Carputer

[dj3stripes]

Does anybody here have experience with carputers? I really want to build one and i've already got a nice via motherboard and sub box to mount it in. I guess i'm just curious who out there has attempted this, what were your roadblocks/successes.

 

http://store.mp3car.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=73 know where i could find something similar to that for my 95 legacy? I'd think i'd just need a double din dash replacement, perhaps fashion one from an aftermarket stereo kit or something. exciting times:headbang:

[Hotshot]

It cant be but so hard to put one in.

 

All you would need for it to be functional is a decent power inverter, a small monitor, and somewhere safe to put all the pieces.

 

Would be nice to have one to play music on. Touchscreen would definitely be the way to go.

[Shep2112]

I think it might be better to go with a laptop with a broken screen (cheap on ebay), and an external touchscreen. A desktop system in a sub box is overkill. A laptop could go under a seat easily. If you want to use it for audio output, most likely you'll need a cleaner output than the built-in line output offers. I haven't tried it, but this looks like a decent device:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

 

They don't give any signal to noise ratio info, but most computers have really dirty outputs because the digital to audio converters are in the same housing as all the other electronic stuff, so odds are this will sound much better.

 

A notebook might be able to handle temperature changes and car movement better than a desktop too. Whatever you go with, make sure you shockmount it on some kind of foam/rubber/neoprene material.

 

-Eric

[dj3stripes]

i'd consider a laptop, but it'd actually be more expensive that route. i've already got the motherboard/cpu, ram, hard drive. i simply need the display, power supply, and any other materials for mounting the display. if i dont get an in-dash touchscreen (deck style that retracts), i'm going to attempt to craft a 7" lilliput display in place of the cd player i have in my car. the next issue to tackle would be, where to put my cd player? has anybody on here ever reorganized the location of their electrical components in a similar fashion? anybody?

[ericem]

You could always hookup a Axim x51v because it has a VGA out and has really good resolution, just you need a good techy(im pretty good) and your set, because somehow you need the touchscreen to interface with the pda, so im guessing its USB so you need to spend 150 for a USB addon, then you need to install the drivers plug it in, and your good to go, then you have GPS, video, music, calendar, internet, everything possible that can be done with ur laptop or PC, just in a small light mobile package, at a low price.

 

Heres a AXIM:

 

[Shep2112]

The Axim would be pretty sweet, and uses less power, makes no audible noise, and it's much more compact.

 

The only down side is that it's not a phone like my iPAQ 6945 (with EDGE data support, WiFi, Bluetooth, camera, iRDa, bla bla bla).. The downside to my phone is the QVGA 240x240 screen and no video out.

 

Getting back to the existing motherboard idea, there are some really nice slim tower cases out nowadays that may fit beneath a front seat. Certainly a better option than a sub box for size (unless you mean an under seat Subaru sub box?)

 

Have you considered a 12VDC based power supply? To skip the inverter to AC, power supply to DC step?

 

One other thing to keep in mind is running the system with the key off. It'll take a little time for the system to boot (no boot time with a PDA like the Axim), and if you're sitting in the car listening to music, and then turn the key to start the car, a computer would be shut off temporarily. A laptop wouldn't have a problem with that step. Or you could use a battery backup (UPS) on a desktop board. That would also smooth the power coming from the inverter, but then the inverter size/price would go up quite a bit if you need say a 300 watt model. It would need to attach directly to the battery too.

 

If you tell us exactly what you have and where you want to mount it, we can probably help work with what you have. But I can see either space or money involved in making a desktop board work in a car.

 

The board you have looks really nice. Too bad it's only USB 1.1, but that should be fine for audio and dvd playback.

