Fellow SuSErs, I apologize if this is off-topic, but can't really think of a better place to ask. I am trying to build an mp3 player for my car out of an old ibm thinkpad 600e. the display is shot, but otherwise it works fine, has 192 meg ram and a 30 gig hard drive. i have googled extensively and as far as i can tell i've hit every site even remotely relevant, but still can't find a few answers (or maybe i'm just dense!) i have already done a minimum install of suse 8.1 and added all alsa packages, i'll install other packages as needed. i'd like to have a hand-held controller with an lcd screen, i think i'll use one from Matrix Orbital with a keypad interface. that should plug into the serial port without much else. the output from the soundcard will be sent to an rf modulator that plugs into the car stereo antenna port (it's a compnay car, so i want to be able to easily move it when i get a new one). for now the power will come from an inverter, either hard-wired to the battery or plugged into the cigarette lighter (and i happen to have an inverter laying around.) what i am having trouble comprehending is: what software do i use to interpret the incoming signal at the serial port to actually play a song? what software do i use to send a signal out the serial port to be displayed on the lcd screen? there must be a database in there somewhere to hold all the song info, do i use mysql? again, my apologies if this is off-topic, just didn't know where else to ask. cliff