Anees's Car Pc Thread - Advice And Info

[Adie]

How you getting on mate? Finished yet?

[Anees]

How you getting on mate? Finished yet?

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Thanks for asking Adie! :D

I've not been on the site as much as normal - stuff going down at work ;)

Still working on getting decent digital TV coverage sorted if I can and find some good Sat Nav software. The one that I have (Map Monkey) looks nice but I think its routing is a load of rubbish! I WANT TOM TOM FOR PC!!!

Got a few bits and bobs to do on it - not had much time to do much recently and also we are having building work done so my car is not parked in my driveway!! Its gonna last another 10 weeks at least! :duh: (extension)

I can report that I've not blown anything up for a few weeks mind... DO I GET A PRIZE? :P

[Adie]

Will you be coming to JAE so we can have a look? :D

[Dayu]

Gonna see what games I can play in the car- just to make it really cool!

Athlon Mobile 2400+, 1Gb DDR Ram, Nforce 2 Chipset (with Geforce MX onboard) - what games do you think should run without stressing the system too much? Unreal tornament (the old one) maybe?

Since its in the car ideally a racing game and 3D Person shooter should be good. Doom 3 would be cool but I think I would be pushing it abit their!!   :P  LOL! The sames would only be run at 800 x 600 resolution (unless I can get them to run at 800x480 which I doubt)!

Anees

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The problem with using a onboard graphics chipset is that you're not going to be able to play many of the new, graphic-intensive games. Perhaps the best solution is to play some of the games which are 1-2 years old like the Rainbow Six/Ghost Recon series (if you can pull off playing Unreal Tournament over some unsecured WiFi point it would be absolutely amazing!!). Another thing you can try is to run one of the SNES or arcade game emulators.

On another note, if anyone is building a carputer to play the latest games, then the best solution might be a laptop base running the Geforce Go 6800. That will run just about anything out there today.

[Anees]

This project has not been forgotten about..still working on, albeit slowly due to having building work done so my car is not parked in my driveway!! :D

Pulled the PC in last week for a quick MOT.

I got rid of the pile of crap that is MapMonkey for routing and have now installed FreeDrive. This is still based on Destinator 3 but it apparently has a different routing algorithm. The guy that made it is in Manchester too! Fingers crossed.

If anyone is interested, iGuidance (Sat Nav software the Amercians use and say is the best) is now available in a European version. Looks really great and would integrate fantastically well with Road Runner. :D $130 + shipping however. :(

Been having a few issues where the PC would lock up. The Auto ON/OFF feature has stopped working. I think the PSU is faulty (Fargo had a simlar issue).....this would explain a few things. It still works if I just use the ON/OFF button on the case....but then thats not the point is it?

Geoff also spotted this cool cheapo remote on Maplin's website:

Been messing with it and although its not perfect the remote can be used to control music and change tracks. Ideal for pasengers at the back.

The best thing has been GAMES!! I still need some more, but so far I have installad and got to work:

Soilder of Fortune,

Rallysport Challenge (Looks fantastic).

These are running at 800 x 600 and look great on the small screen. I also want to install FIFA 2005 and a few other racing games if I can.. My games collection is very limited. Fancy Championship Manager too..but then thats just too addictive.

I can't play any of the games yet because the batteries in my wireless keybaord have finished..

Also looking for a wireless RF gamepad to play games. However with Third-person shootups a mouse I have found is always best, but not really any space in the car unless I look at trackballs - but I'm not a big fan of those.

Anybody got any suggestions for the wireless pad?

All in all still working on it and hope to have a working PSU before TRAX. :D

Anees

[MrADeveci]

Will have to read through all of this thread again very soon ............... as the"project" begins ...........

[Anees]

Will have to read through all of this thread again very soon ............... as the"project" begins ........... 

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You seem to know much more about Car ICE then me so should be fine! :D

Good Luck... and learn from my mistakes. :P

[Fargo]

the how cold has it been in your neckof the woods anees, just that the opus has a known problem of shutting down when its too cold outside..

[Anees]

the how cold has it been in your neckof the woods anees, just that the opus has a known problem of shutting down when its too cold outside..

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Not especially cold mate. I have tried it today and the PSU doesn't boot at all. No lights come on. When I put the power connector into the back of the PSU it still sparks and the light on the motherboard (indicaating power) comes on. Usually if I unplug the OPUS from the Battery put it back in it starts working. This time NOTHING......

Very temporamental.....

I think its dead.... I have emailed Chris at LinITX and hopefully it is not too much bother to get another PSU asap.

Shame..... I wanted to take a few more pics of the remote and games

[Brettster]

is your trigger voltage ok Aness? checked the fuse on the opus? and did u fuse the wires from the Battery to the opus too?

