watch me build a car PC

[damarble]

Welcome to my CarPC project log. I'm reorganizing the thread right now so it will be cluttered for a while. The log will be divided into three parts. The first post will contain the most current pictures and status. The second and third will be a road map of my progress.


My current car:



It's an 85 AMC Eagle. I'm looking for a newer car right now, should have one in a couple months. I've narrowed it down to a Mitsu Eclipse, Dodge Neon, or Ford Focus, from 95-02.

The CarPC:



Mobo - Asus P4P800-VM
CPU - Celeron M 1.3 w/ASUS CT-479 adapter
RAM - Generic single 512mb stick
HDD - 40gb Seagate 7200RPM 8mb cache
Video - 128mb Nvidia MX440
Sound - onboard for now, trying to get a low profile 5.1 card
PSU - M1-ATX 90w
Case - Panasonic drill case
LCD - Xenarc 700TSV 7" touchscreen
Amp - Rockford Fosgate Punch 400a4

 

[damarble]

Rev. 1


This stuff's not optimum but I already have it.
It's a:
Celeron 2.4 (will underclock a little)
Foxconn 648FX4MR-ES mobo
Matrox 32MB VC
Maxtor 6.5GB hdd (if I kill it no biggie. Will get something else down the road)

Currently loading Ubuntu linux on it.

Here's the case I made by cutting an old CD changer in half. It's 4" tall, 8" wide, 16" deep. It's got a cover thats makes it look much better, also I'm going to paint it before the final install. I'll post more details once it's done.




The rear of my car. The PC will go in the empty space to the right of the spare. As you can see from the other side there is a panel that I took off to get access.




My dash. I will have to relocate the HVAC controls, but they're a pain becuase they're cable operated. A picture of the original radio bezel, and the LCD installed in a junk bezel I hacked up. I basicaly cut a hole 1/8" smaller than the LCD's bezel and sandwiched the radio bezel between the to halves of the LCD case. It's very solid and works really well.

 

[damarble]

Rev. 2



Standoffs. I used 4 nylon and 2 aluminum for ground.


Hard drive mounting. I used some flat aluminum strips that are a little springy for added shock absorbsion.


Case dremeled for I/O ports and fan.



Mobo installed. There is less than 1/4" clearance at any side.

 

[Randyman...]

I'm looking at doing something simular, but with Mini-ITX components for space reasons (almost bought a MoBo, CPU, and case off here, but it sold before I jumped on it). Have you checked out Carpc.com for Displays and Power Supplies? They are ahead of the game when it comes to Car PC's...

I planned on having my Car PC replace my audio DSP processing, too (no small feat - I run a Sony XDP-4000x DSP unit; $1200 retail ). But this will certainly eat up LOTS of precious CPU power (linear-phase EQ's and Filters are resource hogs!). I will use an 8 channel soundcard (like my RME Multiface, or maybe a M-Audio Firewire 410) and have each output channel feed a discrete amplifier channel (just like my system now). 2 channels to the subs, 2 channes to the Mid Bass 8.75" drivers, 2 channels to the Mids, and 2 channels to the Tweets (all active - no passive L/C networks. YES!!!). I'll have the PC do all EQ, Filtering (crossovers) and delay-line compensations.

I also wanted to add GPS (I still get lost in my hometown of 31 years ), and of course, a Single-DIN 7" retractable LCD Touchscreen - and stash a compact keyboard under my seat for the rare need for a keyboard.

I was looking at a retractable 7" LCD Touchscreen that had AM/FM and a TV Tuner built in! This would be PERFECT to allow AM/FM+TV reception w/o adding other expensive USB stuff to the PC (just run a pair of RCA's from the LCD to the PC's Soundcard input, and there is your AM/FM+TV Audio!)

DVD's would be a plus, but probably NEVER get utilized in my system (I'm an audio FREAK - I could care less about Video).

I'm still researching, but this WILL happen at some point. I just need to make SURE that any PC I choose will have enough power to run all of my audio DSP along with DVD-Navigation and Music Jukebox software w/o choking.

Awaiting more pics

 

[damarble]

Thanks for the input. I havent been to carpc.com but I've spent a lot of time at mp3car.com and I've read "Car PC Hacks" front to back. I think I'm going to go with the 7" Lilliput, although Xenarc's 0 dead pixel policy is very appealing.

