Carputer?

Carputer?

Hi all,

Is anyone currently working on a carputer project? Ive been to a few sites dedicated to peoples carputer mods for their cars, but never actually discussed the pros/cons of it all. Ive already started mine, so its too late to stop but if anyone has any tips or ideas, that'd be great.

i have been reading over at www.mp3car.com all that they do with carputers and it is crazy! It makes me want to do something like it. The mac mini has the advantage that it is small, and it has everything you need in the case, and $500 bucks for one with all the ports and drive and what not is not bad. They are working on the same power supply for the mini that is the equicalent to the pc one. Forgot the name. Anyway they way to do it would be with a touchscreen and backup wireless input devices.

These are examples of two very nice mini installs in cars:

Lexus IS300

http://www.is300.net/forums/showthread.php?t=242507

VW Gti

http://tunertricks.com/blog/index.php?p=40

Just some inspiration for you all.

If you ever seen OS X wake up from sleep, you'll understand how fast it is. It is up and functional in 2 seconds for a sleep mode. Also it runs a unix kernel, so it is a totally different animal thatn what some of you may be used to from past experiences. If it was OS 9 I would say not, but OS X is a different animal.

GL

X

I am also working on installing Car PC in my car. I already bought the barebone from this guy - http://indashpc.org , and now looking for the touchscreen for the reasonable price.
About mini mac - I really like them, but I have black dashboard - so the white colored mac will not look good. Aslo the OS is kinda crazy

ive planned one but havent raised the $$$ or time for it yet.
u can alwayss get a mac mini. small as fuck

agreed...the mac mini fits in a single din space, and there are a few companies already working on integrating them into the car's system.

of course, people would have to get used to the Mac OS...

I was originally looking at the mac mini because of its size, but the only things that kept me from buying it was that I could build one for cheaper and Im not a fan of Macs for anything other than audio recording. I have the computer built so far, and I have the in-dash TFT monitor on its way. There is a switch that I have to take a look at that hooks the power to your ignition so the comp starts up and shuts down when your car is on or off. It also sends a soft signal to the computer when its off so it doesnt drain your battery overnight. Im not too sure how it all works or how its connected, but I guess ill find out when I see it close up.

well iam glad mac hates me lol

i got one... been a member of mp3car for at least 2 years i think... its cool

Yes, I believe thats what it was called. I still have yet to figure out how its connected.

I cant believe that no one has mentioned a mini-itx board. If you dont want a mac mini, and want to stick with windows, try out a mini-itc board (mini-itx.com) and build it with normal pc addons (or laptop 2.5" drive, normal 2100/2700 ddr ram, etc).

I'm a mac user for 17 years but I prob still do it with a mini itx board. actually i have this ultimate plan but im not giving it away. Mac mini would be way easier but cheaper to build your own PC and more FUN!!!
Only problem is a mini itx board usually runs off one of those VIA processors and those are nothing compared to the mac mini proccesor (G4)

Thanks to corolla_man_j and milhousse. Yea, Lilliput is the best you can find on the today market.
BTW do you know, how good the touchscreen is for the video?

the carputer has already been done by someone on here with a corolla like more than a year ago....it was a really clean setup....

.....and for the guy that needed the affordable touch screen...
http://www.miraisolutions.net/store/item.php?PartID=103
$282 is going to be about as cheap as you can find brand new


edit

while cruisin ebay I found this :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...&category=38650

You could pick one up from http://mp3playerstore.com/stuff_you...al/IN-740VT.htm
but it would stay away from those guys like the plague. Horrible customer service, i've heard nothing but bad news from them, and had a few bad experiences with their "customer service".

The lilliput screen is actually pretty nice. used a couple of them before. good units.

i have a carPC
it's installed and working, i just need to finish the cosmectics of it.
Check out www.cardomain.com/id/nicorolla page 2 and 3
if you have any questions, feel free to ask

I recomend the Xenarc over the lilliput, the lilliput has alot of reliablilty issues. I find the video quality is excelent, that is of course if you have a VGA screen.