• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Well, I finished my carputer. Here's a youtube video

Pretty cool. Though I'm just wondering did you get the carputer to play mp3? I can see that you have a cd player as well.
 
The headunit is stock. A nifty guy that goes by Jazzy on the legacy forums came up with a little circuit that has the regular 1/8 audio jack.

It piggy-backs on the cd-player so you use a cd with a completely silent track when you want to use the aux-in. Then I just run a patch wire from the computer's speaker out to the little circuit's plug and now everything from the computer plays through the car's speakers.

Roadrunner uses winamp in the background to play mp3's.
 
Hey I have a carpc too. What screen are you using and did you mold it in? I tried roadrunner, but couldnt find any good looking skin + I couldnt get it to display my chinese song titles properly...so I ended up going with centrafuse. By the way...your boot time is kind of long. You might be able to get better times if you downgraded your ram to 256 and used hibernation instead.
 
I'm using a xenarc 700tsv. The dash used to hold a little cubby as well as a clock/temp/trip computer. I molded the front bezel from the screen into that and repainted it.

I made the video when I first finished the install. Yea, boot time seems long and I'll probably change it to hibernation if I cna't get it decnetly quick with quickboot and other mods.
 
I'm curious why you didn't go with a quicker booting OS? Don't get me wrong, it's neat... but takes some good time after the car is on to actually turn on. I've seen those Xenarcs though, they're nice LCDs 😀.
 
XP was easier to get things moving with. I haven't gotten around to optimizing speeds yet. As said earlier, it will probably be moved to hibernate instead of turning on and off if I can't get boot speeds quick enough.

HD probably needs to be defragged too.
 
excuse the ignorance, does this has a significant impact on mpg, alternator life, and how long can it go without starting the car?
 
No impact on MPG so far. I don't know how long it'll go without starting the car, but the Opus 150 dc regulator should detect when the car battery falls below a certain level and automatically turn itself off to keep the battery from going dead. The whole setup should pull less then 60 watts, so it should have an overall impact of about a small amp.

The song order:
Weezer - Undone (the Sweater Song)
(scrolled forward) Weezer - Hold Me (with that piano'y intro)
(then scrolled back to) Weezer - Undone (the Sweater Song)
(selected from song menu) Weezer - We Are All on Drugs
 
Interesting, but I wouldn't call it finished until the GPS and rear view camera options work 🙂

The GPS shouldn't be too hard, since they make USB antennas now.
 
GPS works. 😛 I just didn't include it in the video and was too lazy to make another one. I use iGuidance for it. Backup cam, I'm outa funds for now.
 
Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Backup cam, I'm outa funds for now.
Click to expand...

Backup cams are pretty sweet, you should try and get that setup 😉. My Altima has one and you'd never believe how many people find it fascinating 😱. I also use it when I'm lazy and backing into a parking space. I also use it to help ensure that I'm in my parking space correctly (I usually am, but sometimes you think you turned in just right and you're actually off).
 
Wouldnt using an older laptop be incredibly simpler?

Battery will allow for S3 suspend = instant boot for days, with no fear of car battery drainage.
A simple power inverter connected to a lead that only provides power when the car is on would make powering it a piece of cake and there should be low power consumption.
If you ever need to service it, its all self contained and easy to do - just unplug it and do what you gotta do.

Shouldnt be any problem attaching an auxiliary touchscreen to it.

Still though, I'm waiting for someone to create some sort of DIN or otherwise reasonably sized control interface. Touchscreen is great and all, but when I'm driving, I want real buttons.
 
So, what happens when you stop and take the key out of the ignition? Does it shut itself down or remain on till you do it? Or just switch off like the powers been cut?
 
Originally posted by: Jahee
So, what happens when you stop and take the key out of the ignition? Does it shut itself down or remain on till you do it? Or just switch off like the powers been cut?
Click to expand...

He showed that at the end... it looked like once he shut the car off (or in this case, turned it from ACC to OFF?), the unit began to shut down.
 
Not able to check out the video as I'm at work, but that looks like a pretty cool setup judging by your parts list. I've got one in my Ford Contour as well. Got the idea from my friend who put one in his car. I've got a mini-ITX board which with an integrated VIA processor that I thought was small, 6.7inches x 6.7inches. But 3.5inches? Holy moly! The mini-ITX board I used just barely fit behind the glovebox mounted where the factory stereo amp used to be. It's tight back there with the laptop hard disk and the power supply/shutdown controller. For a monitor I've got a 7inch LinITX screen and I haven't mounted it yet, it's just flopping around loose which is kind of annoying but after getting it all working I got lazy with trying to fabricate a way to mount it. I'm running XP on mine too and boot up time isn't bad. Takes about a minute or two. As far standby goes, I don't think I'd configure it that way. They suck a fair amount of juice when in standby and if your controller board does not have a low voltage shut down feature you'll kill your battery.
I have this problem with my lcd. I power it from the 12 volt cig lighter and when the car pc turns off, it goes to standby. For some odd reason Ford has their cigarette lighter wired to the battery as opposed to the 12 volt accessory. So I figured, it's in standby it should barely be drawing any power. Doesn't even have an led that's lit. Boy was I wrong. Left my car for a week at the airport parking garage and the sucker drained my battery. Now I make sure to unplug the cig lighter plug every time I leave the car. Anyway's just a heads up on some of the issues I ran into with it. Other than that, it works great. Wired right to the aux in of my Pioneer deck so I didn't have to screw around with an amp for the speakers.
 
BD2003:

Yes, a laptop would be easier, but it wouldn't be as customizable. Plus, its actually bigger then the setup I run now so it wouldn't fit in my glove compartment.

Jahee & Aikouka:

The dc regulator has the positive and negative hookups and a 12v signal wire from my cigarette lighter. It turns off 10 seconds after the lighter goes off (key turned away from onn to acc or off). Same delay for when it gets the signal.

AMCRambler:

Yeah, the motherboard is the same size as my Opus 150. I would say all the cable running around actually takes up more space then the actual circuitry. Boot time seems slow but I haven't missed a beat since when I first turn on the car, I'm backing out of my garage or spot anyway.

So far, I'm a bit disappointed with my fab job. The screen is facing up a little too much so the driver is the only person that can really see it. I need to cut it open and fab it to face down a little more so people can get in the viewing angle.
 
Thats a nice board...i have the minitix M1000..similar to AMCRamblers. Fits right behind the glove. When i first started the carpc they were just developing those small boards you have. They were pricey though. Nice to see their actually out and people are using them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top