Would Appreciate Some Info For Carputer Project.

[vulcano]

Hi all, just became a member of this forum :D

I've got a one year old bright yellow IS200(originial lexus colour) with full TTE tuning kit.

I'm seriously considering installing a carputer. I'm no noob when it comes to normal computers, but this is new to me.

First of all, after reading all the topics on AUX,

-Is it possible ?? because I did'tn find an answer. If yes, then I'll install a liliput 7" on my dash and a computer in the trunk.

If no, I'll remove the audio unit and replace it with a epia 12000 + dvdrom+usb-cx and a liliput in front (will try to install all in original audio bay).

-I can't seem to find an appropiate FM/AM- USB device so that I'll still have radio in my car ... and are there programs or so out there that can find alternative frequencies ?

-The mobo I'll use has a 6 channel out... how do I do the wiring with amplifiers to keep surround capabilities (if possible).

-Is there any way you can put the computer in standby mode when then 12Vacc drops ? and vice versa ?

-Wich 7"touchscreen is best ? xenarc or liliput... and why do some people take a screen that uses tv-input instead of d-sub ?

Thanks all and sorry for all the questions, but I like to be prepared,, can't afford to immobilize the car for more then a couple of days :(

[necromax]

Welcome to the forum! There are a couple of folks undertaking similar projects to what you are proposing. Fargo has put a carputer in his car, and done some impressive fabircation work to install his screen. Brettster has a carputer installed, and has mounted his screen in a similar fashion to that which you propose. I'm installing a carputer, and using the OEM satnav housing to mount my screen with the PC in the boot. For more info on audio, you can use www.talkaudio.co.uk and to get information on the xenarc/lilliput debate and find out all about specialist carputer software go look at www.mp3car.com

For radio, have a look at the Dlink USB radio device. This will work with Frodoplayer and others, allowing you to have radio on your carputer.

You can maintain the 6 channels, you'd simply need to have a six channel amp (or 2 channel + 4 channel)

If you use an OPus PSU, you should be able to shutdown or put your PC instandy, talk to Brettster/Fargo about this, they have their carputers up and running, and I know Fargo uses the Opus, and Brett puts his PC in standby frquently

[Brettster]

yes you can have the computer go into standby when you turn off the key, this is how i have my carputer setup. I will say that you should go for a very good car pc power supply, Fargo has an opus 90watt for sale, these are perfect for incar use and I use the very same psu in my car and its faultless.

Im using a tape adapter at the moment to get the sound from the pc into the car's headunit but i think one day im going to replace the headunit with the touchscreen and change the speakers and amp, (maybe)

[necromax]

one day im going to replace the headunit with the touchscreen and change the speakers and amp, (maybe)

Do it Brett, you know it makes sense ;) I think Fargo has sold the spare Opus :(

[Fargo]

[fargo enters stage right lol]

ow do boys.

Mr Vulcano.. have a look at my carputer project webpage for some ideas of where to stick the components.

your see that i cut up a double din fascia panel and made it longer (liquid plastic and texture spray) so it can acommodate a 7" screen (from cartft.com which looks like a rebranded liliput) and a single din headunit through which i simply put the pc sound through the aux input of.

Yep the spare opus has been sold now.

but deffo i would say go for the opus unit as it has an integrated shutdown/standby controller, this enable the PC to go into hibernate mode when the ignition is removed, then it starts up again at the point you left off, ie in the middle of an mp3.

as necromax sugested go have a look at mp3car.com for a wealth of info.

[MrADeveci]

Fargo = The daddy of carputer projects

[vulcano]

Thanks all for the info :D, damn you guys are fast, on other forums you have to wait so long before getting an answer,,, ... :D :D

Fargo,, hehehe before i asked my question here, I read trough your project about 5 times... think all my friends have also seen it by now hehehe because I tought It was da bomb :D :D, problem is that I'm not such a handy person hehehehe. I'll probably make mine in wood and spray paint on it, or put black leather on it.

