Well like the title says, I just got the computer in my car and booting up like it should. Im happy. now I just need to find a switched 12V line in my car to act as a remote turn on and all will be good. Mind you this is a Uber-Hack project, as in not the greatest, and the install is a bit off, as I am still figuring out just what I want to do with it. I will be changing things as money becomes availible for this, but here is a brief rundown of my new toy... COMPUTER: Dell DHP celeron 800 20G 3.5 HD Xenarc 700V Radeon 9200 using onboard sound for now... AUDIO: Audio control 24X Crossfire VR400 mono amp Crossfire Component amp ( cant remember model, but it is 75W rms) Alpine Type R 6.5 components in front kick panels Alpine Type R 10 Sub in custom sub enclosure where my spare should be SOON TO BE CHANGED: touchscreen!! right now I am using a damn mouse... VGA monitor. I am using the radeon as it has composit out on it. Min. 120W DC-DC PSU with shutdown controller as it is right now I removed the passenger rear seat cusion and mounted a piece of plywood in the crater left behind. this is where my Computer is. thn I made a MDF box to go over it and carpeted it so it looks, well, not like a MDF box covering a computer... it only raises teh level an inch or two, so I am thinking I might remake it out of Steel so that I can put my sons carseat on it. as long as the angle is the same for the seat, and it is still held down with the Latch system it is NOT going anywhere. Screen is mounted in the stock radios position, but I had to trim a bit of the plastic frame off the bottom of the factory surround for the whole screen to be visible. Right now I am NOT happy with how it is powered. I ran out of cash, so had to get a makeshift solution in the car... 400W power inverter... and it is hardwired in... so when I go out I have to turn on the inverter, and the ssystem poweres up and comes online. then when I am parked, I have to hit the PC's powerbutton (set to power off), wait for the system to shutdown and then killl the Inverter. Hopefully in a bout 3 weeks Ill be able to get the DC-Dc with a SDC. i still have to make the Kicks, and sub box, but once it is done Il post up pics. Just thought I would throw this out as i am happy it is finally coming together. any critiques or ideas please send them, but please dont flame me. Im new at this...

Definitely has a lot of potential. I like seeing these things come together. Good luck and keep use up-dated. I bet scrappy comes in here.

just curious why do you need a computer in your car?

well, I really dont like to listen to radio, cant stand commercials or talk shows, so I mainly listen to CD's. well we all know that after time CD's tend to get scratched in a car. plus its just a pain in the azz to sort through 250+ cd's to find what I want to listen to. Now I store all my Music as MP3's on the HD, and use a Front-End like Road Runner to play music, build playlists and what not.

Second reason, eer seena a car with a Nav system? Yep, I have a GPS antenna on the computer and run Microsatans Streets nd Trips as my Nav system.

Third, because I thought it would be different.

Mike

compters in cars is not really a new thing.. we were doing that alot back in 1998 and 1999 lol. Same reasons.. only we also liked the idea of having all the videos and such on the computer too for video stuff.. then add in a few wireless controllers and you can play games as well when you are sittin around at a show bored.

There are a lot of pretty good reasons for it. First and most obvious to this board is to use it as a Jukebox. No more worrying about CDs, etc. Just fire up winamp or whatever you use and listen to whatever you want. This presents various problems in implementation but isn't impossible. You could also use the computer to watch movies, game, etc but this isn't nearly as important because you can't do those things when you're driving.

The other reason for a car computer revolves around the few users out there that are running a holly commander or something else along those lines and want to be able to tune without a laptop sitting in the passenger’s seat.

I kicked around the idea myself for a little while but I was too worried about heat (soon to be all black interior = HOT), hiding the computer (the MDF box wouldn’t fly because my backseat holds my amps), finding a good/accessible location for the screen in my TA, etc.

The basics of a carputer are pretty simple. You need a DC/DC converter for power (as Stealthy-One mentioned), amps for your speakers if you want to use it for audio, and some sort of interface (a small monitor/keyboard or a touch screen).

Edit: beaten to it twice

yep. the thing with the amps is f you have a decent deck and sound system in the car already most decks these days have at least 1 set of inputs. get a sound card with the RCA outputs on it and you are set to plug it in to your deck, and you can go from there.

Any plans to interface this with the engine's computer?


And why did you choose the ATI 9200 card? It's a little old and doesnt have very good Linux support. I assume you are using windows?

Two words..........LAP-TOP.

I used to install the car computers before. Mostly in factory sponsored demo/show cars. One or two in personal cars. So few in personal cars because the cost of portable personal computers was so high. They are cheaper now!
Personally I would not put that much into something when I can't take it with me. Unless you are some type of 10101010 geek that works at a computer shop, a slow one, and has alot of extra parts.

Granted it's a cood concept but I wouldn't even come close to attempting it here in FL. I read 135 degrees inside my car today. Thats hot enough to let the magic smoke out.

you dont need a computer, just a deck that plays mp3 cds, and a cd burnt with mp3, and you can have over 200 songs per cd

Well there's still the navigation feature. And the cool factor (though the cost of the 'cool' factor is yet to be established) and such. If he got a good enough deal on the computer, well...

