alright guys, as soon as i get my next check from work, work statrs on my newest project; a carputer(car computer). Here are the components i'll be using for you who knwo what your seeing.

VIA EPIA Nehemiah M10000 1Ghz $165.00 http://www.logicsupply.com/product_i...products_id/32
256MB DDR Memory $64.75 http://www.logicsupply.com/product_i...products_id/37
Mini ITX DC-DC Car Power supply $55.00 http://www.logicsupply.com/product_i...roducts_id/179
X2Gen 15" Flat Panel LCD Monitor $208.88 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...129724992&rd=1
USB GPS Receiver System $67.95 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...095234019&rd=1
Microsoft MN-710 Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter $39.99 http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...1320&pfp=srch1

I'll be using a via 1 GHz proccessor, equivilent to a 400 MHz P2. 256 megs of DDR ram. I will be using a 60 watt dc-dc powersupply that is voltage regulated so as not to mess up anything. I will be getting a 15" lcd monitor, that will be mounted where the center a/c vents are. I will be buying a usb GPS reciever, and will be using a copy i am gettign of Microsoft Map Point that uses the gps reciever. I am getting a 802.11g network reciever for internet hot spots that are everywhere in jax. 802.11g is backwards compatible with all 802.11 wireless solutions.

The processor at a normal tempurature stays at 60* and i will be mounting it under the dash area. The actuall board is 6in x 6in and is a perfect fit. There is plenty enough room for it.


So what do you guys think of my new idea? Yeah you may be windering where is the money coming from but the thing is actually pretty cheap. I'll be buying each component set at a time. The board and the power supply and the memory will be bought at the same time. The monitor and gps at same time, and the other stuf at the same time. It'll be done pretty soon though.





Shane

 

could it be done with a laptop? tell me more about this gps thingi get lost all the time

 

Sounds awsome!
Take pics of the install for sure, I'd be VERY happy if it turned out looking great and not too hard....i've put together a few computers and used to really be into that sorta stuff, and was thinking about saving up for one of those GPS navigation systems (one of the 700 dollar ones), but if I could have that AND a computer in the car for about the same price, i'd go for the carputer!
Good luck man! Look forward to seeing how this goes!

 

yes it very well could be done with a laptop but a laptop costs more and wont be as clean of an install.

The GPS thing is hooked up like a normal computer accessory, but when used with the correct programs(Map Point) it is turned into a global positioning sensor.

And yeah man, i have a friend witha cavalier with a very similar carputer made. Except he had a full system, a mini tower and everything in the trunck. the 7in monitor bolted to the actuall dash. With the gps and 802.11g, his was cool. He had it tied into his stera system so he could play mp3s throught his two 12s. IT was an awesome setup.




Shane

 

the computer youre using if its only as fast as a p2 400 then a laptop would be cheaper

 

well for gaming it is, but it is made to be low temp and feasible. YOu gotta respect that the laptop isn't as clean of an install. This will be nice but it might be a little on the slower side, it still has clokc speed just not muhc power, whihc means most programs will run like a 1Ghz computer but games and high intensity programs wont.

 

I've done this in my car twice... I've found that an in-dash VGA touchscreen is by far the best screen solution. That way, when your car is off that screen isn't screaming "steal me!!" Just ditch the head unit altogether.... maybe go with XM for radio (they offer it for computers now, and it's cheaper than for car stereos). It also shouldn't be too hard to combine your carputer with the prominator and a tuning program for some real time tuning...

 

do we really need to discuss every idea that comes up in your head, since you already have like 500 ideas in the queue already maybe you should do one, then get back to us.. to give us some hope
i decided i was going to build a computer for my car too.. 3 years ago.. things happen.. theres a post right above yours with a guy talking about a car computer already so were not breaking new ground here
just saying.. when is that fur coming down

 

Come on.....what does it matter if he does it immediatly or not....other people will learn from the post, so thats a good thing.....jeeze!
Sorry, but i'm 16, dont have much $, and if I think of something I want to do, I sure as hell ask about it, do research on it, post topics about it, etc. so that when I DO have enough money saved up, I know what i'm doing....Just saying that unless your willing to take care of other things that he may be needing to do, I dont see why your upset that he hasnt done it yet....lol

 

kidrcth, Sounds like you got your self heading the right way for the Computer. How are you handleing heat Removeal? Just my Exp from makeing Custom computer case's and systems for people a extra $12 for a 80mm or 120mm fan is money well spend! Dont forget the DDR Ram will make alot of heat too. Have you look'ed into a heatsink with a fan for the Ram?
Here are a few other ideas to think about if ya like.

