View Full Version : Good Carputer website
I've been contemplating this carputer stuff recently. Just came across this website with various cars and installs. Good info on there.
Thought i would share the love...:innocent:
http://www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=20
Another worth looking at here:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/index.php
My install is one of the best mod's i,ve done :) Loads of things you can do with it, been recording the odd Kill recently got a good one of me teaching a chav in a saxo a lesson a few weeks ago! I did mine for about £400 but i did have some bits already. :)
these look the absolute nuts! i want one.
reminds me of the begining of 2Fast2Furious where all the cars have cool little computers installed!
My install is one of the best mod's i,ve done :) Loads of things you can do with it, been recording the odd Kill recently got a good one of me teaching a chav in a saxo a lesson a few weeks ago! I did mine for about £400 but i did have some bits already. :)
Have you got any pics of what you did, I'm thinking of doing this as i've got a decent spare computer but would like to see how you went about installing it in a supe
Have you got any pics of what you did, I'm thinking of doing this as i've got a decent spare computer but would like to see how you went about installing it in a supe
Hi Matt were you thinking of putting an ATX system in your car? That can get a tad more complicated i.e. with power/cases etc! But i have seen a couple of full ATX systems, they did look good.
Mine is an mini-ITX system 1.2GHZ, 512mb, 200gb harddrive, touch linitx screen carnetix power supply. I got most of my parts from http://www.linitx.com.
I mounted mine in the boot and ran the cables to the front behind the plastic covers where the speaker's are mounted and in the sil channels (there is loads of space).
I have attached some pictures. :)
Nice install, I have a xp2500 system that i'll get a micro atx for and either custom a case for it or buy shuttle type case.
What did u use to power the pc and what software are you running on it?
What did u use to power the pc and what software are you running on it?
I am using the carnitx 70w psu, and windows xp hibernation mode its v.good :)
I was using mediacar but it’s a bit limited so i am using my own custom written software to-do the following:
MP3 with spectrum visualizations
divx video
webcam live stream video recorder with overlay (e.g. time speed etc)
TV / radio
video motion dection
Voice over IP
cd/dvd recoder
3rd party
GPS
Instant Message
Web browser
Video Network Streaming
It’s working quite well but needs finishing, got a few more things to add into it just never have the time :)
I'd like to have a bash at one of these one day.
Surely Micro ITX is the way to go, though? Even if the specs are lagging behind full-fat ATX and micro ATX boards.
Surely Micro ITX is the way to go, though? Even if the specs are lagging behind full-fat ATX and micro ATX boards.
I suppose it’s down to personal choice, and what you’re doing with the system. But I agree with you in the sense that, for easy I went for the mini itx system which considering it’s only a 1.2 GHz system it runs everything I need :) Definitely a good mod!
that all looks cool, especialy the 1din lcd
http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=772
how do you connect the pc up to the car so that it displays stuff like your revs and speed and stuff? proper fast and furious style!!!
that all looks cool, especialy the 1din lcd
http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=772
how do you connect the pc up to the car so that it displays stuff like your revs and speed and stuff? proper fast and furious style!!!
The speed I’m am taking from the gps device i.e. relative motion / Time, which is fairly simple stuff to code, the rev's is more complicated. I am developing a control board and using a PIC microcontroller as interface between in the rpm signal and the computer see picture (some of the board's being used).
The data is then added as an overlay on top of the video stream which is then written out to an avi file after being encoded using divx.
That's roughly how i did it. Not fully finished yet. :)
erm yeh! lol too complicated for my little brain :(
I may have mentioned this before on another thread but if one was to have a 6-7" touch screen installed in the double DIN slot then could it be covered with a garage-shutter type door thing? I'd be terribly worried having a screen on show in my car if i wasn't in the cara with it.
I may have mentioned this before on another thread but if one was to have a 6-7" touch screen installed in the double DIN slot then could it be covered with a garage-shutter type door thing? I'd be terribly worried having a screen on show in my car if i wasn't in the cara with it.
