Re: [TCLUG:18008] Playing MP3s on old hardware

[Mike Hicks <hick0088@tc.umn.edu>]

Yaron wrote:
> 
>   Hi,
> 
> Ok, since I now have an AUX input in the acr, I figured I'd try loading up
> a laptop with MP3s, just to see if it works. And maybe for really long
> trips. Unfortunetly my laptop's a crappy old P75. I'm not surprised it
> can't handle MP3s under X, but it can't even handle them without X
> running.
> 
> Anyone know if there's anything I can do to get an old P75 to play MP3s
> decently? I don't want to reduce the bitrate further. I wouldn't have a
> problem hacking up this laptop (;

Well, I have little idea exactly *how* it could get done, you could try
and use xmms's libmpg123 with a roll-your-own program...  I'm not sure
if the optimizations in that library have been backported to mpg123
proper yet.  xmms also has some routines that increase the priority and
change the nice-ness of the program to get better performance that you
might be able to use.

Other than that, you could probably try just compiling mpg123 with a
pumped-up optimizer flag for gcc (that might compromise audio quality,
though..), or merely re-nice-ing the program by hand.

also, there may be some other mp3 players out there that have better
performance.  I've heard that amp is good, but I've never seen where to
download it or anything (it might even cost $$..)

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[ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088@tc.umn.edu ]