CarPuter Idea

[Justy311]

I am wondering what people this about this idea. I am by no means an expert at this, but I had an idea tonight and I am wondering what people think. I plan on making a Carputer for my car. I and going to keep the same stereo I currently have in my car, but plan on getting a flip down screen and place it where the ceiling storage thing is at. I plan on connecting my stereo to this through RCA cables so I can just have all my MP3s play. Also, I plan on putting GPS on it, other than that, I would only use it for those two things, music and GPS. My question is, would this be a good idea or should I save my money and figure something else out.

I am curious what people think and I want some feedback on this idea. Thanks

Justin

[antichrysler]

This is an idea I wanted to do to my Alero. I just never had the time or money to do it. But I plan on throwing it in my Mazda.

I've seen this idea done in my friends Mustang and it looks/works pretty sweet. As far as flexibility goes this is the most flexible system you can have. If you get a piece of software called RoadRunner (free download) you can configure it to connect to a serial Sirius or XM adapter and control the sat radio from the PC. The other thing you can do is buy a usb bluetooth dongle and synch it to your phone or PDA either for playing music or handsfree calling.

I would say do it. There's a few specialty parts you need so if you need any advice let me know.

[Justy311]

I forgot to add how I would connect everything. I would have the computer sound connected to the Aux import in my headunit through the RCA to 3.5mm cable. I would then need a flip-down DVD player that either has a monitor out or get a CarPuter with RCA out, so I can put it into the imputs on the flipdown, but I need a flip down that is touchscreen...dont think there are any out there, but I could be wrong. Other than that, I have no clue what I am going to do. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could use?

I was searching ebay and found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/VM84-8-4-8-TFT-LCD-touchscreen-Car-PC-VGA-monitor_W0QQitemZ180130725097QQihZ008QQcategoryZ36 98QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem, it looks relatively cheap, and I would have to make a custom flipdown, but I think this would work, and all I would need is a CarPuter, I have been to www.mp3car.com, but didnt find that is easly readable.

thanks

[number1alero]

^avoid the ebay junk touchscreens, a lot of em work for a little while then just stop working all together....

spend the money and get the Lilliput touchscreen, i had a 7", and if i was to do it again, id go with their 10" version.

if you can find a prebuilt setup, then your in luck, check mp3car.com but otherwise its gonna cost more to get the setup and all than buying a garmin or likewise for GPS and then just hooking an IPOD up to your stereo

the reality of it is its cool to have, but in a sense i found out quickly i had no reason to have it in my car, since all i used it for was music and GPS...

now if your wanting to monitor advanced parameters of your engine, its perfect

[Justy311]

Hrm...I am just annoyed of having to bring my laptop with me to use GPS. I always thought it would be nice to have a CarPuter, but looking at the pricing it just might be too expensive. I will get more imput before I whimp out

[number1alero]

^yea...problem is buying a new setup, there are very few options, unless you wanna gamble with the ebay options, although ebay does have good deals on used setups that can be pretty sweet...but be sure it has a converter for the power so that it can be hooked to the battery, and that it has the automatic shutoff when the car gets turned off, otherwise you will kill a battery in one night (done it!)

[antichrysler]

Seriously, it's not very hard. Then again computers is also my specialty. Basically, here's what you need.

For the screen, go with a touch screen, you'll thank yourself later, don't bother with getting just a DVD player. Remember, RCA inputs for video is BAD.

For the PC this is where it gets a little complicated. The BEST way of doing this is to buy a 12V PSU. I can talk to my friend and see what he used. But basically it used the same idea as an amp. Car turns on, deck sends signal on remote line, PC turns on. Car turns off, it sends remote signal, windows interprets it as a shutdown command, and the PC turns off. Easy as pie.

As for the PC itself, obviously the smaller the better, if you have extra cash go with a mini-itx system. www.mini-itx.com. If you are trying to go with a smaller budget go with a mATX board. They're a couple inches bigger than the mini-itx but about 1/3 of the price with more features.

You don't need a special CPU, Video Card, RAM or any of those. They're just standard PC components. Basically price wise, you're looking at about $40 for a case, $100 for a GOOD motherboard, $90 for a GOOD cpu, $45 for 1gb of ram, $80 for a 320gb hd, $70-$80 for the PSU, $130 for windows, $140 for Streets and Trips w/GPS, $250-$300 for the screen, and $30 for an amp wiring kit. That's if you go the mATX way.

Building it yourself WILL be cheaper than buying a premade.

[Justy311]

I have windows and streets and trips already, so that will knock off $170 already. Ask your friend about what the 12V PSU, I would like to see what they look like as I never heard of them. I would probably only get the cheapest parts, but get a big enough hard drive for streets and trip and all my music.

Why are RCA imputs bad, and can anyone else suggest a touch screen to look at? I have seen the Lilliput touch screen, but it might be out of my price range, other than that I dont know what else is out thre.

Justin

[teflone]

I have a carputer in my alero..