I got thhe computer for 35 shipped off ebay. screen was 50 off ebay. vid card was 20. decent enough prices for me.

as to why im using the older card... well i went cheap on the screen and diddnt get one that has vga in. mine has composit in... soooooo I had to get a vid card that has composit out. I plan on getting a touchscreen soon and that will have vga in.

yes I know these carputers are not new, but it is for me. I had a nice Alpine mp3 capable deck in my stealth, but I just got tired of scratching the damn cd's. so in with the carputer.

would have gone laptop. but couldnt find a great deal on one. still looking, and if I can find one with a 700meg processor or better for cheap, i might still pick it up. but in the meantime this one will work just fine.

I have OVER 12,000 songs using over 50Gs. That still a lot of CDs. Didn't read all of this, but GPS is nice too.

You can now make KITT! -insert knight rider music here-



Look into virtualAL from zabasoftware if you really want KITT!

Good luck.


Can you post some pics. I had something similar on my mind, but it did not work as well as I thought!

OK here are a few shots of the build in progress.

here is teh MDF Shelf that covers the electronics from wandering eyes. still gotta mount a couple 5v fans in it and cover it with carpeting.


Here is all the electronics and assorted wiring MESS! as soon as I know it is all working and willl not be moved, ill shorten the wires and clean it up. Note the Vid card sticking up through the PC case. Screen is a composite in screen. once I get my touchscreen that card will go away and Ill be able to use the onboard VGA connector.


Shot of the screen from the rear hatch. its a 7inch screen fitted into the stock radio location. Unfortunately it is not a touch screen... Yet. so there is my trackball mouse by the E-Brake. this is how I controll the PC.


well the system was fired up today and seems to be working fairly good. I diddnt have time to fish wire up to front speakers so I decided to try to hok it into the rear 6 X 9's... opened the panels, and discovered they were missing! so I made some panels out of 1/4" plywood to mount in the place of the factory rears, and installed my Alpine Type R 6.5 components and tweeters. I dont know if I am gong to leave these in, I really dont like a lot of rear fill, but I am not really wanting to try to make kick pods right now to hold them.. So I might find a set of 5.25 components and mount those in front and just leave the 6.5's in the back.

Still have to build a box fro my 10" sub... I have no spare, so I might try to make a fiberglassbox to fit there, or I might make a low box to fit the bottom of the trench. I wil be running a sealed box with 1 cuft of space, so I have abit of room to play around with.

questions? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks...

shoulda just got an video ipod lol 60gb

wow double post...

pretty nice setup that would be pretty cool to have but im not computer literate... i actually have that same power inverter... isnt that kinda small for your application? also what kind of a screen is that? and do you get wireless internet or you just use it for songs and car tuning and gps?

Most people that install a carputer usually install wireless networking but that will only let you go online if you're in a 'hot spot'. The idea is to be able to park the car at home and then dump music, movies, or whatever on to it without having to physically transfer anything (ie carry the computer inside, transfer data to something physical, etc).

Your pictures made me feel somewhat stupid. My biggest fear was where would I mount the screen and your post answers that nicely. If I went ahead with the carputer idea then I wouldn’t need the radio for anything so I could easily put it there. I've always had to deal with mouting a screen and keeping the HU as well.

I’m interested as to what kind of interface you work out with the touch screen. Is media center receptive to that kind of thing?

I had a carputer specced out for my '87 Buick - refitted notebook computer, permanently mounted, that powered on by acc power and would hibernate after 2 minutes on battery via software I wrote / someone else wrote for me (seemed to be the nicest way to handle power). This eliminated the requirement for the DC-DC adapter, and would still be powered under low power applications, like high power stereo or cranking. It would also let me cancel powerdown at anytime when the ignition was off, or restart the ignition within the timelimit and not have the PC powercycle. I could potentially do this with DC->DC too, but then I don't have the battery backup a notebook does... Just involved two relays, my software, and a fairly low powered inverter.

Touchscreen is a Datalux 12" touchscreen - either the 800x600 or 1024x768 model. Some sort of CD changer arbitrator for selectable audio (I know Sony has one, and it was running a Sony HU at the time). Bluetooth, permanent mount wifi, wireless keyboard and mouse in an underseat compartment.

Oh, and of course - Gentoo Linux. Yeah, doesn't seem right in a mobile install, does it?

I don't have the car anymore, but I may end up making this all work in my Camaro...

Anyway, it's just sad to hear Windows and a Dell in a car... nevertheless, wish you luck on getting it to work alright.

hey the dell was dirt cheap, and as for windows.... well I have darn near zero linuxexperiance.

Video Ipod? can I dun GPS off that? How bout music videos adn still be able to see Shakira's Hips jiggling? can I get an interface to watch DVD's on the Ipod? diddnt think so. other wise I would have.