 

Here are some ideas: You could use 8 gig flash drives (not the thumb drive ones, they're a little larger, like the new iPOD Shuffle size), etc, for further capacity, no moving parts, not affected by hot/cold/vibration like hard drives, etc. You could use a 4 gig flashdrive (regular usb stick thing). Use a removable drive bay (5 1/4" bay with a 3.5" drive in it) for the hard drive, then you can pull it out and bring it in the house to refill it, etc. And mount it in an IDE or USB 2.0 enclosure in the house for speed. Or use a 2.5" external enclosure, which would be USB powered and smaller. Then pull it off and plug it in in the house. With a longer USB cable, you could stick the drive anywhere, with the cable out of sight.. In the center console for example.

 

You could also mount a dvd-rom drive vertically in your center console (or perhaps your current cd player/radio there). For vertical mounting, the drive would need to have those little slide things in the tray to lock the disc in place.

 

If you wanted to go entirely PC based, you could get a USB FM tuner for the computer. They somehow work without any antenna, so you may need to put that on a long usb extension cable and stick it in the window or something to get better reception. Just a little thing like the size of a thumbdrive/flashdrive/memory stick/whatever you want to call them. So you could stick it by the pillar on the front windshield and barely see it.

 

In that case, I would use a separate power amplifier and not use a radio/head unit at all.

 

You can also use software effects on the computer for EQ, compression, acoustic processing, etc..

 

Damn, this makes me want to install my Thinkpad with a non-working screen in my Outback! I own just about everything I need, except the touchscreen. Though my plan was to use my iPAQ and playback the audio/phone/talking GPS nav on it via Bluetooth into a replacement head unit (radio) that I still need to buy.. Hmmmmmm..

[dj3stripes]

Power controllers for startup and shutdown

 

DC-DC power supplies to avoid the use of inverters altogether

 

Only reason i'm doing a sub box is i also have that lying around to be used. Some of the guys on the forums use 6x9 boxes or even custom cases that resemble amplifiers, but i'm really going for cheapest solution for the first run of a car pc.

 

deffinately some great ideas, and while i am tech savy, i'm also a cheapskate (hence the 100dollar legacy that i own) I've never used the seperate power amps/eq before so that'd be new to me. I already have a few EIDE hard drives, as well has notebook hard drives here at my disposal, that's why a box is more for me. I'm sure temperature will play a factor but as far as shock, i was looking into stripping out a deffective cd changer and using the rubber grips to fashion a shock absorbing house of some sort.

 

I do intend to fashion a dvd drive, i was actually thinking of mounting it in place of my defective cup holder (c'mon, how tight would that be?!) cables are of no importance as i work for an electronics retailer and don't pay margin mark-ups. I'd simply need help in crafting a housing for the LCD if i didn't get a motorized in-dash retractible unit. If i didn't score an indash retractable, i'm fairly certain a 7" widscreen LCD is the same size as the double din cutout in the dash inwhich it'd be pretty simple to mount it there, plus it'd leave plenty of space behind it for whatever else i wanted to slap in there (usb hub for wif adapter, external usb soundcard (if i didnt use an fm modulator), etc.)

 

the main goal in doing all this is simple. boredom. I'm the kind of person who'd rather have fun toys in the cab than put expensive performance cars under the hood. nothing against gear heads at all, i just don't hold the same appreciation for mechanics as i do for electronics.

 

so, the pda thing wouldn't be for me simply due to cost, it's a great alternative, had i not aquired the bulk of the componants already. any other ideas ? how about gps software, any freebies out there? blue tooth is an interest but aside for my hands free headset i've not used it much with anything else

[Shep2112]

Hmm, those power supplies look cool and should do the job, lots of options there.

 

It would be sweet if you could combine the dvd drive AND cup holder. So you could hit the open/close button and drop a cup in there.. I think you would just need to widen the hole a bit. You of course need a black drive to do it up right, make it stealth, etc.

