Is it possible to get a PC to run IN-Car???

[L33t_m4st3r]

I was reading the article about the flat PC and he said he hooked his PC upto his car, is this possible???
cause it would be pretty cool if you could.
you could do the suitcase PC and use it in the car with a LCDscreen or sumthin (especially if the car already had them fitted).
just an idea guys

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Yes it is possible. There have been a few threads about it here, but I don't see them and the search isn't working right now for some reason.

The things you have to worry about are:

Heat
room to put it
turbulence, (hard drives don't like bumps)
theft, if you don't mount it in the dash or center console



Some suggestions are

laptop hard drives, because they can take more bumps and are smaller.

VIA Cyrix processors because they put out VERY little heat, and are powerful enough to play mp3's and basic software. (no divx movies though).

[KILLorBE]

Linky (http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/carpc.jsp)

You could also do a search on google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=carputer&btnG=Google+Search).

**EDIT** Welcome to the forums L33t_m4st3r

[BlueWraith]

You can buy power inverters at walmart or most car audio shops that will use the cars 12v system to power a 110v outlet. Using that, you can plug the power supply into there.

www.mp3car.com has some great pictures and install help.

I used to have a lil HP from wallyworld in my truck. It made a great armrest, but other then playing Starcraft it wasn't much good in there. I didn't have anything that I could run to the speakers to make them work with the carputer.

[i_like_penguins]

i dont recomend power inverters. you get tons of noise in the auido output. it might be better to try to make a psu that takes 12v. it would be a ton of work but worth it.

[gecko]

Its actually not too dificult to make a power supply that runs off of 14.4V DC. I even saw some schematics for one online (though I cant remember where).
I agree that power inverters are a bad idea.

My friend did do it though. He's an electrical engineer and he made the p/s and I mounted it under the dash with access points for usb, keyboard, and trackball all hidden where the ash tray should be.
Then we added a remote to it and ran winamp off of that to a 6" LCD that was mounted in the glove compartment with a cd-rom.

It was a pain in the *** but it worked well before you could buy an mp3 player. I would have done it differently if the computer was powerfull enough to play divx or mpegs... but it wasn't.

-Pete

[twump]

you can order a psu built for a car from here

http://www.opussolutions.com/

[G@ZZ@]

Originally posted by twump
you can order a psu built for a car from here

http://www.opussolutions.com/

Sweet link twump !

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Originally posted by twump
you can order a psu built for a car from here

http://www.opussolutions.com/

awesome.. thanx!

i've been looking for something like that.

a tad expensive ($190), but it will do the job.

[FunkDaMonkMan]

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=187
have you seen this mobo?

Looks to be perfect for a card mod.

It has everything from 5.1 surround sound to firewire and usb2.0 in

17cm by 17cm!!!

[BlueWraith]

Originally posted by FunkDaMonkMan
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=187
have you seen this mobo?

Looks to be perfect for a card mod.

It has everything from 5.1 surround sound to firewire and usb2.0 in

17cm by 17cm!!!


... O.O :eek: Wow... :drool: okay... Thats a tiny mobo... I've seen microatx mobos before, but never quite that small. Perfect for the in-dash computer.. or even under the seat. Just hope ya dont need many cards...

[KILLorBE]

Originally posted by BlueWraith
Just hope ya dont need many cards...

As in Credit Cards:p ;)

[eab]

How fast does a computer have to be to play DVDs and divxs with out any studering?

[Ben721]

I'd say around 800mhz I guess.

I want to make a pc in my car. :D

[twump]

Originally posted by FunkDaMonkMan


awesome.. thanx!

i've been looking for something like that.

a tad expensive ($190), but it will do the job.


yeah every dc-dc psu i have looked at was over $150 even for low wattage.
I have a few other links for dc-dc psu's but none that are specifically built for a car. the psu on that link is absolutely perfect for a car comp. i don't remember the specifics but basically it will put the comp into a hibernation type of mode while the car is off so you don't have to reboot everytime you start the car. its got some kind of protection so it won't completely drain a battery and many other useful features.

i'd rather spend $190 on a good psu then spend $300+ replacing all the parts that can get fried by a psu that it either hooked to an invertor or can't handle the sloppy voltage of a car battery.