Its DIY, and the ebay touchscreens are excellent for the price, they are notthing special, but for the price.. WTF.. right ?

I use a broken laptop under my passenger seat connected up with USB and audio outs of the laptop, (The LCD screen is broken only)

If you want a real long lasting LCD solution use the Liliput screen of any type.. hands down the best in the market

Now for software, you MUST USE the Road Runner suite, its amazing, its pretty much free, it has a great interface..

And for the best part.. graba cheap USB GPS mouse/dongle and ya got GPS Nav.

I use Microsoft Streets and trips.. Im happy with it, hands down one of the best (Even if I hate Bill gates) it has a handy night mode feature changes the colours of the Nav screen for night driving, very useful.

And as mentioned, that Mini-itx site is great, specially for the 12v PSU with shutdown controllers, they are more important than most realize.

Keep up the good work, and enjoy..

[antichrysler]

Why are RCA imputs bad,

For audio they're fine, but for video you will get a degraded signal since you have one conductor for all of your colors. In a car especially this can pose a problem since it's easy to pick up interference. Using a monitor cable (VGA) will help alleviate some of the problem since you have 15 conductors, and better shielding since the cable is meant to work at higher resolutions.

I'll check on the PSU tonight or tomorrow and post back all depends what happens after work.

As for components, try to buy energy efficient parts, since they will put less strain on your electrical, allow for longer runtimes on the battery, and will generate less heat since they will be run in a wide range of temperatures.

But you're on the right track, just like I mentioned earlier and another poster use the roadrunner suite. It's amazing. The other cool thing is if RoadRunner uses winamp, and there's a really nice parametric EQ you can use as a plug-in. It's called Shibatch Parametric EQ, it's on winamps site. Not sure where the shibatch came in but it works awesome.

[Justy311]

hrm, never thought to use a broken laptop. My g/f is going to be buying a new one so I will have a laptop in the works. What do you have to do to shut down the laptop, manually do it or is it set up to turn off when the car is turned off? If I can use a laptop, that would save me the most $$$, I would have to get a new hard drive since hers is only 30 GB, and my music takes more than that. Also, what is roadrunner suite. I have never heard of it. I may have to google it and see what I come up with.

Also, if it would not be trouble, could people email pictures of their set up, I would love to see how people did this and get me going. I will post pictures when I am all said and done. Thanks for all the help everyone, it is appreciated.

Justin

[antichrysler]

Yeah I'd have no idea how to get it setup with a laptop without doing it manually. Well I do, but it would involve writing your own software.

Google RoadRunner, it's pretty slick. Basically what it does is it's a fullscreen frontend to load whatever application you want to load, it can be custom skinned, and it has some software that comes with it to, such as the stuff for handsfree calling from a cell phone. It basically manages all of the audio so if you get a call it mutes the music, things like that.

I don't actually have a setup to e-mail you pictures of, I can check with my friend and see if he has some. I bet he does... he was pretty proud of it.

[Justy311]

sounds good, I did some looking for Roadrunner, but cant find it anywhere. Anyone have a link?

Justin

[antichrysler]

http://guino.home.insightbb.com/roadrunner.html

[teflone]

hrm, never thought to use a broken laptop. My g/f is going to be buying a new one so I will have a laptop in the works. What do you have to do to shut down the laptop, manually do it or is it set up to turn off when the car is turned off? If I can use a laptop, that would save me the most $$$, I would have to get a new hard drive since hers is only 30 GB, and my music takes more than that. Also, what is roadrunner suite. I have never heard of it. I may have to google it and see what I come up with.

Also, if it would not be trouble, could people email pictures of their set up, I would love to see how people did this and get me going. I will post pictures when I am all said and done. Thanks for all the help everyone, it is appreciated.

Justin


When I first started, I just used the power button on my laptop, being no LCD screen it was easily reachable under there..

But now I got a momentary 12v relay hooked up to 12v ignition and wired to my laptop, I converted my laptop power button to a headphone jack so I could easily remove it from the car without disconnecting the power on/relay trigger wire I use..

I also made a small step up transformer for the laptop, its a toshiba, so it required 15 volts to charge.. (didnt really) but I did it the right way..

So it charges when my car is on of course, and a switch under the seat to manually charge if my car is off (Risky sometimes, can kill ur batt.)

And if im in and out of my car alot using the puter, I use a relocated standby button to save boot up times..

Hope this helps..
Dont be afraid to do it yourself, its easier than you think..

All I gotta say, when I go camping, Im the only mo-fo watching satellite porn, and surfing the net amungst the trees.

BTW I got a travel dish for that shit..
Go big or go home.. lmao

[antichrysler]

Go big or go home.. lmao

Is that what your g/f said? lol

[Kilroy]

Is that what your g/f said? lol

If she did, he'd of had to go home!!:haha: :lol: :yahoo:

[antichrysler]

If she did, he'd of had to go home!!:haha: :lol: :yahoo:

LOL!! I was just buggin..... it's an inside joke between me and a couple friends

[teflone]

geezz, tough crowd..