 

$100 car.. Damn, I'd be afraid to put anything worth more than 5 bucks in there, just so i felt like the car was worth the majority of the money i'm riding around with.. but aside from that.. hmm.. you could do it totally ghetto stealth so no one wants to steal stuff from it.. get a full-size styrofoam takeout box and put the motherboard in there. memory stick in an empty pack of JuicyFruit, power supply in a pack of Camels, gps receiver inside an Altoids tin glued to the dash, the screen could display an empty hole with dangling wires when the car is turned off. Like those U-Haul trucks that have the inside painted on the roll-up door.

 

i don't know of any free gps software. maybe something open source for linux perhaps? do you have software in mind? I saw the one on mp3car, looks pretty decent, though again, it costs more than your car..

 

I fully understand your reasoning and it's something to do, trial run, etc.. but some of the stuff involved here is probably going to take you a considerable amount of time.. Like running wires under the carpet (though you can pull the center console open in 2 mins and run wires from the radio area along the side of the shifter and down into the carpeting to get under the seat relatively easily.. At least on my Outback I can. There are some holes in the carpet, so I can get wires from the radio to beneath the seat without pulling the seat out, just requires some pulling on the carpet and reaching in there and trying to feel for the cable, etc. Okay, that didn't didn't get to my point. My point is, this stuff will take some time, so try to create a finished product while you're doing this, rather than having to go back and make repairs or upgrades to your work. I remember a long time back in one of the car stereo mags there was a guy who did his hole truck to look like it was filled with trash and I believe a spilled soda cup, etc.. And it was all permanently done, fake 'spilled soda', etc. Everything was glued in place and designed, even though it looked like just a mess.. That's not my point either, that's overkill (but so cool, no one would try to steal it, cause it doesn't look like anything's there!).. Just do it right the first time is my point.. At least the difficult tasks. You can put any radio at the end of the wire, but running the wire can be tough.. Same with putting an amp in the trunk, under the seat, etc. If/when you get to that stage, use a good wiring kit and throw a cheap amp on the end of it for starters. Then when you get a better amp, you only have to change the amp, and not redo any of the difficult stuff.

 

I think a memory stick/flash drive thing might be the best bang for the buck with this setup. They're cheap and it's easy to transport quite a lot of files between the car and the house.

 

If you have an electronic parts/liquidator type of store near you, you may find a nice metal enclosure for 10 bucks or something. This one is near me:

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/

They have some larger enclosures than the ones listed on the site. They have a lot more car audio stuff too. If you need high current stuff or just stuff in general. The prices are really great. You can call or email them if you need stuff not listed. I don't know of other stores like them. It's surplus, liquidated, traded in from dealers, etc.

 

Maybe there's some ideas for you in this post?

[dj3stripes]

deffinately appreciate the input. Yeah, running wires will be tough, but it's something to fill the void of time that i have. I'm sure it won't be perfect, and realistically i dont see this project in full swing till the spring anyhow. i just wanted to get some ideas and i did. thanks a lot. yes, the flash drive thing will be a must, however i want the hard drive, just in the off chance i go on a trip and need to bulk up with some movies, or possibly some Emu's for the passengers. we'll see where it takes us.

[Shep2112]

That sounds good.

 

I would go with a 2.5" drive so it can be USB powered and smaller, because well, it's smaller. I was thinking if there was room, you could mount the drive somewhere like the glove compartment, center console, etc, where you can get to it easily.

 

A wireless game controller would be sweet too, no more tangled 10 foot cables wrapped around the controller..

 

So which software are you using for this?

[dj3stripes]

yup, bumping an old post.

 

made some progress http://www.flickr.com/photos/dj3stripes you can view the 'phases' on the right side. unfortunately i started taking pictures after i tore out the ashtray/lighter plug, however since most of you know what a mid-nineties legacy looks like, it won't matter much.

[otis]

That's pretty cool. Now all you have to do is get a smart phone and tether it to your computer for internet access on the road!

[dj3stripes]

that step is really easy actually but i don't have internet on my cell plan, i do however work for a company that provides me with one that does so i may work it into the plan, via blue tooth.