Discussion
greenlandy said:
Hi all I've just been approached by a guy who wants me to look into fitting a pc into his Range Rover. Anyone ever done this sort of thing? The only sort of thing I've ever seen is PS2's etc fitted.
Cheers in advance Matt
Cheers in advance Matt
Look at mini-itx.com and the various Eden solutions available, they're designed for low energy consumption and low noise solutions; as a result they aren't very powerful but are more than capable of playing MP3's, DVD's and running something like Autoroute (although probably not at the same time).
Couple that with a cheapy 7" touchscreen from ebay and you'll have the basics of the hardware, although it will ultimately depend on what the person wants to do with the computer.
www.microsoft.com/windowsautomotive/devicemakers.mspx
Or look around Google for a few of the more specialist types. The above linky shoud do pretty much everything he wants, and be a proper "name" for him to have wiv his spinnaz. Innit.
Or look around Google for a few of the more specialist types. The above linky shoud do pretty much everything he wants, and be a proper "name" for him to have wiv his spinnaz. Innit.
randlemarcus said:
www.microsoft.com/windowsautomotive/devicemakers.mspx
Or look around Google for a few of the more specialist types. The above linky shoud do pretty much everything he wants, and be a proper "name" for him to have wiv his spinnaz. Innit.
Or look around Google for a few of the more specialist types. The above linky shoud do pretty much everything he wants, and be a proper "name" for him to have wiv his spinnaz. Innit.
I like the 3D motorway junction bit on the Apline satnav...
For those inclined to "think different", someone has already stuffed a Mac Mini into a dashboard. Might be an option for Windows operation as well if you installed Boot Camp.
www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1074480
[k]
www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1074480
[k]
try www.mp3car.com, I was recommended it a while ago when I was thinking about building one.
Have a look at www.karputer.co.uk
They used to do the installs when I worked for a well known online car broker!
All good feedback IIRC
Chris
They used to do the installs when I worked for a well known online car broker!
All good feedback IIRC
Chris
Definitely MP3Car.com or www.digital-car.co.uk/ for a UK based website.
I would suggest having a look at the Epia motherboards, the SP13000 is a decent spec'd board in the mini-itx range, has a 1.3ghz processor and allows for IDE or Sata drives. It's got an onboard mpeg decoder as well.
You should also look at a front end, most of them are free and can be found on the MP3car forums, ones to look out for are Frodoplayer, MobileImpact or RoadRunner, one of the commercial products that started out as a freebie is Centrafuse which is a complete package incorporating mp3, movie, webbrowsing and gps, it's in the final stages of beta I believe but still worth looking into.
Depending how deeply he want's to go down as well, you will need to look into gps modules (BU-353??) as well as touch screens (Xenarc TS700) psu's (Opus or M2-ATX), I would go for a DC-DC rather than an inverter as well. Also look at perhaps wireless connectivity (USB or pcipccard) as well as Bluetooth for keyboard and mouse. He would also need a car case, again the Opus solutions case is a good one to look into although there are other choices out there, Lin-itx.com have a range on their website.
The bottom line for an incar pc solution is less power consumption the better, you don't want a power sucking P4 in there if all you're doing is playing mp3's and running a gps. He may also need to consider an amp as well.
This is something I am considering putting into my car, infact all I am currently missing is the 7" touch screen.
If you want any help, give me a shout.
I would suggest having a look at the Epia motherboards, the SP13000 is a decent spec'd board in the mini-itx range, has a 1.3ghz processor and allows for IDE or Sata drives. It's got an onboard mpeg decoder as well.
You should also look at a front end, most of them are free and can be found on the MP3car forums, ones to look out for are Frodoplayer, MobileImpact or RoadRunner, one of the commercial products that started out as a freebie is Centrafuse which is a complete package incorporating mp3, movie, webbrowsing and gps, it's in the final stages of beta I believe but still worth looking into.
Depending how deeply he want's to go down as well, you will need to look into gps modules (BU-353??) as well as touch screens (Xenarc TS700) psu's (Opus or M2-ATX), I would go for a DC-DC rather than an inverter as well. Also look at perhaps wireless connectivity (USB or pcipccard) as well as Bluetooth for keyboard and mouse. He would also need a car case, again the Opus solutions case is a good one to look into although there are other choices out there, Lin-itx.com have a range on their website.
The bottom line for an incar pc solution is less power consumption the better, you don't want a power sucking P4 in there if all you're doing is playing mp3's and running a gps. He may also need to consider an amp as well.
This is something I am considering putting into my car, infact all I am currently missing is the 7" touch screen.
If you want any help, give me a shout.
I had a look for some software for mine (built from mini-itx and itxwarehouse stock. There wasn't much, so I just nocked up some media (video and audio file playback, and photo browser) player software, sat nav, blue toothed it up to run with my mobile to take calls and a GPS mouse (for the Sat Nav), and configured an XP install. The software
The WiFi with remote desktop meant I could park up outside and log in into the box and manage it from my home PC and just get on and use it in the car.
mini-itx also have a couple of good touch screens that can run directly off the car battery, they also supply some pretty clever PSU solutions to drive the PC and auto switch off and on or hibernate or suspend (depending on config) the mainboard - like a stereo install.
Other stuff to think of is where it will all go - I have liters of space in my dash so it was easy after I made a few brackets to mount it all. It was also reasonably cool when the car was hot, but it did get cold when it was off and cold outside, This didn't seem to cause any problems for me, but it may do if you have more confind space and less airflow.
All very do-able, but if you want to run the stereo off it too, you need an amp - for a base install like mine, you're talking around 600 quid for average components, but you need the software, and what was out there when I tried was pants.
If you want, drop me a PM and I can give you the stuff I wrote, but as I gave up with the install (I was trying to sell the car) it's a bit buggy and very "me"-centric.
Good luck!
ETA - I was thinking of using it as the dash in my new build, but that's out the window now as the build is on a long term hiatus
The WiFi with remote desktop meant I could park up outside and log in into the box and manage it from my home PC and just get on and use it in the car.
mini-itx also have a couple of good touch screens that can run directly off the car battery, they also supply some pretty clever PSU solutions to drive the PC and auto switch off and on or hibernate or suspend (depending on config) the mainboard - like a stereo install.
Other stuff to think of is where it will all go - I have liters of space in my dash so it was easy after I made a few brackets to mount it all. It was also reasonably cool when the car was hot, but it did get cold when it was off and cold outside, This didn't seem to cause any problems for me, but it may do if you have more confind space and less airflow.
All very do-able, but if you want to run the stereo off it too, you need an amp - for a base install like mine, you're talking around 600 quid for average components, but you need the software, and what was out there when I tried was pants.
If you want, drop me a PM and I can give you the stuff I wrote, but as I gave up with the install (I was trying to sell the car) it's a bit buggy and very "me"-centric.
Good luck!
ETA - I was thinking of using it as the dash in my new build, but that's out the window now as the build is on a long term hiatus
Edited by MTv Dave on Friday 17th November 16:49
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