FanBus, most come with heat senors and will alarm you to over heating and can auto Speed up the Fans RMP's
as stated earlyer use'ing the computer to replace ya sound system. aslo could get a Removeable HHD Caddy and use it it like that Audio Keg!
What kind of HHD are you going to use? 7200RPM drives are Vary Nice! Add a hard Drive Fan to that too!
Might what to look into a bigger Power Supply.
BTW, Extaned Heat in the summer Could Damage the Hard drive. Key word that COULD!



And if i sound like a Computer Geek... Well I am 2nd Yr Computer Major....You will have that, You Will!

 

just a thought, but would underclocking a faster CPU be much help in the temp. issue?
that would also help the RAM heat issue as well, correct?

Oh, would water cooling be possible? Yeah, its more expensive, but it would give you really good temperatures compared to a regular ol heatsink/fan

 

yes i'm very concious about the temperature thing. Most DDR memeory does get hot, but all 2100(266MHz) memory stays cool. ITs just the way they are.

I already have a brand new IBM 40gb 7200 RPM Hard Drive.

I got paid yesterday, $150, wooo hooo, and the computer project will soon begin. Just gotta take care of a few things first but next week i start to order parts.





Shane

 

oh and yes, i am in the computer field already, i have my MCP(microosft cert), most of my CCNA(cisco cert), Mouse, A+, and NET+ certs. I pretty much know what i'm doing.

 

and by now, i'm sorta leaning toward Micro ATX boards. The athlon 1700 computers run cool, well for an athlon xp processor. I'm buying a huge heat sink with an 80mm fan on top of it. A real 250 watt power supply that will be guedo rigged in its area to make sure the fan pushes air down to the floor and outisde its contained area. I am also wanting a PCChips M825LU, whihc i know is a good board, by freidns got one.

so heres the new list and price package-


Swiftech MCX462-V 462 Pin Heatsink (AMD) $56.52
256MB DDR Memory $53.86
Micron 400 Watt power supply $36.22
PC CHIPS M825LU with Athlon XP 1700+ $74.86


Which in the long run is $50 cheaper. The CPU fan i'm getting is huge man, never seena thing like it before. If it overheats still i'll just underclock it.

This will be a neato project i tell ya. IT starts next week.




Shane

 

It'd be a lot better, and not to mention cheaper, to get an older computer from around the 300-500mhz range with simm-type memory (or PC100 at the fastest). Older processors and memory were made to produce less heat and only need a heatsink without even a fan. If you get a AMD K6-2 series processor, you can run it with a newer AMD-style processor heatsink/fan, the thing would run ice-cold. Besides, the extra power would be wasted.

I'd just run it off of linux. It's a lot more customizable, and supports a lot more of the touchscreen lcds than windows.

 

yeah you dont need amazing power just to play mp3s or watch videos

 

all of the touchscreen lcd's ive seen use a serial or PS/2 port, so windows would just think it is a normal mouse, nothing extra needed

 

alright guys after much thinking, i've decided that i will use the athlon 1700 setup. it provides much more preccessing power for the purposes i will be using it for. It is not only gonna play mp3s, it will be a GPS, wireless internet, and a mobile gaming center. i gotta play my counter strike while away.

The cooling will be complicated but easy. i just gotta create a wind tunnel for the cpu fan. Just like a small A/C vent leading to the floor area so cool air can enter. Umm... the chipset stays pretty cool anyways so thats not really a problem at the moment.

The most complicated thing will be getting the LCD monitor mounted over those center a/c vents. Wont be too complicated just gonna use some regular lcd tv mounts.

Next pay check will be insurance payment and the one after it is new seat covers so really soon i will be having the computer in the car.

so, just be patient guys, i will keep you posted...

Shane

 

I would just buy the base model X-Box (no games, 1 controller) and install Linux. Buy it retail for $199 or even cheaper on Ebay (brand new in box). Then you dont have to deal with cooling issues. Sell that controller to make back some of the money. The X-Box console contains an Intel Celeron 733 MHz CPU, nVidia GeForce 3MX Graphics Card, 64 MB of RAM, 8/10 GB hard disk, DVD drive, 10/100 Ethernet, and USB connectivity. You can even replace the IDE devices (bigger HDD). All you'd need is the power inverter and your touch screen and you're ready to go. Its not the most powerfull setup in the world, but will be able to handle mostly anything you can throw at it (GPS, MP3's, DVD's, even gaming) and consider that its a self contained unit that was designed by a team of engineers to last and has been used successfully as a gaming console in hundreds if not thousands of automotive installs. Just my .02

 

Cool idea but one part of the hardware that is holding me back on this type of project and thats the harddrive. From your background you know how delicate the harddrive is... too many hard bumps and boom next thing you hear is the head scraping the disk plate.
Solid state harddrives would be the next best thing but don't see paying $3000 + for a sub-gig drive.