[L33t_m4st3r]

I agree with twump about the PSU's.

Thanks for the link about the MOBO, dude its sweet!!:D

Thankx Guys

[eh?]

Originally posted by eab
How fast does a computer have to be to play DVDs and divxs with out any studering? it depends. Ive seen 233s do it just fine. But i personaly wouldn't go below 500

FunkDaMonkMan that board is awesome. Everything is intregrated, even the cpu!

*edit*you can pick that board up for $123 plus shipping. Thats a great deal.http://www.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/a19143.html

[cryogen97]

that is an awesome link for that car DC-DC PSU. That's been my most difficult thing to find in my planning of my car PC. It looks awesome.

For the mobo, I was thinking more along the lines of the VIA M1000. It uses VIA's newer cpu chip and is actually better at playing movies than a lot of normal computers. see here for review: http://www.envynews.com/review.php?ID=446

And since we're on the subject. a high resolution screen is the next big hangup for most people. I found this screen a little while ago. http://www.directron.com/700ts.html 7 inch touch screen with 1.15 MegaPixel resolution -- compared to 0.38 for most screens. A tad expensive, but almost unparalleled in image quality. Only alpine has a screen with this high resolution and they want over $2k for it

[FunkDaMonkMan]

I would buy that monitor.. its sweet.. thanx for the link.

so we have...

dc-dc converter - $175
epia 10000 w/ 512megs of kingson ram - $216
xenarc 700TS 7" tft lcd monitor - $499
laptop HDD with converter ~$150


so that's about
$1050 for a very nice system in your car.

You could even add a wireless ethernet card in the extra pci slot so you could access your netork while you are near your house :D.

[twump]

Originally posted by FunkDaMonkMan
I would buy that monitor.. its sweet.. thanx for the link.

so we have...

dc-dc converter - $175
epia 10000 w/ 512megs of kingson ram - $216
xenarc 700TS 7" tft lcd monitor - $499
laptop HDD with converter ~$150


so that's about
$1050 for a very nice system in your car.

You could even add a wireless ethernet card in the extra pci slot so you could access your netork while you are near your house :D.

wow i can't beleive i never thought about wireless networking with my car pc. i had planned on using a hard drive cradle so i could just pull my hd from the car put it in my pc and transfer movies and such to it but wireless would be alot less work

[cryogen97]

wireless networking is on my list too. But the problem is that the car body will most likely go a long way towards blocking the wireless signal. So designing an antenna extension cable would be on my list as well or it's USB drive time.

With the powerful PSU you can use a regular CD-ROM instead of a laptop slimline and an adaptor, so savings there. Who doesn't have an older one laying around anyways?

[BlueWraith]

Originally posted by FunkDaMonkMan
You could even add a wireless ethernet card in the extra pci slot so you could access your netork while you are near your house :D.

Don't have to be your network either... I was watching a documentary or whatever on TV talking about the insecurities of several wireless networks. I'll stop at that though, as I'm not fully skilled in the rules of the board yet.

[IceMan3928]

somehow i knew someone was gonna bring up wardriving from this, i dont think the mods would look to kindly on that discussion going any further.
That said, my mouth is watering right now with ideas of what all i could do with this, oh man, such a sweet idea. Oooh, anybody know where you could get a mini projector to create a DIY heads up display powered by one of these comps?

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Wardriving? Isn't that where you get 2+ cars with wireless internet and computers, and drive them down the road doing crap? What would be wrong with discussing this?

[i_like_penguins]

HA. A heads up dispay. That would rule. I think that a projector might be overkill though. That might be a tad bright. An lcd in the dash would be just as effective. That is such a sweet idea. Another thing that you could do is remove the raido an install a slot loading dvd rom. If you wanted to listen to the raido, get a raido tunner card. I think that newegg has one for around 50 bones.

