Carputer Thread

[spek1098]

There was a bit of speak about building carputers in Pete's garage and there is more speak of this on my facebook page, so I'd figured I'd start a thread on it.

It sounded like there are many ideas and different variations on what type of carputer setup each of us was looking at. This could be a good place for us to air those ideas and discuss our progress.



I have a stock navigation system that I am considering using in this setup. I have came up with two solutions for this: I could use the current screen and tap into existing the RGB lines with some sort of VGA converter or replace the stock screen with a higher res and/or touch screen. I’m leaning towards the upgraded monitor idea.

Question is, the laptop I plan to use is a older dell p3, and I'm not sure If I can get the correct resolution out of it.

Or maybe leave the navi alone, do some other type of setup or possible just go with the DashDaq (http://www.dashdaq.com/)

[mndsm]

You should be able to get good res out of it, even the oldest stuff puts out 400x800 or whatever the lowest res is on a pc, and that's more than any 7 inch monitor can handle.

[dmention7]

Yeah, most 7" monitors are operating at closer to 320x240. I see no reason why a P3 couldn't handle that.

I'm really hoping I have something to contribute to this thread at some point :)

[YSOSLO]

Okay guys....here's a link to a pretty extensive walk-through that's way beyond what I would ever mess around with for my car, but for those of you that are serious abotu a carputer this is a mini-mac walk-through: Mini-mac carputer walk-through (http://www.fastmatt.com/carputer)

[YSOSLO]

Some other carputer options as well Link (http://www.opussolutions.com/index.php?p=products&id=1) I'm not a big computer guy, so I'll leave it to you guys to dissect the specs.

[Picklz]

OPUS makes really nice stuff. Their power supplies are especially nice since they offer DC-DC, otherwise your stuck using an inverter going DC-AC-DC. They also have some nice startup/shutdown features built in.

[dmention7]

If I wanted to get fancy, I'd go with a DC/DC power supply, but something tells me for my first venture, I'll probably be happy running a dissected laptop off an inverter and using the laptop's battery and power management software to manage startup/shutdown. That, and I'm cheap.

[Z-licious]

OPUS makes really nice stuff. Their power supplies are especially nice since they offer DC-DC, otherwise your stuck using an inverter going DC-AC-DC. They also have some nice startup/shutdown features built in.

I bought a universal car adapter:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5647

I highly recommend that route over going DC>AC>DC. Just make sure the adapter you buy can output the power you need. Look at the voltage options and max output current. The cheap adapters won't have the output current that a full-size laptop requires. I'm going to use a tiny netbook, and this adapter meets the max reqs. If you're going to use something more power hungry you might have to spend some more.

Also, for the power management, I just have mine going to sleep after 1 min of no DC power, and I have Wake on USB enabled in my BIOS. A simple mouse click (or screen tap, I hope) will wake it up when I start the car.


As far as the screen goes, 320 x 200? Seriously? What stone age shopping mall are you at? All touch screens I've seen are fairly high resolution. Even my cheap one is 800 x 600. And touch screens are the real way to go in a car PC. You don't want a mouse and KB dangly out of your glove box.

[dmention7]

800x600 on a 7" screen? That would be perfect for my next invention... the carmicroscope!

Doesn't change the fact that a P3 will have plenty o horsepower.

[Z-licious]

Get with the times Jay. The screen on my phone is 2.8 inches and the res is 640x480.

[dmention7]

You're such a pimp Eddy. I wish I was as cool as you!

[Z-licious]

you just need to join us in the 21st century. You can always make text bigger, but you cant change your native resolution.

[dmention7]

really? I thought it was the other way around. I guess in principle, it does make sense that it would be easier to use software to make 4 pixels behave like one, rather than trying to resolder in smaller LED elements... I had just never thought of that before.

[spek1098]

Found this...
http://www.autodvdgps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=55&products_id=313

It could have some potential....
Think there are already a few people with it on M3F or MSF

[DrWebster]

Wow, that's kinda wild.

[lwrydr]

If anyone is interested, I can get refurbed MSI Wind U100-420 Netbooks for $249. Sure you can get them online but I'm the guy testing & fixing them. Comes w/ a 90 day warranty.

If interested, let me know. This is while suppies last, probably 1 to 2 more weeks from today.

Comes w/ WXP installed, 10" LCD, 1.6G Atom processor, 1G memory, 120G hard drive, Built in Wi-Fi & if your ambitious, Mac OSX can be installed on it.

I'll be hopefully installing OSX on mine in a couple days when I find the time.

Ya I know post over in ads, but you puter geeks would probably look here 1st...