Windows ME on the player

Opening the case

The Torx is only necessary if you want to pop out the Disk on a Chip without disassembling the Webplayer.
First thing I noticed is that with the exception of 2 black-covered screws, all of the other ones are identical. This makes putting the device back together a lot easier. I took out just enough screws to allow me to get to the underside of the MB, removed the modem, and disconnected the shielding at the front under the display. I then popped out the Disk on Chip and surveyed the case for a place to put the HD. Once you get the MB out it becomes fairly evident that their is only one place to mount the HD entirely inside the case. Luckily the MB sits up on risers about 12mm from the bottom of the case, the area under the modem. This is the only area that is long enough to allow a 2.5 HD to lie flat partially under the MB. The only problem is that the shielding on the right side of the case protrudes about 2-3mm into the proposed drive area. So without modification there is no way to lay the drive flat under the MB. I broke out a large serrated cutting knife, made series of incisions along the shielding edge slightly longer than the drive and using some pliers created a long notch in the shielding along the side long enough to allow the drive to lie flat under the MB. I covered the PWB side of the HD with electrical tape because the MB is literally lying on the drive once it is screwed back down. The drive fit tightly under the MB but not tight enough to cause the MB to flex when its tightened...

HD Cable
I used one that I had originally bought to use in a Netpliance iOpener which I chickened out on getting after they started employing hardware mods to prevent people from converting them. The cable is about 12" long and and actually has 2 identical connectors on one end (on the iOpener you were supposed to use the two center rows because of how the IDE connector was laid out) and one on the other. I used the single connector at the drive end and the the end connector on the double connector at the MB header. The cable just barely fit length-wise because of the strange twist and turns it takes coming from under the modem. I doubt that you could do it with any smaller cable.

Preparing the HD
Using a 2.5 to 3.5 IDE adapter, I attached the small drive to my main PC, formatted it, made it bootable (be SURE to set the main partition as Active). I then created a setup folder on the small drive that contained the content of the Win9x directory from the Windows ME CD. I also d/led all of the audio, video and IDE drivers from the page at wwwd.national.com that is mentioned earlier in this thread. Make sure that they are all unzipped and in their own folders. I put all of the unzipped drivers in a second directory of the small HD. I then verified that the drive could boot to a command prompt on my main PC and that I could see the ME setup files.

Preparing BIOS on Webplayer
Entered BIOS, using cracked password available up here, changed password. Enabled IDE interface. Set primary IDE controller port to Auto. BIOS recognized Disk, but would not boot (this is when I discovered, it needed to be set Active). Went back to my main PC, set drive to active, reattached drive, again BIOS recognized disc but would not boot to DOS prompt. This time it complained that about "Insert a valid boot device, press any key to continue". Went back into BIOS fumbled around, found a setting on the main page that lets you set it to recognize "Other" disc geometries...changed it to "Dos". Machine booted to the DOS prompt.

Setting up Windows ME
Went to the ME setup directory...ran Setup, setup proceeded amazingly smoothly. 30mins later or so I was looking at the Windows desktop. Opened system properties, updated various drivers, including video, modem and IDE controller. Modem, Video and IDE worked first time. Installed audio drivers, the drivers installed with no problem, audio device shows up in Multimedia control panel even the mixer is there. However still no sound from the OS. What's weird is that the Hardware/BIOS can produce sound through the speakers. you can hear it if you attempt to pick an incorrect option on the BIOS screen. You can also hear various system-level beeps even from inside the OS.

Connecting to the net
Connecting to the net went about as easy as can be. It worked the first time using the internal modem. The only issue I've seen is that the Windows online connection panel is showing the DTE speed "115200". Instead of the actual modem connection speed. I've had this problem before. It may be because the driver I'm using isn't totally correct for the modem. Will investigate it later. Another weirdity, the first time that I used the modem I distinctly remember hearing it produce sound. Since I don't recall seeing a speaker on the modem, I'm assuming it was using the on-board sound. Since installing the audio drivers, the modem hasn't produced any sound but it still works.

Overall impressions
The performance on the web and applications in general is very good. It never feels slow or sluggish. I'm sure this will go away after a few weeks of using the OS, as most DOS-based Windows versions usually do slow down over time. The wireless keyboard and trackball seem to work a lot better under ME than they did with the Virgin OS. The screen isn't really that great but its acceptable for basic web work. Naturally, I want to get the sound working soon, I'm sure that's many people motivation for hacking theses things so it is a pretty high priority. Overall, I am VERY excited about this! I thought the iOpener deal was a steal, imagine how I feel about basically getting the same thing absolutely free (after the 15th) without any future legal ramifications.