Just wondering if anyone else has put a pc in their car or if i'm the geekiest one here .... :redface:

Just wondering if anyone else has put a pc in their car or if i'm the geekiest one here .... :redface:

I had a friend of mine eyeing off my laptop brainstorming how it could be incorporated into the dash last night :bowrofl: You might be the only one that has followed it through though at the moment.

I havent got one here personally, But if you do have one, may i ask what type of inverter is suitable? I have a 300W inverter for my PS2 in tehre already, is that enough to run a PC?

']I havent got one here personally, But if you do have one, may i ask what type of inverter is suitable? I have a 300W inverter for my PS2 in tehre already, is that enough to run a PC?

Yeah i have a 300w and it runs a p4 with ease. mines a dicksmith special :P I posted my current progress on this site http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=88229
i haven't totally finished .. i havent even mounted the box yet (note the oki strap and half pool cue lol ) But i have a working model anyways!

I know toyota had a car that was released in japan with a laptop that slid out from the glovebox, thats pretty cool I guess.

I am about to install one in my 3rd Gen TL....

As for power supply, most people use a car based DC-DC power supply such as M2-ATX or OPUS.. I am using an M2-ATX (160W)...

I have my carpc set up, just need to fabricate the 7" touch screen into the dash (where the double DIN is) and mount the computer under the passenger seat.

I am running WinXP off a 1Gb Compact Flash, with a 80Gb HDD, Bluetooth (for mobile phone control), Wifi, GPS. Frontend is RoadRunner with Freedom 2.1 skin.

So, I guess your not the only geek with a computer in the car.

So, I guess your not the only geek with a computer in the car.

Thats good to know :P XP off a flash drive hey sounds fast ... where and how much was your lcd?

How is it possible to run a PC off a 160W power supply, I thought the smallest amount of power a p4 could run off was like 300W, seeing they all how 300W+ PSU in them.

How is it possible to run a PC off a 160W power supply, I thought the smallest amount of power a p4 could run off was like 300W, seeing they all how 300W+ PSU in them.

Nar you can run a p4 as low as 90w but you cant hang a million hd's off it. I think mine is around 160w and its a low speed 533fsb p4 and i only have 1 hd and 1 dvd drive. I havent had any power issues.

I have one based off a P3 1.13 Ghz laptop. There is a motorized touch screen in one of the din slots. It runs XP but i usually use centrafuse as the interface. Works pretty well. I have the haltech hooked up to it for datalogging/stuffing around. Going to get a USB GPS receiver but am trying to find some GPS maps/software that I dont have to pay $500+ for.

Going to get a USB GPS receiver but am trying to find some GPS maps/software that I dont have to pay $500+ for.

I have an Ipaq 4150 using TOMTOM navigator 6 with the latest maps .. only thing close i've found is an emulator for pocket pc to run on my carpc .. would be great to not have to use the ipaq everytime i get lost :P

How is it possible to run a PC off a 160W power supply, I thought the smallest amount of power a p4 could run off was like 300W, seeing they all how 300W+ PSU in them.

Well - I'm not running a P4 for starters... I am running a VIA EPIA SP13000 - 1.3GHz which uses about 30W max..

So off a 160W PSU I am running MB, HDD, LCD, and about 4 USB devices.

Thats good to know :P XP off a flash drive hey sounds fast ... where and how much was your lcd?

I have a cut down (TinyXP) windows install (400Mb HD / 40Mb RAM used when running)... My machine boots in 20-30 secs and shuts down in 2. Only thing with a Compact Flash card is they are only good for a limited number of writes and Windows likes to write *lots*. So I have pulled a component out of XP Embedded (EWF - Enhanced Write Filter) which prevents all writes to flash... So if I want anything written to the flash drive (under windows) I have to disable/re-enable and reboot for the changes to stick.

As for the LCD - EBay for around $300 out of hong kong or somewhere like that... The most common ones used are Lilliput / Xenarc. My is an Ex-Audio brand which is a rebranded lilliput I believe.. These LCD's are OK (not brilliant) visibility wise in the car (sunlight).

If you really want to get into carpc stuff , check out www.mp3car.com if you haven't already... There is a good forum there, which is where I got alot of my info for my build from.

Other good links are:

www.freedrive.co.uk
www.rrdownloads.net
www.caraudioaustralia.com

My machine boots in 20-30 secs and shuts down in 2.

Yeah mine boots cold at around the same and hibernates in about 3-4secs. I have an LCD tv in-dash type and i'm running tvout (800x600) and you would swear it was a VGA one. And in direct sunlight its totally readable with all colours etc. I would like a touchscreen though down the track so i could run centrafuse :)

Been there, done that, and got rid of it 5 years ago.