Carputer!

[mackie1]

I'm pondering installing one in the 'ro. Does anyone know of anyone else that's tried this?

I seem to remember spotting a keyboard in a GTS at the Ace a while back (I think it belongs to one of the Wortec guys).

I thinking of having a flush fitting screen in place of the head unit and having the actual PC in the armrest bin.

[VXR_Daz]

Why though?

Can you not stand being away from a computer for more than 10 minutes at a time?

[s55shh]

LOL, I was driving down the motorway yesterday (in the elise) with the laptop on the passenger seat remapping my emerald ECU! Does this count?

[o.versteer]

s55shh said:

LOL, I was driving down the motorway yesterday (in the elise) with the laptop on the passenger seat remapping my emerald ECU! Does this count?

Er, possibly counts as dangerous driving?

[well_fans]

mate and I are working on similiar idea at work just now, trying out various bits and pieces to put a system together. Ordered a load of compact flash to ide adaptors to experiment with solid state drive - smaller, less power, faster boot. better with a touch screen than a keyboard.

[wortec2]

Why not! Here are a couple of pictures.

The status of my car pc at the moment

GPS 100% (Got me to my hotel in Brussels last year avoiding the ring road!!)
MP3 100% (Got album art working last week so now compleet)
Video 100% (Can watch Mad Max when ever I like, stationary only!)
Bluetooth 10% (hardware acquired software in process)
Wireless internet 50% (Works, need to sort out auto mapping)
Installation 60% (needs trimming and surround around screen)






It boots in about 20 seconds, and resums to what ever you were looking at or listening to . I have the keybaord as well as the touch screen, helps when loading or configuring software.

Edited by wortec2 on Wednesday 16th May 17:38

[V8 EOL - Rich]

Looks pretty good. Whats it running?

[wortec2]

It’s running XP pro at the moment, but I have stripped it down and optimised the boot process. I have only loaded MP3's and a small amount of software since I built it and its running good at the mo. It is running Roadrunner as the front end, the skin is simplicity if I recall correctly.

Edited by wortec2 on Wednesday 16th May 17:50

[stevieturbo]

Check ebay for "in car pc" or carputer....

they have stuff there too. No idea how good or crap it is though.

[mackie1]

digital-car.co.uk is a good forum, I've just joined.

This is a really neat install:

www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6756

I'm off to Billing Aquadrome on Saturday as there is a big carputer meet. A friend of mine has been building his for a while now.

[mackie1]

VXR_Daz said:

Why though?

Can you not stand being away from a computer for more than 10 minutes at a time?

Because you can get the functionality (and more) of a £1500 Pioneer or Alpine for about £400 if you are smart about it. Plus you get unlimited upgradability.

[wortec2]

If you have not already seen it then www.mp3car.com is where I got allot of my info from.

[mackie1]

well_fans said:

mate and I are working on similiar idea at work just now, trying out various bits and pieces to put a system together. Ordered a load of compact flash to ide adaptors to experiment with solid state drive - smaller, less power, faster boot. better with a touch screen than a keyboard.

Cool, let me know how you get on. I'm just researching at the moment. I'm aiming for minimal install complexity hence thinking of using the centre armrest bin to hold the PC itself. It should be simple to mod a metra double din surround to hold the screen - I'll see if ChimChim will share his finishing secrets. The main headache will be audio/amp related I think.

[wortec2]

You need to look at the data rates of compact flash compared to conventional high speed hard drives. I chose the case because I got two full size expansion card slots. One for decent sound one for wifi, I did not wont bits and pieces in the car. I have a 4 port USB hub up front behind the screen to give a couple of USB ports and to run the touch screen.

From the audio point of view it was straight forward. I bought a 6 channel amp wired all the speakers to an adaptor cable and feed this through to the boot where the amp is. The PSU I picked also controls the remote switching of the amp so it does not drain the battery when the car is switched off.

[mackie1]

wortec2, is this the sreen housing you have:

www.digitalww.com/store/proddetail.asp?prod=WRX001

?

[wortec2]

Yes you have it. I bought it from the guy who designed it when he sold direct a while ago. I wonted a secure cage for the screen and my USB hub and power supply. I am in the process of fabricating a cover to fill the gap between it and the dash.

[mackie1]

Is it actually proper double din dimensions?

[wortec2]

The cage is double din, but as it is made to mount from behind into a hole in the subaru dash it will not cover the edges in my application if you get what I am saying.

[mackie1]

Ah I see, so the metra/chimchim double din surround *should* clip over the top neatly.

[willisit]

mackie1 said:

digital-car.co.uk is a good forum, I've just joined.

This is a really neat install:

www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6756

I'm off to Billing Aquadrome on Saturday as there is a big carputer meet. A friend of mine has been building his for a while now.

Hold up... there are carputer meets?