I had the fuse blow on my trigger wire for no known reason.

[Fargo]

ah ic..

mine is blown anyway,, think i got some water on it..

[Anees]

Yours not working either then Paul? :(

I'm not that impressed with the OPUS too be honest - they do seem very temporament.

Since I have now invested in a multimeter, I can check these things properly (see how I've learn't )

I did fuse the wires from the Battery going into the PSU. I'll just find my multimeter and check the things you suggested Bret. :D

[Fargo]

i think thats what is wrong with mine.. water damage, will need to borrow my spare one that i have since given to scarface for services rendered. and see if that works..

i get 3 flashes of the LED on the board which tells me possable short. this only come son when i boot up the PC, and soon as the PC boots it turns off again,, then tries to boot then off etc

[Anees]

Is it under 1 year old? Can't you return it?

[Fargo]

i got it from the US, cant find reciot and yeh maybe year old dunno

[Anees]

Hmm...

After messing with the power supply I got it to turn on again.

It is VERY flaky!

I think the PSU is faulty. I still have no lights on the back of the PSU on either.......

I did managed to take a a few pics of a few changes I have made:

Now using FreeDrive:

Remote:

Games:

Looks good..just wish the PSU worked properly. Manually turned the PC off.

[MrADeveci]

Anees ..... I'm jealous !

I so want to get mine working now .............. B)

[Anees]

Anees ..... I'm jealous ! 

I so want to get mine working now ..............  B)

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Ahmet don't be....

When everything is working I feel estatic with it and love it. Trouble is when something goes wrong like now with the PSU. I feel

I have had at most probably 6 - 7 weeks when the system has been working very well, then I get a glitch and have to fix it again... its nothing big but I wouldn't recommend it to those (no disrespect intended) less skilled technically then your good self.

I don't think a Car PC will ever be as reliable as the systems built by Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony etc.

I know a few companies that have started selling Car PC's you can just stick straight into your Car....I just don't know how reliable they are. I bet they get customers complaining all the time.

Put it this way...I have seen the extent Geoff tests things before they are suitable for sale to the public via Prolex...... I don't think he will be offering prolex Car PC solutons..

Since your car already has Sat Nav, where you going to put your screen Ahmet? You doing a Fargo Special? Come on spill the beans!!

@Paul..I think your right. From looking at the OPUS manual 3 Flashes means. either

1 .A Short or 2. Faulty PSU..

[MrADeveci]

I will have something planned ............. a thread with pics .... will be around in the near future ........... (this year !) :D

Hope you get it sorted !

[Anees]

Sure I will.....its always 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

If it all worked well first time you wouldn't get the same level of satisfacation .....

[Brettster]

Car PC's are never finished, and to be honest most of what we are doing is brand new experimental stuff so its bound to have its problems.

but on another note I used my mini ITX motherboard, 2.5" HD and 7" touchscreen for almost a year with my Opus and it never let me down once, I then changed car. What PSU did you get Aness? mine was the 90 watt one but it was only required to run low power stuff, nothing as meaty as a pentium 4.

That Sat Nav software looks very nice btw.

[Anees]

i got the 150W OPUS to power my Mobile Athlon 2400+ CPU. I think its just my PSU that has developed a fault. I emailed Geoff about it (I suspected a dead battery) but he says that he thinks the logic on the PSU has gone which is why the auto on/off has been working intermittedly over the last week week. Either turns on and doesn't turn off or turns off but doesn't turn on. I think he is right.....

The Sat Nav software....I just pray it works properly. Map Monkey was just SOO bad I can not put into words..

SO far ( on a small test route) it was fine.....but then thats not exactly a big test is it?

I really fancy trying to get iGuidance Europe. It would integrate into road runner superbly and is known for its great routing and is loved by most the americans on MP3car. Thing is I'd rather try it before I buy incase it is not much better then what I have now Very easy to skin too with tools on MP3Car and it has street names in 3D view.

Info:

http://www.inavcorp.com/products/iguidance21_europe.html

Here is a pic of it running embedded in CentraFuse:

Another Pic:

Very cool don't you think? :D

[Anees]

Requested an RMA for the Opus PSU...

Hopefully I can get a new one back asap. :D

[Anees]

Yipee! :D

LinITX (fantastic service as usual) have said my OPUS Power Supply (PSU) is faulty and are sending me a replacement tommorow. So I should get it by Saturday!! Hopefully the PC will be fully operational before the TRAX show then! :D :D

I also bought a wireless vibration gamepad to go with the PC:

Looks just like the PS2 controller and doesn't appear to have any lag at all! :D :D

[Adie]

Nice one mate :D