What OS would you recomend for an in car computer? And other info would be great.

[TonyG]

I am working on a in car computer, and want to know what the best operating system is. It would need to support the following:
Voodoo 3 3000
SB Live X-gamer
Packard Bell Remote control
Not require a keyboard or mouse to be connected
nic
WinAmp


I have a couple of different small harddrive I can use for this computer, including a 500meg, possibly 800meg, or 1.2gig, I would prefer to go with the smallest one I can because I don't know how long it will stand up to being in a car, probably not long. I will buy a laptop harddrive to go in it when I get some extra cash, but for now all music will be played from the cdrom drive. The OS also needs to be fast booting, so no windows 2000, though here is a list of the OS I have that I can install:
Windows 95
Windows 98 & 98SE
Windows 2000 Pro
Windows XP
or some variant of linux???

I am king of leaning towards windows 95 for a small install, and relatively fast boot up.

Any other info you may have towards putting this thing together would be greatly appreciated. I have a 6.4 inche LCD screen to go on this, using the output from the S-video out on the voodoo3 using the s-video to rca converter.

Thanks

 

[n0cmonkey]

A few people have already done similar things with linux. Then again, some people have done it with Winders. I would use a linux varient and find drivers for the hardware I have or get hardware that has drivers.

 

[chiwawa626]

Well i'd suggest win2k for stability....but if the harddrives not big enough i guess win98 would be suitable as long as again its stable.

 

[jfall]

I'd recommend Linux.. configure it to boot the very least you can.. should boot quickly.

A problem or two that you might run into, and I know this because I was once interested in putting a computer in my car to use as an MP3 player, this was before they were available for cars.. anyways, I found out that a lot of people who did such a thing had problems with the hard drives going bad because of shock.. so you might want to look into that a bit further. Also, your going to need a good power inverter which will set you back some $$.. and don't forget that if you have it rigged up to shut off when the car is shut off, then it eventually may lead to some hdd corruption.. and you don't want scandisk starting up every time.. it would take too long.

 

[TonyG]

Yeah, I have read about regular hard drives not holding up to good, that is why I am going to just use one of the old small drives I have, until I get some extra cash to buy a used laptop hard drive.
If I go for linux, what would be the best solution for my use? I have very little, very limited expirience with mandrake, and really no next to nothing about it.

As for the inverter, I have a 550 watt Tripp Light Inverter, coming in that I bought off of a member here. I think that it should do the trick. It is one of the ones you wire directy into the battery, supposedly an industrial quality one.

I will look into getting a second battery, sealed lead acetate, and a relay switch to mount in the trunk at a later time, just for the use of the computer but until then it will go into the main battery.

 

[Deleted member 54998]

Hard Drives hold up just fine in cars. Check out the forums and examples at www.mp3car.com you should find all the info you need. I would personally suggest using Win95 for what you want to do now because it has the least overhead and you don't have to deal with linux.
Anyway, a 150 watt power inverter should be sufficient and should not cost you more than $30. Also don't worry about shutting the thing on while running Win95. If you are playing music from a cd the hard drive will not be running and no damage will be caused.
I wouldn't worry about a second battery for the computer either. Unless you will run the computer for long periods of time without the car running it is senseless. The computer alone uses no more than 100 watts. It is not like you are water-cooling it.

 

[TonyG]

Thanks for the link, that site does have some helpful information.

Like I said, I have a 550watt power inverter heading my way.

 

[d33pt]

dartman is right.. you dont need the 2nd batt.. the inverter is not drawing 550w at all times.. it just supplies what the computer needs.. i use win98 and i just shut it off.. no big deal about files being open.. just make sure to turn off autoscandisk... i've had it in there for 2 years and i've only had one hd failure.. cdroms will fail quicker than hd's

 

[TonyG]

Well, I think I am going to go with win95.

Does anybody know the maximum temperature an LCD screen can take? I am in the Texas panhandle and in the summer it can easily get to a 100+ degrees F. The lcd I have is made to mount on the ceiling of the car and flip down. Also, if you know of a program that allows you to just zoom in on a certain area of the screen using the rca output of the vid card that would be great.

One more thing, does anybody know about the Texas laws dealing with an lcd screen in the front of the car, where the driver could possibly see it, if there is any laws.

Thanks

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Look into Windows CE, you need the smallest OS possible

 

[TonyG]

Ok, I decided to go with the 1.2gig hard drive because my copy of win95 would not install.

What is the highest temperature this equipment can take? It can and will reach over a 110+ degrees F. in my car during the summer, so will I need to pull the system out on days I will not be using my car or should I just leave it in? It will be going up front in my car, kinda of like a console.

 

[Ultima]

<< Ok, I decided to go with the 1.2gig hard drive because my copy of win95 would not install.

What is the highest temperature this equipment can take? It can and will reach over a 110+ degrees F. in my car during the summer, so will I need to pull the system out on days I will not be using my car or should I just leave it in? It will be going up front in my car, kinda of like a console. >>



computers are just like any other electronics; as long as you have proper cooling in place it should be fine.

 

[TonyG]

The only time I am worried about it getting to hot is when the car is parked, and all windows are up, since I will have no way to keep the setup cool. The main thing I am worried about is the lcd screen being damaged from the heat.

 

[Scootin159]

<< The only time I am worried about it getting to hot is when the car is parked, and all windows are up, since I will have no way to keep the setup cool. The main thing I am worried about is the lcd screen being damaged from the heat. >>



While I'm not sure about the LCD specifically, your computer electronics should be alright as long as they aren't running. The non-operating temp. extremes are generally REALLY high (I'd be more worried about the plastic casing melting). Actually now that I think about it those LCD's come in all sorts of cars now (that whole Chevy Venture thing comes to mind), so I think you should be fine.