That power inverter is only temporary. I amd going to get a DC-DC converter, but I ned one that pushes 200W, that way I can power the PC and tap a 12V rail for the screen. Right now my PC has a stock 85W psu, and I cant remember hw many watts my screen draws, but I think it is around 30 - 60, so that little 400W inverter is just fine.

As for the touch screen integration... I cheated on mounting this one. I made a metal bracket that holds the screen. it bolts in where the radio would, and has a bottom for the screen to sit on, nad a full back for it to lean back into. thenI used 2 stripps of velcro to keep it from bouning. with the touch screen when I get it, ill pop the back of it open and actually bolt it tothe mounting bracket I made, but fro now the velcro works on the temp setup. My other Idea for the screen if I end up getting an 8 inch or larger ( cant fit much larger that 8 though...) would be to fab a bezel out of lexan and mount it above the heater controlls, and below the center dash vents. You cant really see it in the pics, but about 1/4 inch of my screen actually sits below the edge of the shifter bezel. it dosent matter though as the viewing angle allows me to see that area anyway.

Yes I have it setup for WiFi. I have about 100G of music on my home PC, and really dont want to have to use CD media to stranferr all that. that would waste a LOT of CD's, so.... I just send them via the airwaves.

only thing I DONT have, that most cars would is a AM/FM radio! there are FM radio tuner cards for PC,s but I really dont listen to Radio much, so I diddnt worry about it.

I get to go to work for the next 3 days, so I wont really have a chance to do anyting else to it for a bit, but once I do somethng, ill update this thread.

I'd be really interested in a 3rd gen really nice setup. I love how Jims85IROC setup is with his screen, but I duno how you could do a really nice stealth install for that in a camaro.

I'm working on installing a CarPC in my room mates 04 dodge ram. We removed his Stock Deck, Relocated his AC controls, and fiberglassed a Touch Screen into The dash, and buildin the computer into the bottom of the middle seat. It has GPS and tons of other stuff, then runnin to a 4 channel amp for the sound. It's goanna be awesome

In a third gen, isn't there a huge amount of room where the passenger side glove box would usually be? I mean, there is in mine, and it doesn't appear to really do anything other than..nothing?

I intend to mount a rotatable and hidable 12" touchscreen in that area, so I can use it for audio controls or the passenger can watch a movie. Seems like it'll be a cinch to make something nice. Yeah, it might be a bit of a reach for control but for music, I will be using my carpc remote - for anything else, I will probably wait until I am stopped. It's mostly for visual information anyway (wardriving efforts, current song, etc)

It's going to be 6mo-1yr before I get to that point where I plan and implement, though

well thats just one hell of a mess back there

I have a carputer as well, except mine is in the rear seat (hollowed out). I built a winaldl interface as well.

I was thinking something like this, but either making a mini acrlic case or type another micro case. Something like this for example SilverStone Sugo SG01-B

I also like the use of wireless connectivity to load media from my main in house computer through my wireless router...

fyi... the 3.5" hard drive WILL FAIL if it's running while the car is moving.

also, the subwoofers will corrupt the drive as well... 3.5" drives just can't handle it.


go with a 2.5" drive, or just plug in a 60gb ipod to the USB port...
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good call... I had this sudden urge to check on these forums... like a magnetism or something...

and the one thing I didn't see was anyone talking about the huge drawbacks of the screen...

there literally isn't an LCD screen worthy of daylight reading... all the people on mp3car.com can confirm this with you if you feel so inclined...


as soon as they come out with an OLED consumer-ready 16k color display... I'll sell my soul for it...

until then, I'll hook up my 60gb Ipod to my pioneer and have it show all the info on the daylight-readable display...

I plan on using a laptop or PC with a bluetooth transceiver to stream a gigantic collection to my radio....

god bless the DEH-P980BT... (but I don't have enough money for it yet.. damnit!)

You need to check on that. Last I heard they where going to disable the file sharing stuff with Blue Tooth and only have access to the Cell phone stuff. I to be honest I haven't seen one yet, or read up on what all they will do until I see one.

well that's strange... I guess I'll have to bring my PDA with me to the store and check it out... last I heard they were already on the shelves...

I know Kenwood and alpine both were making Bluetooth enabled HU's. Dont know if it was for music transferr or so you could have your phone slaved into the system. that would be nice for me, my ringer really isnt loud, and i tend to miss calls on my car since I cant hear it ringing!! Now If I could get my carpc to cut the mucis when the phone rings that would be great.

Don't take my post as gospel, just something I heard as a whisper on a wire. Could be totally false. Just put it out there as an FYI. I'll down load the manual at some point and give it a look.

well I know for sure that the Pioneer specicifcally lists that as a feature on their website... but anything can change... plus it may be poorly implemented...

but the bluetooth cellphone integration alone is enough for me to get the unit... that's one hell of an attention-getter/convenience to have the name of the person display on the headunit, then mute the song, and answer it all with your steering wheel controls... that is some tight stuff right there...

the bluetooth streaming would just be an added bonus...


980BT

wtf? they don't mention it there!!!

this is where I got the impression is was streaming-capable
but I guess they removed a feature that would hardly be used...