:( My girlfriend had an accident today, actually I drive a toyo landcruiser for my work, and you can use my lexus to go to work, but today she backed up and didn't see the lighting pole coming from the right side hehehehe crash boom bang :P , There's not that much damage, but still ... makes me think about putting some parking-sensors on it.

One of my concurns is that all the equipment wont fit behind the display and that I'll have to relocate the mainboard to the trunk ... that would mean that I bought an expensive 1.2Ghz mainboard when I could have had for the same price a 3.0Ghz mainboard+cpu.

These are some pictures from my car:

Full View

Front View

Rear View

[MrADeveci]

Hmm .... I like those chrome rear fog light surrounds !!!!

[Fargo]

Fargo = The daddy of carputer projects     

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luvv you mr face. lol

mr vulcano.. do not fear geting handy with the DIY. i was a bit daunted at making the dash and it was my first time fabricating such an item (never even fibreglassed etc) it was real easy man,, when using the liquid plastic (which I got from a company in Netherlands) just whack it all on then sand it down to shape,, i bet even you could use a bit of sandpaper. Man if your gona make it out of wood then im sure you can simply modify a ready made Toyota double din panel to accept a touchscreen, all you would need to do is cut out a small section of the pocket it has at the bottom, then take apart the screen and glue the front section into position on the back of the double din panel,, then fill the gaps with liquid plastic or the like, sand to shape and then spray over,, job done,, surly sounds easier than starting from scratch with wood. I tell you what im such a nice guy I’ll do it for you,, just send me the the double din panel (which lexus order from belguim anyways, I can get you the part number) and send me the screen and I will do it..

have you had the stereo out, have you seen the space behind it,, there is a far bit..

some ideas for you, if the mothebaord doesnt fit there you could either stick it inthe glove box liek brettster or you could put in BEHIND the glove box area, you could then run the HD to behind the oem stereo area.

The disk drive you could fit underneath the double din unit..

[vulcano]

Fargo, very nice of you to offer making the housing, but I'm gonna try making it myself first, hehe always nicer if you can say you did it yourself :D :D .

I even toyed with the idea of making the front in plexi, ( plexi is great !!! you can heat it, bend it, cut it,illuminate it go horsebackriding on it,, euhm that last one is a NO NO hehehe) but if you bend it into a U-shape with the side long enough then you are sure that all stays withing the audio box when mounting it, and you also could create more fixation points for stability.. and then maybe using the powerled / hdd jumpers to feed a powerled(blue) and put it in a drilled hole inside the plexi ... maybe a little sanding on the front so more light can escape from the plexi ..... and then cut out the hole for mounting the screen.. I hope I am explaining myself clearly becoz I normally speak dutch hehehe :P

I made a quick sketch of how it would look like.....

sketch

but maybe connecting the leds to the HDD-jumper would make it to flashy,, kinda like it's not fun to have an epileptic attack whilst driving when your HD is spinning ... :P :P :P heheheh and for the real geeks .. you could even make a knighrider running light with several leds so when the pc is on,the light runs up and down :P

Actually about the mobo, I saw a Abit µATX mobo all on board for only 50€ , it's a shame that µatx still is 24cm/24cm,, that's around 9.6 inches² I think.

Too bad the software made for carputers is windows-based , it would make a world of difference if running in Dos or unix . (startup time)

Anyways, I contacted my usual computer supplier on the web to make me a total offer on all the things I need, If price is reasonable then I'll order it so I can start making the damn thing (it's keeping me awake at night)

If anyone likes to talk about it over msn,, it's nr69isfun@hotmail.com

[Fargo]

yuo make me laugh,,,, there you were earlier saying your not that handy, and then your telling us what you can do with plexi and how your gona do it.. maaan

my only thought to using plexi in the dash would be that i cant see it blending in to the rest of the dash,, but maybe thats what your after. youve also gota think about not blinding your eyes such (with all the leds you may mount inthe plexi ) that you will not see the screen very well.

im currently in the process of putting all the power, HDD status leds, reset button and master power switch in the ashtray, so its covert..

yeh im toying with plexi and leds for the mobo housing in the boot, once im happy with the wooden one thats in progress..

have you looked at www.mini-itx.com, they got some small asss mobo's

certianly were brett and myself got ours, cant remember what necromax is using.

