in car pc update

[The Hornet]

Well I have just spent all day stripping out me Supra, Dash panels, seats, carpets etc etc.

I have just finished running all me cables and switches and setting up the power supply etc for the in car PC.

Tested all the cables and power supply and all is looking good. The Mini PC fits in the head unit slot as well once I had relocated the two metal boxes at the bottom back of the head unit bay :D

So I will spend tomorrow:

Fitting the touchscreen, putting PC and dashboard back together. Then installing the external sound card, Wireless hub connection & camera control unit into the boot. Then fit the sat nav and 4 port USB hub also.

Once this is done I can connect up the Sound card to me amps and test the damn thing.

Should be good when its all finished, which all being well should be tomorrow... I'll hold my breath as something is bound to go wrong.

Anyway, just thought I'd post what I was doing :D


Hornet

[JamesG]

Sounds great! Do you have a link to info on the mini PC?

I've ordered an archos AV420, so I'll be able to play videos on my headunit next week :)

[Scoboblio]

:respekt:

[imi]

Mr Hornet...would be very interested in seeing what screen you went for and some pics of the installation. what apps youre running and how you work the audio in the car (via an amplifier, etc)

I want to put a laptop in the back of my soop when its ready and run it as a CAR PC....would appreciate youre help and advice.

[The Hornet]

Thanks for replies people, I've just got home from a night out and I'm slighty drunkk. I will post tomoerrow with replies :D

[CJ]

What front end are you going to use?

[The Hornet]

OK just got up and have a really bad head from last night, but will try to answer your questions so far:

JamesG: Got most of the parts for the mini PC from - http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_70&products_id=263

it has 100GB 2.5" Hard drive, 512K Ultra low profile RAM, CDR-W / DVD ultra slim drive with adaptor board. Motherboard is - http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=12_74&products_id=207

So that's basically the PC side of it - all in a unit the same size as a head unit only approx 3"longer.

CJ = I'm running Windows XP pro on it

IMI - Have got the Liliput 7" Touchscreen, Apps - will be running Navigator pro sat nav or similar, Camera's have there own software, Friend is a programmer and has been playing around with a package which has all sorts of big button menu's for DVD / film players, MP3 players, sat nav etc etc look really nice :D

The signal is sent to the boot via a 5 metre USB cable but it has one of those active booster things in it so has no signal degregation. I will (later today) plug a 4 port USB hub in that to run all my devices. Into the Hub I'm using an External sound card with 5.1 surround sound outputs in RCA form, this then feed's my 2 x Alpine V12's and 1 x Rockford Fosgate Sub Amp.

Right going back outside now to see if I can get the rest of it fitted. I will take some pictures later when its finished.

Hornet

[CJ]

I was wondering what front end you were going run for the Touchscreen such as Centrafuse or MediaCar etc? Have a look at the links here - that might make what I mean easier to understand

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=60

[The Hornet]

I haven't decided as yet matey, but the friend I was talking about is on the software development team on that forum :D

[The Hornet]

Just thought I would show you some pics of my car PC and ICE install. The PC is the head unit sized thing above my Blitz controllers.

All I need to do now is plug my USB devices into the 4 port hub located in the back left of boot.

USB devices to be plugged in:

1 x Multi camera 2.4ghz receiver / control unit
1 x External sound card to feed the amps
1 x Wireless 802.11 transmitter - to connect to home LAN
1 x Sat Nav receiver

LINK FOR PICTURES:

http://www.netpostbag.com/~hornet/Supra/


Hornet

[imi]

Nice Install. I was hoping that yours would be an in-dash installation. Instead I think you still have your headunit in the DIN slot.

nice clean install btw. :)

[The Hornet]

There is no head unit, It's the PC which is head unit sized :D

[Dale B]

Hi Grant,
What sort of money did all this cost? (if you dont mind me asking). Did you get all your parts from that link you gave. Does the touchscreen negate the need for a keyboard?

Cheers Dale

[The Hornet]

The PC system and Components cost approx £1100 - £1200 plus the £60 Power supply that controls it all.

The touchscreen is good but I will be getting a Wireless mini keyboard with trackbal for it as the screen will keep getting dirty.

All the ICE I already had but there's a few pennies worth of it :D

[imi]

There is no head unit, It's the PC which is head unit sized :D


OH NICE....

so youre driving everything via the PC.....brilliant....this is exactly what I want to do, but use my laptop instead. :respekt:

[The Hornet]

Yup, the PC drive's everything :D

Trouble is, is that with the PC being soo small, the quickest processor you can put in it is a 1GHZ and limited to 512MB of RAM too.

But it will play simple games, DVD's, CD's, Mp3's, VCD's etc etc plus the Drive is a DVD reader and CD writer :D

Works really well. Just need to hook up all the Amps to the sound card now and install the wireless camera's :D