I am working on an animatronic project and I need a simple "computer" built that will read data off an IDE CD-ROM drive. Cost and time is a factor, so if anyone is interested in helping me, please state how much it will cost to design and build this thing as well as approximately how long it will take to build it. Some form of "OS" and "program" will also be required to boot the system and read the data and CD audio tracks off the CD-ROM drive.

To all interested, please reply directly to: luposian@mailcity.com

Thank you.

I'd suggest you consider buying one of the many "embedded PC" board sets if you have size constraings, else simply use a PC. The requirements you've set forth are not nearly specific enough to estimate a cost, but unless you're able to use some already-available hardware/software set, your costs will probably go through the roof, along with your time budget. Using hardware already supported with firmware able to do what you want will save both time and money, since it avoids the penalty of "reinventing the wheel", i.e. redeveloping the infrastructure on which your otherwise simple requirements are built.

You will ultimately have to specify size and power constraints if you're not able to provide an infinite amount of space and power, just as you'll need to give some indication of the processing bandwidth requirements.

Uli