Re linux, start up times, i dont have a problem with my start up time from stand by,, only around 30 seconds or so. from cold, or about 20 when in and out of the car.. and if i use the remote to start the car up on these cold mornings then its all running when i get in the car,

also why not have linux on a removable CF card that you can pop in to the mobo (EPIA's have this slot as standard) then you can boot up form that..

[vulcano]

:P well I didn't say I had no imagination :P , truth is, mostly I have a picture in my head on how I could/should do it, but then the hardest part is making it happen :P

I allready used plexi a couple of times, I've got a big computertable with 3 computers on it, and for placesaving I made 2 "S" profiles for mounting the printer under the table, works great, also di a " U" profile for the broadband modem and hub, :D :D :D

Wel, I allready surfed on mini itx, I thinks their prices are sky-high.. especially when it needs to be shiped to .. euhm belgium hehehe ;), but let's be honest .. it's maybe 2 inch smaller then µatx ,, but it's also three times slower ... so combined with the price that's 5 X higher .. thats 3cost*5high/2inch=7.5 reasons why I'm not so fund of itx hehehehe :D :D lol

Nice idea to put the controls in the ashtray :D

[MrADeveci]

Hellloooooooo lol ! - where did u get those chrome surrounds for the rear fogs ?

[vulcano]

Beats me :P hehehehe I bought the car like that with full tte tuning kit allready installed.

I bought it from an official lexus-dealer... was the only way to get a yellow one,, car was used at exhibitions/shows. Only had 20.000Km on it :D

maybe you can try at TTE ?

[Brettster]

I guess it really depends on what you want to use your carputer for? the Epia motherboards are very low power (great for not drawing too much power from your car battery) built in gfx has DVD hardware so no problems playing back DVD's and the 6 channel sound is reasonable, and it works great for mp3's and Divx's and maybe some GPS software, if you install a high power pc then you also need to install a heavy duty power supply, maybe some heavy duty cooling too as depending where you put it, it could get very hot.

Im really really happy with the Epia I have it running windows XP home and the Opus power supply is just perfect, when i turn on the key it wakes up the PC from sleep mode and its up and running music within 2 seconds (quicker than the mirrors unfolding) and when i turn off the engine again it goes back to sleep, its been running like that (without crashing) for well over 8 months now, I can honestly say its the most stable PC ive ever used :) I say go for it

[necromax]

Scarface: I've seen those chrome rings on eBay.com .. they are from the states. They make them for the main light clusters too

[MrADeveci]

Scarface: I've seen those chrome rings on ebay.com .. they are from the states. They make them for the main light clusters too

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Cheers ...... I'll check good ol' eBay !

[necromax]

Welcome, if I see them again I will PM you the link

[vulcano]

Brettster, using a faster mobo will drain more power, but normally you only use it when driving, and not to heavy equipped computers have somewhat like 250-300Watt .. thus 90*3=270 .. three times more then the ones your talking about ... :P :P, don't think that will be a real problem, all depends on how I make my setup ..

Been trying to get original sat nav housing parts from lexus, that would be the cleanest solution, combined with a 3Ghz µatx ... and hopefully an aux cx to my audio unit .. (fm modulator fine also)

indeed, still haven't decided how I'll do it :P that's what I'd like to call "my biggest problem" hehehe :D I'm not the kind of guy that gets an idea, goes to the shop and starts on the project,,, Just like to keep my options open and inform myself on all aspects and then compare the for and againsts :D but I think you guys also did that .. but faster hehehehe, looks like in here I'm the epia and you guys the 3ghzµatx :P

[Fargo]

vulcano,, i would not recommend using an FM modulator, from my experinence of using a Dension 80gb hard disk mp3 player i was getting loss of high frequencys, mainly voice like sounds..

also did you get that link to Canter who is selling a sat nav housing.. our work network wen down as i was talking to you on msn.