Ok so I am thinking that maybe instead of just running a head unit that there might be some pretty cool advantages in running a full CarPC have been looking into it on and off a couple of times but now I really think that it is the way to go.

As far as computer components go I have fallen a bit behind the times in advancement of technology, but I was looking around on eBay and thought that this might be a pretty good board to build the thing off of, I was wondering if there is anyone where with a bit more experience in all this might be able to take a look at it and see if I am heading in the right direction.

I'm looking for it to be used for music, video, GPS and bluetooth mostly.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-AsRock-E350M1-USB3-Mini-ITX-Motherboard-HTPC-HDMI-/250799700809?pt=AU_Components&hash=item3a64d3bb49#ht_3331wt_905

Thanks

One of the easiest ways i know of is to get one of those tiny Apple mac things, a touch screen and then just run that.
They use a minuscule amount of power, produce little heat, weigh nothing and you can do many great things with them. Have an iTouch/iPhone? Control it with that. Any resolution touch screen works too, because they're surprisingly gutsy.

Only problem is cost, so just go for a used one instead of the new ($900) ones.

Thanks for the info man, i did a rough price up of a pc based system and come up with the price of just under $700 including the screening, thats with power supply mini-ITX case and everything, the plan was to run linux on it as it requires minimal resources to run, the system I came up with was using the motherboard, cpu combo in the above link, 1gb of DDR3 memory, 320 GB laptop hard drive and nice miniITX case with a couple of fans in it and a double din 7" Lilliput screen.

The only things that will probably need to be added is some sort of external audio card as to get some RCA out puts etc although I think a head unit may be able to be wired into it as another means of getting some RCA's.

Another option for the software to run it is to use Android which has already been ported to to the PC by a group of developers , I haven't checked up on it for 6 months or so but I think they were still writing drivers for things like bluetooth and wireless.

There are a couple of people of mp3car.com installing mini macs into their cars but I don't know have never really been up with the whole mac thing, but I can see how their minuscule power requirement could be beneficial.

Its still in the planning stages but we will see how I get on.

The newer mac minis have an 85w PSU, which seems like the main reason it would be great for car PCs - and it has wireless and bluetooth and everything already built in.
The only thing i can think wrong with it is the only audio out - just a standard headphone jack.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure to post back and tell us about it. I'm interested in doing this sort of thing too as an alternative to an expensive double din headunit.

How would you go about GPS, though?

For the GPS I would be going with something like the link below. Its just a USB GPS receiver and from there is it just a matter of some software for the actual navigation. The CentreFuse CarPC front end has maps etc for Australian roads built it to it so there are option out there, Also may be the possibility to use TomTom or Garmin software but haven't really look too much into it yet.

Will definitely do a write up on the whole thing when it goes ahead car needs to be RWC'd first and a couple of bits and pieces tidied up, in the mean time I ill pay around with the specs of the actually hardware and post up the contents of the system hen I'm happy with it

Ok so here is the very basic list on what I'm going to be using as a base for the system, should start happening as soon as the car is reg'd and roadworthied

Motherboard/CPU ASROCK E35OM1-USB3 177
Power Supply
Screen Lilliput EBY701NP 244.42
Harddrive Seagate 320gb 110
Case Slim Tiny mini-ITX pc chassis 63.99
Memory Kingston KVR1333D3N9/ 1G 1GB 1.33GHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM 40

Seen these http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200430355194&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Ive just removed my carPC, Im looking at selling off the P/supply, GPS dongle, and lilliput screen... (all barely used...)

Pm me if your interested, and if you are ill grab the product numbers of it all....

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82681

without saying the same thing , here's the link to mine , with a few photos..
happy to answer any questions...

in regards to your hardware choices , i'd certainly recommend a SSD hardrive..fast and reliable in the car compared to a normal hardrive with moving parts.
i got the Kingston 128gig drive , it's plenty big enough for a car media setup...

GPS in mine uses a USB gps reciever mounted behind the trim next to the windscreen..i use the garmin software...it works like a normal GPS...i didn't think it was worth buying centrafuse with it's own GPS mapping software , for updates etc the garmin is just a torrent download...
RCA's you can just wire straight off the motherboard header, no need for another soundcard.
internet uses an optus 3G USB modem with an antenna mounted up in the B pillar.

Seen these http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200430355194&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


I hadn't actually come across those. they look very bloody good for the price but I think for this project I would prefer the satisfaction of building it myself. But they do seem great value for money


Ive just removed my carPC, Im looking at selling off the P/supply, GPS dongle, and lilliput screen... (all barely used...)

Pm me if your interested, and if you are ill grab the product numbers of it all....

Sounds good mate will PM you tomorrow evening


http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82681

without saying the same thing , here's the link to mine , with a few photos..
happy to answer any questions...

in regards to your hardware choices , i'd certainly recommend a SSD hardrive..fast and reliable in the car compared to a normal hardrive with moving parts.
i got the Kingston 128gig drive , it's plenty big enough for a car media setup...

Thanks for the information mate, I was looking at SSD Drives couldn't really fathom the price of them really...but if you do recommend on maybe its worth paying a bit more and sacrificing a bit of extra space and getting one. I have around 60-70gig of music and that's all I really want to get on there so I will do a bit of research on them and might go with one. Might have to PM you and pick your breain about a few things in the near future if thats ok?

Cheers

Someone at work has one of those little palm sized laptops with XP and a solid state hard drive, something like a 10 second startup time.

id say that a solid state drive is the only thing that should be used in a vehicle setup..
with all the bumps from the road surfaces , i could see music skipping and PC crashing..even with a large cache memory...normal harddrive won't last..
the speed from the SSD drive is well worth it too... Press on a song while another song in a different album is playing, and it will start the new song instantly..
boot up time is real fast too....

if you need a hand anytime , just PM me... i'm always playing with the car PC..

just about to drop a ssd in mine the old hard drive has died or about too, also looking at a soundblaster x-fi pcie card instead of the onboard 5.1 anyone know if they dont mind hibernation?

Stay away from soundblaster.. I had problems with the drivers, but that may have been because I run TinyXP.. I have gone for a Asus Xonar instead, a bit more pricey though.. I am using an OCZ Vertex 30Gb, and a external 2.5" Hdd for music/videos. Have had no problems.

My system boots to music in about 20-30 secs. SSD will be the best investment you will make, however be careful if you are looking at OCZ and the vertex 2 in particular. There are quite a lot of reports of drives locking and requiring replacement under RMA. Check out the ocz forums for more info.

got a kingston 30gb ssd drive here, going to try clone xp over to it (not tiny ed) may try the xfi its cheap enough and will fit in the only spot i have spare