you'd like to get updates and a chance to discuss your problems or ideas, join the brand new mailing list! Just send a mail to elmp-subscribe@egroups.com or use the form on the main page...

I wanted to sort out a few more bugs before I released v1.0 but since progress has been so slow lately I decided to give you what I have so far, v1.0pre (pre-release) is in the download section, v0.9b is still there also. Please read the README file if you try v1.0pre out! It will explain some important changes.. I've also put up a schematic for the uC board, if you'd like to wire-wrap your board or something. This schematic was made from the PCB layout by Cobey Smith (thanks). The whole website is being rewritten from scratch, and it will be uploaded together with the final v1.0 release in a week or two. The test disk and hardware plans will be updated as well, right now it's a bit "out of sync" with the software...

Just wanted to tell you that I'm not dead (and neither is the project). Some of the features I've done so far:

Optimized LCD writes
Switched to MPG123 decoding engine
Infrared remote support (RC5 remotes only)
Working mount/unmount support
Replaced some bloated external programs
Seeking...
Modular drivers (support for more sound/network cards)
Configurable key->command bindings

I'm gonna remove a few hundred little bugs and add a few more cool features before 1.0 is released...

I've been getting many questions about the LCD module... have a look at this site if you need some more info...

Put together a little picture to explain how to connect all the stuff (awaiting better text instructions) and a "harddisk boot kit" with needed files and instructions to boot from a harddisk (because floppies *are* slow...).

First release of the software disk - 0.9beta. Yes, you can play MP3 with this disk, at least I can :-) ... The version number is below 1.0 because there are many features still missing. Download it and mail me if you get it to do anything usefull, or if you don't... I've also posted the source code for the actual controller software (/bin/elmp) for those who like C coding.

One more year to the big crash... If you believe all that crap... Anyway... take a look in the download section if you like, the test disk is ready! OK, maybe not all that exciting but all the problems you discover should keep you busy until the real software is released. :-)

Merry X-mas. I'm free from school now and working on the player, I've changed the boot system to a more user friendly system. There will be a software release within a couple of days, first a system test disk with test routines for LCD, keypad, soundcard, network etc. This will help you make sure your hardware is OK, and 100% "ELMP compatible". A first release of a working player disk will be next, and also better building instructions. You will also have the option of booting from a harddisk (You'll need DOS/win9x on it). Instructions will be included in the .zip file. I'm not promising a release of the software before 1999, but we'll see...

I'm really sorry about keeping you waiting for the last couple of days, weeks, months...     ahem..     I've uploaded the boot disk as it is right now, not really usable but you can use it for testing if you've built something. Also I have resumed working on the project (really!) and I now have a smaller motherboard and smaller case. I like the new design better, and I will update the hardware part of this site with better instructions and some fresh pictures. When this is done, I will finish the software. Please bare with me if progress is slow in the future as well, because I really don't have a lot of time to spend on this now...             

Updated the FAQ, read it again!  :-)

Added a FAQ section, read it! Instructions still not complete, I know about the broken links.

Uploaded some of the instructions, the rest of it is coming soon.

Ehm...   I'm really sorry that the instructions still aren't done, and lately I haven't even had the time to respond to some mail, I know some of you are waiting to build a player of your own...  I have started writing some instructions and the software should be usable but still very unstable, it'll be here soon....

Finally! I got the new soundcard and network card today. School has started once again, but hopefully I'll have time to put up the long awaited (?) building instructions and a first public release of the software some time this weekend... Stay tuned!

Discovered a "bug" in the microcontroller board. Actually it's more like a bug in my brain, cause it was quite obvious!  Anyway, everything will work just fine if you just use a 5 volt relay, not a 12 volt one....   

Ah...  there's nothing like a little LAN party...    Nothing new really, just wanted to say that I've been getting some really good ideas from you guys out there! I already have plans for an "advanced" version of the player with additional hardware such as a jog shuttle and graphical LCD. Keep sending those mails...   

I've changed the layout quite a bit, hope you like it...  Some things here will be changed more when the player is finished, but it isn't yet so this will have to do for now. I've also added a little kernel patch to the download page, to display a little message on the LCD while booting. The actual developement of the player has been going a bit slow lately but it will speed up soon I hope.     

Hrmm...  found a stupid bug in ELMP.ASM (the PIC code). Keys 8-15 would send the same codes as keys 0-7. I've uploaded a fixed version, not that it really matters because I'm sure no one has used it but I don't like the possibility of some PIC guru looking at the code and having a good laugh at my expense. I guess it's quite possible to laugh at it still, but not at any bugs... just ugly code  :-)     

New pictures, new downloads...    They speak for themselves! 

Oh, and BTW...  thanks for the mail I've been getting, it seems there are quite a few of theses MP3 player projects in progress (more or less).

Is it supposed to be this hard to make a PIC scan a keypad and send serial data? ...   I finally got it working, after two days of pure frustration. That damn shuffling-bits-through-the-carry-flag stuff just wasn't any good I guess, and using the wrong RAM bank isn't really a good idea either. I think I'll leave the IR remote stuff alone for a while, it should be about 10 times harder than the keypad so I'll probably need a few months to prepare myself...  :-)   Damn...  having at least one smiley in every segment on the page really looks retarded, as does my player BTW if I don't get a broken CD player to put it in soon....   In any case, I think the E.L.M.P should be functional quite soon (not "done", just functional). I need to add a network card and a soundcard and write a few hundred lines of C code and it should be up and running...   Stay tuned!

Happy days!  :-)  Well, the LCD finally arrived in the mail, and my controlling code almost worked right away (I had to invert a couple of bits). The code for the display is in the download area, it has low-level functions for controlling the display, and also a routine for displaying strings on row 1 or 2, either left or right aligned or centered...

I also have a teeny-weeny little power supply that hopefully will have enough power for the player..  I'm looking around for a smaller case of some sort (ideally from a broken CD-player).

I'll start working on the uC board now also, I have a couple of PICs to fry...   :-)

Player interface, LCD driver and serial code pretty much complete...   LCD code is totally untested, since I still don't have the actual LCD but it should work, I hope...  :-)        Check this page for some great info on HD44780 based LCD:s.

Started coding the "run-the-show" code for the ELMP, so far I have a usable interface to Xaudio running. If I get the LCD module I ordered I'll start working on a driver for it also... 

Uploaded the website (this one!). Some sections need some more work, but don't expect any major updates until I actually start working on the hardware...   

Still don't have most of the parts, feel free to contribute!

Compiled a suitable kernel and threw together a file system with all the utilities I thought would be needed in the player and all the required libs..   I could easily fit this on a standard floppy, and I could even boot my (normally) Win98 box with it and verify that the soundcard, CDROM and network drivers work OK. I also spent a great deal of the day reading HOWTOs and snooping around in scripts trying to figure out exactly what makes a Linux system boot.  :-)  This will be a learning experience.

A long needed upgrade suddenly gives me a Pentium-75 CPU with matching motherboard and 16 megs RAM to spare. The ELMP project starts to slowly form in my brain...   :-)    I spend a number of hours searching the web and my scrap-boxes for useful materials.