>If I get a 44 pin IDE cable, will it be able to power both a laptop HD and a CDROM?
If you get one with two connectors for devices. I am using only one at this time but if you go into the BIOS, you can enable a slave, removable disk, CD-Rom, anything you want. I was surprised that the CMOS is as powerful as it is on the Webplayer.
>If not, is there an easy way to get new information to an installed HD? I >have a laptop currently, but I haven't been able to figure out how to get >inside to swap the HD and put software on a blank one. It's pretty new, and >I'd prefer not to void the warranty by doing something bad.
Well, this all depends on how your manufacturer packages your hard drive. If it is like most, your hard drive is shielded and packaged in a little case that has a proprietary connector on one sode so that the drive can be swapped in and out. These usually have messages on them like "Do not open this case or you lose your warranty and get beaten severely" or something like that. (That's what mine says, anyway) If you open this, you will find (on IDE hard drives, 99% of laptop HDs are IDE) a 44 pin connecter with the proprietary connector one one side and a female IDE connector on the other. When I opened mine up, I discovered that the cable had 48 or 50 pins. This enables the motherboard in the laptop to mess with the jumper settings at will (the last 4 pins on most laptop HDs are for jumper settings. If you are worried about voiding the warranty on your laptop, (remember that you can always just buy another HD and NOT open the little case) there is little you can do. If you have ever used ribbon-style IDE cables and can line up pins competently, you should have no problem.
If you do indeed open the little case, you can unplug your drive and put another drive (ANY 2.5 inch drive) in its place, either in the little package or on its own, using the mini-connector to plug it into the motherboard.
Then you set up the hard drive with whatever goodies you want on there and you will be set to go. Follow the other instructions on this board for obtaining a cable and finding where to plug it in on the WP MB.
>How do I fix a broken WebPlayer? ;) The person I got mine from swears it was >working when I was given it, but it has problems. Every time I turn it on >and try to go to the setup screen, I get a message that "Couldn't initialize >modem. Please power off your WebPlayer and try again later." No matter what >I try, I get that stupid message. And I can't get into the setup screen to >change any settings, and possibly find out why I'm getting this dumb >message. :(
IF you still want to use the Webplayer software (you shouldn't, it sucks) then there is not much you can do except maybe reseat the modem on the motherboard. If not, then you can do what I just described with the HD and forget the Webplayer software. That software doesn't do the 200mhz Cyrix inside the box justice. IT is SO CLUNKY AND SLOW!!! I am not surprised that many people returned theirs thinking that they were horrible machines. Win95 runs pretty fast on mine.
>I don't have a regular computer, just a laptop, so I don't know of any way >to get info onto a blank HD, supposing I buy one. I do have a network card >for my laptop, but no USB to LAN adapter for the webplayer. I could probably >go out and buy one, 'cause it would be very nice for my DSL, but I don't >have any idea how much they tend to cost, and, without putting a real OS >into this thing, I couldn't use it anyway. Any suggestions?
I think i read that the USB LAN adaptors were somewhere in the $90-$110 range, which is not bad. IF you are modding this thing to use in your house, I would DEFINITELY do it.
Last night, I ordered a few laptop HDs from the Auction sites. Don't pay more than $20/GB, and make sure it says 2.5 inch. These go on sale all the time so you won't have to pay too much or wait too long to get a good deal. Just hang out on Ebay and Yahoo and watch the auctions that are closing today...
If you get laptop hard drives, you will be able to swap them in and out of your comp with ease and then you won't have to rely on a friend every time you want to add something to a hard drive.
Hope this helps.
On a side note, I am turning mine into a car MP3 player and was wondering what software you guys would recommend for a low-profile, easy to use MP3 player that can be controlled using, say, the numeric keypad. Is there a plugin for Winamp that does this?
