System Requirements:
Although Coinplay will even work on an old Pentuim 4, selecting the hardware to build your jukeboxes is a bit tricky at the moment. A lot of changes in hardware had come about in the last year or so, so here are some guidelines to look for when buying hardware for your jukeboxes.
The most important thing
Try to use only one type of motherboard, graphics card, etc. from the start.
This is important so you don't need to struggle with too many different drivers for your hardware.
DDR3 RAM
DDR3 Ram is already about R100 cheaper than DDR2. DDR2 will get more expensive and harder to come by in the future.
It's important to source motherboards using DDR3 Ram.
Monitor with dual input support. (VGA - Blue plug : DVI - White plug)
A lot of monitors come with only VGA support. Until now graphics cards came with VGA and/or DVI-I/A and to make matters worse, S-Video and Composite Video connections was stopped about a year ago.
Now you will notice that DVI-I/A is also slowly phased out and will be replaced with DVI-D which is a fully digital out, no more analog signal on DVI for the future.
This means that you will need to run your main monitor from the DVI out in the near future to have the analog VGA port open for connecting an analog TV if needed.
Monitor aspect ratio
Till' now we've used the normal 4x3 aspect ratio monitors but they are becoming a lot more expensive and harder to come by.
You need to design your cabinet to accommodate a widescreen monitor. A 19" widescreen monitor is cheaper than a normal 17" at the moment. An added advantage is the widescreen monitors are more likely to come with both VGA and DVI plugs.
Do your research before you start buying hardware. A 23" widescreen monitor may be a bit expensive at the moment but it can be less than a 19" widescreen monitor in 2 years time as the demand for bigger sizes increases.
The Size of the Jukebox PC
This may be one of the last things you may consider when buying your hardware but this is very important.
Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards are getting cheaper by the day. Buying a normal size motherboard doesn't mean it will be much cheaper than buying a Mini-ITX board. Rather pay a bit more for a smaller board with better specifications which may have a longer service life.
The smaller the PC is in the case or box, the more available space you have in your vehicle and you have more space in the jukebox cabinet to play with.
Graphics cards
This is by far the most important choice you will have to make.
If you are going to use a second screen, you may have to use a graphics card. Only buy one sample and test the card until you are satisfied with it. You really need to test this properly. Graphic drivers are known for odd behaviour like black screen startups and screen allocation problems.
A big problem with graphics cards are rate they are discontinued. You can buy a graphics now and a month from now it's not available anymore.
TV and other types of Converters
Try to avoid using them at all time. The more systems you have to rely on, the more likely your Jukebox may brake down.
The key is to keep everything as simple as possible with parts or hardware that's cheap and easy to source.
We are currently busy testing different hardware and we will post any info here in the future.
We will also add a shopping cart in the near future with hardware, cabinets, touch screen etc. for mail order.
Keep watching this page for developments.
Although Coinplay will even work on an old Pentuim 4, selecting the hardware to build your jukeboxes is a bit tricky at the moment. A lot of changes in hardware had come about in the last year or so, so here are some guidelines to look for when buying hardware for your jukeboxes.
The most important thing
Try to use only one type of motherboard, graphics card, etc. from the start.
This is important so you don't need to struggle with too many different drivers for your hardware.
DDR3 RAM
DDR3 Ram is already about R100 cheaper than DDR2. DDR2 will get more expensive and harder to come by in the future.
It's important to source motherboards using DDR3 Ram.
Monitor with dual input support. (VGA - Blue plug : DVI - White plug)
A lot of monitors come with only VGA support. Until now graphics cards came with VGA and/or DVI-I/A and to make matters worse, S-Video and Composite Video connections was stopped about a year ago.
Now you will notice that DVI-I/A is also slowly phased out and will be replaced with DVI-D which is a fully digital out, no more analog signal on DVI for the future.
This means that you will need to run your main monitor from the DVI out in the near future to have the analog VGA port open for connecting an analog TV if needed.
Monitor aspect ratio
Till' now we've used the normal 4x3 aspect ratio monitors but they are becoming a lot more expensive and harder to come by.
You need to design your cabinet to accommodate a widescreen monitor. A 19" widescreen monitor is cheaper than a normal 17" at the moment. An added advantage is the widescreen monitors are more likely to come with both VGA and DVI plugs.
Do your research before you start buying hardware. A 23" widescreen monitor may be a bit expensive at the moment but it can be less than a 19" widescreen monitor in 2 years time as the demand for bigger sizes increases.
The Size of the Jukebox PC
This may be one of the last things you may consider when buying your hardware but this is very important.
Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards are getting cheaper by the day. Buying a normal size motherboard doesn't mean it will be much cheaper than buying a Mini-ITX board. Rather pay a bit more for a smaller board with better specifications which may have a longer service life.
The smaller the PC is in the case or box, the more available space you have in your vehicle and you have more space in the jukebox cabinet to play with.
Graphics cards
This is by far the most important choice you will have to make.
If you are going to use a second screen, you may have to use a graphics card. Only buy one sample and test the card until you are satisfied with it. You really need to test this properly. Graphic drivers are known for odd behaviour like black screen startups and screen allocation problems.
A big problem with graphics cards are rate they are discontinued. You can buy a graphics now and a month from now it's not available anymore.
TV and other types of Converters
Try to avoid using them at all time. The more systems you have to rely on, the more likely your Jukebox may brake down.
The key is to keep everything as simple as possible with parts or hardware that's cheap and easy to source.
We are currently busy testing different hardware and we will post any info here in the future.
We will also add a shopping cart in the near future with hardware, cabinets, touch screen etc. for mail order.
Keep watching this page for developments.
Click on image
to enlarge
to enlarge
Click on image
to enlarge
to enlarge
|
Click on image
to enlarge
to enlarge
|
|