[IceMan3928]

well, with an in dash LCD you couldnt see through it like you could with a HUD, the whole point of the HUD is so you dont have to take your eyes off the road to check stuff.

[L33t_m4st3r]

very good idea's people thankx for the info

[soundfx4]

Of coarse it is possible! You would need a powerful alternator though, and a power inverter. You would probably need a bunch of other stuff too (no, you WILL need a bunch of other stuff too :D ) But that would solve the power problem. I have no idea of I would begin to do this, but I would like to do this someday too. Of coarse I am missing one big important piece of equipment for this project...the car! :beer: That's right ladies and gents! I'm 18 and still don't have a car, or license! HAHAHh...heh..ho...ugh :rolleyes:

[Fast420A]

WWW.ARMOND30.COM

The owner of this site has a PC in his trunk with monitors in the car.

[twump]

if you had actually read the thread you would know we all came to the conclusion that power inverters are not safe enough to run a comp off of. they have sloppy power and can fail easily. they make psu's that connect to a cars electrical system

[four4875]

hehe thats what i was thinking, twump. if i was doing it, i'd just build my own PSU... use regulators with switching transistors to turn on the PSU. but it'd be alot more crude than the one above. i dont see a need for a comp in a car, tho. just get a laptop and a DC-DC inverter for it.

[eab]

For a screen I saw this and thought it was the GREATEST idea for a computer car screen http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=353376&BQ=jcw2
Its a screen that folds out of a am/fm cd player in your dash. You can hook up a tv tunner plus another av product, Your computer!

[twump]

eab thats what i am planning on using for my front screen. its hidden when your not in the car and big enough to see everything.. only problem is they are expensive.

[cryogen97]

those type of screens are very common. the problem with them and 95% of the screens out there is that they are low resolution. You'd be hard pressed to run over 640x480 and still make anything out. You'll still be squiting at that. They're designed to play movies, not act as a monitor.

[twump]

all it has to do is play movies for the most part. as long as you can see enough to be able to highlight and play a bunch of mp3's what more do you need. its not like anyone is doing graphics on thses comps. they are for movies and music. resolution isn't much of an issue.

[cryogen97]

I'd be running GPS too. I'd probably be fairly unique in running an engine managment system with it as well.

[dreadlord79]

Here is another thread to a guy who has used the VIA mobo and built himself a car-puter: http://www.thisstrife.com/carproject/index_chapter_3.asp
If you want some ideas on the various uses that people have put this mobo to, try: www.mini-itx.com and then click the projects tab.

[G@ZZ@]

Some great lcd's here listed Click (http://theauto.zoovy.com/category/lcdsandtvs/)

[cryogen97]

the link to the strife website is proving to be an invaluable source of information.

[Celeron_Phreak]

Hmm. Interesting. My older borther (no AMD Phreak) did just that so that he could go on vacation with a computer. He bought a 400 WATT power inverter to give it power. Thing is, I don't believe he ever did put it in. AMD Phreak and him were supposed to get together to do it all, but I don't believe it ever happened. Oh well.

Anyway, he was planing on using an in-dash LCD I believe, and put teh comptuer in teh trunk. I dunno what he would do with an HD. I would thing that speed bumps and all would trash it out. I personally would have built up a box for the HD. Put some type of springs under it, and have a fan blowing over it. Just so it doesn't absorb the shock of rocks and all.

[dreadlord79]

Here's another link if you want more power than the VIA's put out: http://www.commell-sys.com/News/News_20030508_LV670M.htm
I've been thinking about this for a small server built into my soon to be built gaming table for D & D (THE DEVIL'S GAME!!! hahaha).

[G@ZZ@]

Now that is nice, has enough power to be a decent gaming and multimedia machine in a small case.
That will make a great modders board for small cramped situations and still be a good performing system compared to via's mini mobo's.

[G@ZZ@]

Found a place to buy it here $350
http://207.32.141.10/scripts/site/site_product.php3/id/6877/