I know that the laptop has been mentioned a couple of times but how about saving up some more money for a Tablet PC. It is a laptop but you can turn keypad under (if equipt) so the screen is the only thing in sight plus you have touch screen capibility. Not to mention that you can take your whole tablet out when you go to say on a lunch break, book store, etc... sort of like an anti-theft situation.


Price Watch

Hey good luck with your project, be looking foward to the pics

 

bum bum bum.... i already have a 40gig laptop drive my friend, next question.

 

hard drive is the easiest solution.
IDE laptop drives are the same as IDE desktop ones... only the connector is diffrent and the case is smaller.

you can get a laptop->desktop IDE connector for about $3... thats how i get my OS on my non-CDrom laptops/tablets... (once the OS is on, i can just transfer over the network)

 

QUESTION*********************

I have a laptop (P4 2.66ghx, 512 ddr) Dell. Its not even a year old. You guys are talking about GPS. Is there a way to run GPS from my laptop without buying an actual GPS unit for my car? Is it like a USB antenna and some software or how does it work? I really would like to have GPS in my car.

THANKS

 

yes its a gps antenna and a software suit. Thats it.

 

Do you know where i can get the parts? Best Buy???

Thanks for the reply

 

if you wanna spend out the *** goto best buy, if you want them way cheaper goto ebay.

 

I think ChaosRanger was refering more to the Mechanical Shock Ratings of the Hard Drives. Hard Drives are rated on the ammount of Shock or Vibration they can handle before they break. In a car, this would be very important, especially is the person is running firm aftermarket suspension. It would be really junk to have your HDD break because you accidentally hit a very bad pot hole or hopped a curb. These Mechanical Shock Ratings can usually be found at the HDD manufacturer website (Spec Sheet or PDF file) in the Environment Variables section or something of that sort. They are rated in the ammount of G's they can handle in both Operating and Non-Operating situations. How this will play into an automotive install I cannot really say. Other people have successfully run regular HDD's in their car so there has to be ways for it to work. I've even seen products for sale that will reduce the ammount of shock or vibration the HDD gets. Like a sleeve that the smaller laptop size HDD fits into, then the whole thing fits in a regular HDD slot. Its just something to think about, and its actually more complex than you can imagine. If you would like to read more about it, check this out. Solutions I have seen: Sorbothane rubber or shock mount isolators from Lord industrial.

Just another one of the many reasons I recommend the X-Box. Designed by engineers to handle the bumps and bruises of daily life. The X-Box can be dropped and the HDD will still work. It has a special HDD mounting system, very different from the normal HDD mounting done in a PC chassis. This can of course be replicated in your setup, but requires additional cost.

 

I've been playing with that idea for a while now.. i've decided on adding an MSI Mega PC to the car. Its the closest thing to a fully functional PC in a mini format that I have found. I was not to hot on the the via processor, its not much for a gaming machine at all. My intent is to have this device removed on a daily basis and running in the home as well. Built in MP3/Radio's, I believe a TV card can be added (not sure if they mean onboard or via PCI slot, but cool nevertheless) The mega pc's also have a WiFi option, and every card reader you could imagine. You should check them out.

Best part.. these mainly complete systems range around $250 Basically need a proc, ram, and Hdd. (I believe some come with on board video but most come with AGP slots as well)

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_list.asp?class=mega

 

Shane, How can you make a clean install of a 15" monitor on your dash? That's pretty darn big....

 

it'll be easy, just watch.

 

lol okay. i look forward to it

 

When I get enough cash, I'm planning on building a mini-ITX computer myself and running Linux (maybe built from scratch, I don't need half the stuff most distros include) on it.

For an enclosure, I'm thinking about getting a bland, generic project box and mounting all the goodies inside it, with shock damping for the hard drive. That way I can bolt the computer somewhere out of sight and it won't really look like a computer (except maybe for the fan holes cut in the case).

 

yeha the otherday looked around my car and there are very few placed i coudl fit that micro atx, but the mini itx can fit anywhere. I want to try the mini-itx,i hear its just like celeron in comparible processing power, but they are reasonably good at 1ghz, soi'll be happy. Plus the size is unbeatable. But if it dont work like i want its time for the micro atx. I dunno though, i might be building a custom enclosue for it to mount right in with the ECM area. It'll be awesome. I dunno i gotta look again at the space. If not then i'm gonna mount it somewhere special. It will be hidden except for a few fan vents at the most.