Ye i was worried about the same thing but i made a sliding bracket, so if i park up i a chav area it slides away into the glove box! :)
Supersonic
31-03-06, 12:50
I once had an old laptop with a microphone attached to it 'listening' to the engine, and placing the incoming audio signal into a waveform generator, effectivly you could see the engine revs in a neat visual kinda way. If you could read the X/Y axes, you could see quite closely the value of the revs you were running.
Neat, very simple with some audio input/audio recording software.
Interesting idea, I think the way you have to go about it would be to interpret the signal and using digital signal processing to analysis the frequency. Then using a simple AI engine / expert system to develop pattern recognition for example to distinguish the difference between engine tone at acceleration and deceleration and frequency reference rpm points.
TBH I interpret the rpm signal coming off my ecu using a custom microcontroller board and can display rpm of the engine as an overlay on my incar video stream.
Would be intrested in having a look if you got it working :)
Hi Rob
I remember you talking about this stuff aaaaages ago (This thread (http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?p=467518&highlight=gps#post467518)). Looks great now. You're a clever guy.
What GPS software are you using? Is it bespoke or something the rest of could obtain somewhere?
Hi Rob
I remember you talking about this stuff aaaaages ago (This thread (http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?p=467518&highlight=gps#post467518)). Looks great now. You're a clever guy.
It only gets me in trouble :)
What GPS software are you using? Is it bespoke or something the rest of could obtain somewhere?
The in car pc software has come on leaps and bounds since then. All the software is custom written by me. The Gps component was hard to write to be honest because I have to interpret the gps stream and then convert it to something meaningful and then calculate speed from it.
Here are a few screen shots of the software. It’s fully sinkable so in the options i have made it so you can select any image or background etc. As you can see i'm posting this from my in car pc inside my garage. Just fitting some upgrades before i goto the pub :)
Rob, Very interesting project indeed! Nice to see something custom written, and actually being used in your car.
I wrote something vaguely similar a few years ago that read in GPS data and displayed a scrolling graph of position and speed. I used Adobe Premiere to overlay this over the video.
A very low-res clip of the video is here:
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~jamesg/tinysupragps.avi
I don't have a car PC yet, but I do have plans for one. It's work-in-progress but involves a router, bluetooth and my mobile phone :)
Rob, Very interesting project indeed! Nice to see something custom written, and actually being used in your car.
I wrote something vaguely similar a few years ago that read in GPS data and displayed a scrolling graph of position and speed. I used Adobe Premiere to overlay this over the video.
A very low-res clip of the video is here:
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~jamesg/tinysupragps.avi
I don't have a car PC yet, but I do have plans for one. It's work-in-progress but involves a router, bluetooth and my mobile phone :)
Looks good mate. I'm capturing the screen in code using blit regions so the speed and rpm is automatically overlaid on the capture.
The only problem I’ve had with gps sentences is in the decoding i.e. with my gps receiver I have it receiving $GPRMC (or similar, i.e. a sentence relating to the speed or velocity) data about every 0.8 of a second, which is problematic when calculating 0-60 timing but I think I’ve crack it! But just for calculating current speed or bearing its great. :)
That's cool. I think my GPS updated at 1Hz which made things easier. Place where I work produces similar things for motorsport use, and has GPS units that update at 50Hz, I think.
You know if you plug in car mass, CdA and rolling resistance too, you can display your horse power :)
That's cool. I think my GPS updated at 1Hz which made things easier. Place where I work produces similar things for motorsport use, and has GPS units that update at 50Hz, I think.
You know if you plug in car mass, CdA and rolling resistance too, you can display your horse power :)
Yeah forgot about that is the calculation something like:
Drag = Cda * RR
HP = MPH * Drag / 500
Where 1 HP = 500 LBS ?
I'm probably wrong it’s been years since i played with this stuff!
Would another great overlay!
vBulletin® v3.7.3, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.