When we last left off I had the system more or less ready electronically, so on go some handles, a cooling fan in the back, some holes in the back panel for airflow, and an acrylic screen protector lest overly rambunctious video watching turn violent.

But, after all of thisu I was *still* waiting on the audiobook player I needed to pull the cartridge port out of. Seems like it's been a while, so lets check where it's at. Oh, it was dropped off at my old house a week ago because I didn't change my ebay mailing address.... shit. Thankfully the new tenants at the place hadn't tossed it or tried to return it! a Crimbo mackerel!

A quick jaunt up to Freeside Atlanta, some convincing with The Largest ViceGrips, a kiss with the belt sander, and we go from this:

To this:

Not my cleanest work, but now it can at least be mounted into a square cut slot. I put a normal USB-A lead on the original plug header, then made up a mount with some wooden blocks, screws, and hot glue I'd rather not talk about or photograph.... :| Lets just say it looks better outside than inside. A little marking the front and a buzz with the oscillating wiggle-saw and it's pretty much complete! I'd like to make a logo panel, maybe built into a guard/beauty plate around the cart slot, but time is short and Santa waits for no man. After loading his favorite shows and movies onto the new USB carts I made up labels and it's off we go!

So it plays great, looks pretty good, and i've written a decent essay on it. What next? Well if the past is anything to go on I can expect a phone call in a week or month or year asking for help to get it going. I've built it as well as I can in the few weeks of free time I've had to make it, and given this is the..... 7th? iteration of custom video player I've built him maybe this one will last longer than the other have? Only one way to find out!