As an update, I just scrapped ubuntu. My working knowledge of Linux is so limited I felt very restricted with it. So I'm going with XP Pro for now.

 

[natewildes]

My friend rigged an old laptop up in his car; using a PCCard Audigy2 and a small LCD monitor mounted where his stero should be, he can rock out to Bon Jovi at 400dB. Your way seems too 'much', they have cool-running laptops for a reason!

 

[Cetamega]

good luck on the carputer man... they can be a tough cookie.

 

[shiltz]

for the monitor i'd say go with the Xenarc over the Lilliput if you haven't bought it already, I had read a lot of bad things on the Lilliput when I was building my car pc so I went with the Xenarc and it works great, also the Lilliput doesn't properly detect it's native resolution, 800x480 so you don't get a nice clear picture, the Xenarc does though so you do get a nice sharp clear picture.

 

[damarble]

Update!

 

[damarble]

OK, many changes. I will most likely be getting a new car (Ford Focus). I've also changed mobo and CPU. I got a 1.3ghz Dothan and an Asus P4P800VM. The Asus is about 10" square, so it won't fit in my case. I may get some sheet aluminum and fab up a new one.

 

[damarble]

Almost done! My Dothan adapter is here and I'm installing a small version of WinXP (150mb).
I'm waiting for a laptop DVD adapter to get here and I will have all the parts I need. I found a steel Panasonic drill case on ebay with the exact dimensions I needed for $15. 10x10x3" A little dremeling and it makes a sturdy, nice looking PC case.

Lots of pix coming tomorrow!

 

[Flip-Mode]

Subscribed.

 

[damarble]

Subscribed.

Wow, my first subscription.

I'm making a few final cuts in the case right now. I probably need an intake hole over the HSF but I'll see how it goes.

Edit - added teaser pix in post #3.

 

[damarble]

It Works!!

I happened to have a open connector one my fuse box that when direct to the battery, so I tapped that for power. A second wire goes from the PSU to a switched 12v (radio power) to trigger the on switch. Now as soon as I turn the key the computer boots. And since it's directly wired to the battery it does not cut out during cranking. I set it to hibernate when I turn off the ignition, after a 30 sec delay. It takes around 10-15 secs to come out of hibernation when I start the car.

The next time increment to hibernate after ign off is 30min. I may set it to that, because I make a lot of short stops and it would save boot time. I tested the PC on battery alone for almost and hour and their was still plenty of juice to start easy, so the battery dying won't be a problem (BTW, the temp in the garage was hovering around freezing, so it behaves well in cold).

Now I'm working on setting up the software. (Or I will be after I get off work) For the frontend I think I'm going with MediaCar or it's variant, Road Runner. I like Centrafuse, but it's not free and acts kind of flaky.

One quirk I'm working on, the Xenarc has a native res of 800x480. The only way I've been able to get the res set correctly at 800x480 is with Powerstrip. The Nvidia drivers won't do it right. Which means I'll have to spend $30 on the registered version so I can keep using it.

 

[SnakeATWAR]

Subscribed as well.
Looks very promising!
Can't wait to see the Focus with the computer... What color?

 

[Deadbot1_1973]

going to a ford from that old eagle...blasphemy. My mom had one of those. sold it at 150k and I saw it a few years later at 300+k miles.

Looks like a cool setup. I've considered this as well, but I'm just not ready to make that jump to a pc in the car yet.

 

[Como]

man, ive seen a few focus's, look like they have lots of room in the dash to play with.

 

[Xtreme Barton]

man ... that car ... hehehehe im no knocking (im ringing the door bell )

im just gonn ago with a small form factor and build gaming capable .. small wirless keyboard with touchpad and maybe just stick with agp...

im looking into the psu's not to sure on small form factor if you have to have a special psu that will fit or the standard ones may ... i dunno yet ..


be nice for buisness to just fil out order forms and print rather than hand write sales reciepts ..

 

[MightyJoe]

Very cool, it's neat to see an older car get some high-tech goodies. Enjoy your new Focus as well.

 

[EvilT]

Teasers!

were did you get that agp adapter thing?