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The Computer

PCM-5820 is a low-power, pentium level, single board computer from Advantech. It is adequate for running a light version of linux and playing mp3s. It has built-in video, ethernet, serial ports, parallel port, USB and sound. The system runs on a single 5V supply and consumes about 8 watts typically. I attach a CompactFlash to the IDE connector for storage. This ensures that the system is solid-state (no hard disk).

Advantech's PCM-5820

Power Supply

The power supply is based on National Semiconductors linear regulator - LM1084. Input voltage is in the range 6.4V to 20V and output, a steady 5V (or so it is hoped).

The diagram above is for a 12V design, but the 5V version is identical, just a different chip.

Audio Amplifier

The output from the computer board is pretty low power. In order to power car speakers, I need to amplify the audio using the 10W + 10W amplifier shown below. It is available for purchase from Quasar Electronics.

Radio

The radio used for this project is an off-the-shelf USB radio from D-Link. The USB link is used for controlling the radio frequency. The audio out from the radio is connected to the audio-in on the computer board. Simple enough? Linux kernel comes with a driver to control this radio (lucky me!)

Keypad

The parallel port will be used to monitor the state of five navigation keys. There is a simple parallel port programming library called parapin for doing this. Hardware interface diagram coming soon...

LCD

I am still searching for an appropriate 320x240 TFT LCD to interface with Advantech's PCM-5820. Another hurdle is setting Linux FrameBuffer to that resolution.